President Mike Johnson criticized the case against Donald Trump as “very corrupt” and warned the public not to “believe a word of it,” Michael Cohen says on the stand Tuesday.
‘It is impossible for anyone to deny, if you look at this objectively, that our country’s judicial system has been used as a weapon against President Trump. “The system is using every tool at its disposal right now to punish one president and cover for another,” Johnson said in brief remarks outside the courthouse.
Johnson also persecuted the daughter of Judge Juan Merchán.
‘Among the atrocities here, the judge’s own daughter is making millions of dollars fundraising online for Democrats. They are using this trial as a hook. “It’s so corrupt.”
Merchan’s daughter, Loren, runs a digital marketing agency called Authentic Campaigns, which works with Democratic candidates and nonprofits.
Trump’s lawyers have argued that her work poses a conflict of interest and have tried, unsuccessfully, to remove Merchan from the case.
President Mike Johnson criticized the case against Donald Trump as “very corrupt” and warned the public not to “believe a word of it,” Michael Cohen says on the stand Tuesday.
The judge had also made several small donations totaling $35 to Democratic causes during the 2020 campaign, including $15 to Biden.
A state court ethics panel determined that Loren Merchan’s work had no bearing on her impartiality.
Johnson also promised that his Republican-led House would work to “check the abuses of special counsel Jack Smith,” who is overseeing the cases against Trump for his role in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and mishandling of documents. classified.
“I am working with Chairman Jordan of the House Judiciary Committee and Chairman Comar of our Oversight Committee on measures to curb the abuses of Special Counsel Jack Smith,” Johnson said.
He also recalled that “the latest revelation is that they have manipulated documents, they could have altered the evidence in the case, apparently, and that does not surprise any of us in Congress.”
In recent filings, Smith acknowledged that some of the Trump documents in the boxes the FBI recovered from Mar-a-Lago are not in the same order as they were when they were seized.
Johnson and other conservative figures accompanied Trump to court Tuesday in a show of support.
Some critics noted the irony that Johnson, a deeply devout Christian who has spoken of monitoring his son’s use of pornography, appeared alongside Trump during a trial related to his sexual relations with a porn star.
‘I have to admit I’m surprised (Johnson) wants to be in the “I cheated on my wife with a porn star” club. I guess he’s not so concerned about teaching morality to our young people after all,” former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney wrote in X.
Cohen returned to the stand Tuesday morning to give more testimony against his former boss, former President Trump.
The fixer and lawyer, who was convicted of making money payments to Stormy Daniels and lying to Congress, will face grueling questioning from the former president’s lawyers.
The prosecution’s star witness told the court Monday how he would silence the former president’s accusers ahead of the 2016 election with a series of silence deals.
The jury heard that Trump was more concerned about his campaign than his wife Melania when stories of alleged affairs emerged.
Trump prepares for another day in Manhattan Criminal Court in New York City
Johnson also promised that his Republican-led House would work to “check the abuses of special counsel Jack Smith,” who is overseeing the cases against Trump for his role in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and mishandling of documents. classified.
Cohen also described working “at the direction and for the benefit” of the presumptive Republican nominee.
The $130,000 payment for an alleged 2006 sexual encounter between Daniels, a porn star, and Trump is not illegal, but Trump is accused of falsifying business records to conceal it, a charge he denies.
Trump’s lawyers have insisted that the hush money payment was more to protect his wife from anger than to influence the 2016 election.
“He wasn’t thinking about Melania. “This was all about the campaign,” Cohen insisted Monday as Trump shook his head.
When the story resurfaced, Cohen said Trump backed him into a corner: ‘I thought you took care of this.’
Cohen claims Trump also said, “This is a disaster, a total disaster.” Women are going to hate me. Women will hate me. Guys, you think it’s okay, but this is going to be a disaster for the campaign.’
Cohen said he asked Trump how he thought the affair would affect his marriage, and Trump said, “Don’t worry…how long do you think I’ll be on the market?” Not long.’
Cohen said he shelled out the $130,000 himself, creating a shell company listed as a real estate consulting firm, and prosecutors say Trump then returned the money to him and covered it as a legal retainer. Trump faces 34 counts of falsifying business records.
