A slew of prominent Republicans have continued to rush to Donald Trump's defense amid his New York hush money trial over the last two weeks.
From House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) to Senators Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) and JD Vance (R-OH), the MAGA supporting lawmakers believe showing up to defend the former president against the law is more critical than attending legislative sessions in Washington.
Legal correspondent Lisa Rubin, who's been in the Manhattan courtroom as well, spoke with MSNBC's The Reidout host Joy Reid about the goals of the "tightly coordinated surrogates operation" backing Trump.
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"Let's talk about the atmospherics," Reid said. "Here's who was in court with Donald Trump today: Allen Wilson, some people you haven't heard of, some congressmen, insurrectionist Congressman Andrew Clyde (R-OH), [conservative lawyer] Alan Dershowitz — interesting. He was there. A Missouri attorney general candidate was there. [Former NYC Police Commissioner] Bernie Kerik, who Donald Trump pardoned, was there," the MSNBC host continued. "Kash Patel, former chief of staff to the secretary of defense who will probably be in the next administration. Vernon Jones, the sort of Democrat turned really right-wing wacky Georgia Republican. And actor Chuck Zito, former president of the New York chapter of the Hell's Angels. Um, what was that about?"
"I have no idea what Chuck Zito was about," Rubin said. "But let's talk about the larger atmospherics. There was a moment last week, Joy, on Thursday, where the DA's office was complaining about the disruption caused by members of Trump's entourage basically coming in and out of the courtroom because they were having press availabilities outside during breaks and therefore would miss the beginning of the renewed session."
The legal analyst added , "And when they did that, Todd Blanche said, 'Hey, look, I can't control these people. They're just members of the public.' I think anybody who has watched the surrogates operation over the last several days understands that this is not just some coincidental gathering of members of the public, but a very tightly coordinated surrogates operation in coordination with the Trump campaign itself."
"They're selecting who comes to court every day," Rubin continued. "They have a sense, down to the seat, of how many people they can fit in the first two rows of the gallery assigned to them and they fit each and every one of them. And they're accomplishing certain objectives each and every time they call upon people to come there. Sometimes they're asking for people who are state attorneys general, or candidates for attorneys general."
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The former litigator emphasized, "But the guy who came today that you mentioned, he's not just a candidate for Missouri attorney general. He's one of Trump's appellate lawyers. So there are lots of people there wearing multiple hats, but they're all hats that fit into the MAGA world. This is not just some disparate assembly of people who like Donald Trump."
Watch the video below or at this link.
How Trump’s 'surrogates operation' is 'tightly coordinated' to 'fit into MAGA world': legal expert www.youtube.com
