Speaker Johnson on Trump Manhattan conviction: 'Supreme Court should step in'

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said Friday that the Supreme Court "should step in" on former President Donald Trump's appeal to his Manhattan falsified business documents case, following a jury's guilty verdict on all 34 charges on Thursday. 

Speaker Johnson asserted that the case is dangerous to the American justice system, saying it has diminished the American people's faith in the court system. He believes the case will be overturned but wants to see SCOTUS get involved. 

"I do believe the Supreme Court should step in," said Johnson on Fox & Friends. "Obviously, this is totally unprecedented, and it's dangerous to our system." 

"This is diminishing the American people's faith in our system of justice itself, and to maintain a Republic, you have to have that. People have to believe that justice is fair, that there's equal justice under the law. They don't see that right now. And I think that the Justices on the court, I know many of them personally, I think they're deeply concerned about that as we are. So, I think they'll set this straight, but it's going to take a while," Johnson continued. 

Speaker Johnson said that the "whole objective" of the case was for Democrats to drag it out and bankrupt Donald Trump in the process, saying, "They want to diminish his credibility and go after his character." 

"They wanted to keep him off the campaign trail, which they were successful in doing for many weeks, and now they want to call him the convicted felon," said Johnson. 

The House Speaker said he believes that the case will be "overturned" but it's "going to take some time to do it." 

Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney, charged Trump with 34 counts of falsifying business records. The jury found the former president guilty on charges. According to Bragg, 34 bookkeeping entries, which included invoices, checks, and receipts for money paid to Cohen, should not have been recorded as legal fees. Rather than calling them legal fees, Bragg said they were "hush money" payments to porn Stormey Daniels, with whom Trump is alleged to have had an affair with.  

Judge Merchan has scheduled a sentencing date for July 11. Trump faces four years in prison for each charge.