McConnell comes to Trump’s defense after guilty verdict

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), who has steadfastly refused to comment about the presidential race or his long-running feud with former President Trump, came to Trump’s defense Thursday night.

Hours after the jury rendered its guilty verdict, McConnell declared that the Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg should never have brought the case and predicted the conviction would be overturned.

“These charges never should have been brought in the first place. I expect the conviction to be overturned on appeal,” McConnell wrote in a social media post on X.

McConnell’s surprise decision to weigh in on the outcome of a court case that he has refused to talk about for months may indicate that Trump’s conviction could have a unifying effect on the GOP — rallying even his biggest skeptics within the party to his defense.