Vulnerable House Republicans are treading carefully over former President Trump’s shocking conviction, wary of wending their way into thorny debates about hush money, porn stars and the integrity of a once-cherished criminal justice system that Trump has criticized.
While Republican leaders and many Republicans, including some on the front lines, rushed to Trump’s defense after his New York hush-money trial resulted in a guilty verdict on all charges, more than half of the 17 House members who represent districts won by President Biden in 2020 have so far remained silent.
The silence underscored the tricky political terrain moderate Republicans have faced in heavily partisan districts throughout the Trump era: While former president Trump galvanized the GOP’s conservative base and broadened the party’s base, he also energized liberals, alienated independents and caused some moderate Republican voters to leave the party altogether.
This dynamic has led many swing-district Republicans to carefully distance themselves from Trump, a mercurial figure known for demanding loyalty within his party and exacting revenge when he doesn’t get it. And that distance has become even more pronounced in Trump’s hush-money trial, where many leading Republicans have declined to comment in the wake of his guilty plea to 34 counts related to falsifying financial records to cover up an alleged affair with a porn star. The scandal may have weakened Trump’s chances of winning the White House in 2016.
“Everybody has to do what they think is prudent,” Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), who represents a district that Biden won by 6 percentage points in the 2020 presidential election, told The Hill in an interview, acknowledging the challenges facing vulnerable Republicans like himself.
“I don’t know if there’s a right or wrong answer,” he added. “Everybody has to make their own decision in their own way.”
The list of top Republicans who have yet to speak out includes several California lawmakers, including Reps. Mike Garcia, Michelle Steele, David Valadao, John Duarte and Young Kim, as well as Reps. Tom Kean Jr. (New Jersey), Brian Fitzpatrick (Pennsylvania) and David Schweikert (Arizona).
But even those who have commented on the controversial convictions have done so with caution, acknowledging the tightrope they must walk as Trump’s grip on the Republican Party tightens while their districts lean Democratic.
Shortly after the verdict was read, Bacon I wrote to XHe called the case a “sad day for our country” and an “unprecedented prosecution for a crime that is rarely prosecuted,” and accused Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D) of making prosecuting Trump part of his campaign promises.
But he also said he had “confidence in our legal system, including the appeals process.”
The Nebraska Republican told The Hill he decided to make a statement after receiving multiple inquiries about his response: “I’ve had about 10 journalists ask me,” but said he was criticizing the way the case was being handled, not endorsing the former president’s actions, and stressed he would “respect” the final decision once all appeals have been exhausted.
“I’m certainly not going to defend everything the president has done,” Bacon said, “but it does seem selective and it was done by someone who is very partisan. But I think we’re going to end up respecting that as the appeals process plays out.”
Another vulnerable Republican, Rep. Lori Chavez DeRemer (Oregon), also released a statement reacting to the ruling without mentioning the ruling. Instead, she sought to shift the focus to other unrelated issues.
“It’s unfortunate that national reports continue to overshadow the food on the table issues Oregon families face every day,” she said. KTVL News 10“Oregonians are struggling with rising prices, concerned about violent crime and rampant drug use, and want a secure border and common sense immigration policy. No amount of sensationalism about the presidential election will change the fact that Oregonians want relief from failed, extreme policies.”
The political dangers for Republicans who defy the former president have been clear since the verdict: The few Republicans who accepted the jury’s findings have been violently attacked within their own party, leaving little room for them to defy a former president who has denounced the justice system as “rigged.”
For example, former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R), who is now running for U.S. Senate in the Old Line state, spoke minutes before the guilty verdict was read, urging people to “respect the verdict and the legal process” regardless of the outcome.
“At such a dangerously divided moment in our nation’s history, leaders of all parties must not add fuel to the fire with further poisonous partisanship, but reaffirm the rule of law that has made our country great,” he added.
This view was quickly denied by Trump adviser Chris LaCivita, who wrote to X, “You just finished campaigning.”
The College Republicans faced similar treatment. The group’s national committee I wrote to XHe said the verdict was “handed down by a jury acting in accordance with our criminal justice system,” adding, “therefore, the outcome of this trial should be respected,” a move condemned by Trump’s supporters.
“Opinions are like nasty things…everyone has them,” LaCivita responded with an X.
“I’m sorry, but this is a grossly incorrect interpretation,” Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) tweeted. “This verdict should be condemned as a stain on our country and our justice system. It is the result of a rigged and corrupt trial.”
Democrats, meanwhile, are trying to exploit those internal tensions. On Thursday, the House Democrats’ campaign organization sent out a mass email accusing weaker Republicans who supported Trump’s candidacy of backing a “convicted felon.”
“House Republicans are only interested in caving to Trump, even if it means defending a convicted felon,” the message from the House Democratic Campaign Committee said.
Indeed, following the conviction, most Republican lawmakers, including leaders, rank-and-file members and even some vulnerable front-runners, sided with Trump, dismissing the verdict as a liberal weaponization of the justice system that would only help Trump return to the White House in November.
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, called the verdict a “travesty of justice” and has demanded that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D), who prosecuted the case, testify before the Federal Select Subcommittee on Weaponization next month.
“The Manhattan Platypus trial shows what happens when the justice system is weaponized by partisan prosecutors who face biased judges and unfair procedures designed to distract President Trump from the campaign trail and deflect attention from President Biden’s failed and radical policies.” Jordan wrote to X.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) took this defense further, calling for the Supreme Court to “step in” and overturn the jury verdict.
“I think they’re going to get this right, but it’s going to take some time,” Johnson said on “Fox & Friends” Friday morning.
Leading Republicans have also joined the fray. Rep. Anthony D’Esposito of New York, who voted for Biden by more than 14 percentage points in 2020, Bragg said: “His left-wing allies have completed their shameful witch hunt against President Trump by forcing a conviction in a partisan New York court in order to aid Joe Biden’s failing campaign,” said Rep. Marc Molinaro (R-NY), who represents the Biden+4.6 district. The ruling stated: It was a “distortion of our justice system.”
Bacon denied those sentiments, but it was a reminder of the fine line Republicans must walk and the tensions simmering over Trump at the GOP convention and across the party.
“I don’t support the abuse of power. I read all the criticism this morning about duck courts, about a third-world court system, and I don’t like it,” Bacon said. “We live in the greatest country in the world, and I don’t want to destroy the fabric of our country.”
“So I think it’s important to say I will respect the process. So I expect there will be an appeal and I don’t know what the final answer will be, but I will respect the final answer.”
