Trump hush money trial: loyal Republicans flock to court to curry favour with ex-president
- A parade of Republicans has joined Donald Trump at court in a show of solidarity during his hush money trial
- US House Speaker Mike Johnson was the latest to do so, attacking the case against Trump as a ‘sham’
As Donald Trump faces a historic criminal trial, senior Republicans are beating a path to his New York courtroom to hammer home the narrative of a witch hunt and launch proxy attacks on witnesses he is barred from targeting.
A succession of US lawmakers, state-level officials and other figures with designs on a job in the presidential candidate’s next administration have made the pilgrimage to circle the wagons and question the legitimacy of the proceedings.
US House Speaker Mike Johnson – who is second in line to the presidency – raised eyebrows on Tuesday when he became the latest senior Republican to claim outside court that the system was being “weaponised” against Trump, calling it “corrupt”.
In a highly unusual intervention by a senior elected US official into ongoing criminal proceedings, Johnson sounded much like the defendant himself as he decried a “sham of a trial”.
“I do have a lot of surrogates and they are speaking very beautifully,” Trump deflected as he was asked by the press pack outside court if he was directing the attacks.