Sen. Tommy Tuberville knows a great deal about the judiciary. The Alabama Republican is on record asserting that the three branches of government are “the House, the Senate and the executive.”
And so this week, the former college football coach took his expertise in jurisprudence to Donald Trump’s hush money trial in New York, watched for a few minutes and came out to offer reporters his legal analysis.
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“How can you be convinced by somebody that is a serial liar?” Tuberville wanted to know. “I mean, there should be no reason that anybody should listen to this guy.”
One hundred percent, Coach! Tuberville was talking about the witness, Michael Cohen, but he didn’t have the self-awareness to realize he was also describing the defendant, perhaps the most famous liar in American history.
The Manhattan Criminal Courthouse was overflowing with lying liars this week. Inside the courtroom, Cohen testified about all the lies he told for Trump: lying to Congress, lying to the public, lying about Trump’s involvement with Russia, lying about Trump’s alleged trysts and how Trump bought the silence of his accusers. Trump’s lawyers, in their cross-examination, sought to convince the jury that the former Trump fixer is so prolific a liar that he is still lying, as are Stormy Daniels, Karen McDougal and anybody who accuses Trump of anything, ever. Trump himself, in statements to the cameras in the hallway outside the courtroom, lies about the terms of the gag order, the “corrupt” judge, the view of “everybody” with legal experience that he committed “no crime” — and whatever else comes to his lips.
In the park across the street from the courthouse on Tuesday stood the speaker of the House, the man second in line to the presidency, lying like a rug. Without a shred of evidence, Mike Johnson alleged that “the judge’s own daughter is making millions of dollars” off of the trial. He claimed a prosecutor in the case had “recently received over $10,000 in payments from the Democratic National Committee.” He alleged that, in Trump’s classified documents case, prosecutors “manipulated documents” and “might have tampered with the evidence” — conduct “so egregious” that it caused that trial to be “indefinitely postponed.” All false or, at best, deeply distorted.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opini...tid=mc_magnet-oppodcasts_inline_collection_20
It was demeaning to the office of the speaker, and to Congress, for Johnson to be trashing the criminal justice system as “corrupt,” and nakedly campaigning for Trump at the former president’s trial. He was one of a parade of MAGA legislators making a pilgrimage to the courthouse this week. On Monday came Sens. Tuberville and J.D. Vance (Ohio) and Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (N.Y.). On Tuesday came Johnson and a quartet of Republicans all dressed as Trump mini-mes in blue-gray suits, white shirts and red ties: Reps. Cory Mills (Fla.) and Byron Donalds (Fla.), North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. On Thursday came so many House MAGA Republicans — including Matt Gaetz (Fla.) and Anna Paulina Luna (Fla.), Bob Good (Va.), Andy Biggs (Ariz.) and Eli Crane (Ariz.), and Lauren Boebert (Colo.), and at least five others — that the House Oversight Committee had to postpone its planned vote to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress.
The speaker owes his job to Trump, who earlier this month opposed Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s attempt to oust him. In a sense, all of the lawmakers flocking to New York owe their jobs to Trump: One cross word from him, and they’re out faster than you can say “primary challenge.” And so they performed for Trump outside the courthouse as a troupe of synchronized sycophants.
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“This is a sham trial!” said Trump, inside the courthouse.
“Sham of a trial,” parroted Johnson, outside the courthouse.
“Sham trial,” repeated Vance, Malliotakis and Biggs.
“A crooked sham trial,” said Good.
“This is a sham,” echoed Mills.
“A politicized sham,” offered Ramaswamy.
“There’s no crime!” said Trump, inside the courthouse.
“There’s no crime here,” repeated Johnson, outside the courthouse.
“There is no crime,” said Donalds.
“What is the crime?” asked Ramaswamy and Boebert.
“It’s election interference!” proclaimed Trump.
“It is election interference,” chorused Johnson.
“It’s election interference,” said Burgum.
“Election interference,” said Gaetz and Good.
“Election interference at its finest!” said Mills.
President Biden is “weaponizing the Department of Justice,” announced Trump.
“Weaponized DOJ,” chorused Boebert.
“Weaponized against President Trump,” Johnson echoed.
“Weaponization against our president,” repeated Mills.
