Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.), chair of the House Freedom Caucus, said on Friday that he and fellow GOP lawmakers attended former President Donald Trump’s New York trial this week because of a gag order on his party’s presumptive 2024 presidential nominee.
“They’ve got this gag order against him. That’s why we went up there, so that we could say the things that this corrupt judge is not allowing him to say,” Mr. Good told Fox Business on Friday morning. “This is a judge who seems to get all the high-profile conservative trials up there, and his own daughter is making ... raising tens of millions of dollars for the Democrat party off this very trial.”
Judge Merchan’s daughter, Loren Merchan, has served as partner and president at Authentic Campaigns, a political consulting firm that has worked with multiple Democrat clients and was part of President Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign.
During the interview, Mr. Good echoed remarks that were made to reporters outside the Manhattan courthouse on Thursday by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), who said: “We are here because there are things we can say that President Trump is unjustly not allowed to say.”
Mr. Good described the case as a “sham trial” and called the charges “trumped up.” He added that the entire legal saga was designed to “weigh him down” and “keep him off the campaign trail.”
The gag order issued by Judge Juan Merchan prohibits President Trump from commenting on the court staff, the prosecution, jurors, witnesses, or their families or directing surrogates to do so on his behalf.
The gag order was first issued in March and expanded in early April. It does allow him to speak about the judge and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who brought the case against him.
Judge Merchan already held President Trump in contempt of court and fined him $10,000 for violating the order.
The violations cited by the judge included an April 13 social media post in which President Trump wrote: “Has disgraced attorney and felon Michael Cohen been prosecuted for LYING? Only TRUMP people get prosecuted by this Judge and these thugs!”
The judge also pointed out that President Trump reposted a New York Post article that called witness Mr. Cohen a “serial perjurer” and another post quoting Fox News host Jesse Watters, who claimed that liberal activists were lying to infiltrate the jury.
The judge warned that further violations could result in jail time after an April 22 interview in which President Trump commented on the speed of the jury selection process and claimed that it was stacked with Democrats.
The former president and 2024 GOP presumptive nominee has said that the gag order prevents him from defending himself against testimony from the prosecution’s star witnesses, former adult film actress Stormy Daniels and former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen.
President Trump attempted to have the order dismissed, but a New York appeals court rejected the request.
Republicans Accuse Democrats of ‘Trying to Keep’ Trump ‘Off the Ballot’
Mr. Good was among a large group of Republicans who traveled to President Trump’s New York criminal trial on Thursday. Speaking there, Mr. Good said the trial shows “what lengths the Democratic Party will go to to try to rig or steal another election.”“They tried to do it in 2020. They’re doing it here again in ‘24 by trying to keep the nominee off the ballot, by trying to keep the nominee from campaigning, by trying to ruin the nominee financially and we’re seeing that today,” he said.
He was joined by Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.), Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), Eli Crane (R-Ariz.), Diana Harshbarger (R-Tenn.), and Michael Guest (R-Texas).
Rep. Michael Walz (R-Fla.), who is not a member of the caucus, also attended.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) also showed support for President Trump by visiting the Manhattan court this past week. Mr. Johnson criticized the trial outside the courthouse on Tuesday.
“This is the fifth week that President Trump has been in court for this sham of a trial. They are doing this intentionally to keep him here and keep him off of the campaign trail,” Mr. Johnson said. “And I think everybody in the country can see that for what it is.”
President Trump faces 34 counts over his alleged role in the classification of payments under a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) to adult film actress Stormy Daniels during the final weeks of the 2016 presidential campaign.
Prosecutors allege that President Trump diverted funds to Mr. Cohen, his former lawyer, who allegedly used the money to pay Ms. Daniels per the NDA to keep quiet about an alleged affair with President Trump. President Trump denies the affair.
The Trump campaign confirmed on Wednesday that his legal team filed a notice of appeal to New York’s highest court after the New York appeals court rejected another attempt to reverse the gag order. His legal team has argued that the gag order violates constitutional rights as President Trump is the leading GOP presidential candidate.
