OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
House Speaker Mike Johnson has come out swinging after jurors convicted former President Donald Trump on all 34 counts in the controversial hush-money case in New York.
During an interview on Fox News, Johnson decried what he described as “the weaponization of our justice system” and said that Trump will “appeal this absurd verdict.”
Host Ainsley Earhardt asked Johnson: “In the meantime, the sentencing date is July 11th. That’s after the first debate. So, the two candidates will debate. Then there is going to be the sentencing date. How is that going to affect the RNC? What if he has home confinement? He can’t go? Does the convention still happen? Does he zoom in on the screen? How does he campaign if he goes to prison? What does that look like? Will he be in prison with the Secret Service on Election Day?”
“We’re in uncharted waters, right? Obviously, there is no prohibition against him being elected president, even if he is confined somewhere. But I certainly hope that doesn’t happen. You know, there is lots of discussion, we talked about it all last night, there will be more discussion today about how we might adjust things in the schedule and all of that,” Johnson said.
He added,” But I will tell you what will happen. I predict this will increase turnout on our side. He will win, decisively. He will become the next president. He was already, as I said, crushing Joe Biden in the polls. I think as this plays out and people get more and more frustrated about it, I think it will help us and that huge enthusiasm gap that already existed between the Trump and Biden campaigns will be even wider. People now see Donald Trump as a symbol of something. He is more than just an individual. He is a symbol of fighting back against this government corruption, the deep state, the bureaucracy and all the rest. And we need his leadership in the White House now more than ever.”
Co-host Brian Kilmeade jumped in and asked: “I mean, just seeing for the last five or six weeks, everything just stopped, everyone was watching, it was the number one story in big and small towns across the country. You wonder, the other three cases, the other three indictments, will they see the light of day? No one can say for sure. But we expect at any time the Supreme Court to rule on immunity. You have such a rich legal background. What should we all be looking for there? I know what you are hoping for. What are some of the rulings it could have?”
“Well, look, I do believe that the Court needs to address that clearly. We have to set a standard here. There is a really important principle of immunity for the commander-in-chief,” Johnson began.
“I mean, that’s always been part of our legal tradition and it makes good sense. You can’t have somebody sitting in the Oval Office worried about some rogue prosecutor somewhere, some Soros-funded D.A. or some lawyer that’s going to come after them for their decisions,” he added.
Johnson concluded: “So, that principle needs to be made concrete and needs to be expanded. I think this court will do the right thing because they see the abuse of the system right now. And that’s the greatest peril here of all, at the end of the day. This transcends even Donald Trump. It’s about whether or not the people believe in our institutions, our system of justice. There’s nothing larger than that in our system.”
WATCH:
After a New York jury found Trump guilty on Thursday, conservative host Megyn Kelly reacted by saying that Democrats would “rue the day” they used the legal system to “corrupt a presidential election.”
The host of “The Megyn Kelly Show” took to X, formerly known as Twitter, and voiced her disapproval of the jury’s decision to find Trump guilty on all 34 counts in the hush-money trial.
“Guilty on all counts. The country is disgraced. Alvin Bragg should be disbarred. They will rue the day they unleashed this lawfare to corrupt a presidential election,” Kelly wrote to her 3 million followers.
