WASHINGTON (CN) — Any doubts that congressional Republicans would unflinchingly back former President Donald Trump following his felony conviction were left aside this week, as GOP lawmakers scrambled to match the 2024 presidential candidate’s rage over the verdict.
The former president panned the decision, calling it a “disgrace” and slamming the presiding judge, New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, as “a conflicted judge who was corrupt.” Trump is expected to appeal the verdict.
On Capitol Hill, Trump’s Republican allies sprang into action, doubling down on claims that the hush-money trial was a political hack job and even urging drastic action to reverse the conviction.
“This was a purely political exercise, not a legal one,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson in a statement following the verdict. “Today is a shameful day in American history.”
Trump, who is set to once again face off against President Joe Biden in November, on Thursday became the first U.S. president in history to face — and be convicted of — criminal charges.
Johnson blamed the Biden administration and Democrats for prosecuting the former president and said Trump will “rightfully” appeal Thursday’s decision and win.
Talking on Fox News Friday morning, the House speaker suggested the U.S. Supreme Court could have a hand in overturning the verdict.
A New York jury found the 45th president guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up a hush-money payment made to adult film star Stormy Daniels in 2016, blocking her from speaking publicly about having sex with Trump.
“I do believe the Supreme Court should step in,” Johnson said. “I think that the justices on the court … they’re deeply concerned about that, as we are.”
The House speaker added that he knew many of the high court justices personally. “I think they’ll set this straight,” he said.
Johnson’s call to action comes as some Supreme Court justices are facing scrutiny over ethically dubious conduct.
Ohio Representative Jim Jordan, one of the House’s staunchest Trump backers and chair of the House Judiciary Committee, called the verdict “a travesty of justice.”
“The Manhattan kangaroo court shows what happens when our justice system is weaponized by partisan prosecutors in front of a biased judge with an unfair process, designed to keep President Trump off the campaign trail and avoid bringing attention to President Biden’s failing radical policies,” he said in a statement.
The Republican-led House is already exploring its options for fighting back. The lower chamber’s Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, a temporary panel also chaired by Jordan, announced Friday that it would summon New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg and senior counsel Matthew Colangelo to testify before lawmakers next month.
Over in the Senate, partisan tensions were running similarly high following the Trump verdict.
“D.A. Alvin Bragg’s prosecution of President Trump was political from the get-go,” wrote Louisiana Senator John Kennedy wrote in a Friday morning post on X, formerly Twitter. “It has destabilized our country and set a terrible precedent. This is not the way our criminal justice system is supposed to work.”
Texas Senator Ted Cruz called the verdict “a political smear job,” saying on Fox News Thursday night that the trial was “what you’d see in banana republics.”
“I’m furious at what we saw,” he said, “but I’m also heartbroken for the rule of law and I’m heartbroken for our justice system.”
The Texas Republican echoed Trump’s claims that Merchan was biased against the former president and predicted that the verdict would be overturned on appeal.
“This is all about politics and influencing the election,” Cruz said, “and it is a disgrace.”
South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham argued Friday morning that Democrats hope the conviction “will be just enough to get the disastrous Biden administration over the line in a handful of key states in November,” adding that “the problem with this analysis is that the verdict does not fix the train wreck that is the Biden administration.”
Graham forecast that the verdict against Trump would beget a surge in fundraising and that it would help Republicans’ chances to retake both the House and Senate in November.
“The chance for a Republican House majority has been tremendously enhanced,” he wrote. “As to the Senate, red and purple state Democrats who associate themselves with this sham verdict will have a political nightmare on their hands.”
The Trump campaign announced Friday that it had broken its own fundraising record following the verdict, raking in nearly $35 million.
Meanwhile, sentencing for Trump’s conviction is scheduled for July 11, just days before the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he is set to be officially anointed as the GOP challenger to Biden.
Prosecutors have not said whether they will seek imprisonment for the former president.
Follow @BenjaminSWeiss
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