OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Former South Carolina GOP Rep. Trey Gowdy kicked things up a notch late on Tuesday when discussing the 2024 Republican primary following former President Donald Trump’s indictment.
During an interview on America’s Newsroom, anchor Martha MacCallum asked Gowdy, “Trey, there’s been a lot of discussion about the $8 million that has been raised by the Trump campaign since this. And as Brett points out, it has definitely lit a fire under his political aspirations to be president again. What is it done to the other folks who are either in the ring already or are considering getting in the ring? How should they play this and how do you see them playing this at this point?”
Gowdy then tore into Trump and argued that the party has been essentially going downhill in recent years.
“Well, they have become criminal defense attorneys for President Trump. They do not want to criticize him. I mean, I think it’s kind of staggering that you can be accused of something that involves an adult film star, and it has not hurt you at all in a Republican primary,” Gowdy said.
“That was not true a couple of decades ago. So they’ve got to stay away from the facts of it because everybody already knows it. They made up their minds. I think Asa Hutchinson is really the only one, he is a former U.S. attorney. I think, if memory serves me correctly, he’s the only one taking any shots at all on Trump. I do think Brett is right. The real exposure is probably in the special counsel case. But politically, I mean, Martha, if you had told me that you can pay off a Playmate and an adult film star and actually go up in the polling in a Republican primary, I would have told you you were crazy,” he added.
WATCH:
Trey Gowdy on Fox News: "I think it's kinda staggering that you can be accused of something that involves an adult film star, and it not hurt you in a Republican primary." pic.twitter.com/SWd3j3UHZ0
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 4, 2023
Trump was indicted late last week by a Manhattan grand jury in a case involving his purported role in hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election, allegedly to keep Daniels quiet about an affair the two of them had in 2006.
The maximum prison sentence for former President Donald Trump is astronomical when all of the counts against him are added together. The maximum prison sentence he faces if he were convicted of all 34 felony counts against him would be 136 years behind bars.
He is unlikely to face anything near that type of sentence, and it is unlikely that the prosecutors would ask for that, but the fact that it exists as a possibility is staggering.
It also didn’t take long for several notable conservatives to hit back at Gowdy for his comments:
Why would anyone want to watch Trey Gowdy and Geraldo Rivera whine about how much they despise President Trump on Fox News?
I'm watching Newsmax.
— Brigitte Gabriel (@ACTBrigitte) April 4, 2023
Have always had good feelings about Trey Gowdy. He talked the talk.. but this garbage today against Trump.. and his mention of Asa Hutchinson as some sort of righteous guy ended that for me.
— Joe Pags Pagliarulo (@JoeTalkShow) April 4, 2023
Famed Attorney Alan Dershowitz believes that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg could be disbarred for his case against former President Donald Trump.
During an appearance on Fox News, Dershowitz also argued that Bragg could face up to five years in prison if he is found guilty of leaking details of Trump’s indictment to the media. Leaking grand jury testimony to the public is a Class E felony in New York and carries a prison sentence between one and five years.
Dershowitz also spoke about how having Michael Cohen as a witness could damage the district attorney.
“I don’t think an indictment can actually come forward now after the comments made by [Robert] Costello. He has proved that the main witness is going to be a perjuring liar on the witness stand, and that puts the district attorney in a terrible position,” Dershowitz said.
“If he uses Cohen as a witness, he could actually lose his bar license. It’s unethical to put a witness on the stand who you know is lying, and he has to know that Cohen will be lying. Or he tries the case without Cohen, which would be very difficult, or he does the right thing: he drops the case,” he added.
Dershowitz said that it appears Bragg’s theory is that Trump should have disclosed why he paid for a non-disclosure agreement to adult film star Stormy Daniels, which would defeat the purpose of the non-disclosure agreement.
“Why would Mr. Trump pay the money in the first place if he had to publicly disclose the embarrassing reason? Furthermore, no one in history has ever been indicted for listing ‘legal expenses’ for setting a potentially embarrassing payment of hush money,” he said.
