'He's a crook and he needs to pay': New report shines light on Biden voters demanding Trump face charges

While President Joe Biden and many of his allies seem eager to move on from the Trump era, a New York Times report from Trip Gabriel this week found that the urge to hold Donald Trump and his enablers to account is strong among supporters of the new administration.

"He's a crook and he needs to pay for the crimes he's done," a Republican Biden voter named Teresa Steele told the Times.

Gabriel notes that Democratic "institutionalists led by Mr. Biden want to hammer out deals with congressional Republicans, while the Democratic base is eager for Mr. Trump, his allies and his family members to be held fully accountable."

Washington Post/ABC News and Pew Research polls released earlier this month bear out Gabriel's reporting. The Post/ABC poll found that 56% of respondents wanted Trump removed from office, while Pew found that 54% wanted him removed — a number that soared to 83% among Democrats and those who lean Democrat. And the Post/ABC poll also found that 54% of respondents wanted Trump to face criminal prosecution for the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol Building.

Trump also faces potential legal exposure on many other fronts, including possible tax and business crimes, a 2016 hush money scheme, and the potential obstruction of justice documented by former Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

Nancy MacEoin, a Philadelphia-based criminal defense lawyer, believes that voters will be disappointed if there are no repercussions for Trump's wrongdoing.

MacEoin told the Times, "Many of us voted to get Trump out, not necessarily to be pro-Biden. Backing off any sort of prosecution of Trump is going to alienate those people."

According to Gabriel, "Interviews with two dozen Biden voters across the country found near unanimity that it was important for the Senate, the Justice Department and state prosecutors to aggressively pursue Mr. Trump, his family members and top aides — holding them accountable well beyond the impeachment charge against the president for inciting the Capitol riot on Jan. 6. The consensus cut across differences of ideology, income, race and sex."

Gabriel notes that the Jan. 6 attack isn't the only part of Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election that could result in criminal charges.

"In Georgia, a district attorney is weighing a criminal investigation of Mr. Trump for trying to coerce elections officials to 'find' him more votes after he lost the state," he said.

Biden has said that he doesn't think it is "good for democracy" to prosecute a former president, but Robert Landry, a retired truck driver from Two Rivers, Wisconsin, disagrees. Landry told the Times, "The next guy who wants to be dictator or whoever, he's going to be a lot smarter than Trump. If you don't hold these people accountable and say, 'No, this is too far,' somebody's going to come along and push it further. I believe some of those people are already in Congress."