Trump’s allies flock to him because of Michael Cohen’s ‘hiding money’ testimony
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A group of close Republican Donald Trump allies, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, appeared in Manhattan criminal court on Tuesday to show support for the former president. His lawyers try to skewer the star witness of the “silent money” trial.
Former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, North Dakota governor Doug Burgum and Florida congressmen Byron Donalds and Cory Mills filled the rows behind the defense table. trumpet sat for the past few weeks watching attorney Todd Blanche torture Michael Cohen over his desire to see his former boss behind bars.
In a series of heated exchanges, Cohen — a Trump loyalist turned nemesis — confirmed that he had previously called the defendants names including “bastard dictator” and “cartoon villain covered in Cheeto”, and that he said Trump “belongs, in a fucking cage, like an animal”.
Cohen also admitted that he said “I really hope this man goes to jail”. He confirmed he made more than $3 million selling books in which he criticized Trump, his former employer and longtime mentor.
Trump appeared to have closed his eyes throughout the afternoon.
The appearance of Cohen, who paid for the silence of a porn star who was accused of having an affair with Trump, is at the center of the Manhattan affair, attracting a rotating cast of campaign surrogates and people who could run for the former president, including US senators. J.D. Vance and Tommy Tuberville, New York congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis, and the attorneys general of Iowa and Alabama.
The proceedings, which Trump is forced to attend in person most days of the week, have limited his ability to reach the campaign trail, but the presumptive Republican nominee is nonetheless for the White House remains unachievable. leader According to recent opinion polls, Joe Biden is in several swing states, with less than six months left until the November vote.
“I have a lot of representatives and they talk very well,” said Trump, who is under a gag order preventing him from attacking witnesses or jurors in the case, as he arrived at the courthouse Tuesday. “They came from all over Washington, were highly respected, and they thought this was the biggest scam they had ever seen.”
Johnson echoed the former president in a press conference earlier Tuesday morning, calling the New York trial a “sham.”
“It’s all about politics and everyone can see that,” he said. “The American people see through these politically motivated attacks.”
In separate remarks outside court, Ramaswamy called the Manhattan case an “injustice,” adding: “This is a sham, this is not the United States of America, this is a Some third-rate banana republic.”
On Monday, Cohen outlined a plan he orchestrated on Trump’s behalf to buy the silence of those threatening to come forward before the 2016 election with allegations of his boss’s infidelity his old.
He testified that he paid $130,000 of his own money to Daniels stormsone porn star alleged having sex outside of marriage to Trump, after the then-presidential candidate declared that it would be a “disaster” for his campaign if her story became public.
Trump was accused of falsifying records about subsequent payments to Cohen.
When questioned by prosecutors, Cohen said he “regrets what he did because [Trump] that I shouldn’t have. . . lie and bully others to achieve their goals.” He added: “I violated my moral compass and I have to pay the penalty, as does my family.”
Members of Trump’s immediate family largely did not attend the trial, except for his son, Eric, who attended regularly. Other members of Trump’s team, including lawyer Alina Habba and advisers Boris Epshteyn and Jason Miller, are often present.
“This is the strangest thing in conservative politics I have ever seen,” former Republican congressman Reid Ribble, a Trump critic, told the Financial Times. “Normally, you would have to stay 100 miles away from anyone who cheats on your wife. . . You can see who wants to be [vice-president].
“That the Republican Party — the party that has historically supported family values and law and order — would indulge this is beyond bizarre to me.”
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