The Greek chorus dutifully echoed Trump’s claim that the case is a “scam” and a “witch hunt.” They repeated his bogus assertion that the “Federal Election Commission said there’s not a problem, there’s no case.” (In reality, a deadlocked FEC dropped the case after Republican commissioners said it was redundant because Cohen had already been convicted of an election law violation.) They endorsed his nonsense accusation that “Biden’s office is running this trial” in New York state courts. And they seconded his constant complaint about the “unconstitutional” gag order. (An appeals court this week upheld the order, saying Trump’s statements “posed a significant threat to the integrity of the testimony.”)
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That gag order primarily prohibits Trump from “making or directing others to make public statements” about witnesses and family members of participants in the proceedings. Yet that’s exactly what seemed to be happening outside the courthouse this week, with the closely choreographed statements attacking prosecutors, jurors and, particularly, the judge’s daughter.
“The judge inside, his daughter is making millions of dollars running against Donald Trump,” said Vance, using the same phrase — “making millions” — that Johnson did on Tuesday and that Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) did on Thursday. Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.) claimed “we have a judge whose family is enriching themselves on what’s happening today.” Ramaswamy claimed “you have a judge whose kids are collecting money from Democratic operatives by fundraising off the very trial that that judge is presiding over.”
They offered not a shred of evidence that the judge’s daughter, who works at a political consultancy, has made a dime off the trial. Even if she had, the judge had solicited an advisory opinion from New York’s Advisory Committee on Judicial Ethics, which concluded that “the judge’s impartiality cannot reasonably be questioned based on the judge’s relative’s business and/or political activities.”
Was Trump “directing” this attack on the judge’s daughter? The chorus had a rehearsed rebuttal to this, too. “President Trump is a friend, and I wanted to be here to support him,” said Johnson.
“I wanted to be here to show some support for my friend,” said Vance.
“I’m here, and all of us who are here, as friends of Donald Trump, supporting him” was Ramaswamy’s version.
“We’re here voluntarily supporting our friend, President Trump,” said Gaetz.
On social media, Gaetz posted a photo of him standing behind Trump in court with the message “Standing back and standing by, Mr. President” — referring to Trump’s 2020 debate instructions to the Proud Boys, whose leaders were convicted of seditious conspiracy related to the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.
That’s what friends are for. “I do have a lot of surrogates and they are speaking very beautifully,” said Trump.
And so this week, the former college football coach took his expertise in jurisprudence to Donald Trump’s hush money trial in New York, watched for a few minutes and came out to offer reporters his legal analysis.
Sign up for the Prompt 2024 newsletter for opinions on the biggest questions in politics“How can you be convinced by somebody that is a serial liar?” Tuberville wanted to know. “I mean, there should be no reason that anybody should listen to this guy.”
One hundred percent, Coach! Tuberville was talking about the witness, Michael Cohen, but he didn’t have the self-awareness to realize he was also describing the defendant, perhaps the most famous liar in American history.
The Manhattan Criminal Courthouse was overflowing with lying liars this week. Inside the courtroom, Cohen testified about all the lies he told for Trump: lying to Congress, lying to the public, lying about Trump’s involvement with Russia, lying about Trump’s alleged trysts and how Trump bought the silence of his accusers. Trump’s lawyers, in their cross-examination, sought to convince the jury that the former Trump fixer is so prolific a liar that he is still lying, as are Stormy Daniels, Karen McDougal and anybody who accuses Trump of anything, ever. Trump himself, in statements to the cameras in the hallway outside the courtroom, lies about the terms of the gag order, the “corrupt” judge, the view of “everybody” with legal experience that he committed “no crime” — and whatever else comes to his lips.
In the park across the street from the courthouse on Tuesday stood the speaker of the House, the man second in line to the presidency, lying like a rug. Without a shred of evidence, Mike Johnson alleged that “the judge’s own daughter is making millions of dollars” off of the trial. He claimed a prosecutor in the case had “recently received over $10,000 in payments from the Democratic National Committee.” He alleged that, in Trump’s classified documents case, prosecutors “manipulated documents” and “might have tampered with the evidence” — conduct “so egregious” that it caused that trial to be “indefinitely postponed.” All false or, at best, deeply distorted.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opini...tid=mc_magnet-oppodcasts_inline_collection_20
It was demeaning to the office of the speaker, and to Congress, for Johnson to be trashing the criminal justice system as “corrupt,” and nakedly campaigning for Trump at the former president’s trial. He was one of a parade of MAGA legislators making a pilgrimage to the courthouse this week. On Monday came Sens. Tuberville and J.D. Vance (Ohio) and Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (N.Y.). On Tuesday came Johnson and a quartet of Republicans all dressed as Trump mini-mes in blue-gray suits, white shirts and red ties: Reps. Cory Mills (Fla.) and Byron Donalds (Fla.), North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. On Thursday came so many House MAGA Republicans — including Matt Gaetz (Fla.) and Anna Paulina Luna (Fla.), Bob Good (Va.), Andy Biggs (Ariz.) and Eli Crane (Ariz.), and Lauren Boebert (Colo.), and at least five others — that the House Oversight Committee had to postpone its planned vote to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress.
