Mike Johnson, Republican speaker of the House of Representatives, has responded to Donald Trump’s guilty verdict at his hush money trial by calling for the Supreme Court to intervene in the appeals process.
Trump became the first former president in US history to be criminally convicted on Thursday after he was found guilty on all 34 counts against him. A Manhattan jury unanimously agreed that he had falsified business records to hide a $130,000 payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels to coverup the story of their alleged affair in the runup to the 2016 election.
On Friday morning, Johnson expressed his concern about the verdict on Fox News’ Fox and Friends breakfast show. “I do believe the Supreme Court should step in. Obviously this is totally unprecedented and it’s dangerous to our system,” the Speaker said.
“This is diminishing the American people’s faith in our system of justice itself and, to maintain a republic, you have to have that, people have to believe that justice is fair, that there’s equal justice under law.
“They don’t see that right now and I think that the justices on the court – I know many of them personally – I think they’re deeply concerned about that, as we are.
“So I think they’ll set this straight, but it’s going to take a while.”
Trump has said that he will appeal the New York verdict. In theory, the case eventually could be taken up by the Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, due to three justices which were nominated to the bench by the former president.
Trump’s defense attorney, Todd Blanche, told CNN on Thursday that his client had not received a fair hearing. He said that it was not possible to assemble an impartial jury in Manhattan and that it had not been “normal” to bring a case concerning events that occurred eight years ago.
Blanche also suggested that Trump’s appeal of the conviction might center on those accusations of bias, the location of the trial, its timing during a US election year and the salacious testimony of Daniels.
Speaker Johnson was one of several prominent Republicans who turned up at Manhattan Criminal Court during the trial to speak out on Mr Trump’s behalf and display their loyalty to the presumptive Republican nominee in the 2024 presidential race.
Trump is set to be sentenced on July 11, four days before the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee at which he will, presumably, be invited to formally accept the party’s nomination.
Should he accept, he will be running for the White House as a convicted felon.
