House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) defended his decision to attend former President Trump’s secret trial in New York earlier this week, calling the case an “atrocity.”
In an interview with NBC NewsJohnson said he rode in the car with the former president from Trump Tower to the Manhattan courthouse on Tuesday, where Trump sat before a judge during the fifth week of his criminal trial.
Johnson and several other Republican allies showed up to show support for the presumptive Republican nominee and dismissed the lawsuits as election interference. The speaker said Trump is angry about not being able to campaign.
“He is clearly frustrated to be incarcerated now for the fifth week in this trial that has no merit, that prosecutors already rejected eight years ago, that cannot define any crime he allegedly committed and the entire case is based on known perjury, Michael Cohen,” Johnson said in the interview on Wednesday. “So it’s an atrocity.”
Johnson said he spoke with Trump about how the Republican Party’s “future official candidate” is expected to be in court most of the week as witnesses take the stand rather than on the campaign trail, “in what many of us consider will be the most critical of our life.”
Trump highlighted the large area around the courthouse that was closed off by authorities when the motorcade arrived. Johnson said he believes there is political motivation to keep Trump supporters away from the entrance.
“I think it’s part of the strategy and I just think it’s a travesty of justice,” he said.
Johnson was joined by Sens. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) and Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), Reps. Byron Donalds (R-Florida) and Cory Mills (R-Florida), as well as former GOP nominee Vivek Ramaswamy and others on the court supporting Trump.
His status as speaker of the House makes him the highest-ranking lawmaker to attend Trump’s trial so far, and it is also a sign that House Republicans are supporting the former president despite the legal troubles and promiscuous details revealed on court.
Johnson drew criticism from Democrats for attending. Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) said it was a “stunt” that diminishes the House of Representatives and that the American people “deserve better.”
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
