Leading House Republicans touted on Tuesday a “three-pronged” strategy to push back against the flurry of criminal cases against former President Donald Trump as he runs another campaign for the White House.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) talked about the use of investigations, legislation, and power of the purse during a press conference on Capitol Hill days after 12 jurors convicted Trump on felony charges in a New York hush-money case. Trump, who faces the prospect of jail time, has vowed to appeal the verdict.
“We’re going to do everything we can — everything within our scope of our responsibility in the Congress to address it appropriately,” Johnson said of the congressional response to the verdict and three other prospective trials that Trump faces in matters that focus on the handling of classified documents and the 2020 election.
Noting the House GOP is “working on a three-pronged approach,” Johnson explained, “We’re looking at various approaches to what can be done here through the appropriations process, through the legislative process, through bills that will be advancing through our committees and put on the floor for passage and also through oversight.”
He added, “All those things will be happening vigorously. Because we must do that, because the stakes are too high and because people are losing faith in our institutions. And that at the end of the day, is something that should concern every single one of us, and I think it does.”
House Republicans have opened investigations into key players involved in the Trump cases and have proposed legislation to restrain the prosecutors who are leading them. Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) invited prosecutors from the hush-money case to testify and submitted proposals that would leverage the fiscal 2025 appropriations process.
One of the other top House members who appeared at the press conference on Tuesday, Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA), expounded on efforts already underway to “look into the weaponization of government” that Republicans argue is being leveraged against Trump by President Joe Biden and his allies.
“We have committees … continuing to get transparency, bringing in witnesses. But we are also bringing legislation,” Scalise said. “You’re going to see in the appropriations process us look at the funding of some of these agencies. You’re going to also see policies that are going to be coming forward that are going to address the abuses of power that we’ve seen.”
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Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN) spoke about getting “accountability” for the American people and noted that he pressed the Department of Justice to act on criminal referrals against Michael Cohen, a former Trump lawyer who testified during the hush-money trial, for allegedly making false statements as well as stealing money.
House GOP Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY), a contender to be Trump’s vice presidential running mate who has filed a number of complaints regarding the hush-money case, said the guilty verdict last week “shows how corrupt, rigged, and unAmerican the weaponized justice system has become under Joe Biden and Democrats.”
She added, “We must work and are committed to working around the clock to ensure President Trump is victorious this November to save America from Biden’s failed Far Left Democrat agenda and this illegal weaponization of the justice system against the American people.”