David Paterson, former Democratic governor of New York he says he would have wanted President Biden consider pardoning donald trump on his hush money conviction if the prez was in power.
Paterson, talking sunday on 77 WABC radio's “The Cats Roundtable,” he agreed with Trump's complaints that the case was “hidden.
“There are many … wrong qualities in this essay,” Paterson said. “Some of the people involved: A person who worked at the White House somehow ended up in the Manhattan DA's office.
“All of this, when you add it up, really does sound a lot like what the former president is describing,” the top Dem told host John Catsimatidis.
A US president can't pardon someone for state crimes, such as the rap crimes involving falsifying business records that Trump was convicted of in a Manhattan court last week, but if the commander in chief has been able to , should have considered it in this case, Paterson said.
“Sometimes when you're a leader and you're willing to put yourself at the center of acrimony and controversy, both sides can come down on you,” the former governor said, noting former President Gerald Ford's pardon of former president Richard. Nixon on “Watergate” in 1974.
“But years later, upon reflection, I'm sure they'll respect you,” Paterson said.
Trump also faces federal charges on Jan. 6, 2021, the Capitol riots and for allegedly moving national security documents to Mar-a-Lago, both pardonable crimes if convicted.
Paterson said Biden should be “very careful” about gloating, especially with son of the presidentHunter Biden, now on trial.
Follow the latest on Donald Trump's guilty verdict in his hush money trial
Hunter was arraigned Monday in Delaware on three federal charges related to his alleged lie in federal paperwork about his drug addiction when he purchased and possessed a .38-caliber Colt revolver in October 2018. He faces 25 years in prison.
“There was a press release [after former President Trump’s conviction] from the White House: “No one is above the law.” I think President Biden should be very careful. Right now there are investigations on him and his son. That dog might bite him again,” Paterson said.
Former Republican New York Gov. George Pataki joined Paterson in attacking Trump's prosecution, with both governors warning it could boomerang on Biden and other Democrats.
Pataki said the unprecedented conviction of a former president could lead to a crackdown, with conservative prosecutors charging Biden or other Democrats down the road.
“When Biden is out of office, what's to stop the district attorney in some rural Texas county from suing him for millions of dollars for damages caused by illegal aliens because he failed to uphold his oath of office in the border? said the former three-term governor.
“They've opened a can of worms here that can go anywhere,” he said of Democrats seeking Trump's conviction.
Pataki, while worried that the conviction will cause long-term damage to the justice system, also said that in the short term it will have a negative impact on Trump's comeback bid for the White House.
He said Americans who haven't closely followed Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's successful prosecution will only look at the bottom line: that Trump is a convicted felon.
“If you're an undecided voter who … doesn't understand Bragg's partisan and ideological history; or the judge's [Juan Merchan] partisan and ideological history … will have an impact on this election, which is unfair,” Pataki said.
Pataki expects the Biden campaign to run an attack ad against Trump reminding voters that “by the way, he's a convicted felon,” while Trump's appeal of the verdict won't be heard until after the election of autumn
“This is not about convicting Trump. This is about hurting him in the election. To use our justice system for this partisan political gain is a disgrace,” said Pataki, an attorney.
Trump became the first former US president to be convicted of criminal offenses when the presumptive 2024 Republican White House nominee was found guilty of 34 charges by a 12-member Manhattan jury in the unprecedented criminal prosecution of 'a former president.
Trump was accused by Bragg's office of trying to illegally cover a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels, part of a plan to quell the sex scandals that threatened to derail his 2016 campaign.
Jurors found that Trump falsified business records throughout 2017 by lying that he was paying his then-lawyer and “fixer” Michael Cohen for bogus “legal services” when he was actually reimbursing him for hush money that prevented Daniels from speaking out about having sex. with Trump inside a Lake Tahoe hotel room in 2006.
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