House Speaker Mike Johnson made a surprise appearance Tuesday at former President Donald Trump’s trial in New York. He told reporters that all the cases brought against Mr. Trump amount to election interference and Congress has a constitutional responsibility to investigate the prosecutors and “hold them accountable.”
Mr. Johnson, Louisiana Republican, is the highest-ranking elected official in a string of senators and House representatives who have streamed into the lower Manhattan courthouse to witness the weekslong trial.
“I came here on my own to support President Trump because I am one of hundreds of millions of people and one citizen who is deeply concerned about this,” Mr. Johnson said.
Joining Mr. Johnson directly behind Mr. Trump in the courtroom were former presidential candidates Vivek Ramaswamy and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and Rep. Byron Donalds, a Florida Republican and outspoken Trump ally.
The Republican allies who have streamed in and out of Mr. Trump’s trial have also helped him overcome a gag order that prohibits the presidential candidate from speaking publicly about many of the people involved in the case. A New York appeals court upheld the gag order on Tuesday.
“I do have a lot of surrogates, and they are speaking very beautifully,” Mr. Trump said in the courthouse hallway.
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Sen. J.D. Vance, Ohio Republican, told reporters outside the courtroom on Monday that the case is politically motivated and the prosecutor’s key witness, Mr. Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen, is a liar whose testimony isn’t credible.
“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,” Mr. Vance said.
Democratic National Committee officials accused the lawmakers of skipping out of their day jobs to provide “emotional support” to the former president and “echo Mr. Trump’s lies and nod approvingly in the background.”
Many of the cameo appearances are from lawmakers vying for a place on Mr. Trump’s evolving list of potential running mates or who are seeking maximum exposure for their alliance with the popular former president.
Mr. Vance is a leading contender for the vice presidential slot.
Sen. Rick Scott, running for reelection in Florida, also showed up this week.
For Mr. Johnson, Mr. Trump has been a lifeline in the face of hard-line House conservatives who accuse him of capitulating to Democrats on key legislation.
Mr. Trump last week called on House Republicans to block Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s effort to remove Mr. Johnson as speaker. Fewer than a dozen complied with the hard-liner from Georgia.
Appearing before reporters outside the courthouse, Mr. Johnson told reporters he came to the trial because Congress has an oversight responsibility.
He pointed to the recent revelation that evidence “might have been tampered with” in another criminal case against Mr. Trump. Special counsel Jack Smith has charged the former president with illegally taking classified documents from the White House and mishandling them.
“It is our objective and our responsibility to hold them accountable,” Mr. Johnson said. “These are politically motivated trials, and they are a disgrace. It’s election interference.”
House Judiciary Committee lawmakers announced last week that they were investigating Mr. Smith’s classified documents case after he acknowledged that some evidence was altered or manipulated after the FBI seized the documents from Mr. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in August 2022.
The Judiciary Committee is also investigating the hush money case in New York.
Mr. Trump is on trial on charges of bookkeeping fraud to conceal a $130,000 payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, Ohio Republican, sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland in April demanding documents and information about the Justice Department’s “coordination” with New York County District Attorney Alvin Bragg. Matthew Colangelo, a former senior Justice Department official, is the lead prosecutor in the case against Mr. Trump.
Mr. Jordan is also investigating the election interference case against Mr. Trump in Fulton County, Georgia.
On Thursday, Mr. Jordan sent a letter seeking testimony from former Fulton County special prosecutor Nathan Wade. Mr. Wade was bounced from the case after an attorney for one of the defendants exposed his affair with District Attorney Fani Willis, who hired him. Mr. Jordan accuses the duo of profiting from a political prosecution against the former president.
The speaker told reporters outside the courthouse in New York that Congress “will continue to shine a light” on what he believes are politically motivated trials.
• Susan Ferrechio can be reached at sferrechio@washingtontimes.com.
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