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.
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.’
‘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 probation for taking some candy from his school’s concession stand,’ Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, said in a post on X.
‘The scales are not equal,’ she added.
On the flip side, Republicans were very vocal following the sentencing.
‘I have no respect for the process being used in New York. I find the judge and prosecutor’s motives to be dripping with politics,’ Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said in a statement. ‘This is a sad day for America.’
Trump, ahead of the sentencing, said that he would appeal the decision.
Trump filed an emergency petition to the Supreme Court on Wednesday in an effort to prevent his Jan. 10 sentencing, but the high court ultimately denied his emergency petition to block his sentencing.
Fox News’ Brooke Singman contributed to this report.