(LibertySons.org) – House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has visited the Manhattan court where former president Donald Trump is on trial for falsifying business documents. Johnson blasted the trial as a politically motivated “sham,” an intervention that’s likely to go down well with Trump’s supporters. As Democrats continue their legal pursuit of the Republican nominee, it’s causing growing concerns about the political abuse of our legal system.
Speaker Condemns “Corrupt” Prosecution
On May 16, Johnson appeared at the courthouse where Trump’s former fixer, Michael Cohen, was giving evidence against the former president. Prosecutors believe Cohen is their strongest witness — although there are serious questions about his credibility — and, with little real evidence to back up the charges beyond the convicted lawyer’s testimony, his appearance could be the deciding point in the case. Johnson picked a critical moment to visit.
Talking to journalists outside the courthouse, Johnson slammed the “ridiculous prosecution,” saying it was about politics, not justice. He accused liberals of election interference and added that “the American people are not going to let this stand.”
The evidence suggests Johnson is probably right; a recent poll for the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph found that voters in six key states — Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania — would be more likely to vote for Trump if he’s found guilty.
The Telegraph poll isn’t an outlier. Another survey in March found that 62% of Americans think the trial is “mainly motivated by politics.” This erodes faith in our legal system, which is already at a low ebb, and it risks the political process.
Trump and his supporters refused to accept the result of the 2020 election based on unproven worries about voting fraud. If he’s the victim of a politically driven prosecution and then loses in November, is he likely to think he lost a fair contest? Liberals are setting themselves up for another string of challenges to the result.
For now, though, Johnson –- who, in early April, called the legal pursuit of Trump a “borderline criminal conspiracy,” is just voicing the public’s worries and standing up for his party’s candidate. Describing Trump as a friend, he said the justice system has been “weaponized” against him and warned that Americans are “losing faith” in the courts.
Johnson isn’t the only senior Republican willing to publicly back Trump through his trial, either. Four others visited the court this week; Senators JD Vance (R-OH) and Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) were there on Monday, and Representative Byron Donalds (R-FL) and North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum (R) on Tuesday. Trump might be on trial, but the GOP is rallying around him.
~Here’s to Our Liberty!
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