Trump’s G.O.P. Allies Assail His Guilty Verdict and Warn It Will Backfire
Republicans urged the former president to appeal the verdict after a jury found him guilty of all 34 criminal counts.
Neil Vigdor and
The Republican allies of former President Donald J. Trump wasted no time in blasting the guilty verdict returned by a New York jury on Thursday and in imploring him to appeal, repeatedly turning to words like “travesty” and “injustice” to describe the moment.
Top Republicans on Capitol Hill tried to one-up one another in demonstrating who could defend Mr. Trump, who was convicted of all 34 felony counts in the hush-money case, and condemn the verdict in the most strident terms.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, who was among the cavalcade of Trump supporters who showed up outside Mr. Trump’s trial in a show of loyalty, called Thursday a “shameful day in American history.”
“Democrats cheered as they convicted the leader of the opposing party on ridiculous charges,” he said. “This was a purely political exercise, not a legal one.”
The No. 2 Republican in the House, Steve Scalise of Louisiana, said in a statement that America had been rendered a “banana republic.” And Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio, the chair of the House Judiciary Committee and a close ally of Mr. Trump’s, condemned a “kangaroo court.”
Advertisement