Republicans join Trump’s attacks on the justice system and his campaign of revenge after conviction

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, center, and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy listen as former President Donald Trump, left, speaks to reporters upon his arrival at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York, Tuesday, May 14, 2024. (Justin Lane/Pool Photo via AP)

Washington — Republicans in Congress are adopting Donald Trump’s strategy of shifting blame onto the U.S. justice system following his historic guilty verdict, joining his campaign of vengeance and political retribution as the Republican Party fights to retake the White House.

Almost no Republican politician has spoken out in favor of Trump not being the party’s presidential candidate in the November election – some have tried to speed up his nomination. Hardly anyone has dared to defend the legitimacy of the New York state court that tried the hush money case or the 12 jurors who unanimously reached their verdict.

And those Republicans who expressed doubts about Trump’s innocence or political viability – including his former national security adviser John Bolton or front-runner for the Senate, Larry Hogan of Maryland – were immediately intimidated by the former president’s enforcers and told to “leave the party.”

Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia said she would vote for Trump “whether he is a free man or a prisoner of the Biden regime.”

She also posted the upside-down American flag, which has become a symbol of the “Stop the Steal” movement that Trump and allies launched before the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.

The commitment to Trump despite his conviction shows how Republican leaders and lawmakers are imbued with his baseless complaints about a “rigged” system and conspiracies of a “weaponized” government, and are using them to fuel their own attacks on President Joe Biden and the Democrats.

Instead of shunning Trump’s authoritarian language or ensuring they secure a second Trump term, Republican senators and representatives are shaking confidence in the U.S. government and preparing the ground for what they plan to do should Trump return to power.

On Friday, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (Republican of Ohio) called on prosecutors Alvin Bragg and Matthew Colangelo to appear at a June hearing on the “weaponization of the federal government” and the “unprecedented political prosecution” of Trump – despite the fact that Biden, as president, has no authority over New York’s state courts.

“We are preparing for the fact that if Trump wins, he will use the state apparatus to target his political opponents,” said Jason Stanley, a professor at Yale and author of the book “How Fascism Works.”

Stanley said history is full of examples of people not believing the rhetoric of authoritarians. “Believe what they say,” he said. “He’s literally telling you he’s going to use the state apparatus to target his political opponents.”

On Friday, at Trump Tower in New York, the former president repeated the attacks he had already repeatedly made in his campaign speeches: He portrayed Biden as “corrupt” and the USA as a “fascist” nation.

Trump called members of the bipartisan House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol “thugs” and said Biden was a “Manchurian candidate,” a phrase inspired by a 1960s film depicting a puppet of a U.S. political enemy.

A memo from Trump’s campaign team contained arguments for Republican lawmakers, suggesting that the case be described as a “hoax,” “fraud,” “witch hunt,” “election interference” and “litigation” planned by Biden and described as “fraudulent.”

Biden faces no such charges, and efforts by House Republicans to impeach the president over his son Hunter Biden’s business dealings have largely stalled. Hunter Biden is due in court next week in Wilmington, Delaware, on an unrelated weapons charge.

President Biden said on Friday: “It is reckless, dangerous and irresponsible for someone to claim the trial was rigged just because they don’t like the verdict.”

When asked later at the White House if that could happen to him, Biden said: “Not at all. I did nothing wrong. The system still works.”

Responding to Trump’s claim that the case was staged by the Democratic president to harm him politically, Biden quipped: “I didn’t know I had that much power.”

In the hush money case, Trump was found guilty of influencing the 2016 election by making fake payments to a porn actress to cover up her story of an affair. He faces three other charges, including the federal case for his attempt to overturn the 2020 election, but those are unlikely to be heard before the expected November campaign with Biden.

Thursday’s verdict came after a jury found Trump guilty of sexually abusing advice columnist E. Jean Carroll in 2023 and a judge in a 2024 white-collar fraud trial found that Trump had lied about his wealth for years and sentenced him to a whopping $355 million fine.

The Republicans in Congress who spoke out were a unique voice for Trump.

Speaker Mike Johnson reiterated on “Fox & Friends” the claim that Democrats wanted to harm Trump without being able to provide evidence. Johnson, Republican from Louisiana, said the Supreme Court must “intervene” to clarify the case.

“The judges of the court – many of whom I know personally – are, I think, as deeply concerned about this as we are,” Johnson said.

Outgoing Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said he expected Trump to win the hush money case on appeal. However, the three senators who are seeking to replace McConnell as House leader echoed Trump’s comments and were even more critical of the justice system.

South Dakota Senator John Thune said the case was “politically motivated.” Texas Senator John Cornyn called the ruling “a disgrace.” Florida Senator Rick Scott said anyone who considers themselves a party leader must “stand up and condemn the lawless election interference.”

Senator Susan Collins, a Republican from Maine who is seen as a bipartisan leader, said the prosecutor “brought these charges precisely because of the person of the defendant and not because of any specific criminal conduct.”

With the verdict in the hush money trial expected to come before the Republican National Convention in July, Republican Rep. Chip Roy of Texas said Republicans should move up the convention to speed up Trump’s nomination as the party’s presidential candidate.

Republican Attorney General Mike Davis, a former senior Senate staffer who is being considered for a future post in the Trump administration, distributed a letter outlining next steps.

“Dear Republicans,” he wrote in a Friday post, if their reaction to the guilty verdict was “we must respect the process” or “we are too principled to retaliate,” he advised them to do two things: one is a dirty word, the other: “leave the party.”

Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) circulated a letter of his own, claiming that it was the White House that had “made a mockery” of the rule of law and changed policy in an “un-American” way. He and other senators threatened to block the Senate’s work until Republicans took action.

“Those who have turned our justice system into a political weapon must be held accountable,” Lee said.

Associated Press writers Michelle L. Price, Ali Swenson and Chris Megerian contributed to this article.

Republican Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, speaks during the House Judiciary Committee hearing to convict Attorney General Merrick Garland of contempt of Congress, Thursday, May 16, 2024, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), left, talk to reporters about their intention to require American citizenship to vote in national elections while introducing the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, May 8, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., speaks after a policy lunch on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, May 8, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)

Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Mike Johnson speaks at a news conference across from the Manhattan Criminal Court in New York, Tuesday, May 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)

Former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan speaks to supporters during a primary party in Annapolis, Maryland, Tuesday, May 14, 2024, after winning the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by the retirement of Democratic Sen. Ben Cardin. (AP Photo/Daniel Kucin Jr.)