House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, on Thursday slammed former President Trump’s conviction in a New York hush-money case and predicted that Trump will successfully appeal the “absurd” verdict.
“Today is a shameful day in American history,” Johnson said in a statement released minutes after Trump’s guilty verdict was read in court.
“The American people know, of course, that this is a legal war and that it is dangerous,” he added. “President Trump will, of course, appeal this absurd ruling, and he will win.”
The 12-person jury returned a verdict of guilty on Thursday afternoon on all 34 charges of falsifying business records after about 11 hours of deliberations following weeks of testimony. The judge is scheduled to rule on July 11, just days before Trump officially becomes the Republican presidential nominee at the Republican National Convention.
Johnson, a close ally of Trump, traveled to New York earlier this month to appear in court with the former president, becoming the highest-ranking lawmaker to appear with Trump in Manhattan amid the ongoing legal process.
The chairman has consistently condemned the hush money trial as a sham designed to politically damage the former president as he seeks another term in the White House, a view he reiterated following Trump’s conviction.
“The weaponization of the justice system has been a hallmark of the Biden administration, and today’s decision is further evidence that Democrats will stop at nothing to silence dissent and crush political opponents,” he said.
Johnson was particularly aimed at the reaction of Democrats, many of whom welcomed the guilty verdict immediately after it was read in court, including Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.), who wrote “YES!” Social Platform XRep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) with an emoji of scales of justice and an American flag. Posted a GIF Seth Meyers said, “Totally guilty.”
“Democrats cheered as they convicted the leader of their opposition on a ridiculous charge based on the testimony of a disbarred and convicted felon,” Johnson wrote. “This was purely a political stunt, not a legal one.”
Other leading Republican lawmakers quickly joined in their criticism of the conviction, slamming the case and denouncing a “weaponized” justice system.
“Today’s verdict shows how weaponized our justice system has become under Joe Biden and a Democratic Administration, corrupt, rigged and un-American,” Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York, chair of the House Republican Conference, said in a statement.
“We must work day and night to ensure that President Trump wins in November and saves America from Biden’s failed far-left Democrat policies and the illegal weaponization of our justice system against the American people,” she added.
