Rep. Jim McGovern slams Mike Johnson for ‘acting as a supporter for Donald Trump’

After expressing doubt that the bills would have any impact, the Democratic lawmaker from Massachusetts said, “Just a free piece of advice to my Republican friends: It’s probably not the best idea to take the lead on law and order over to take from someone who, like us Speak, is a defendant for covering up hush money payments to a porn star for political gain.”

“That’s not to mention the other three criminal charges he faces,” McGovern continued. He then held up that morning’s print edition The New York Times and pointed to the front page with a photo of Johnson, one of the last group of Trump allies to appear in the Manhattan courthouse and denounce the criminal trial.

“Unbelievable,” he repeated, and went on to say that “this stunt undermines this House of Representatives,” adding that Trump “has been indicted more times than he has been elected.”

The Speaker of the House of Representatives then asked McGovern to “refrain from personalizing toward presumptive nominees for the office of President.”

“I didn’t think so,” he responded before continuing his rebuke, declaring that Republican credibility has “evaporated.”

“Do they have the nerve to tell us about the criminal justice system? Give me a break!” McGovern said before proclaiming, “It’s pathetic!”

While speaking at the courthouse the previous day, Johnson also addressed star witness Michael CohenTrump’s former personal lawyer and ‘fixer’, who testified against his ex-boss on Monday and Tuesday.

“This is a man who is clearly on a mission for personal revenge,” the Speaker said. “He is someone with a history of perjury. No one should believe a word he says in it.”

Since then, Trump is suspected of calling on some of his leading supporters to express their concerns about the case on his behalf. Before Tuesday’s hearing, he seemed to suggest that was his intention.

“I have a lot of surrogates,” he said outside the courthouse, “and they speak very nicely.”