House Speaker Mike Johnson To Attend Hush-Money Trial In Show Of Support For Trump

 House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) will be at the Manhattan courthouse on Tuesday morning to show his support for former President Donald Trump as the presumptive Republican presidential nominee continues his battle in court.

Johnson’s plan to join Trump at the courthouse was reported by MSNBCand CNN, while the Republican speaker’s office confirmed to Fox Newsthat he would be in attendance at the New York hush-money trial. Former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is also expected to appear at the Manhattan courthouse alongside Trump on Tuesday, Fox News reported.

The speaker’s show of solidarity with Trump amidst his ongoing legal battles comes after the former president was joined at the Manhattan courthouse last week by Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) and on Monday by Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH). Trump’s Republican allies have shown up to support the former president at the courthouse as Trump is under a gag order, which was placed on him by Judge Juan Merchan. The former president has already been fined 10 times for violating the gag order, and he was threatened with jail time if he violates the judge’s order again.

“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,” Vance said outside the courthouse on Monday.

Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen testified in the hush-money trial on Monday and said that he secretly recorded Trump before the 2016 election while he was working for him. Cohen said that the recorded conversation with Trump was about a supposed payment to former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker over an alleged affair between Trump and model Karen McDougal.

Trump’s ex-lawyer is set to testify again on Tuesday. In 2018, Cohen pleaded guilty to multiple crimes — including lying to Congress — and spent time in prison.

Democratic Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has focused much of his case against Trump on Trump’s alleged relationships with McDougal and porn actress Stormy Daniels. Trump is charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to cover up an alleged affair with Daniels.

 

Trump has denied any wrongdoing and has slammed the Manhattan trial as a political witch hunt.