Erich Hawbaker at the Franklin County Republican Committee 2023 Lincoln Dinner held at the Fayetteville Fire Hall on March 30. (Jeremy Long - WITF)
Franklin County Republicans stand by Donald Trump despite indictment
-
Robby Brod
Erich Hawbaker at the Franklin County Republican Committee 2023 Lincoln Dinner held at the Fayetteville Fire Hall on March 30. (Jeremy Long - WITF)
A Manhattan grand jury indicted former President Donald Trump just hours before Franklin County Republicans held their annual Lincoln Dinner, keynoted by Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene and Pennsylvania state Senator Doug Mastriano.
Richard Grove, who owns a flower shop in Chambersburg and supports Mastriano because the senator resisted COVID shutdowns during the pandemic, thinks the charges against Trump are politically motivated.
Richard Grove, who owns a flower shop in Chambersburg, talks about the news that former-president Donald Trump was indicted. Grove was at the Franklin County Republican Committee 2023 Lincoln Dinner held at the Fayetteville Fire Hall on March 30. (Jeremy Long – WITF)
Grove believes the indictment is a failed attempt by Democrats to arrest Trump.
The arrest would just make me like him more,” Grove said laughing. “I think people will buy T-shirts with his mugshot. I’m going to be the first one to sell T-shirts with his mugshot.”
Erich Hawbaker, an attorney from Mercersburg, attended the event to support down-ballot candidates.
He said the case against Trump is “flimsy.”
“It looks like they’re really reaching to try to make something out of that, that’s usually a fine, at best, for what essentially amounts to a bookkeeping error,” he said Thursday. “I’m sure there’s some people out there who would love to see him get arrested, and cuffed, and mug-shotted. But it’s not like he’s going to be in jail for anything.”
Jamie Hunter from Waynesboro agreed.
“I think that they’re making a big deal out of something that probably shouldn’t be a big deal. There’s been lots of presidents in the past that have done similar things, and we’re spending money wasting money on crap basically,” she said.
Hunter voted for Trump in both 2016 and 2020, but her mind isn’t made up about 2024.
“I can’t say that I’m a Trump supporter again. But I do think that he’s being vilified and targeted.”
Susan Neill from Shippensburg came to support Mastriano and see Congresswoman Greene speak, whom she called “a very nice lady.”
Neill began supporting Trump once he began speaking out against “political correctness” and believes his indictment will result in “more mud in the left’s face.”
“They’ll get their due and they’ll be embarrassed, just like they were on the Russia thing and everything else they tried to throw at him,” she said.
She said she fully supports Trump, whether or not he has her vote in ’24.
“Whatever happens, he will come out on top. He will win. This whole thing will be behind him. They’ll come up with something new, like they always do,” she said. “[Trump] has been the most investigated man in America. I think if they haven’t found something by now, they’re scratching in the dirt.”
It is not clear what charges Trump will face since the indictment from a Manhattan grand jury is sealed. However, if Trump is arrested, Erich Hawbaker believes he’ll avoid any jail time.
“They don’t even have cash bail in New York anymore. So, if everybody else can get out on bail with no questions asked, why can’t he?”
Trump has been ordered by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office to surrender for arraignment, but he has yet to do so.
Sometimes, your mornings are just too busy to catch the news beyond a headline or two. Don’t worry. The Morning Agenda has got your back. Each weekday morning, host Tim Lambert will keep you informed, amused, enlightened and up-to-date on what’s happening in central Pennsylvania and the rest of this great commonwealth.
