Ex-DOJ Official Assesses Trump's Chances Of Supreme Court Intervention

Former acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal said he believes it’s unlikely the Supreme Court would get involved with Donald Trump’s hush money conviction, despite House Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-La.) suggestion that the high court should intervene.

Johnson said Friday that the Supreme Court should “step in,” after a New York jury found the former president guilty on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.

Johnson said he knew many of the justices personally, suggested some of them were “deeply concerned” about the matter, and predicted that the outcome would ultimately be reversed.

On “Inside With Jen Psaki” on Sunday, Katyal reacted to those comments with skepticism.

“I know the justices personally, too. I have no stinkin’ idea of what they might be thinking about this,” Katyal said.

“And, you know, Trump has been — I think it’s important to point out — a dead loser in the Supreme Court every time that it comes up,” he continued. “I mean, 8 to 1 on executive privilege, with only Justice Thomas siding with him, and the 2020 election, rebuked lots of times.”

He noted that it’s rare for the nation’s highest court to review state convictions.

“Maybe they’ll find some federal issue here and maybe there will be an appeal that will get there. But I think it’s tough,” he said.

Pointing to the 12-person jury’s unanimous guilty verdict on all 34 felony counts against Trump, Katyal said it would be “very, very hard to overturn that, very hard to see the United States Supreme Court getting involved despite what Speaker Johnson is insinuating.”

In a Sunday social media screed, Trump himself called on the Supreme Court to intercede, complaining that his sentencing was scheduled to occur on July 11, just days before the