Former President Donald Trump arrived at New York City Criminal Court Tuesday with a solid show of support behind him.
Flanking the presumptive Republican nominee were House Speaker Mike Johnson, former GOP primary candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, as well as Reps. Byron Donalds and Cory Mills. Members of Trump’s family, his son Eric and his wife Lara were also attending Tuesday’s proceedings.
Trump addressed reporters when he arrived at the court where his so-called hush money trial continues Tuesday with testimony again from former lawyer Michael Cohen.
“There’s never been anything like this in the history of our country,” Trump said as he read quotes from papers he held in his hand. “It’s a scam. It’s election interference at a level that’s never taken place before.”
“I paid a lawyer a certain amount of money. We marked it down as a legal expense. So I had a legal expense, and I marked it down as a legal expense,” he continued. “I didn’t mark it down as construction of a wall, construction of a building. I didn’t mark it down as electricity costs. I took a legal expense and — I didn’t do it, a bookkeeper did it, and she did it exactly right — took a legal expense and called it a legal expense. This is their whole case.”
Trump read quotes from those who have been critical of the “sham” trial, including one from Ramaswamy who stood behind in the group that accompanied the former president to court.
“Vivek, who’s here right now so he can speak for himself, said ‘This is a sham trial— it’s politically motivated, it’s an assault on the leading candidate for US president,'” Trump said, reading the quote before adding, “I would expect he’d say something good.”
“And now, if you don’t mind, I’m going to go into the icebox and sit for a long time,” Trump told reporters, referring to the temperature inside the courtroom.
The House Speaker delivered remarks in a press briefing a short time later.
“ I wanted to be here myself, to call out what is a travesty of justice,” Johnson told reporters outside of the courtroom. “President Trump is a friend and I wanted to be here to support him.”
The Louisiana Republican also called out the “sham trial” that he said is meant to keep Trump off the campaign trail, adding that he is “disgusted” by what is happening.
“The judicial system in our country has been weaponized against President Trump,” Johnson said. “The system is using all the tools at its disposal right now to punish one president, to provide cover for another.”
He took aim at the prosecution’s “star witness” Michael Cohen.
“I just listened to a few moments of his testimony this morning and it is consistent with what he’s already done,” Johnson said.
“This is a man who is clearly on a mission for personal revenge, and who is widely known as a witness who has trouble with the truth,” the GOP leader continued.
“He is someone who has a history of perjury and is well known for it. No one should believe a word he says today,” Johnson added. “He lied to Congress. He lied to the IRS. He lied to federal election officials. Even Cohen’s own lawyer testified to a grand jury that he is not reliable. So, there’s nothing that he presents here that should be given any weight at all by a jury and certainly not this judge.”
Johnson reiterated the political motivation behind the trial and the attacks on Trump.
“They have him tied up here in this ridiculous prosecution that is not about justice, it is all about politics and everybody can see that,” Johnson said. “It’s so corrupt and everyone knows it.’
The united show of support for Trump enraged the left, where Mike Johson’s appearance particularly received an impressive amount of backlash.
“I know we are far beyond anything remotely normal anymore but it’s difficult to fully appreciate how unusual & obscene this is,” an X user ‘KareBearScare’ posted. “The Speaker of the House, in public representative capacity, is acting as a conduit for a criminal former president to assist his political campaign,” the statement continued, garnering over 600 ‘likes’ in support.
The speaker’s appearance even prompted what was meant to be a disparaging term ‘Maga Mike’ to trend on X for hours.
MAGA Mike Johnson is showing up at the Trump trial today to show his support for cheating on your wife with a porn star, paying her hush money, and then falsifying business records so the voting public doesn’t find out the truth.
— Mark Jacob (@MarkJacob16) May 14, 2024
Another paid stunt, I want to see if his travel expenses are paid by tax payers or himself. Tax payers should not be paying for this political stunt
— Don James (@don890702) May 14, 2024
Trump-hating Liz Cheney didn’t miss a beat, and jumped in the fray to slam Johnson:
Have to admit I’m surprised that @SpeakerJohnson wants to be in the “I cheated on my wife with a porn star” club. I guess he’s not that concerned with teaching morality to our young people after all. https://t.co/wTHWvA1m85
— Liz Cheney (@Liz_Cheney) May 14, 2024
But, it wasn’t just leftists (and Cheney) who were upset with Johnson. Georgia GOP Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene also blasted the speaker for not doing more to fight against the political prosecution:
https://twitter.com/RepMTG/status/1790392676161917400
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida. Powers also contributes to BizPac Review.
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