(Julianna Frieman, Headline USA) CNN commentator Elie Honing said the “will of the voters” prevailed despite President-elect Donald Trump’s political conviction of 34 felony counts in New York.
Trump ripped Democrats on Friday as corrupt Judge Juan Merchan sentenced him to an unconditional discharge — just to label him a “convicted felon” before he takes office on Jan. 20.
“If we think about this in the bigger picture and we go back to the summer of 2023 Donald Trump had just been hit with four separate indictments in four separate jurisdictions,” Honing said on The Situation Room. “He has two federal cases by Jack Smith, he has the Georgia prosecution, and he has this one.”
CNN’s Elie Honing says Trump’s conviction in New York helped him win the 2024 election.
“Prosecutors like to think we’re above and separate from the political process. But really, we’re all part of the same constitutional democracy. Sometimes the will of the voters wins out.” pic.twitter.com/eNZrOlVuMs
— Julianna Frieman (@JuliannaFrieman) January 11, 2025
Honing commented on the slim chance any defendant could come out of an all-out legal assault unscathed, a feat Trump achieved.
“The odds of any person coming through that with the only result being unconditional discharge, being nothing are a million to one,” the CNN legal analyst said.
He added, “And I think what ended up happening here is these prosecutions, as Judge Merchan acknowledged, had the effect of bolstering Donald Trump’s political fortunes. The American people were certainly not impressed by this one in particular.”
Trump attended his Friday sentencing remotely, telling the court the law was weaponized to torpedo his reelection bid. The Republican remarked, “Obviously, that didn’t work.”
HEAR IT NOW: President Trump sounds off on New York’s “political witch hunt” as he is sentenced in the courtroom.
“It was done to damage my reputation and so that I’d lose the election. And obviously, that didn’t work.” pic.twitter.com/nATJPxNbB2
— Julianna Frieman (@JuliannaFrieman) January 10, 2025
Honing explored Trump’s victory in his analysis of the Republican’s legal hurdles.
“And the fact that Donald Trump succeeded politically,” he continued, referencing the president-elect’s historic election win taking home the popular vote, the Electoral College, all seven battleground states and both chambers of Congress, “in turn, ended up getting him out of these prosecutions.”
NEW: Fox News says the only protesters outside the courtroom in New York during Trump’s sentencing were Trump supporters.
The left is completely demoralized. They have no fight. Exciting times ahead.
Reporter Kerri Urbahn was reporting on how Trump called out Judge Merchan by… pic.twitter.com/L92lIw75EO
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) January 10, 2025
Honing said Merchan had an “interesting observation” about Trump’s triumph. The CNN commentator broke it down by saying, “We prosecutors like to think we’re above and separate from the political process. But really, we’re all part of the same constitutional democracy. Sometimes the will of the voters wins out.”
Julianna Frieman is a freelance writer published by the Daily Caller, Headline USA, The Federalist, and the American Spectator. Follow her on Twitter at @JuliannaFrieman.
