Republicans Are Now Setting Their Work Schedule Based on Trump’s Trial
Droves of Republicans arrived at Donald Trump’s New York hush-money trial Thursday in a show of support and power for the presumed GOP presidential nominee—but that didn’t mean the lawmakers were actually off for the day.
The lawmakers who trekked up to New York for the day included Representatives Andy Biggs, Lauren Boebert, and Anna Paulina Luna, all of whom sit on the House Oversight Committee. The committee rescheduled a contempt markup for Attorney General Merrick Garland to 8 p.m. from 11 a.m., evidently so members could attend Trump’s trial.
“I guess we all know who is setting the Committee’s calendar now,” wrote the official X (formerly Twitter) account for the Oversight Committee Democrats.
Other politicians who made the field trip included Representatives Matt Gaetz, Eli Craine, and Andy Ogles, as well as Virginia state Senator John McGuire. McGuire is running against House Freedom Caucus Chair Bob Good in the Virginia Republican representative primaries.
They join a long lineup of Republicans who have traveled the distance to be in the background of the trial, protesting the legal proceedings as well as the gag order on Trump, which restricts him from making disparaging remarks against witnesses, court staff, or their families.
“They may have gagged President Trump. They didn’t gag me. They didn’t gag the rest of us,” Boebert wrote in a post on X.
Earlier in the week, former North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, House Speaker Mike Johnson, and Senators Tim Scott, J.D. Vance, and Tommy Tuberville all paid their own visits.
On Tuesday, biotech investor Vivek Ramaswamy, RNC co-chair Lara Trump, Eric Trump and two Republican representatives showed up at the New York courthouse in matching suits and ties for a low-budget fundraising ad that attempted to portray Trump as a candidate unjustly locked in the courthouse.
Trump: We have a lot of congressmen and some senators down today and they are all up in arms over this. They can't believe it. We have quite a few congressmen. You will talk to them in a little while. pic.twitter.com/zTMDOBFPNp
— Acyn (@Acyn) May 16, 2024