Democratic lawmakers were noticeably silent following the sentencing of President-elect Donald Trump despite previously commenting on the cases against him, as Washington prepares for a Republican trifecta in Congress.
Trump was sentenced on Friday after being found guilty on 34 charges related to falsifying business records in May.
The incoming president was sentenced to unconditional discharge, which means that he will not receive any jail time, fine or probation time. The sentence also preserves Trump’s ability to appeal the conviction.
After Trump was found guilty in criminal court in May, Democratic members of Congress put out a flurry of reactions on social media but appeared mum after the sentencing on Friday, which comes just days before he will be sworn into office on Jan. 20.
TRUMP SAYS HE RESPECTS SUPREME COURT’S DECISION TO DENY HIS REQUEST TO STOP SENTENCING, VOWS TO APPEAL
Trump was sentenced on Friday. (Fox News)
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., in May, wrote in a post on X, fomerly Twitter, that “the jury has spoken and carefully rendered a decision. Responsible leadership requires the verdict to be respected,” while Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York said that “nobody is above the law.”
However, Democrats appeared less reactive to Friday’s sentencing, which left Trump free of any penalty.
One Democratic congresswoman put out a statement following the unconditional discharge sentence, claiming that “our system of justice is not just.”
Rep. Jasmine Crockett claimed there is a “two-tiered system of justice in this country.” (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc)
“There is a two-tiered system of justice in this country, and Donald Trump lives on the tier where he gets to walk into the White House without spending a single day in jail or being put on probation after being convicted of 34 felonies. On the other tier are the clients I represented as a public defender in Texas, like the seventeen-year-old boy who was held on felony…
