House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) will appear in Manhattan court Tuesday as former President Trump sits down for another day of his secret trial.
Johnson is the latest Republican lawmaker to visit the courthouse amid Trump’s criminal trial, which kept the former president off the campaign trail while he sought another term in the White House. Rep. Cory Mills will also join Trump in court on Tuesday, the Florida Republican told The Hill.
The House speaker’s trip to New York comes less than a week after the House overwhelmingly blocked an attempt by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) to remove him from office, an outcome that some attributed, at least in part, to the former president. Johnson’s support.
Trump has expressed support for Johnson on several occasions amid the impeachment threat, including during a joint appearance at Mar-a-Lago and with a social media post urging Republicans to vote to advance Greene’s motion to vacate her post. WhatSocial Truthpost – which called Johnson a “good man who is trying very hard” – published minutes after voting closed, however.
Trump also urged Greene to drop her motion to vacate the push during a phone call earlier this month, a source told The Hill last week.
Johnson, for his part, has clung to Trump’s support while Greene has dangled her motion to vacate his head, declaring during a press conference last week that he was “happy to have President Trump’s support” and using the same appearance to protest the former president’s legal proceedings Last month, he unveiled a bill along with the Republican Party’s presumptive presidential nominee that would ban non-U.S. citizens from voting — which is already illegal.
In a statement confirming Johnson’s appearance in Manhattan, the House Speaker’s office called the case of silence “the false accusation of President Trump” and criticized “left-leaning Manhattan District Attorney” Alvin Bragg, who led the investigation into the former -president.
Johnson’s expected appearance was first reported byPunchbowl News.
The House speaker’s appearance in Manhattan signals that despite Trump’s turbulent legal proceedings and ongoing testimony in the silence case, House Republicans are steadfast in their support for the former president, who completed the GOP nomination in March.
Last week, after Johnson survived his impeachment attempt, he said the House had “important work” to do, including electing a Republican president in November.
“We have to fight for this every day, because we are in a battle between two competing visions of what America is and what will be. And that’s what I do every day here, and I’m going to continue like that,” he said. “We have an important job not only to keep the majority in the house, but to grow the majority, because that will be necessary to help save this country. And the work we have to do to elect a Republican president is also in that.”
Updated at 9:44 a.m. EDT
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
