Donald Trump’s fixer-turned-foe Michael Cohen returned to the witness stand Tuesday, testifying in detail about how the former president was connected to all aspects of the hush money scheme that prosecutors say was an illegal effort to purchase and then bury stories that threatened his 2016 campaign.
Trump, the first former U.S, president to go on trial, was joined at the courthouse by an entourage of GOP lawmakers that included House Speaker Mike Johnson and others considered vice presidential contenders for Trump’s 2024 campaign.
Their presence was a not-so-subtle show of support meant not just for Trump, but also for voters tuning in to trial coverage and for jurors deciding Trump’s fate. As proceedings began, Johnson held a news conference outside the courthouse, using his powerful pulpit to attack the U.S. judicial system.
It was a remarkable moment in American politics as the person second in line to the presidency sought to turn his political party against the rule of law by declaring the Manhattan criminal trial illegitimate.
‘ I do have a lot of surrogates, and they’re speaking very beautifully’, said Trump before court as the group gathered in the background. He added, ‘And they come from all over Washington. And they’re highly respected and they think is the greatest scam they’ve ever seen.
Meanwhile, a New York appeals court on Tuesday upheld a gag order barring Trump from talking about witnesses, a prosecutor and the judge’s daughter, finding that Judge Juan M. Merchan properly determined that Trump’s public statements posed a significant threat to the integrity of the testimony of witnesses and potential witnesses in this case as well’.
Comments