Officials said former President Trump’s allies, who came to a New York City courtroom this week on their own volition and without coordination from the Trump campaign, told Fox News Digital that Republican guests He said he came “from the heart” and “to support a friend” during the event. his criminal trial.
Trump arrived in a lower Manhattan courtroom Tuesday for the 17th day of his trial, joining dozens of Republican supporters.
NY V Trump: Prosecutors resume questioning Michael Cohen after testimony about Stormy Daniels payments
Sen. J.D. Vance watches as former President Donald Trump speaks to the media during Trump’s trial on charges of concealing hush money payments at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York City, May 13, 2024. (Mark Peterson Poole/Getty Images)
A Trump campaign official told Fox News Digital: “All guests came to the court voluntarily to support our friend President Trump and were not invited by the campaign.”
The official said the growing number of Republicans gathering at the courthouse in downtown Manhattan “is not some kind of orchestrated political thing.”
Elected officials including Sen. J.D. Vance, Sen. Tommy Tuberville and Rep. Nicole Malliotakis of New York visited the courthouse where former President Donald Trump is on trial Monday. (Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)
House Speaker Mike Johnson, Reps. Byron Donald and Cory Mills, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy joined the former president in court Tuesday.
Sen. J.D. Vance, Sen. Tommy Tuberville, Sen. Rick Scott, and Rep. Nicole Malliotakis appeared in court Monday with the former president.
“Once again, I’m here alone today to support President Trump,” Johnson, R-Louisiana, said outside a courtroom in New York City on Tuesday morning.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson speaks outside Manhattan Criminal Court as former President Donald Trump stands trial in New York City on charges of concealing hush money payments related to an affair. (Alex Kent/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)
A source close to Vance also told Fox News Digital that the senator was “in court yesterday for a very simple reason: to show support for a friend.”
“No one on the Trump team asked him to go,” the source told Fox News Digital. “He just thought it was the right thing to do.”
Michael Cohen testifies that he secretly recorded President Trump in preparation for the 2016 election
President Trump’s son Eric Trump also appeared in court this week in support of his father.
The support came after former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen took the stand.
Former President Donald Trump’s lawyer Alina Haba arrives in Manhattan Criminal Court on May 14, 2024, for trial on charges that she concealed hush money payments related to his affair with Stormy Daniels. . (Curtis Means – Pool/Getty Images)
Cohen is a leading witness as Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and his team try to prove that the former president falsified business records in connection with a $130,000 payment to an adult film actress. It is said that there is. stormy daniels.
Bragg accuses Trump There were 34 cases of first-degree falsification of business records.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges and maintains his innocence.
Johnson attends Trump trial in Manhattan to show support
Cohen, who once famously said he would “take a bullet” for his longtime boss and friend, Trump, was involved in a campaign against Daniels to cover up the allegations against him ahead of the 2016 presidential election. testified about his role in arranging hush money payments to Mr. How her sexual encounter with Trump in the early 2000s became public.
Mr. Cohen testified Monday that he personally paid Mr. Daniels $130,000 using a home equity line of credit (HELOC) to hide the payments from his wife. Cohen said he did so because President Trump told him to “deal with it” and prevent negative stories before the election.
Mr. Cohen said former Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg facilitated the plan to redeem his payments, and claimed that Mr. Trump himself knew the details of the redemption.
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Judge Juan Melchán, presiding over the case, placed Trump under a gag order during the trial, preventing him from speaking about court officials or witnesses. Marchan has already charged Trump with contempt of court for violating the gag order 10 times and fined the former president $10,000. Marchan threatened Trump with prison time if he violated the gag order again.
During Cohen’s testimony, Trump’s allies will be able to speak out against his former lawyer in and out of court on Cohen’s behalf.
