'Sham trial!' MAGA runs wild over Judge Merchan's latest filing about Trump jury
Pro-Donald Trump corners of social media are already running wild with a new development in former President Donald Trump's criminal conviction in Manhattan, proclaiming this is the end of the verdict and it will be thrown out.
This comes after Judge Juan Merchan revealed that a reply to a Facebook post on the New York state court system page purported to be from a cousin of a juror and to have knowledge Trump would be convicted. If a juror did actually reveal verdict information to an outside person before it was handed down, it would pose a serious problem for the case on appeal.
But it is unclear whether this is actually a problem for the verdict, according to some legal experts, given that there's no public evidence the Facebook poster in question is actually related to a juror and actually knew the outcome beforehand, and the time stamp doesn't even definitively confirm the post dropped before the jury reached their decision. At least some reporters strongly suspect the whole thing is fake.
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That isn't stopping Trump supporters from speculating he has his ticket out, however.
"The comment was made on May 29, 2024, days BEFORE President Trump’s guilty verdict was announced, which means he could now be entitled to a mistrial because the jury pool was tainted and compromised," wrote far-right activist Laura Loomer. "This is further evidence that President Trump didn’t receive a fair trial!"
"Mistrial?" wrote Mike Davis, a pro-Trump pundit who previously clerked for Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch.
"So this means that they will not be able to sentence Trump on July 11th, right?" wrote Women For Trump executive director Kylie Jane Kremer. "I know a lot of different scenarios can come from this… but as far as sentencing him before the convention, it seems unlikely, right?"
"Trump’s conviction should be overturned and a mistrial with prejudice should be declared," wrote right-wing podcaster Cash Loren.
Some Trump supporters, however, were not as optimistic that anything would come of this.
"Somehow, Merchan will create something to keep the verdict. Sham trial, corrupt Judge," wrote the account @MEnglanderRE.
"I doubt this judge will do anything," wrote the account @baneyinc. "He'll have some lame excuse like well they had already come to a verdict so it doesn't matter."
Raw Story Editor-in-Chief Dave Levinthal accepts four 2024 Folio Awards from the Fair Media Council at the organization's annual luncheon on June 7, 2024, in Garden City, N.Y. (Photo: Christopher Zepeda)