House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is cashing in on Donald Trump’s hush-money trial in New York just hours after appearing alongside the former president as he entered the Manhattan courthouse for the fifth week of his first criminal trial. 

Shortly after making remarks outside the courthouse, during which Johnson decried the charges as being politically motivated and corrupt, the House speaker’s political action committee sent out a fundraising email touting his defense of the former president. The email accuses Democrats of using Trump’s trial to interfere with the 2024 election, urging supporters to chip in to end the “political hit job.” 

“President Donald Trump is on trial for one reason and one reason only: to interfere with our election. Democrats are weaponizing the justice system to defeat him,” the missive states. “Democrats are putting their fingers on the scales to interfere with an election they know they’d otherwise lose. They know they can’t beat him at the ballot box … The stakes could not be any higher. The future of our country is on the line.”