Mike Johnson wants the Supreme Court to do what now?
Donald Trump has been convicted of 34 felony counts in the New York hush money case—but there’s a lengthy appeals process ahead. And what ever happened to the other three cases against him—Jack Smith’s federal election interference and classified documents cases, and Fani Willis’ Georgia election interference case? All three have hit various roadblocks.
It was a week for the history books. The New York hush money trial ended with Trump becoming the first U.S. president to be convicted of a crime, and basically the entirety of the Republican Party quickly came to his defense. Meanwhile, special counsel Jack Smith continued working on the classified documents case, filing a new motion to gag the former president.
Following the news of Trump’s guilty verdict, House Speaker Mike Johnson went on Fox News and urged the Supreme Court to intervene and “set this straight.” “I know many of [the justices] personally—I think they are deeply concerned about that, as we are,” he said.
Johnson went so far as to say, “This will be overturned guys, there’s no question about it.” (It would be extraordinarily bizarre for the Supreme Court to somehow overturn a criminal conviction under state law outside of the appeals process in New York courts.)
Johnson’s comments come just as Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito has been in the hot seat over flags associated with insurrectionists that flew outside of his homes, and as the court considers two consequential Trump-related cases involving Jan. 6. Alito has rejected congressional Democrats’ calls to recuse himself from those cases.
Johnson was joined by plenty of other Republicans who also blasted the Manhattan jury’s unanimous decision in Trump’s hush money trial. New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, also the chair of the House Republican Conference, put out a lengthy statement blaming President Joe Biden and Democrats. “This was a zombie case illegally brought forward by a corrupt prosecutor doing Joe Biden’s political bidding,” Stefanik wrote on X.
After deliberating for 12 hours, and asking the judge for details around critical testimony, the jury in Trump’s hush money trial announced their verdict: guilty on all 34 felony counts.
It was a unanimous decision, reached by 12 jurors after a six-weeklong trial where prosecutors for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg argued Trump unlawfully falsified business records in order to hide a hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels. And after the courtroom’s foreperson read aloud each felony count’s guilty verdict, Trump closed his eyes and his lead defense attorney put his face in his hands, Slate’s Jeremy Stahl wrote in his courtroom dispatch. Outside the courthouse, huge throngs of Trump protesters rallied with plenty of creative signage, including one that said “Only Wins When He Cheats.”
While each felony count carries up to four years in prison, some experts don’t believe Trump will face any time behind bars, given that this was his first offense and the crime was nonviolent. Justice
Juan Merchan has scheduled Trump’s sentencing for July 11—four days before the Republican National Convention. Meanwhile, Todd Blanche, Trump’s lead defense attorney, already pledged to appeal the jury’s verdict, and that process could take years. As for Trump, he can continue campaigning for president, and if he wins the election in November, he can still serve as president, despite being a convicted felon.
The special counsel went back to the drawing board to put together a refined motion for a gag order in the classified documents case, less than a week after Judge Aileen Cannon rejected his first attempt.
The new motion reiterates the same ask: Stop Trump from attacking law enforcement involved in prosecuting the classified documents case in public statements. The first time Smith tried requesting this gag order, Cannon quickly rejected it because the special counsel failed to notify Trump’s attorneys in a reasonable way. (Smith told them about it at 5:30 p.m. on the eve of Memorial Day weekend. C’mon, Jack!)
This time around, Smith’s motion includes a statement from Trump’s defense attorney, which calls the gag order a “blatant violation of the First Amendment rights of President Trump and the American People.” However, Smith argues the gag order is necessary given Trump’s penchant for making incendiary comments against law enforcement, including a fundraising email that falsely claimed “Biden’s DOJ was authorized to shoot me!” and “Joe Biden was locked & loaded and ready to take me out & put my family in danger.”
This piece by Shirin Ali was first published in Slate.