(LifeSiteNews) — Conservatives must be willing to fight back against Democrats and the left, who are “persecuting” their political opponents, Donald Trump Jr. told Tucker Carlson.
Carlson spoke to Trump Jr. about the recent conviction of his father on 34 counts of allegedly falsifying business records in New York, which Trump Jr. called “pure and simple political persecution.”
District Attorney Alvin Bragg advanced a novel theory that Donald Trump Sr.’s payments to pornographic “actress” Stephanie “Stormy Daniels” Clifford were a campaign expenditure. Legal experts from across the political spectrum have sharply criticized the prosecution, and many conservatives have condemned it as part of a witch hunt to convict the former president on questionable charges.
“Nothing changes until we actually start fighting back,” the president’s son said during the May 31 interview, posted on Carlson’s website.
The former Fox News host said, “there’s sort of a lack of humanity, there’s a coldness, there’s an evil under all of this that I think I underestimated,” commenting on the targeting of the president. Later in the interview he called the conviction “grotesque” and “the end of a fair justice system.”
The president’s son said the targeting comes at the same time the media is trying to prop up Biden, despite economic problems that are evident to average Americans. Meanwhile, according to Trump Jr., Republicans are focusing on funding the ongoing war in Ukraine instead of issues that matter to most Americans.
He said:
I’ve been blessed. But if I’m sitting there with sticker shock, what’s the country feeling? You know, if I see what’s going on in my interest rates on my mortgage, how much longer can we do this? And then you talk about wars and trillions of dollars of spending, and then the Republicans are telling us that the Ukraine is the number one most important issue for Republicans across our country. I’ve heard that from Mitch McConnell dozens of times. It’s just not, right? …
… I’ve spoken in front of more Republicans in the last year than Mitch McConnell has in his entire lifetime, and I think I’ve surveyed it, probably, I do it live, just at a speech, thousand people here, 500 people here, 5,000 people there. It’s not been a top 10 issue in about 60–65,000 people for three people. One of them was a D.C. sort of Beltway guy who felt very strongly about it. Probably he was profiteering off of it. One of them misunderstood the question, so he thought it was a double negative. So, it was not, in fact, a top ten issue for him.
The only other person to tell him Ukraine is even in a top ten political issue was someone from Kiev, the president’s son said.
“Basically, zero people” are “in favor” of focusing on Ukraine, he said.
— Matt Lamb (@MattLamb22) June 4, 2024
Criminal case came down to ‘books and records’
The interview then pivoted back to the criminal charges against the former president, which his son called a “books and records” issue.
“It’s literally a filing, it’s like a misfiling. It’s something that was never before tried as a felony,” he said.
“This was a case that was, at best, misdemeanor-type stuff,” Trump Jr. said. “They want to put my father in jail for upwards of 100 years,” he said.
The charges are “basically because someone in an accounting department put legal expenses for paying a lawyer.”
Trump Jr. then pointed out how a high-ranking Department of Justice (DOJ) official named Matthew Colangelo appeared to be involved with the prosecution. Colangelo stood behind Bragg during a press conference after the conviction.
— Matt Lamb (@MattLamb22) June 4, 2024
Asked why a DOJ official was involved in a state case, Trump Jr. said Colangelo was there “prosecuting his political enemies.” Colangelo joined Bragg’s office in December 2022. Months later, the charges were announced against Trump.
Trump Jr. then detailed how Judge Juan Merchan donated to President Joe Biden’s political campaign. His daughter is also a major fundraiser for Democrats.
“It’s pure and simple political prosecution, persecution… there’s nothing they won’t do to stop Trump,” the president’s son said. He also referenced a questionable case brought by leftist Attorney General Letitia James that claimed the former president inflated the value of his properties. Yet the bank that he took a loan from did not believe that it was a victim.
“It’s a somber moment, more so for our country,” Trump Jr. said, when asked if the conviction would stop his 2024 presidential campaign.
‘We have to fight fire with fire’
Republicans must be willing to fight the left, Trump Jr. said, commenting on how “the Democrats don’t fear us.”
“We have to fight fire with fire,” he said.
Yet few are, he lamented. He specifically named Senators Mike Lee of Utah and J.D. Vance of Ohio.
“It’s an easy existence” to be a Republican in D.C. as long as one sides with Democrats, Trump Jr. said, criticizing the Swamp.
The political charges were meant to lock Trump up during the presidential campaign, the president’s son also said. Carlson asked how the president could campaign while undergoing a criminal trial.
But, the persecution “exposed just how bad it is,” he said. “Can’t hide from it anymore,” he added.
The bias is why there is more interest in alternative news sources, such as Tucker Carlson and personalities on Rumble.
The pair then discussed how the targeting of President Trump continues. Several weeks before, Democratic Congressman Bennie Thompson introduced legislation to strip Secret Service protection from Trump if he was convicted of a felony.
That would put Trump in danger, both agreed. They then discussed the violent threats and targeting of conservative Supreme Court justices.
“It’s effective,” he said, in getting justices and others to be intimidated.
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Trump Jr. said it is no coincidence the sentencing in his father’s case is scheduled for July 11, just days before the Republican National Convention.
“Do you think that’s a coincidental timing, or do you think that’s designed to throw a wrench, into that? I mean, yet another coincidence, right,” he asked.
“I imagine they will try” to put the president in jail, Trump Jr. said.
“There’s not a single aspect of this case that should stand in any court.”