SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Former President Donald Trump walked out of a New York courtroom facing 34 criminal charges relating to falsifying business records. The Manhattan District attorney calls it a catch-and-kill scheme to kill damaging information to boost the former President's chances of winning the 2016 election.
The former president pled not guilty to all counts.
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As the country watches Tuesday's unprecedented event, Chair Pro Tem of the San Diego Democratic Party said Americans deserve better.
"We'll see how it all plays out in the courts, of course, despite many times being caught making untruthful statements- outright lying," Sara Ochoa said. "Former President Trump really tries to allude to any real accountability."
Meanwhile, the San Diego Young Republicans condemn Tuesday's arraignment.
"We have a lot of young Republicans that would support Donald Trump in 2024 regardless of this, and we also have a lot of young Republicans who are waiting to receive their ballots for another year to see who they would like to vote for," said Cynthia Kaui.
While the group won't back any candidate in 2024, they view this as a distraction from Democrats.
"To take away from the bigger issues that are happening on the national level and also the failures that are happening on the local level here in San Diego," said Kaui.
It's the first time in history that a former president has been arraigned on criminal charges.
UC San Diego Political Science Professor Thad Kousser said it shows that no one is above the law.
"One of the questions people are asking is - is this political?" Kausser said. "What does this do? Is this just a way to take Donald Trump out of the presidential election?"
He says none of this was planned by Democratic political strategists, and if it were and he said it would be a bad plan.
"I think this potentially benefits Donald Trump in his presidential race by, one, focusing all the attention on him," he said. "It's been beneficial to him in the past primary and by causing many Republicans to rally to his side. If he were convicted, it doesn't make him ineligible to run for president."
