As the atmosphere at the New York hush-money trial gets heated, a growing number of Republican lawmakers visit Trump’s trial in person and give public speeches, usually saying what he is not allowed to due to the gag order. This includes Senator J.D. Vance from Ohio, House Speaker Mike Johnson, Senator Tommy Tuberville, onetime Trump opponent Vivek Ramaswamy, and many others who are ruining their public picture just to show support for the former president and presumptive presidential candidate Donald Trump. Prominent Republicans’ latest visits to New York aim to add additional pressure on the trial, but also speak on Trump’s behalf.
Copying Trump
Everyone can easily notice that this group of politicians simply repeats what Trump has been saying for weeks now. Judge Juan Merchan fined Trump once again for violating the gag order last week, and he reminded the former president how serious he was about putting him in jail if he fails to comply with the gag order in the coming period. Trump has since become increasingly silent, but his attacks reach the public through his allies, who serve as his proxies, to further put pressure on everyone involved in the trial. A recent CNN video shows how similar the speeches are.
The main point
Trump, prominent Republican lawmakers, and his supporters have voiced concerns about how the New York trial, expected to last six weeks, would affect his presidential campaign. Trump has been on and off the campaign trail since the start of the trial because Judge Merchan ordered him to be present at every court hearing. Expectations are that Trump’s allies’ frequent visits and appearances will keep the presumptive Republican candidate in the spotlight and partially compensate for his inability to attend events as part of the presidential campaign. Trump currently leads Biden in the race.
The gag order
Over the last few days, supporters of Donald Trump have made comments that would have breached the gag order against him if he had said them himself. This order, issued by Judge Juan Merchan, bars Trump from criticizing the witnesses, the judge’s family, and the jury. Nonetheless, some Republican politicians visiting Trump have not held back.
Showing support
For example, Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) seemed to question the legitimacy of the jury members, hinting that they may not be true Americans.
“I am disappointed in looking at the American citizens— the supposedly American citizens in that courtroom,” Tuberville said.
Last week outside the courtroom, Senator Rick Scott (R-Florida) made negative remarks about the judge’s daughter. Additionally, Senator J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), who accompanied Trump to court on Monday, openly criticized Michael Cohen, the testifying witness, while addressing the media. Vance also took to the social media platform X to continue his criticisms.
“The president is expected to sit here for six weeks to listen to the Michael Cohens of the world. I’m now convinced the main goal of this trial is psychological torture,” said Vance. He later attacked Cohen for recording his conversation with Trump, which is not illegal in the state of New York.
Calls for investigation
Attorney Jeff Jacobovitz, during a discussion on MSNBC, mentioned that Judge Merchan might consider these recent comments by Trump’s supporters as grounds for a hearing to investigate if Trump had any role in orchestrating them.
“I saw basically the U.S. Congress walking into the courtroom to be there for Donald Trump — not the whole U.S. Congress, obviously,” Jacobovitz told MSNBC. “But we have the gag order that was just approved by the appellate court, and if Trump is feeding any of these congressmen or senators information to talk about, that violates the gag order.”
He further elaborated that Judge Merchan would be interested in examining the details of these interactions, potentially leading to a hearing. Such actions could also impact other ongoing cases with similar restrictions, making this a serious issue that the appellate court’s decision underscores the need to enforce strictly.
