WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican lawmakers are backing Donald Trump’s strategy of lambasting the U.S. justice system after his historic conviction and eagerly joining his campaign of revenge and political retribution as Republicans seek to retake the White House.
clock: A day after his felony conviction, President Trump remains defiant, calling the trial a “fraud.”
Few Republicans have said that Trump should not be the party’s nominee in November — some have actually tried to speed up his nomination — and few have dared to defend the legitimacy of the New York court that heard the hush-money case, or the 12 jurors who reached a unanimous verdict.
And Republicans who expressed doubts about Trump’s innocence or political viability, including former hawkish national security adviser John Bolton and top Maryland Senate candidate Larry Hogan, were swiftly threatened by the former president’s administration and told to “leave the party.”
Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia said she would vote for Trump “whether he’s a free man or a prisoner of the Biden administration.”
She also posted an upside-down American flag, which has come to symbolize the “Stop the Steal” movement that President Trump and his allies started before the Jan. 6, 2021, storming of the U.S. Capitol.
The swift, forceful and deepening support for Trump despite his felony conviction shows how Republican leaders and lawmakers have become fully invested in Trump’s baseless frustrations about a “rigged” system and dangerous “weaponized” government conspiracies, and are using them to attack President Joe Biden and the Democratic Party.
clock: Biden reacts to Trump’s conviction, says it’s ‘dangerous’ for Trump to claim trial was rigged
Rather than shying away from Trump’s increasingly authoritarian rhetoric or ensuring they provide checks and balances for his second term, Republican senators and representatives are upending years of trust in American governance and laying the groundwork for what Trump plans to do if he returns to power.
On Friday, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) called on prosecutors Alvin Bragg and Matthew Colangelo to appear at a hearing scheduled for June on the “weaponization of the federal government” and the “unprecedented political prosecution” of Trump, even though President Biden has no authority over New York state courts.
“We’re preparing for the fact that if Trump wins, he will use the machinery of the state to target his political opponents,” said Jason Stanley, a Yale University professor and author of “How Fascism Works.”
Stanley said history is full of examples of people not believing what authoritarians say. “Take what they say,” he said. “He’s literally saying he’s going to use the machinery of the state to attack his political opponents.”
Speaking at Trump Tower in New York on Friday, the former president renewed the attacks he has repeated in campaign speeches, describing Biden as “corrupt” and the United States as a “fascist” nation.
Trump called members of the bipartisan House of Representatives committee investigating the January 6 attack on the US Capitol “thugs” and described Biden as the “Manchurian candidate,” a phrase inspired by a 1960s film about a puppet of America’s political opponents.
The Trump campaign memo is packed with talking points for Republican lawmakers, suggesting they call the case a “fake,” a “hoax,” a “witch hunt,” “election interference” and “legal war” and accuse Biden of “fraud.”
Biden has not faced such charges, and House Republicans have largely stalled efforts to impeach the president over the business dealings of his son, Hunter Biden, who is scheduled to appear in Wilmington, Delaware, next week on unrelated firearms charges.
“It is reckless, dangerous and irresponsible to say the election was stolen just because you don’t like the verdict,” Joe Biden said Friday.
Asked later at the White House if something like that could happen to him, Biden said: “Not at all. I haven’t done anything wrong. The system still works.”
In response to Trump’s claim that the lawsuit was engineered by the Democratic president to hurt him politically, Biden quipped, “I didn’t know he had that much power.”
In the hush-money case, Trump was convicted of making fake payments to porn actresses to cover up his alleged affairs and of trying to influence the 2016 election. He has been charged with three other felony counts, including a federal count of trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election, but a trial is unlikely to take place before the planned re-election against Biden in November.
read more: President Trump’s 2024 trial: current status and outlook
Thursday’s verdict came after a jury in 2023 found Trump liable for sexually abusing advice columnist E. Jean Carroll and after a judge in a business fraud case in 2024 determined that Trump lied about his wealth for years and ordered him to pay a staggering $355 million fine.
Nearly every Republican who spoke out in Congress became Trump’s sole mouthpiece.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, appearing on “Fox & Friends” to double down on his claims, without evidence, that Democrats are trying to hurt President Trump, said he believes the Supreme Court should “step in” to resolve the case.
“I know many of the justices on the Supreme Court personally and I believe they are deeply concerned about this, just like we are,” Johnson said.
Outgoing Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said he expected Trump to win the hush-money case on appeal, but the three senators vying to replace him have joined Trump in stronger criticism of the justice system.
Sen. John Thune of South Dakota said the lawsuit was “politically motivated.” Sen. John Cornyn of Texas called the decision a “shame.” Sen. Rick Scott of Florida said anyone who calls themselves a leader in the party “must stand up and denounce” the “lawless election interference.”
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, a recognized bipartisan leader, said prosecutors brought these charges “not because of any specific criminal conduct, but because of exactly who the defendants are.”
With the verdict in the hush payment case expected to be handed down in July before the Republican National Convention, Republican Rep. Chip Roy of Texas said the Republican Party should move up its convention to speed up the nomination of Trump as the party’s presidential candidate.
Mike Davis, a former Senate aide and Republican general counsel who is seen as a possible candidate for the next Trump administration leader, circulated a letter outlining upcoming steps.
“Dear Republicans,” he said in a post Friday, if their reaction to the guilty verdict was “we must respect the process” or “we are too principled to retaliate,” he suggested they do two things: swear, or “leave the party.”
Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah circulated a letter suggesting the White House had made a “mockery” of the rule of law and turned politics to an “un-American” way. He and other senators have threatened to delay Senate proceedings until Republicans act.
“Those who have turned our justice system into a political cudgel must be held accountable,” Lee said.
Associated Press writers Michelle L. Price, Ali Swenson and Chris Megerian contributed to this report.
