Grassley warns Trump hush money verdict harmed American institutions

Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley warned on Monday that U.S. institutions were damaged by former President Donald Trump's guilty verdict in his recent hush money case. 

Trump was convicted on Thursday of all 34 counts of falsifying business records to conceal a hush money payments to former porn star Stormy Daniels. The case has come under a great deal of scrutiny because of the reputation of the prosecution's star witness, instructions from the judge, and because other law experts did not want to touch the case before it was brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

Grassley slammed the verdict in a speech on the House floor, and the consequences of the allegedly partisan prosecution. 

"What concerns me most is the damage it’s done to our American institutions," Grassley said in his speech. "Federal law enforcement, the intelligence community and now, the judicial branch, have contorted themselves and, at the same time, tried to destroy Trump.  In the process, they’ve broken faith with the law, with the rules, with ethics, with the truth and with the American people."

He continued: "The steel and concrete foundations of our law enforcement and judicial institutions are breaking apart, piece by piece, bit by bit. It’s not the American people who are doing it. It’s those charged with running the institutions who are responsible for their shockingly quick decline. That decline won’t stop any time soon, so long as the left and their allies in the media continue to use the judicial system to destroy their enemies based upon make-believe cases."

Grassley commented that the long-term effects could be a United States where the voters no longer care about justice, and no longer trust the FBI, Justice Department, or the court system because of precedent set in the Trump case and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's Steele Dossier. 

"That’s why millions of Americans refuse to take this sham conviction very seriously. Trust is easy to lose, but trust is hard to gain," Grassley said. "Ultimately, only We the People can solve the constitutional crisis that politicians, law enforcement and judicial officials have disgracefully created."

Trump has vowed to appeal his verdict, but will be sentenced on July 11.