Kaine advocating for fair trial for Trump, mental health services for military, money for ships

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WVIR) - U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D) says he has one clear expectation in former-President Donald Trump’s (R) trial on federal charges, but it has nothing to do with what the jury says.

Instead, it’s about what the jury sees.

Sen. Kaine talked Wednesday, June 14, about the 37 individual charges Trump is facing in federal court, but directed the conversation away from partisan bickering, and toward basic expectations.

“He [Trump] has to be accountable under the law just like anybody does,” the senator said.

Kaine says the former president’s federal criminal charges are a very different thing than the impeachments he survived on Capitol Hill.

“That are crimes related to highly sensitive national security information and his unwillingness to return them when repeatedly asked and even affirmative efforts to hide them or pretend that he didn’t have them,” Kaine said. “What I hope is what I think everyone would hope, that there will be a fair and impartial trial and all the facts that are relevant and necessary will be put before, ultimately, a jury, and then the jury will render its conclusion about Donald Trump’s culpability.”

The senator also discussed Wednesday the National Defense Authorization Act. Kaine says his priorities are on mental health.

“I’ve been doing a lot of work in the aftermath of this tragic rash of suicides,” Sen. Kaine said. “Digging deeper into some of the compounding issues that lead to stresses, but also some weaknesses in the way we provide mental health services.”

The senator says he is working with the Defense Health Agency to provide more accessible mental health treatments for service members.

Kaine’s other focus is space for ship building: “We need 31 amphibious ships, particularly as we pivot to the Indo-Pacific, to enable us to get troops to where they need to be, to work together with allies to protect American and protect those allies and protect peaceful navigation of the seas,” he said.

Kaine says President Biden’s budget and shipbuilding plan delivered by the White House do not include the amphibious ships the senator wants to see completed.

Kaine says that is a change he will push for.

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