Iowa Republicans should respect the jury’s verdict

Twelve New York jurors spent seven weeks in a Manhattan state courtroom listening to evidence and testimony in the prosecution of Donald Trump for falsifying business documents to cover up an affair and keep it hidden from voters in 2016. He was indicted by a 23-member grand jury.

Seven weeks of facts and arguments from the prosecution and defense. When the dust settled, the 12 New Yorkers found Trump guilty of 34 felony counts.

According to the New York Times, there was a guy from Harlem who works in sales and man who works in finance from Hell’s Kitchen on the jury. A gentleman who works in the legal field from Chelsea and an engineer from the West Village. A woman who works in education from Harlem and a technology worker from Chelsea.

Four Upper East Siders were on the jury, working in the legal field, finance, education and health care. A businessman from Murray Hill served, as did a product manager from Upper Manhattan.

But in the moments following he verdict, top Iowa Republicans disrespected, dismissed, and derided the jury’s work. They seemingly blamed everyone and everything for Trump’s predicament except the felon himself.

Gov. Kim Reynolds called the trial “a sham” that disregarded “our democracy and the will of the American people.” U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson dubbed it “a disgrace and a total sham.” Attorney General Brenna Bird proclaimed, “politics should have no place in prosecutions.” Our top state prosecutor said this just days after attending the New York trial to condemn it and defend Trump.

Bird is the only one who set foot in the courtroom, for part of one day. None of our GOP leaders spent seven weeks in the courtroom, hearing and seeing what the jury saw. Instead of respecting the jury’s work, they swung political sledgehammers at our judicial system. No American institution can be shielded from damage by Trump and his acolytes.

Yes, the prosecutor, Alvin Bragg, is a Democrat. The jurors reside in a dark blue city. But none of that is supposed to matter in our system. Piling on rhetoric about a “political prosecution” or a “weaponized justice system” is dishonest and reckless.

Our courts system is already straining under a wave of distrust. Even the U.S. Supreme Court, once a paragon of public trust, is mired in controversies about upside down American flags, freebie vacations, conflicts of interest and a lack of ethics rules.

So rather than continue to tear down our courts, we need leaders who respect the rule of law. Trump can appeal the verdicts like anyone else. There’s nothing wrong with letting the process play out and withholding judgment. Maybe it will make Trump angry. But there’s something far more important at stake than the political fate of a very flawed candidate.

(319) 398-8262; editorial@thegazette.com