North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum (R) said it would be a “travesty of justice” if former President Trump is convicted in the New York hush money trial.
“Well, if he becomes a convicted felon in this case, that’s a just, a travesty of justice, because as I just said, when you’ve got a business filing error, that is for something that was again, it’s not illegal to pay people for nondisclosure agreements — that happens all the time. I’m sure this network and others have done that. So that’s not illegal,” Burgum told co-host Jake Tapper on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Trump has been stuck in a Manhattan court room for weeks as the trial plays out in the New York hush money case. Trump is charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records in connection to reimbursements made to his ex-fixer, Michael Cohen, for a payment made to an adult film star to keep quiet about an alleged affair she had with the former president.
Trump has denied all wrongdoing and has frequently labeled the case as politically motivated.
Burgum continued to defend the former president on Sunday, saying that bringing the case to trial now is “intended to try to achieve a result before the election.” Speculation has swirled over whether Burgum, who has endorsed the former president, is on Trump’s shortlist for vice president.
“So that’s why everybody sees this as politically motivated, and like I said, a filing error is not something that would affect any American people that are trying to put food on the table and gas in the car — it doesn’t affect them,” Burgum said.
“And so … this is why the outcome of this trial is not going to change a lot of people’s minds. It might actually, in some ways, help President Trump because it reinforces the idea that the Biden administration is willing to use lawfare to try to attack a political opponent,” he added.
Tapper noted that there is “no evidence” President Biden has anything to do with the hush money case brought in New York.