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While President Trump’s lawyers sparred with Michael Cohen as the disgraced fixer took the witness stand on Tuesday, several Republican backers showed up in and outside the Manhattan court to show their support for the 45th President. Among the President’s supporters who appeared at the hush money trial were House Speaker Mike Johnson, former 2024 GOP Presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy and North Dakota governor Doug Burgum. Their presence only fueled speculation, however, that they were there to score political points when Trump picks his running mate later this year.
US Representative Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY 11TH) was also in attendance. As she told 710 WOR’s Len Berman and Michael Riedel in the Morning program, however, she was there strictly to show her support for a candidate who is being railroaded.
“It’s a sham prosecution, even sitting there, listening to the star witness,” Malliotakis told Berman and Riedel. “This is the star witness, not to mention that he’s unreliable because he’s a convicted, disbarred individual who committed perjury, is guilty of it, convicted of it. But aside from that there was no evidence that came out, so it was important, I think, for his allies to show up and show support, and that’s exactly what my motivation was.”
Malliotakis feels Trump’s ordeal is being noticed by her constituents and voters across the country. “And you know what? The people see it, and that’s why he’s doing better in these swing states than he was in the past. He’s got a lead in all the major swing states. It’s because people see it for what it is, and you know who sees it the most? The immigrants. I’ve talked to the Chinese community, Albanian, Egyptian community in my district, and they say, ‘This is what happened in my country.’ They fled this stuff, okay, and they’re not going to allow it to happen here, and I think people are coming to the side of President Trump because of it.”
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