Billionaire Bill Ackman: Trump’s guilty verdict was the result of a political agenda and a kangaroo court

In a post on X, the CEO of $11 billion hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management wrote: “I think any objective person would have to agree with Gov. Ron DeSantis here.” Trump was found guilty of 34 felony charges of falsifying business records in the first degree. In a statement after the verdict, Trump alleged the trial was rigged, in addition to alleging that New York State Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan, who presided over the case, was biased against him. After the verdict, Trump declared himself “a very innocent man.”

According to DeSantis, the historic outcome is the result of “leftist prosecutor” Alvin Bragg, “a partisan judge,” and “a jury reflective of one of the most liberal enclaves in America.” DeSantis is referring to New York City, where Trump’s six-week trial was held and where Ackman’s hedge fund is headquartered. DeSantis previously ran against Trump in the 2024 Republican presidential primary before he dropped out and backed him. DeSantis is also a Harvard Law School graduate who served as a military lawyer and federal prosecutor.

After the verdict, DeSantis wrote that the case was a decade old and the fact that it was even brought to trial “is a testament to the political debasement of the justice system in places like New York City.” He said that Bragg “routinely” shrugs off criminal behavior in a way that endangers New Yorkers, as evidence of his effort to “get” Trump with the falsified business records case.

“It is often said that no one is above the law, but it is also true that no one is below the law,” DeSantis wrote on X. “If the defendant were not Donald Trump, this case would never have been brought, the judge would have never issued similar rulings, and the jury would have never returned a guilty verdict.”

He closed by writing that the rule of law in this country should be applied in a level way and “not become captive to the political agenda of some kangaroo court.”