INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Indiana Republican and Democratic operatives were quick to react after former President Donald Trump was convicted on 34 counts of falsifying business records in the state of New York.

Democratic Consultant Lindsay Haake called it an unprecedented verdict: “I do think it’s a sad day for democracy frankly to have an ex-president convicted.”

Haake believes President Biden may be able to peel off some Republican voters who may have voted for Trump before he was convicted.

“How the primary gave us the picture of perhaps who that will play out, with 22% of voters not voting for Trump in the Republican Primary, voting for Nikki Haley,” she said.

The Indiana Democratic Party declined to comment on the verdict. Instead, a party spokesperson referred WISH-TV to a statement released by the Biden-Harris Campaign:

“In New York today, we saw that no one is above the law.

“Donald Trump has always mistakenly believed he would never face consequences for breaking the law for his own personal gain. But today’s verdict does not change the fact that the American people face a simple reality. There is still only one way to keep Donald Trump out of the Oval Office: at the ballot box. Convicted felon or not, Trump will be the Republican nominee for president.

“The threat Trump poses to our democracy has never been greater. He is running an increasingly unhinged campaign of revenge and retribution, pledging to be a dictator ‘on day one’ and calling for our Constitution to be ‘terminated’ so he can regain and keep power. A second Trump term means chaos, ripping away Americans’ freedoms and fomenting political violence – and the American people will reject it this November.”

-Biden/Harris campaign

University of Indianapolis Political Science Professor Dr. Laura Wilson said Trump was put on trial for using campaign money to silence a porn star who said the two had sex: “It’s essentially a campaign finance matter, we do take those things seriously in the country.”

But Republican Consultant Ali Bartlett says it’s not the violations that bother her, it’s the timing of the verdict, ahead of the Republican National Convention which starts July 15th.

“I’m not going to go as far as to say there is any tampering with the jury, nothing like that, I’m not trying to say this is any kind of invalid outcome from the court process, but what I’m saying is it was politicized from the start,” she said.

Statements

“Joe Biden and his Democrat allies’ weaponization of the American justice system is disgusting and today officially marks a sad day in U.S. history. Unfortunately, the real victims are the American people who are left to deal with crippling inflation, a humanitarian crisis at the southern border, crumbling public safety, and instability across the globe. Fortunately, the American people will be heard loud and clear when Donald Trump is elected President in November.” 

-Ann Hathaway, Chair Indiana Republican Party

“This case was a blatant abuse of our justice system as a political weapon by a radical prosecutor trying to interfere in the election, and the verdict proves that this was just a show trial all along. Trump is going to win in November because Americans are sick of these political games when the price of everything has doubled in 4 years, and the world is at war because of Joe Biden’s weakness and incompetence.

-Mike Braun (R) Candidate for Indiana Governor

“It’s a sad day for our country, as Joe Biden and his liberal cronies have advanced their election interference plot. Joe Biden is behind all of this because he knows he can’t beat him at the ballot box. It’s a complete and total SHAM, and it has been since the beginning. Look at the facts: Corrupt DA Alvin Bragg is funded by Biden donors, Judge Juan Merchan donated to Biden and his daughter works for high-profile Democrats, and lead prosecutor Matthew Colangelo was formerly a top official in Biden’s weaponized Department of Justice. There was no way for this to be a fair trial. While these New York jurors may have been willing to play a part in this sham, the American people recognize that these charges amount to nothing more than election interference orchestrated by the Biden administration. I stand with Donald J. Trump, and the American people do too.”

-Jim Banks (R) Candidate for U.S. Senate