GOP Senators: Trump’s N.Y. Trial Won’t Sway Voters

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Former President Donald Trump’s current criminal trial in New York won’t sway voters in November’s general election, according to Republican senators.

With Democrats holding a slim 51-49 Senate majority, GOP members hope to regain control of the chamber in the upcoming general election with the help of Trump, he party’s presumptive presidential nominee.

The former president on Wednesday will be in New York City for the third day of his trial, in which he’s accused of falsifying business documents to pay an adult film star to remain quiet about an alleged affair.

Republican senators don’t expect the trial to turn voters against Trump.

“I actually think this particular case is so preposterous that it actively helps the president, and I’ve seen some polling to this effect,” said Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, The Hill reported.

Vance added that Manhattan Democrat District Attorney Alvin Bragg was endorsed by a liberal group that accepted money from major progressive donor George Soros.

“It’s the worst of all of the cases against Donald Trump in terms of fairness, and I actually think it drives home the idea that this is not about justice, this is about politics,” Vance said.

Even Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, a Trump critic, said the case will not change voters’ minds about Trump.

“I think people have processed the fact that Donald Trump paid a porn star and committed adultery and misreported that on his tax forms. I think people assume that’s the case, and it’s not going to move the needle,” Romney said, The Hill reported.

At least one senator questioned the prosecuting of Trump for alleged crimes that have past New York’s five-year statute of limitations, with Bragg connecting them to state and federal election violations.

“I don’t understand how from a legal standpoint you can get a conviction. The statute of limitations for things that happened back in 2017 has long since lapsed, so Alvin Bragg is trying to string this to an unindicted campaign expenditure violation, which strikes me as untenable,” said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, The Hill reported.

Trump on Saturday endorsed Pennsylvania candidate David McCormick in one of the year’s most hotly contested Senate races.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.