Speaker’s attendance at Trump trial marks aremarkable moment in US politics
House of Representatives speaker Mike Johnson lambasted the United Statesjudicial system on Tuesday as he became the highest-ranking Republican to attend court with Donald Trump, echoing arguments made by theformer president and his allies.
It was a remarkable moment in modern American politics; the powerfulHouse speaker signalled a turn for his political party against the federal andstate legal systems and demonstrated further loyalty toward Trump
Johnson – a lawyer who is second in line for the presidency aftervice-president Kamala Harris – called the court system “corrupt” and the caseagainst Trump a “sham”, while alleging that the special counsel who’s chargedTrump in two separate cases has doctored evidence. He also attacked thecredibility of Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer and fixer who began hissecond day of testimony in the former president's trial.
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Trump’s campaign has lined up allies in recent days to appear at the NewYork courthouse to attack witnesses and others whom Trump is barred by ajudge’s gag order from criticising himself.
Also supporting Trump on Tuesday were US Republican Byron Donalds ofFlorida and North Dakota governor Doug Burgum – both considered possible vicepresidential candidates – as well as former GOP candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, oneof Trump’s current top surrogates.
Senators JD Vance of Ohio and Tommy Tuberville of Alabama were amongthose who attended court on Monday.
Their presence and comments critical of the process and its participantshave let Trump and his allies amplify their message without risking anotherexplicit violation of a gag order.
Johnson specifically criticised three people Trump is prohibited from insulting.He assailed Cohen as “a man who is clearly on a mission for personal revenge”,said lead prosecutor Matthew Colangelo “recently received over $10,000 inpayments from the Democratic National Committee” and said the daughter of JudgeJuan Merchan has made “millions of dollars” doing online fundraising forDemocrats.
Johnson has been using the pulpit of the speaker’s office in Washingtonto attack the US judicial system, criticising the courts as biased against theformer president, claiming the case is politically motivated by Democrats andinsisting Trump has done nothing wrong.
And Johnson, who is dependent on support from Trump to keep thespeaker’s gavel, is far from alone. A growing number of Republicans have beenturning against the US system of justice in a stark assault as they trek to thecourthouse to stand with the indicted former president.
Johnson made an appearance with the former president at his Mar-a-Lagoclub last month to announce new House legislation to require proof ofcitizenship for voting, echoing Trump’s claims that Democrats are abettingimmigrants entering the US illegally to swing elections.