The speaker owes his job to Trump, who earlier this month opposed Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s attempt to oust him. In a sense, all of the lawmakers flocking to New York owe their jobs to Trump: One cross word from him, and they’re out faster than you can say “primary challenge.” And so they performed for Trump outside the courthouse as a troupe of synchronized sycophants.
Advertisement
“This is a sham trial!” said Trump, inside the courthouse.
“Sham of a trial,” parroted Johnson, outside the courthouse.
“Sham trial,” repeated Vance, Malliotakis and Biggs.
“A crooked sham trial,” said Good.
“This is a sham,” echoed Mills.
“A politicized sham,” offered Ramaswamy.
“There’s no crime!” said Trump, inside the courthouse.
“There’s no crime here,” repeated Johnson, outside the courthouse.
“There is no crime,” said Donalds.
“What is the crime?” asked Ramaswamy and Boebert.
“It’s election interference!” proclaimed Trump.
“It is election interference,” chorused Johnson.
“It’s election interference,” said Burgum.
“Election interference,” said Gaetz and Good.
“Election interference at its finest!” said Mills.
President Biden is “weaponizing the Department of Justice,” announced Trump.
“Weaponized DOJ,” chorused Boebert.
“Weaponized against President Trump,” Johnson echoed.
“Weaponization against our president,” repeated Mills.
The Greek chorus dutifully echoed Trump’s claim that the case is a “scam” and a “witch hunt.” They repeated his bogus assertion that the “Federal Election Commission said there’s not a problem, there’s no case.” (In reality, a deadlocked FEC dropped the case after Republican commissioners said it was redundant because Cohen had already been convicted of an election law violation.) They endorsed his nonsense accusation that “Biden’s office is running this trial” in New York state courts. And they seconded his constant complaint about the “unconstitutional” gag order. (An appeals court this week upheld the order, saying Trump’s statements “posed a significant threat to the integrity of the testimony.”)
Advertisement
That gag order primarily prohibits Trump from “making or directing others to make public statements” about witnesses and family members of participants in the proceedings. Yet that’s exactly what seemed to be happening outside the courthouse this week, with the closely choreographed statements attacking prosecutors, jurors and, particularly, the judge’s daughter.
“The judge inside, his daughter is making millions of dollars running against Donald Trump,” said Vance, using the same phrase — “making millions” — that Johnson did on Tuesday and that Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) did on Thursday. Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.) claimed “we have a judge whose family is enriching themselves on what’s happening today.” Ramaswamy claimed “you have a judge whose kids are collecting money from Democratic operatives by fundraising off the very trial that that judge is presiding over.”
They offered not a shred of evidence that the judge’s daughter, who works at a political consultancy, has made a dime off the trial. Even if she had, the judge had solicited an advisory opinion from New York’s Advisory Committee on Judicial Ethics, which concluded that “the judge’s impartiality cannot reasonably be questioned based on the judge’s relative’s business and/or political activities.”
Was Trump “directing” this attack on the judge’s daughter? The chorus had a rehearsed rebuttal to this, too. “President Trump is a friend, and I wanted to be here to support him,” said Johnson.
“I wanted to be here to show some support for my friend,” said Vance.
“I’m here, and all of us who are here, as friends of Donald Trump, supporting him” was Ramaswamy’s version.
“We’re here voluntarily supporting our friend, President Trump,” said Gaetz.
On social media, Gaetz posted a photo of him standing behind Trump in court with the message “Standing back and standing by, Mr. President” — referring to Trump’s 2020 debate instructions to the Proud Boys, whose leaders were convicted of seditious conspiracy related to the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.
That’s what friends are for. “I do have a lot of surrogates and they are speaking very beautifully,” said Trump.
