Rubio Says Trump Guilty Verdict 'Elected Him President'

The nation is still reeling from former President Donald Trump's guilty verdict in the New York hush money trial, and Republicans continue to decry it as "rigged." Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), who had earlier denounced it as "a travesty" and "a political show trial," had a more detailed conversation about the verdict in a recent appearance on Fox News, saying the result is already backfiring, to the point that "they elected [Trump] President last night."

Sen. Rubio noted that Donald Trump's WinRed campaign website crashed after the verdict, as supporters attempted to donate to his war chest.

"This is a big win. I mean, Donald Trump's website last night crashed. There are so many people giving money. I do not know what the number was; it was in the first 30 minutes, like $50 million," said Sen. Rubio.

Additionally, the Florida Senator suggested that few people outside of committed anti-Trumpers would view the trial as fair, as "the judge was an open Biden supporter, his daughter is a Democratic operative, the jury, of course, was selected from Manhattan, the [District Attorney] promised to put Trump away before, while he was running for office before he knew what he was going to charge him with."

"You had all these elements, and then the way the trial was conducted, I just heard a moment ago that snippet with Mark Levin. No doubt this will go through the appellate process, and I do think there are probably some federal constitutional rights that were clearly violated here. So put aside all that. Politically, I think Trump benefits from this; I think they elected him President last night," Rubio continued.

However, he also warned that the United States now "looks like the countries I have visited over the years and that we have lectured for years about the rule of law, a place where the court system is weaponized and it is used to go after political opponents and the people who work for them with a very clear message of, 'you stand in our way, we are going to make your life a misery."

Rubio concluded by suggesting, "That is what I think we need to fear now, is that there are plenty of Democrat, Soros, left-wing Marxist prosecutors prepared to charge people on the right with crimes in order to get them out of politics, and that is a very scary place to be. I never thought I would live in the United States of America that has that feature of its politics. That is where we are now; that is the line these people have crossed."