United States: Tuesday morning, House Speaker Mike Johnson and a phalanx of prominent Republicans prepared to serve as spokesperson for the former president greeted Donald Trump at the courthouse for the next round of his hush money trial.
Outcry Against Gag Order
Johnson declared, “They have imposed an absurd and unprecedented gag order on President Trump.” “At the most crucial moment, they are subverting his constitutional right to protect himself against political defamation from his most ardent detractors.”
“He will shortly formally be nominated for president by one of the major parties in our nation. He continued, saying that Trump is innocent and that the “sham trial” amounts to a “yearslong partisan witch hunt.” “And they have him tied up here in this ridiculous prosecution,” he claimed.
He claimed, “They are doing this on purpose to keep him here and off the campaign trail.”
Allegations of Political Motives
Along with Johnson, other people who joined Trump on Tuesday included Vivek Ramaswamy, a previous contender for the presidency, Rep. Byron Donalds, Rep. Cory Mills of Florida, and Gov. Doug Burgum of North Dakota.
This action is taken when the execution draws near to calling every single bone of the substantiations who gave harsh, if not outright foe, evidence against the former chairman. Tuesday’s evidence from Michael Cohen, the execution’s star substantiation and former counsel to President Trump, will continue.
“I do have a lot of surrogates and they are speaking very beautifully,” Trump told reporters before heading into the courtroom for the start of Day 15 of the trial. “They come from all over Washington, and they’re highly respected and they think this is the biggest scam they’ve ever seen. And so do Democrats – they’re very embarrassed by what’s going on.”
Support from Prominent Figures
Reporters in the courtroom indicate that although Sen. Rick Scott of Florida and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who are both facing legal issues, have made brief appearances, Trump’s entourage currently occupies more than a row in the gallery.
Sen. J.D. Vance of West Virginia, Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, Rep. Nicole Malliotakis of New York, and two Republican state attorneys general, Brenna Bird of Iowa and Steve Marshall of Alabama, joined Trump in the gallery on Monday to show their support.
Sen. Mitt Romney on Republicans who’ve attended Trump’s criminal trial:
“I think it’s a little demeaning to show up in front of a courthouse—and particularly one where we’re talking about an allegation of paying a porn star. It’s really very difficult to watch…There’s a level… pic.twitter.com/mm42nexAjZ
— Republican Accountability (@AccountableGOP) May 15, 2024
Surrogates Speak Out:
Vance told reporters outside the courthouse on Monday, “The thing that the president is prevented from saying, which is a disgrace, is that every single person involved in this prosecution is practically a Democratic political operative.”
Members of Trump’s posse are not only standing by him personally but also speaking out; some are even criticizing the same individuals the gag order prevents him from discussing. For instance, in a social media post, Ramaswamy denigrated Judge Juan Merchan’s family.
Without providing evidence, he wrote on Tuesday morning, “The irony here is that the crime is supposedly about bad bookkeeping, but the real bookkeeping scandal is how to account for Judge Merchan’s own family members being paid millions of dollars by Democratic operatives.”
Future Political Ambitions
Interestingly, a number of the surrogates present in the courthouse this week, including Vance, Ramaswamy, and Burgum, are thought to be competing for jobs in a future Trump administration.
