Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) encouraged the Supreme Court to “intervene” in former president Trump’s hush money case on Sunday, calling on the high court to hear an accelerated appeal of Trump’s conviction.
Trump was convicted this month of 34 felony counts of falsifying business documents in relation to illegally covered up hush money payments made to hide an alleged prior affair just before the 2016 election. He has appealed the conviction, and will be sentenced next month.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) called on the court to step in on the case earlier this month, which Donalds echoed in an NBC News “Meet the Press” interview with Peter Alexander.
“Speaker Johnson, myself included, and many Americans believe the Supreme Court should step into this matter,” Donalds said.
The Florida congressman said that the appeals process could take years, which could have negative ramifications for Trump. He called the legal case against Trump a politically motivated effort.
“This is being done for political purposes,” he continued. “Everybody knows how the court system works in New York. The only ability for this to be overturned is going to be happening two or three years from now. That’s why what happened in lower Manhattan was to interfere with an election.”
Johnson previously called the conviction “totally unprecedented.”
Donalds is considered to be on Trump’s shortlist to be the candidate for vice president. Trump said he would announce his pick at the Republican convention next month.