Former President Donald Trump and his followers are trying to portray his criminal conviction in New York as an act of tyranny, and a witch hunt that weaponized the rule of law. But that's not how the rest of the world sees it.
In fact, British journalist, television presenter, and podcaster John Sopel explained to MSNBC's Ari Melber on Wednesday, the rest of the world sees it as just another case of a politician being held to account for breaking the law.
"I would note that abroad, in your country and others ... many people who are head of state are not immune from being held accountable," said Melber. "Yes, it's more complicated, we can admit, than a random case. But we can learn that other countries, including stable Western countries, have found better to err on the side of some accountability than a license to kill and a license to corrupt, where there is no chance of accountability. Your thoughts on that and how that plays out abroad?"
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"I know all the charges that there have been about the politicization and the weaponization of your Justice Department," said Sopel. "But it seemed to me that what happened was a man was charged with a criminal offense, a jury was formed, evidence was presented, defendant chose not to give evidence in his case, jury retires to consider its verdict, comes back, finds a guilty verdict. That's how the criminal justice system works, doesn't it?"
"So, from that point of view, you just thought, well, these are the wheels of justice turning in a way that you would hope it would turn in your own country," said Sopel. "I mean, in Britain, Boris Johnson has became the first prime minister — when he was at Number 10 Downing Street, was the first to get a criminal conviction. And that was because he broke the lockdown rules that he had introduced during COVID. So, there is no immunity from prosecution for a prime minister here. Now, it's less politicized here because we've got very different justice systems. But of course there has to be accountability."
"You know, you're not electing an emperor who can rule with impunity," he added. "And that idea, I think, that there are leaders who are beyond the reach of the law, is just a kind of danger to democracy."
Watch the video below or at the link here.
John Sopel on British perspective of Trump's conviction www.youtube.com