Trump blows up GOP plans by having 'soft spot' for indicted Democrats: report

Former President Donald Trump appears to have what Semafor reporter Dave Weigel is describing as a "soft spot" for certain members of the Democratic Party.

The catch is, those particular members are the ones who have been indicted by the United States Department of Justice.

The latest such example is Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX), whom Trump described as "respected" shortly after federal prosecutors charged him with bribery, money laundering, and conspiracy on behalf of a foreign government.

As Weigel notes, Trump's praise for Cueller, along with his baseless claim that the Texas Democrat was being set up by President Joe Biden, may throw a wrench into Republican plans to capitalize on the indictment when campaigning against him later this year.

"Rancher Lazardo Garza said in a statement that the indictment created a 'sad situation' for the Rio Grande Valley district, but that Cuellar was innocent until proven guilty," writes Weigel. "Navy veteran Jay Furman was harsher, calling Cuellar 'corrupt,' and saying that the indictment was proof that 'the uniparty is crumbling.'"

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Trump hasn't just embraced indicted Democrats over the years, but convicted ones as well.

Most notoriously, Trump commuted the prison sentence of disgraced former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who was given 14 years in prison for his attempt to sell off Barack Obama's former Senate seat to the highest bidder after the 2008 election.

According to Weigel, convicted politicians have cooked up a formula for getting into Trump's good graces.

"People advocating for pardons when Trump was president knew how to reach him, sharing sympathetic stories of what convicted politicians had to endure in prison, and highlighting how people Trump didn’t like – James Comey – put them there," he notes.

Trump is currently facing criminal charges in four different jurisdictions for alleged crimes ranging from falsifying business records to conceal hush money payments, obstructing government efforts to retrieve top-secret government documents from his Mar-a-Lago resort, and trying to defraud the United States with his scheme to illegally remain in power after losing the 2020 presidential election.