A ballon with a sticker displaying the image of Jack Smith, US special counsel, flies over Collect Pond Park near Manhattan Criminal Court during Trump’s hush money trial on May 16, 2024 in New York City. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
Donald Trump seems to have called in a team of his top allies to attack the legal system on his behalf, garnering a crowd of anti-judicial supporters, as Michael Cohen’s damning testimony in his criminal trial comes to a close.
Outside the courthouse Thursday afternoon, the former president — who faces charges for falsifying records for hush money payments made to sway the election — drew allegiance from a few of the usual suspects, as well as a Staten Island artist, Scott LoBaido, who released dozens of phallic balloons decorated with stickers depicting the likeness of special counsel Jack Smith, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, trial Judge Juan Merchan, and other MAGA legal enemies.
Someone just pulled up to the Donald Trump hush money trial outside Manhattan Criminal Court in a UHaul and released dozens of pink balloons in the shape of male genitalia with the faces of DA Alvin Bragg, Judge Juan Merchan, and Special Counsel Jack Smith on them. pic.twitter.com/cnXrxEYLXU
— Michelle Arezou Ross (@MRossNews) May 16, 2024
“I’m an artist, so what do I do? Return the humiliation favor by humiliating these d***s,” LoBaido told FOX 5 NY outside the courthouse.
LoBaido wasn’t the only Trump supporter speaking against prosecutors and the judge in the case. Far-right members of congress, many of whom are top Trump allies, flooded the courtroom on Thursday, reportedly to the frustration of Judge Merchan.
In addition to Eric Trump — the former president’s only family member to attend any of his recent legal proceedings — Representatives Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., and Lauren Boebert, R-Colo. joined Trump’s entourage.
Earlier in the week, Trump was joined by House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senators Tommy Tuberville and J.D. Vance, who took to New York to attempt to get around the gag order and attack trial witnesses. But, if reports that Trump edited statements made by those coming to his defense are true, the gag order may in fact have been broken anyway.
Sneaking away from official business in Washington D.C., GOP Congress members coming to the embattled 2024 candidate’s side may be putting their relationship with Trump above their own party’s control of the House of Representatives. Without at least four key GOP votes in court, the House majority may be temporarily slimmed.
Cohen is winding down his testimony, expected to be the last witness in the state’s case against Trump, paving a path for jury deliberation.
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