Speaker Mike Johnson in Peoria: Trump a 'symbol' in fight against 'deep state' (2024)

PEORIA — U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson on Saturday stopped short of calling former President Donald Trump a martyr, but declared that America's first convicted felon former president had transformed into a "symbol" that would galvanize voters to return him and Republicans to power in November.

Johnson was in Peoria to deliver the keynote address of the annual Peoria-Tazewell Lincoln Day Dinner, one of the premier events in Illinois Republican politics, with past speakers including former Vice President Mike Pence and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Unlike past years, the event was closed to the press, with Johnson instead speaking with gathered reporters for a 15-minutes question-and-answer session before addressing about 500 gathered in a downtown Peoria ballroom.

Johnson, flanked by Rep. Darin LaHood, R-Peoria, and 17th Congressional District Republican nominee Joe McGraw, continued a campaign by Trump and Republican officials to delegitimize the former president's criminal conviction.

The former president faces dozens more felony charges relating to his alleged mishandling of classified documents and attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

Johnson dismissed Trump's prosecution as "lawfare in action."

"I think President Trump is not just our nominee, not just an individual running for president, I think now he's seen as a symbol— a symbol of someone who is willing to fight back against that corruption in the deep state and all the rest," Johnson said. "And that's a very powerful thing in an election year where we're deciding the future of the country."

Johnson said that the conviction "has turned up the enthusiasm for our Republican ticket" everywhere he's traveled in the past few days. Trump's campaign announced Friday that they had raised nearly $53 million in the hours that followed the guilty verdicts.

The reaction is a reflection of the deep political polarization of the country.

Democratic elected officials, from President Joe Biden on down, said the verdict was an example that no one, not even a former president, is above the law.

Republicans have dismissed the trial as a "sham" and "political." Johnson defended the rhetoric from criticism that it has cast aspersions on the rule of law and undermined Americans' faith in the country's judicial system.

"What we're seeing right now outrages us because we see the politicization of our system of justice," said Johnson, an attorney. "We are the 'rule of law' team, and it is appropriate for us to call out what is an abuse of the system."

Either way, Johnson said, one thing is certain: "The main verdict, the number one verdict that really matters, is on Nov. 5, and that's the verdict of the American people."

That Johnson appeared in Peoria just two days after the presumptive presidential nominee of his party became a convicted felon was a coincidence.

But his appearance itself was not, as Republicans seek to gin up enthusiasm for McGraw's congressional campaign against incumbent Rep. Eric Sorensen, D-Moline.

Sorensen, a former television meteorologist, won it by 4 percentage points in 2022. President Joe Biden carried the district by about 8 percentage points in 2020.

McGraw, a retired circuit court judge from Rockford, was recruited into the race by national Republicans and easily won the party primary in March.

Johnson called McGraw "one of the best (candidates) that we've ever seen."

"He's been a guy who's stood for law and order his whole career," Johnson said. "He has acumen in all these areas. He's professional, he's smart, he knows what he's doing and he's gonna come in on day one and help us to fix these problems."

While an in-district visit from the U.S. House speaker raises attention, McGraw's campaign has been short on cash.

Campaign finance records show that, as of April 1, McGraw had just $325,190 in the bank compared to more than $2.1 million for Sorensen.

Outside groups, such as the Johnson-aligned Congressional Leadership Fund and National Republican Congressional Committee, could help level the fundraising playing field but have yet to get involved in the race.

"It's not unusual for the Democrats to raise more money, but we spend it more efficiently and effectively and we have much better candidates," Johnson said, adding that "I really like this matchup and I think a lot of our donors, the more they learn about Judge (McGraw), I think he'll raise more and more money."