Speaker Johnson: Democrats are using legal trials to ‘punish’ Trump

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., attended Donald Trump’s New York City criminal trial on Tuesday morning and accused Democrats of using the judicial system to “punish” the former president.

Expressing his support for Trump, Johnson stated that he was “disgusted by what is happening here, what is being done here to our entire system of justice overall.”

“The people are losing faith in this country, in our institutions. They’re losing faith in our system of justice because they see it being abused, as it is being done here in New York,” Johnson declared outside the courthouse.

He further pointed out, “The president’s actions in this matter were previously reviewed and no charges were filed. Why is that? Because there’s no crime here. Now, eight years later, suddenly they’ve resurrected this thing. They’ve brought it back. And why is that? Well, just apply common sense.

“Everyone can see. It’s painfully obvious that we’re now six months out from election day. And that’s the reason. That is the reason why they brought these charges here and across the country.”

Johnson, along with GOP lawmakers, is aiming to “rein in the abuses” by President Joe Biden’s Department of Justice, especially in the Florida case where Trump is charged with mishandling classified documents.

“I’m working with Chairman [Jim] Jordan of the House Judiciary Committee, Chairman [James] Comer of our Oversight Committee on measures to rein in the abuses of special counsel Jack Smith,” Johnson stated.

He also highlighted, “The latest revelation is that they’ve manipulated documents, they might have tampered with the evidence in the case, it seems, and that doesn’t surprise any of us. In Congress, we have oversight responsibility, and it is our objective and our responsibility to hold them accountable.”

Regarding the Trump trials, Johnson emphasized that they are all “politically motivated,” including the accusations of trying to overturn the 2020 election results overall and in Georgia.

“It’s impossible for anybody to deny, that looks at this objectively, that the judicial system in our country has been weaponized against President Trump,” Johnson asserted. “The system is using all the tools at its disposal right now to punish one president and provide cover for another.”