Some notable MAGA lawmakers showed up at the courtroom where Donald Trump’s hush-money trial will be hearing from the former president’s ex-ally turned foe Michael Cohen on Monday.
While multiple members of Trump’s family—including his wife, Melania—have been conspicuously absent from the trial, Sens. J.D. Vance (R-OH) and Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) appeared in the Manhattan courtroom.
Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY) was also seen joining the pack.
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Vance, who is currently thought to be on the shortlist of Trump’s potential running mates, arrived in court after he spent part of the weekend going on TV and defending the GOP presumptive nominee against claims that he might be antisemitic. He is also set to appear with Trump on Wednesday at a rally in Cincinnati.
Later Monday morning, Vance took to X to share some of his “observations” from the trial—which included the claim that the main goal of prosecuting Trump for alleged business fraud is “psychological torture.”
“I saw a media report a few days ago that Trump looked like he was falling asleep or bored or something,” Vance went on to say. “The obvious narrative they’re trying to sell is ‘yeah Biden is mentally unfit but this other guy is bad too.’ It’s an absurd narrative. I’m 39 years old and I’ve been here for 26 minutes and I’m about to fall asleep.”
The vice presidential hopeful also assailed Cohen’s credibility—something Trump has been barred from doing thanks to a gag order handed down several weeks ago by Judge Juan Merchan, who is handling the case.
“Cohen can’t remember how old his son is or how old he was when he started to work for Trump but I’m sure he remembers extremely small details from years ago!” Vance wrote.
Trump’s son Eric was also reportedly seen in the courtroom Monday. He’s previously attended the proceedings, which, over the past few weeks, has heard occasionally graphic testimony about his father’s alleged affairs. Eric Trump also dismissed the trial as a “salacious show.”
The display of support comes as Cohen, the prosecution’s star witness, takes the stand. Prosecutors claim the Trump Organization falsely recorded payments to Cohen as legal fees which were, in fact, reimbursements for a $130,000 hush-money payment Cohen had made to porn star Stormy Daniels to stop her from speaking out about an alleged affair.
Trump has denied 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.
