House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana), on Tuesday, June 4, laid out a Republican game plan to attack the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) following a Manhattan jury's guilty verdict on 34 criminal courts in former President Donald Trump's hush money/falsified business records trial.
The Manhattan case had nothing to do the DOJ, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland or special counsel Jack Smith; it was a New York State case prosecuted by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg Jr., and Trump was found guilty in a state court — not a federal court. However, Smith is prosecuting two federal cases against Trump, neither of which appears likely to go to trial before the November election.
Journalist/author and Never Trump conservative Charlie Sykes was vehemently critical of Johnson's anti-DOJ efforts during a Wednesday morning, June 5 appearance on MSNBC's "Way Too Early" — arguing that Trump's defenders in Congress are showing a total contempt for the rule of law.
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Sykes told "Way Too Early" host Jonathan Lemire, "It is interesting how congressional Republicans are all in on this. I mean, it was, as you point out, erroneous. It was demagogic, but also, an indication of the way the Republican Party is all in — not just in supporting Donald Trump in spite of his criminal behavior, but embracing, embracing his attacks on the criminal justice system."
Sykes continued, "So, they're all in on obstruction of justice, possibly trying to shut down the Department of Justice — which they won't be able to do — but also, Donald Trump's pledges of vengeance and retribution. And, you know, I think that, Jonathan, one of the tasks we sometimes have here is not to become numb to all of this. You know, it is one thing to say that…. Donald Trump has turned the Republican Party into a cult. But the extent to which the Republican Party has transformed itself from the party of law and order to the party of 'we will defend Donald Trump at all costs' is really, really remarkable."
Lemire pointed out that when Johnson calls for "stripping DOJ of funding," that is the type of "defunding the police" that MAGA Republicans accuse Democrats of. And Sykes warned that "vengeance" in support of Trump has become a prominent part of the GOP playbook.
A recurring Republican message since the Manhattan verdict, according to Sykes, is "we now need to go after Democrats."
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Sykes told Lemire, "It's sort of easy to think of this as just Trump's vindictiveness when he says, 'I am your retribution.' But I think what's increasingly obvious is that he has a substantial constituency for the politics of retribution — and that his base will be demanding it. And as you're seeing from Speaker Johnson, there is a very real possibility that Republicans will, in fact, support a Trump 2.0 presidency of vengeance."
Trump and other MAGA Republicans have been fundraising off of the Manhattan verdict. But Sykes stressed that Trump's hardcore MAGA base is much different from swing voters and independents.
Sykes told the "Way Too Early" host, "I remain incredibly skeptical of the notion that any felony conviction (of) Donald Trump and the fact that he continues to face felony charges, is in any way a political asset going into November. I have a hard time imagining independent voters who have been skeptical of him in the past saying, 'Yes, we are going to vote for him now' — especially as, you know, we are now about to have, you know, five months of Democrats and the media describing Donald Trump as a convicted felon."
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Watch the full video below or at this link.
