WorldNetDaily’s original coverage of Donald Trump’s New York trial unsurprisingly leaned toward the conspiratorial, with numerous attacks on those prosecuting him and the trial judge. For instance:
- Prosecutors in Trump cases being put under microscope in new documentary
- Report: Judge who punished Trump lawyer a Democrat donor
- Congresswoman demands investigation of misconduct in Trump prosecution
When the verdict came in, Bob Unruh whined heavily about it in a May 30 article that hurled numerous right-wing narratives at it:
A jury of New Yorkers, where a massive majority of the population dislikes President Donald Trump, on Thursday said he was guilty of the 34 counts of business reporting violations claimed by DA Alvin Bragg.
It’s the first time a former president has been convicted of a felony crime.
Bragg, a Democrat who revived dead misdemeanors to orchestrate the lawfare against Trump, claimed Trump called his legal expenses “legal expenses” and that was an offense.
He charged Trump with 34 counts of falsifying business records.
He took misdemeanor violations that had been passed over by a multitude of other prosecutors, claimed they were in furtherance of another, unspecified, crime, and that made them felonies.
The case, being run by Juan Merchan, a local New York judge, has been plagued with one scandal after another.
Merchan first issued multiple gag orders against Trump, but refused to provide Trump with the same protection from wild statements made by others in the case.
Merchan refused to recuse even though his daughter is a Democrat activist who has fund-raised millions off of the decisions her father is making in the case.
Merchan also has repeatedly ruled against Trump, building a solid case, according to multiple commentators, for reversal on appeal.
Unruh’s complaint about “A jury of New Yorkers, where a massive majority of the population dislikes President Donald Trump” finding Trump gruilty is ignorant and disingenuous. As we pointed out when a fellow WND writer invoked a similar argument, an entire city doesn’t judge a defendant — only 12 jurors do. And in the jury selection process, both the prosecution and defense lawyers, as well as the judge, will screen jurors and try to eliminate those who they believe cannot be impartial. Merely living in a particular city is not evidence that a prospective juror cannot be partial.
Nevertheless, an anonymous WND writer repeated that same bogus argument in another May 30 article:
A verdict from a jury in far-left Manhattan has opined that President Donald Trump is guilty of 34 counts of misreporting business costs, one of the Democrats’ lawfare cases they have launched against the GOP candidate for president this year.
It’s going to cost them, one expert suggests.
“Today’s verdict from this partisan, corrupt, and rigged trial just guaranteed Trump’s landslide victory on November 5, 2024,” said Mike Davis, of the Article III Project.
[…]“This is a disgraceful, inexcusable verdict. This case should never have been brought to trial in the first place. The D.A. never explained the underlying crime, and his political motivations were clear — he was elected after having promised to ‘get Trump’ during his election campaign. Judge Merchan was equally abysmally biased, issuing absurd jury instructions that make the verdict vulnerable to appeal. The jurors themselves clearly were either biased, given the overwhelming liberal make-up of Manhattan, or did not understand the law. What we’re left with is an unprecedented day in American history: A presumptive presidential nominee convicted for a made-up crime to weaken him in an election campaign. President Biden and the Democrats are smiling today. But Trump will prevail come November, and the tables will turn. The Democrats should be careful what they wish for,” explained Jenny Beth Martin, a honorary chairman of Tea Party Patriots Action.
WND cranked out more pro-Trump “news” articles in the hours after the verdict:
- Congresswoman demands investigation of misconduct in Trump prosecution
- New Trump ad unleashes on Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg
- Trump campaign reveals donors contributed $34 million in just hours
- Biden’s Bragg lawfare against Trump … BACKFIRES!
Another article by Unruh cheered a revenge plot:
There’s a new political campaign agenda that exploded into existence in a manner of minutes on Thursday.
That’s when a leftist jury in Manhattan convicted President Donald Trump of business reporting violations for calling his legal fees, legal fees.
The conviction was orchestrated by Joe Biden from the White House, Alvin Bragg from his prosecutor’s office, and Juan Merchan, from the court bench. All of them are Democrats.
And the new agenda?
To jail Democrats.
John Hinderaker at Powerline Blog explained what happened. “A grotesquely biased jury of Trump-haters, led by a judge who put service to his party above his judicial responsibilities, has returned guilty verdicts against Donald Trump on all 34 counts with which he was – absurdly – charged.”
And then he offered solutions: “What to do now? First, it is now absolutely essential that Trump be elected president. The Democrats cannot be allowed to get away with this effort to turn America into a banana republic.
“Second, the Democrats understand nothing except the raw exercise of power. Therefore, Republican attorneys general and district attorneys should bring criminal charges against Democratic officeholders wherever possible. No Democratic officeholder should be allowed to retire, in any jurisdiction with Republican law enforcement, without facing criminal charges. There can’t be a single Democratic official in America against whom a criminal case can’t be brought that is better than this case against Trump. It should be open season on Democrats in the criminal courts.”
And that campaign, he said, should go all the way to the top of the Democrat party [sic].
Unruh went on to unironically whine that what happened to Trump was “lawfare,” even though his spiteful and partisan revenge plot more accurately fits that description.