Sen. Marcio Rubio (R-FL) stepped in it on Wednesday after he ran with a highly misleading social media post from a Fox News personality about the jury instructions given in Donald Trump's hush money trial.
After the jury began deliberations after Judge Juan Merchan elaborated on their duties, Fox's John Roberts posted on X, "Judge Merchan just told the jury that they do not need unanimity to convict. 4 could agree on one crime, 4 on a different one, and the other 4 on another. He said he would treat 4-4-4 as a unanimous verdict."
Roberts, in turn, was admonished by legal experts, with the Washington Post's Philip Bump clarifying, "Merchan’s point wasn’t that unanimity wasn’t needed to convict Trump; it is. His point was that jurors didn’t need to agree on the unlawful means used in that conspiracy to determine that Trump attempted to cover up the conspiracy. "
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That didn't stop Rubio, who attended the University of Miami Law School, from jumping into the fray by posting, "Judge in Trump case in NYC just told jury they don’t have to unanimously agree on which crime was committed as long as they all at least pick one And that among the crimes the can pick from are ones Trump WASN’T EVEN CHARGED WITH!!! This is exactly the kind of sham trial used against political opponents of the regime in the old Soviet Union."
For his efforts, Rubio was schooled on X by legal scholars, including former FBI agent and attorney Asha Rangappa who responded, "Marco, maybe this picture will help. Trump is charged with falsifying business records (the top part of the drawing). The jury must be unanimous to convict him of that crime. One of the *elements* the government has to prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, is that he falsified those records to commit or conceal another crime (the bottom part of the drawing). The jury does not have to be unanimous on which underlying crime he was intending to conceal, just that he had the intent. I know it’s a lot to follow, but I think you can do it! "
Rubio's legal humiliation drew the notice of MSNBC's Steve Benen, who made a point of noting that Rubio seems to be auditioning to be Donald Trump's 2024 running mate.
As he wrote, "When the Fox News host mischaracterized the jury instructions, one could argue that he’s not a lawyer and simply got confused. When Trump mischaracterized the jury instructions, it was even less surprising, given that the Republican lies uncontrollably, has no background in the law and has routinely struggled to understand the basics of trial procedures," before adding, "But Rubio is a lawyer. He went to law school. He practiced law before beginning a lengthy career as a lawmaker.The GOP senator, in other words, doesn’t have an excuse for getting this wrong — and he most certainly flubbed the details in this instance."
Noting that the Florida lawmaker, "described the instructions in a nonsensical way, equated them with the USSR, and left his missive online even after it was discredited," Benen stated, "Rubio — who, again, really should’ve known better — pushed a wildly misleading claim that both undermines public confidence in the judicial system and seems likely to increase threats against the judge who did nothing wrong."
"No one should want to be vice president this badly," he dryly added.
