WASHINGTON – Republican lawmakers are plotting revenge for former President Donald Trump’s historic conviction in a New York hush-money case, condemning it as an unfair trial and a blatant political ploy.
In the Senate, a cabal of conservative senators have vowed to block all of the Democratic priorities and block the confirmation of Biden administration nominees.
And in the Republican-led House, lawmakers plan to question Manhattan prosecutors who sought convictions, strip New York state of federal funds and defund the work of special counsel Jack Smith, who is overseeing Trump’s classified documents case.
Their efforts may not be successful — the House effort is sure to stall in the Democratic-controlled Senate, for example — but they reflect Republicans’ continuing loyalty to Trump and their view of it as a political opportunity to rally support for his reelection.
On the campaign front, they are using the convictions to their advantage: Republican donor platform WinRed has seen a surge in traffic since the verdict, and Republican campaigns for the House and Senate have reported a surge in fundraising.
Prepare to vote: See who’s running for president and compare their positions on key issues with our voter guide
Candidates in battleground states are already sending the message that their Democratic opponents are refusing to condemn the ruling, with Republican Senate candidates in Montana and Ohio running new ads arguing that their opponents support a judicial strategy to interfere in the presidential election.
“This ruling is a boost to the Trump campaign. I think people are looking at this as a cause, not just a head-to-head fight,” said Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Missouri), one of the senators vowing to block the move in the Senate, pointing to a surge in fundraising and new ads on the Senate floor.
“I think this is going to get on the nerves of the American people. They’re going to fight their own election campaign, but the reality is, I think the American people understand what’s at stake: do we want a constitutional republic or do we want a banana republic?”
Possible Senate blockade
A group of eight conservative senators, led by Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, issued a statement Friday following the ruling, arguing that the Biden administration had made a “frills of the rule of law.”
“As the Senate Republican Conference, we will not aid and abet the White House’s plan to divide our country,” they wrote.
The group has pledged to block any additional funding that does not address national security, block the confirmation of Biden’s political and judicial nominees, and deliberately slow the consideration of Democratic-led legislation.
Most of the major policies Congress will pass this year have already passed, because the closer we get to the election, the harder it will be to compromise on major legislation, so most of the policies conservative groups are trying to block are likely to be Democratic messaging bills that would have no chance of passing anyway.
“There’s not much else to do between now and the election other than judges and appointments,” said Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Alabama, who is part of the blocking effort. “But as Republicans, we need to stand up for our country. This wasn’t about Donald Trump. This was about people who are true Americans and believe in this country.”
Confirming presidential nominees to political and judicial positions is a key role of the Senate, whose work in carrying out the basic functions of government can have a huge ripple effect on people’s lives. It also matters in judicial appointments, which can reflect the views of the president’s appointees long after they have left office.
Because the Senate requires all senators to agree to expedited procedures to consider bills and personnel in a timely manner, their threat to crack down on nominations could create a serious headache for Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and crowd the Senate floor with drawn-out personnel discussions rather than policy.
House Republicans will fight ‘with all their might’
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) has asked Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and Matthew Colango, a lawyer on Bragg’s team, to testify next week before a subcommittee investigating the federal government’s weaponization of intelligence.
In a letter to prosecutors last week, Jordan wrote that the two men plan to speak at hearings to “examine the actions of state and local prosecutors in pursuing politically motivated prosecutions,” “specifically the recent politically motivated prosecution of President Donald Trump.”
Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana vowed on “Fox News Sunday” that the House would “fight back with every tool we have,” but it’s unlikely the House will be able to help the former president. Referring to Jordan’s committee, Johnson added that Republicans would operate “within the rule of law.”
The guilty verdict is sure to reignite calls from Johnson’s right wing for limiting federal funding to the Justice Department, particularly the Office of Special Counsel. Conservative firebrands have targeted special counsel Jack Smith, who indicted Trump last year on charges of mishandling classified documents and trying to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election that he lost.
Jordan sent a letter Monday to House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole (R-Okla.) urging the committee to withhold funding from “unscrupulous prosecutors who abuse their professional standards of conduct and their duty to do justice for political purposes.”
But even if Republicans were to move to defund the special counsel’s office, it would have to go through the annual government funding process, which is not expected to be completed anytime soon. Even if Republicans tried to defund the special counsel’s office, there is almost no chance that such a move would pass the Democratic-controlled Senate and White House.
“We’re going to try, but sending it to the Senate isn’t going to change anything,” acknowledged Rep. Tim Burchett, a Tennessee Republican who supports cutting the budget for the special counsel’s office.
Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene goes further, wanting to withhold federal funding (such as funding for education and law enforcement) from the entire state of New York. “Republicans should not vote to give one penny to our corrupt state,” she wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
The Georgia Republican also told reporters on Monday that he has “articles of impeachment” ready against Biden, but said he would first speak to Johnson and present them to his colleagues in a closed-door meeting on Tuesday morning.An existing impeachment inquiry into the president has all but fizzled as House Republicans have grown increasingly skeptical of the investigation’s lack of evidence.
Funding surge
The convictions are already becoming a talking point for Republicans in the tight races for the Senate and House of Representatives.
Republican candidate Tim Sheehy ran an ad claiming that Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) is one of the Democrats who support “state-sponsored political persecution,” while Republican candidate Bernie Moreno ran an ad saying Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) would back Biden “even if it meant turning our justice system into a weapon for election interference.”
There is no evidence that the Biden administration had any involvement in this criminal case, which was prosecuted in the New York state judicial system.
The Trump campaign said Friday that it had raised about $53 million in the 24 hours since Trump was convicted, by comparison, the campaign had raised about $58 million in the second half of 2023.
The National Republican House Committee and the National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee, the campaign organizations for Republican members of the House and Senate, reported their largest single-day online fundraising totals ever during this election cycle, raising more than $300,000 and $360,000, respectively, the day after the verdict.
The increase could narrow the funding gap with Democrats, who have outraised Republicans in this election.
Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), who is running for Michigan’s vacant Senate seat, said it’s “too early to tell” how much the ruling will affect a closely fought race like hers. She acknowledged that Republican donations surged after the ruling was announced, but said Democrats are also trying to use the news to raise money.
“Everyone I know is telling me that donations skyrocketed within 24 hours of the verdict. It just highlights how divisive Trump is,” she said. “I don’t think it’s going to help him gain support from independents, many of whom are like, ‘I don’t want a convicted felon.'”
