Senator Susan Collins is rightly criticized for her wrongminded response to Donald Trump felonies

Maome Senatpr Susan Collins, R-Maine, has incorrectly stated that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg campaigned on a promise to prosecute former President Donald Trump, according to fact-checkers at the Poynter Institute.  Reported in The Hill and Central Maine.com.

U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) raised eyebrows and triggered a barrage of criticism when she echoed former President Donald Trump’s claim that he was the victim of political persecution after a jury found him guilty of 34 felony charges relating to hush money payments to a porn star.

Collins, a Republican who voted to impeach Trump after the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, repeated Trump’s talking point that the New York City prosecutor, Mr. Bragg, who filed the charges campaigned for his job on “a promise” to prosecute Trump, even though that claim has been discredited by fact-checkers.

“It is fundamental to our American system of justice that the government prosecutes cases because of alleged criminal conduct regardless of who the defendant happens to be. 

Senator Susan Collins is Maine's senior US senator

In this case the opposite has happened,” she said in the statement. “The district attorney, who campaigned on a promise to prosecute Donald Trump, brought these charges precisely because of who the defendant was rather than because of any specified criminal conduct. The political underpinnings of this case further blur the lines between the judicial system and the electoral system, and this verdict likely will be the subject of a protracted appeals process.”

Maine Writer-Obviously Senator Collins ignores the reason why Donald Trump was found guilty for commiting 34 felonies.  Reminder❗  

Donald Trump had a one night sexual encounter with porn actress Stormy Daniels and subsequently tried to cover his sin using hush money he illegally took from his campaign donations to prevent havign to pay this self inflicted penalty with his own money. 

If Trump had paid Stormy Daniels with his own personal check, none of this trial would have happened to him. Instead, he supported having the money come from his personal "fixer" Michael Cohen, who took out a second mortage on his home for the purpose of paying the hush money on behalf of his "boss" Trump.  

Then, Trump illegally signed a series of checks, while he was sitting in the Oval Office, for the purpose of using his campaign donations to reimburse Cohen for this expense. Trump lied on several levels.  Trump said Stormy Daniels lied about the sexual encounter, but this denial was never given while under oath.  

Second, just telling a lie about what Stormy Daniels testified to under oath was not a felony.  Rather, the felonies were the signed checks Donald trump signed to reimburse Michael Cohen for the $130,000 he paid to Stormy Daniels. In fact, the checks were fraudulent because the premise was that he was paying for legal services when there were no invoices attached.  #Guilty!

Collins was one of seven Senate Republicans to vote to convict Trump on the impeachment charge of inciting insurrection in 2021, and said earlier this year she would not endorse Trump, even if he won the GOP nominee for president.