Democratic Congressman Jim McGovern has called Speaker of the House Mike Johnson “pathetic” on the House floor over his recent visit to the New York hush-money criminal trial of former President Donald Trump.
Johnson and a number of other prominent Republicans appeared outside the Manhattan criminal courthouse on Tuesday to denounce the proceedings against Trump, who has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records and claims to be the victim of a “witch hunt.”
The speaker told members of the press on Tuesday that the “sham of a trial” was “corrupt” and designed to “keep [Trump] off of the campaign trail.” McGovern addressed Johnson’s visit during a House hearing on Tuesday, accusing the speaker of “acting as a prop for Donald Trump” and attempting to “rationalize” Trump’s alleged crimes.
“The American people deserve better,” McGovern said. “And they certainly deserve better than the speaker of the House spending his time trying to influence our justice system at a courthouse in New York City. How pathetic, when we have real problems we need to deal with.”
“He’s in New York trying to explain away all of Donald Trump’s problems,” he added. “It’s pathetic. That’s where the speaker of the House is spending his time—trying to rationalize all of the former president’s crimes. Give me a break.”
Democratic Congressman Jim McGovern is pictured on the left, while Speaker of the House Mike Johnson is shown on the right. McGovern on Wednesday called Johnson “pathetic” from the House for attempting to “rationalize” the… Democratic Congressman Jim McGovern is pictured on the left, while Speaker of the House Mike Johnson is shown on the right. McGovern on Wednesday called Johnson “pathetic” from the House for attempting to “rationalize” the alleged crimes of former President Donald Trump in a courthouse visit on Tuesday.
Andrew Harnik; David Dee Delgado
Newsweek reached out for comment to Johnson’s office via email on Wednesday.
The speaker’s trip to New York followed several other prominent Republicans who showed up to support the ex-president this week, including Senators Tommy Tuberville and J.D. Vance and Representatives Byron Donalds and Cory Mills.
Johnson was one of several GOP visitors who specifically spoke on topics that the former president is prohibited from speaking about during the trial due to a gag order, such as launching attacks on former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, one of the prosecution’s key witnesses.
Tuberville admitted during a Newsmax TV interview on Tuesday that helping Trump to “overcome” the gag order by attacking figures protected under the gag order was one of the “reasons” that Republicans have been appearing at the courthouse.
Criticism of Johnson’s appearance at the Trump trial came from both sides of the political spectrum, with a significant number of adherents to the former president’s MAGA movement joining Democrats in slamming the speaker for his visit, albeit for different reasons.
MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell said during a Fox News interview on Tuesday evening that Johnson’s visit to Manhattan was “all performative” and “disgusting,” arguing that the speaker has shown that he “has no passion for our great real country” by “reading off some notes” about “the travesties going on against our real president.”
GOP Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who recently launched an unsuccessful attempt to oust Johnson from the speakership, argued on social media that the speaker should have instead been focusing on “defunding” Special Counsel Jack Smith, whose federal investigation led to one of the other three felony cases against the ex-president.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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