In a brief press conference held outside the Manhattan courthouse where former President Donald Trump’s New York trial is ongoing, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) strongly criticized the proceedings, calling them a “travesty of justice” on Tuesday, May 14.
Mr. Johnson, a former litigator and the current highest-ranking Republican, expressed his outrage at the legal proceedings and the broader implications for the American judicial system. He said he called President Trump and told him he wanted to be at the trial in person.
Restrictions and Concerns
The press conference took place outside the courthouse, as Mr. Johnson noted that the court did not permit statements to be made inside the building. “That’s just one of the many things that are wrong here,” he added.Mr. Johnson condemned the trial, now in its fifth week, as a deliberate attempt to hinder President Trump’s 2024 campaign efforts.
“They are doing this intentionally to keep him here and keep him off the campaign trail, and I think everybody in the country can see that for what it is,” he said.
The speaker did not mince words in his criticism of the key figures involved in the trial, accusing them of blatant partisanship.
“What we’ve got here is a partisan Democrat district attorney, we have a Biden donor judge, and we have an assistant DA who was recently a top official at the Department of Justice, Biden’s DOJ, and recently received over $10,000 in payments from the Democratic National Committee,” he said.
Mr. Johnson reaffirmed his commitment to supporting President Trump and fighting what he described as politically motivated trials.
Erosion of Public Trust
Mr. Johnson voiced his discontent with the trial’s implications for the justice system.“The people are losing faith right now in this country in our institutions. They’re losing faith in our system of justice, and the reason for that is because they see it being abused as it is being done here in New York,” he said.
Mr. Johnson emphasized the importance of facts in a trial, noting that President Trump’s actions had previously been reviewed with no charges filed.
“Now, eight years later, suddenly they’ve resurrected this thing, they brought it back. And why is that? Well, just apply common sense; everyone can see. It’s painfully obvious that we are now six months out from election day, and that’s the reason. That is the reason why they brought these charges here and across the country,” he said.
Mr. Johnson also singled out former Trump attorney Michael Cohen, the prosecution’s star witness, as lacking credibility. Mr. Cohen was on the stand for the second day inside the courthouse as Mr. Johnson spoke outside.
“This is a man who is clearly on a mission for personal revenge and who is widely known as a witness who has trouble with the truth. He is someone who has a history of perjury and is well known for it. No one should believe a word he says today,” Johnson said.
Mr. Johnson also criticized the charges of falsification of business records, pointing out that President Trump was not the bookkeeper for his company.
He decried the gag order placed on President Trump as a violation of his constitutional rights.
“They were overriding his constitutional right to defend himself from political smears from his harshest critics at the most important time,” he said.
Reflecting on his travels across the country, Mr. Johnson conveyed widespread public discontent with the trial.
“I’ve been in 102 cities in over half the states in the last few months, and I can tell you that no matter where we are around the country, I’ve been doing large events,” he said. “People from all walks of life come to these events, and they are concerned about this. They are disgusted about this. They are fed up. They’ve had enough because they see what’s happening.”
The GOP elected officials were seen entering the courthouse with President Trump as he walked to cameras to give brief comments before court resumed on Tuesday morning.
