Less than an hour after a jury convicted Donald Trump of 34 felonies, Sen. Tim Scott released a one-minute video of himself condemning the outcome. That wouldn’t be especially notable — the South Carolina Republican clearly wants to be his party’s vice presidential nominee, making such antics unavoidable — except the senator blamed President Joe Biden for the prosecution.
“Joe Biden’s injustice,” Scott claimed. “Joe Biden’s two-tier injustice system. Weaponizing the justice system of the United States of America against a political opponent? Un-American.”
The rhetoric was plainly nonsensical, even by 2024 standards. There’s literally no evidence of the White House being involved in the case, just as there’s literally no evidence of the White House weaponizing the justice system. Scott is hardly the only Republican peddling this ridiculous and borderline dangerous rhetoric, but the repetition only makes it worse.
As HuffPost noted over the weekend, even one of Trump’s former lawyers marveled at the inanity.
Former Trump attorney Joe Tacopina knocked Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) for his “uneducated, unintelligent” claim that President Joe Biden is “weaponizing the justice system” on Saturday.
Asked to respond to Scott’s absurd claims, Tacopina, during an appearance on MSNBC, specifically said, “I sort of lost a lot of respect from what I just heard because he sounded so uneducated, unintelligent and made no sense at all.”
Trump’s former lawyer went on to say, “So to say that Joe Biden brought this case is one of the most ridiculous things I’ve heard. We know that’s not the case, and even Trump’s lawyers know that’s not the case.”
Tacopina added that Biden and officials from the Justice Department have “absolutely zero to do with the Manhattan district attorney’s office.” Tacopina: Tim Scott is someone who I used to respect, but I lost a lot of respect from what I just heard… To say that Biden brought this case is one of the most ridiculous things I've heard. We know that's not the case, and even Trump’s lawyers know that is not the case. pic.twitter.com/eyu7KrXaqV Complicating matters for Republicans, this isn’t the first time a former Trump lawyer has said the opposite of what the party wanted to hear. Ty Cobb, for example, has spoken out in ways the former president hasn’t liked; Timothy Parlatore has publicly strayed from the GOP script; and former Attorney General Bill Barr has been a thorn in Trump’s side as his legal crises have mounted. Tacopina, in other words, has plenty of company.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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