Vivek Ramaswamy and Mike Johnson: Republicans swarm the courts to demonstrate their support for Trump

Vivek Ramaswamy and Mike Johnson: Republicans swarm the courts to demonstrate their support for Trump

Congressman Cory Mills, left, Speaker Mike Johnson, and former presidential contender Vivek Ramaswamy, center, during the trial on Wednesday

When the criminal trial of Donald Trump started, his legal team and campaign assistants made up his courtroom entourage. It has begun to resemble a sneak peek at the Republican National Convention in July this week.

The list of notable Republican officeholders in attendance has increased significantly with the presence of Michael Cohen, the former attorney for Mr. Trump and a key witness for the prosecution, on the witness stand.

The most powerful Republican in the US, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, greeted the former president with a grin and a nod at the Manhattan courtroom on Tuesday. Next, outside the courtroom during the hush-money trial, he made a short statement to the media.

"I am disgusted by what is taking place here," he said, "what is being done to our entire system of justice."

In relation to a hush-money payment made to porn actress Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential campaign, Mr. Trump refutes 34 accusations of falsifying company documents. Prosecutors in New York are contending that the purported cover-up equates to election meddling, based on a unique legal theory.

Calling the trial a "sham" and a "disgrace," Mr. Johnson said that Mr. Trump was being singled out by his political rivals in an attempt to keep him off the presidential campaign road as he sought reelection. He also stated that Cohen was a known liar. Even the size of the audience at Mr. Trump's Saturday New Jersey campaign event was a source of pride for him.

The man second in line for the US president made a spectacular display of support, and it happened just a week after Mr. Johnson withstood a challenge to his congressional leadership from members of his own party. The attempt was thwarted, in part, because Mr. Trump spoke out in favor of Mr. Johnson on many occasions.

If Tuesday's demonstration of Mr. Trump and Mr. Johnson's mutually advantageous connection was any indication, it was a sign of how closely Mr. Trump's legal future has been entwined with the Republican Party's during this election year.

Every morning, the former president is accompanied by a procession of US senators and congressmen, prominent Republican figures, and campaign assistants as a tangible demonstration of political cohesion.

During a pause in Donald Trump's criminal trial, Senator JD Vance snaps a picture as the president and his attorney converse.

Numerous others have either stood nodding or sat behind the former president in the courtroom during his spontaneous news conferences held both before and after the day's trial.

In their own news conferences, they have also raised serious questions about the political objectives of the presiding judge's family and explicitly questioned the credibility of the prosecution's witnesses. Due to a court-issued gag order that Mr. Trump is not allowed to discuss, the former president has been penalized ten times for breaking it. If he commits other crimes, he can be imprisoned for contempt of court.

A number of state leaders and certain Republican senators, such as Tommy Tuberville of Alabama and Rick Scott of Florida, are happy to use their presence as a way to curry favor with the head of their party and share some of the attention that the trial has brought attention to.

Some could be more interested in the here and now.

This week, Mr. Trump was joined in the courtroom by a number of speculated vice presidential candidates. Senator JD Vance of Ohio, Congressman Byron Donalds of Florida, previous Republican contenders for president Vivek Ramaswamy, and Governor Doug Burgum of North Dakota have all been among the VIPs.

The last three seemed to be waiting for their chance to try out for the party's presidential ticket on Tuesday as they occupied the first row of seats behind Mr. Trump in the courtroom. (They had left by the middle of the morning; they could have been more focused in the cameras outside the courthouse than the testimony inside.)

There is no manual for how members of a political party should manage their former president—and its current presumed presidential nominee—sitting in the criminal dock, and Mr. Trump's criminal prosecution is unprecedented.

During the trial's early stages, not many Republicans appeared. However, a trickle has become a deluge with Senator Scott's attendance last week, further obfuscating the distinction between the legal and political in the New York judicial system.

The possibility that Mr. Trump's trial might become a political circus has been amply shown, and the proceedings are far from over.