Former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci labeled Sens. JD Vance (R-Ohio) and Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) as “spineless sycophants” Monday after the senators traveled to Manhattan to support former President Trump in his ongoing hush money trial.
Scaramucci claimed that Trump, his former boss, is “destroying the Republican Party.”
“So, there’s … very few people with any backbone left in that party,” he said in a CNN interview. “And those people standing out there, they’re just spineless sycophants.”
Earlier in the day, Vance and Tuberville made comments near the New York courthouse where Trump is on trial for charges related to falsifying business records around payments he made in 2016 to silence porn actor Stormy Daniels, who claimed she had an affair with Trump in 2006. The former president has denied the affair and any wrongdoing regarding the payments.
Michael Cohen, Trump’s attorney at the time, allegedly paid Daniels and later received reimbursement from his client. Cohen took the stand Monday and was the target of Vance’s comments.
The Ohio senator aimed to discredit Cohen’s testimony by saying he’s a convicted felon and said he doesn’t think any “reasonable, sensible person” should believe what he says in court.
Former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)
Tuberville said the trial was “the most depressing thing” he’s witnessed and took aim at the Manhattan district attorney. He said he was in attendance to show support “more as a friend” than backing Trump’s candidacy.
Scaramucci dismissed the comment, saying the senators are doing “whatever Donald Trump wants.”
He also said Trump’s most unwavering supporters are looking at poll numbers and they’re “looking at Twitter,” the social platform now known as X, “which is a closed sphere of influence.” The former White House aide argued senators believe Trump “has already won the election.”
“So, that’s why they’re there,” Scaramucci said in comments highlighted by Mediaite.
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Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is expected to make a visit to the Manhattan courthouse Tuesday.
Cohen, who has become one of Trump’s loudest critics, is expected to take the stand again Tuesday. He’s the prosecution’s star witness.
The Hill reached out to Tuberville and Vance for comment.