Trump guilty: Trump team declares Lar­ry Hogan polit­i­cal­ly dead for ver­dict response

Mary­land Sen­ate Repub­li­can nom­i­nee Lar­ry Hogan sought to strike a neu­tral tone to for­mer Pres­i­dent Don­ald Trump’s guilty ver­dict on Thurs­day, con­trast­ing the GOP’s mes­sage that it was a “rigged” polit­i­cal process.
Hogan, a for­mer two-term gov­er­nor and cen­trist Repub­li­can, said in a state­ment before the guilty ver­dict was hand­ed down by a jury in Trump’s New York hush-mon­ey tri­al that Amer­i­cans should “respect the ver­dict and the legal process” — regard­less of the result.
TRUMP GUILTY IN MANHATTAN HUSH MONEY CASE
“At this dan­ger­ous­ly divid­ed moment in our his­to­ry, all lead­ers — regard­less of par­ty — must not pour fuel on the fire with more tox­ic par­ti­san­ship,” Hogan said. “We must reaf­firm what has made this nation great: the rule of law.”
He was met with swift rebuke from Trump cam­paign senior advi­sor Chris LaCivi­ta, who sug­gest­ed Hogan sealed his own polit­i­cal fate in a deep blue state. A long­time anti-Trump Repub­li­can, Hogan will need all the GOP vot­ers he can muster in order to flip the open Sen­ate seat red.
“You just ende …