Lisa McCormick blasts Speaker Mike Johnson as a “desperate man” for GOP threats against the judiciary

“Republicans are attacking the rule of law to protect a criminal president—this is tyranny, not governance.”

Progressive Democrat Lisa McCormick today condemned House Speaker Mike Johnson as a “desperate man” after the Republican leader threatened the federal judiciary for daring to hold Donald Trump accountable for his criminality and unconstitutional overreach.

“Mike Johnson is a very desperate man, and his threat to neuter the federal judiciary is a desperate move—one that exposes the GOP’s contempt for the Constitution,” said McCormick. “Republicans are not patriots. They are plutocrats, willing to dismantle democracy to shield a twice-impeached, four-time-indicted felon who treats the Oval Office like a crime syndicate.”

McCormick’s fiery rebuke comes after Johnson declared, “We do have authority over the federal courts… We can eliminate an entire district court. We have power of funding over the courts,” signaling an unprecedented assault on judicial independence.

Judges Are Doing Their Job—Trump Is the Problem

“Let’s be clear: The problem isn’t that judges are restraining Trump. The problem is that Trump keeps breaking the law,” McCormick said. “Sixty-seven percent of the injunctions against a president in the last century have been against Donald Trump. Maybe Johnson should calculate the percentage of presidents who were indicted four times, impeached twice, and convicted by a jury before whining about ‘activist judges.’”

She noted that Trump could halt the injunctions immediately—by not breaking the law. Instead, the GOP is threatening the one branch of government still functioning as a check on his corruption.

A Direct Attack on Democracy

McCormick slammed Johnson’s “desperate times call for desperate measures” rhetoric as a thinly veiled endorsement of authoritarianism.

“What’s truly unprecedented is the lawless abuse of executive power, the flagrant violations of the Constitution, and the cowardice of GOP leaders who pretend Trump isn’t entirely wrong,” McCormick said. “Agencies created by law must not be eradicated by one man abusing the presidency. Funds authorized by Congress may not be pocketed by any president—not even Trump’s billionaire crony Elon Musk, who’s bankrolling this judicial coup.”

She warned that the GOP’s scheme to defund courts, impeach judges, and erase judicial districts is not just an attack on judges—it’s an attack on every American who believes in justice.

Congress Must Defend the Constitution—Not Trump

“Instead of cheering for a wannabe dictator, Congress should be defending the power of the purse—which Musk and Trump are openly stealing,” McCormick said. “The president swore an oath to faithfully execute the laws, not to disembowel agencies carrying out Congress’s will.”

McCormick called on Americans to reject the GOP’s judicial intimidation campaign, declaring: “We did not vote for the destruction of the federal government. We voted for accountability—and if Republicans won’t provide it, the courts will.”