Trump Again Defends Speaker Johnson Amid Ouster Threat

Former President Donald Trump leaves the courtroom during his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York City on April 23, 2024. Brendan McDermid/Pool via Getty Images

Former President Donald Trump ended the first day of oral arguments in his criminal trial in New York with a wide-ranging interview in which he blasted the prosecution and also defended House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) from critics within the GOP.

Speaking with John Fredericks on “Outside the Beltway” on April 22, the former president came to Rep. Johnson’s defense amid growing frustration among House Republicans with his leadership.

“Look, we have a majority of one, okay? So, it’s not like he can go and do whatever he wants to do,” President Trump noted.

Mr. Johnson’s hold on the gavel has become increasingly strained in recent weeks as he has joined with Democrats to pass legislation over the objections of some in his own conference.

The most recent example was on April 20, when he helped to pass a foreign aid package that included funding for Ukraine, Israel, and other countries but nothing for securing the U.S. southern border.

President Trump, however, noted that the speaker had followed his suggestion to provide at least some of the aid as a loan. But others among the GOP have been less forgiving.

For Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who filed a motion to oust the speaker last month, the legislation’s passage appears to have been the final straw. A day later, she announced that she would move to oust Mr. Johnson if he did not step down.

President Trump, acknowledging that the speaker’s situation was “tough,” said, “I think he’s a very good man.

“I think he’s trying very hard. And again, we’ve got to have a big election.”

Sending more Republicans to Congress and himself to the White House, the former president said, was the solution to the nation’s troubles.

“We have to win the presidency. If we don’t win the presidency, our country, I’m telling you, I think our country could be finished.”

The remarks were not President Trump’s first in support of Mr. Johnson. Earlier this month, at a joint press conference with the speaker, he affirmed that he stood with his fellow Republican leader amid the increasing criticism.

“We’re getting along very well with the speaker, and I get along very well with Marjorie,” he said.

He added that he thought Mr. Johnson was “doing a very good job” and “about as good as you’re going to do” in that position.

As one of the former president’s most vocal supporters in Congress, Ms. Greene rarely breaks with him on any issue. But on April 23, she appeared willing to do so over Mr. Johnson.

“It’s baffling hearing the establishment complain that it’s too much drama, too hard, and too risky to go through another Speaker race. Meanwhile, Americans are getting kicked in the teeth from the ridiculous drama inflicted on them from pathetic politicians in Washington,” she wrote in an X post.

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), who has also called for the speaker’s removal, doubled down on his position as well.

“The weakest argument in defense of Speaker Johnson is, ‘It’s a razor thin majority; you can’t get everything you want.’ We don’t expect to get everything, but we also won’t tolerate complete & total surrender,” he wrote in his own post.

‘Political Persecution’

During his interview, President Trump also addressed his Manhattan trial, saying that the prosecution and all others targeting him were “political persecution” directed by President Joe Biden.

“Every one of these trials, every single one of them is coming out of the White House,” President Trump said. “It’s to help get Biden elected, who can’t put two sentences together.”

He held that the criminal case brought by District Attorney Alvin Bragg was particularly unfair as it was taking place in a heavily Democratic area. And the presiding judge, New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, he said, was “rushing the trial like crazy,” resulting in the former president being barred from attending his son Barron’s high school graduation ceremony.

“It’s always tough when you can’t go to your son’s graduation. You know, he’s a great student, and he’s a good boy, and you tell him you can’t go to his graduation,” he said.

The case centers on “hush money” payments President Trump’s former attorney, Michael Cohen, made to adult film performer Stormy Daniels on his employer’s behalf ahead of the 2016 presidential election.

The payments were part of a non-disclosure agreement to prevent the actress from going public with allegations of an affair. President Trump has denied her claim that they had an affair.

Prosecutors claim that then-candidate Trump attempted to conceal how he reimbursed Mr. Cohen for the payments by falsifying his business records.

“This was a planned, coordinated conspiracy to influence the 2020 election to silence people who had something bad to say about his behavior, using doctored records,” Assistant District Attorney Matthew Colangelo argued in court. “It was election fraud.”

But the former president’s attorneys stressed that influencing an election is not a crime.

“Spoiler alert: There’s nothing wrong with trying to influence an election. It’s called democracy,” defense attorney Todd Blanche said.

And his client, he added, had committed no other crime, either.

“The reality is that there is nothing illegal about what happened,” he said.

T.J. Muscaro, Catherine Yang, and Michael Washburn contributed to this report.