Tesla CEO and X/Twitter owner Elon Musk slammed Thursday’s guilty verdict of former President Donald Trump, saying “great damage was done to the public’s faith in the American legal system,” adding, “anyone is at risk” now that “a former president can be criminally convicted over such a trivial matter.”
“Indeed, great damage was done today to the public’s faith in the American legal system,” Musk wrote in a Thursday X/Twitter post.
“If a former President can be criminally convicted over such a trivial matter — motivated by politics, rather than justice — then anyone is at risk of a similar fate,” the Tesla CEO added.
Musk’s comment was in response to an X account named Geiger Capital that noted, “The first felony conviction of a former US President wasn’t for the Iraq or Afghanistan wars, illegal CIA coups, drone striking weddings, or spying on Americans… It was because Trump misclassified a $130,000 payment for a porn star’s NDA.”
“Tells you everything you need to know,” the Geiger Capital added.
In another post, Musk also wrote “Well said” in response to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R), who wrote, “Today’s verdict represents the culmination of a legal process that has been bent to the political will of the actors involved: a leftist prosecutor, a partisan judge and a jury reflective of one of the most liberal enclaves in America—all in an effort to ‘get’ Donald Trump.”
“That this case—involving alleged misdemeanor business records violations from nearly a decade ago—was even brought is a testament to the political debasement of the justice system in places like New York City,” DeSantis continued. “This is especially true considering this same district attorney routinely excuses criminal conduct in a way that has endangered law-abiding citizens in his jurisdiction.”
“It is often said that no one is above the law, but it is also true that no one is below the law. If the defendant were not Donald Trump, this case would never have been brought, the judge would have never issued similar rulings, and the jury would have never returned a guilty verdict,” DeSantis added.
“In America, the rule of law should be applied in a dispassionate, even-handed manner, not become captive to the political agenda of some kangaroo court,” the governor concluded in his post.
Musk also responded to billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, who reacted to DeSantis’ post, writing, “I think any objective person would have to agree with @GovRonDeSantis here.”
“Troubling indeed,” Musk commented. “The American people as a whole should decide who is president.”
The SpaceX CEO’s comments came after a Manhattan jury found President Trump guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records in his hush-money trial on Thursday.
While this would normally be a misdemeanor, for which the statute of limitations had already expired, District Attorney Alvin Bragg prosecuted the case as a felony by asserting that the alleged falsification of business records was done to cover up a federal crime. Trump has not been convicted of such a crime, and the prosecutors did not specify what crime was committed, nor did it have to prove the elements thereof.
Now, President Trump is to be sentenced in New York on July 11, just four days before the Republican National Convention is set to begin on July 15 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where delegates are to cast their votes Trump as the presidential nominee.
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and X at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.