Republicans are sticking by Trump, the felon — even in battleground states

Senior elected Republicans across the country are racing to Donald Trump’s side following his criminal conviction — even those who’ve criticized him openly in the past.

Speaker Mike Johnson went beyond defending the former president, taking the unusual step of calling for the Supreme Court to intervene in Trump’s appeal. House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) made clear on Friday that he’d take new steps to investigate the team that got the conviction in New York, writing Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg to seek his Capitol Hill testimony on the “political prosecution” of Trump.

“There is a zeal out there in the base, an enthusiasm, a motivation, and … President Trump is no longer just an individual. He is now a symbol,” Johnson told conservative host Hugh Hewitt on Friday. “He is a symbol of fighting back against this corruption of our system and the deep state and all the rest.”

Even the handful of GOP senators who once resisted Trump’s influence on the party were critical of the conviction. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, whose relationship with Trump unraveled after he congratulated President Joe Biden for winning in 2020, posted on social media Thursday night that he expects the former president’s appeal to succeed — without directly mentioning Trump.

Even Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who supported the former president’s second impeachment, issued a statement criticizing the decision to bring the case.

It was a striking display of how fully Trump has reasserted his grip on his party as he marches toward a third straight presidential nomination. With the exception of a few blue-state Republicans who still need to carve out distance to hang on to their seats, the GOP’s plan for 2024 is now clear: Hug Trump tightly and make the most of the base’s fury over his conviction, betting that independent voters won’t be moved.

The depth of the GOP’s allegiance to Trump — despite a guilty verdict on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment to a porn actor — emerged on multiple fronts in the hours after his conviction.

Sens. John Cornyn of Texas, John Thune of South Dakota and Rick Scott of Florida — all jockeying to succeed McConnell (R-Ky.) atop the party's conference next year — quickly offered their support for Trump, who could try to influence the closed-door election.

Johnson gave voice on Friday to the theory that the GOP base had been energized by the conviction, telling Hewitt that the conviction would "work to President Trump’s benefit in the election … our Republican fundraising platforms broke records" after the verdict.

It wasn’t just GOP leaders and ardent Trump allies offering a vocal defense. Republicans in competitive seats, including those Biden carried in 2020, defended the former president against what they blasted as politically motivated and “sham” trial.

“This is how we’re going to do politics now?” Rep. Marc Molinaro (R-N.Y.), whose district Biden won in 2020, wrote after the verdict. “This is a perversion of our justice system. The leading contender for the presidency doesn’t belong behind bars.”

Meanwhile, Collins, one of only seven Senate Republicans in office at the time who voted to convict Trump in his 2021 impeachment, was a notable entry in the chorus of purple- and blue-state GOP lawmakers slamming the trial.

"It is fundamental to our American system of justice that the government prosecutes cases because of alleged criminal conduct regardless of who the defendant happens to be. In this case, the opposite has happened,” she said in a statement to a local Maine outlet. “The district attorney, who campaigned on a promise to prosecute Donald Trump, brought these chargers because of who the defendant was.”

In addition to Bragg, Jordan is calling on Matthew Colangelo, who helped prosecute the New York case against Trump, to appear for a hearing on June 13 before his subcommittee that party leaders formed at the beginning of this Congress to investigate GOP claims of “weaponization” of the government.

Trump’s campaign has sent clear messages to Republicans that there's a cost for failing to support him, both politically and in fundraising. Shortly before the jury announced the verdict, former Maryland governor and GOP Senate hopeful Larry Hogan posted a message on social media urging Republicans to respect the decision — a statement that infuriated the former president’s campaign.

"You just ended your campaign,” Chris LaCivita, a senior adviser to the former president, wrote in reply to Hogan.

Trump’s campaign also sent a warning to Republicans late Thursday that they should not try to fundraise for themselves off the New York verdict and will face consequences if they do so without sharing the money with Trump.

“Any Republican elected official, candidate or party committee siphoning money from President Trump’s donors are no better than Judge Merchan’s daughter,” LaCivita said. “We’re keeping a list, we’ll be checking it twice and we aren’t in the spirit of Christmas.”

The campaign views the fundraising as a potential gold mine, claiming on Friday that it raised $34.8 million after the jury’s decision.

Meanwhile, House Democrats are hoping that the rally to Trump's side will come back to bite the GOP in November. As they seek to wrest back control of the chamber this fall, their path back to the majority runs through Biden-won districts like Molinaro's.

“House Republicans have continued to put Donald Trump first and the American people last. Their districts deserve better than their cult-like adherence to a wannabe dictator. Each and every one of them should rescind their endorsement, but won’t,” Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee communications director Courtney Rice said in a statement.

Even so, few if any swing-seat GOP lawmakers appeared conflicted about their support for Trump after the conviction.

Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska, another Biden-district Republican, called the verdict a “sad day for the country” and an “unprecedented prosecution” by Bragg, who “campaigned on going after Trump. That undermines the credibility of the verdict.”

Daniella Diaz, Dustin Racioppi and Alex Isenstadt contributed to this report.