'We have to overturn this': Trump and Mike Johnson reportedly discussed sabotaging convictions

13 June 2024

In a private call with House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana), former President Donald Trump reportedly launched into a profanity-laden diatribe about his 34 felony convictions in New York.

In Thursday's edition of the Politico Playbook, writer Rachel Bade, Eugene Daniels and Ryan Lizza reported that Trump had a lengthy call with Johnson as he prepares for his first trip back to Washington, D.C. since the deadly January 6, 2021 insurrection. At one point, the subject of Trump's guilty verdict came up, which prompted the former president to pressure the speaker to use his power and influence to minimize its impact.

"Trump, true to nature, has been obsessed in recent weeks with harnessing the powers of Congress to fight on his own behalf and go to war against the Democrats he accuses of 'weaponizing' the justice system against him," Politico reported. "Trump was still angry when he made the call, according to those who have heard accounts of it from Johnson, dropping frequent F-bombs as he spoke with the soft-spoken and pious GOP leader."

“We have to overturn this,” Trump told Johnson, according to the outlet.

The speaker was one of several high-profile GOP figures to travel to Manhattan and defend the former president outside of the courthouse where his first criminal trial took place. He notably attacked former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, who, as a witness, is protected by the gag order Merchan imposed on the ex-president.

""This is a man who is clearly on a mission for personal revenge, and who is widely known as a witness who has trouble with the truth," Johnson said of Cohen. He added that he was there not at the ex-president's request, but "on my own, to support President Trump, because I am one of hundreds of millions of people and one citizen who is deeply concerned about this."

Politico reported that despite the speaker's public show of loyalty, Trump may not be happy with Johnson's efforts concerning his 34 felony convictions. Politico reported that Johnson's tenuous GOP majority may not be able to do much in the way of pro-Trump resolutions, given that Republicans from competitive districts are likely hesitant about throwing their weight behind a convicted felon.

"Sympathy can only go so far," wrote Bade, Daniels and Lizza. "With a slim majority and skittish swing-district members, Johnson is already finding it difficult to deliver for Trump."

Trump is set to be sentenced on July 11, which is just four days before the Republican National Committee kicks off in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The Republican National Committee is reportedly already making plans in the event that the presumptive nominee is unable to physically attend the convention, given that he may be under home confinement or even incarcerated.

Click here to read the current edition of the Playbook.

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