'Such a proud moment': Ex-RNC chair sarcastically rips party as Trump goes on trial

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - APRIL 15: Former U.S. President Donald Trump returns from a break as jury selection begins in his trial at Manhattan Criminal Court on April 15, 2024 in New York City. Former President Donald Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first of his criminal cases to go to trial.

Michael Steele, the former Chairman of the Republican National Committee, gave his one-time party a sarcastic congratulatory message as it watched its presumptive presidential nominee go on trial on multiple felony charges.

Writing on Twitter, Steele said that Trump's trial related to allegedly falsifying business records to cover up hush-money payments was "such a proud moment" for the one-time "Party of Lincoln."

"Our nominee for president is sitting in a courtroom on trial for 34 counts of first-degree falsifying business records," Steele argued. "In 2016, Donald Trump tried to hide from the voting public damaging information about his affairs with a porn star and a Playboy model (while his wife was at home nursing their new born son -- good Christian values with this one) and in order to do so instructed his attorney, Michael Cohen, to pay Stormy Daniels $130K to keep silent."

READ MORE: Why has America tolerated 6 illegitimate Republican presidents?

Steele went on to explain why this case was about much more than just the seedy practice of paying off former mistresses to keep quiet during a political campaign.

"This case is NOT about the payment but rather about the 'catch and kill' scheme," he wrote. "The effort to falsify official records -- to conceal his agreement with others in order to coverup the payment from the public and 'to unlawfully influence the 2016 presidential election.'"

Steele concluded his tweet by once again emphasizing that he was "So Proud" of this development.

Trump's trial related to hush-money payments is far from the only legal trouble he faces, and many legal experts have called the other charges that have been leveled against him -- including allegedly trying to defraud the United States with a scheme to illegally stay in power and allegedly obstructing government efforts to retrieve top-secret government documents from his Mar-a-Lago resort -- as significantly more serious.

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