May 31—In his first extended public comments on the “guilty” verdict from 12 New York jurors against former President Trump, Speaker of the U.S. House Mike Johnson, R-La., said Friday his reaction is one of “outrage.”

“We’re outraged by it,” said Johnson, who was hosted by U.S. Rep. Mike Turner in a visit Friday to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

“Where we are in the country, there has been a lot of enthusiasm about the upcoming election,” Johnson said in remarks just outside the base at the Hope Hotel and Conference Center after his visit. “I think what happened yesterday will amplify the enthusiasm on the Republican side and even the independent voters’ side — because they see what happened to President Trump is lawfare. There’s no other way to describe it.”

“This is not how our country should handle democracy,” said Turner, a Dayton Republican. “This is a battle now for the soul of our country. People should know that it makes a difference when you have an administration who is willing to pursue a candidate who is their opposition in criminal courts across the country.”

Trump was found guilty in New York Thursday afternoon of 34 felonies related to the falsification of business records to cover up a sexual liaison with a porn actress.

“There’s only one way to keep Donald Trump out of the Oval Office: At the ballot box,” President Biden wrote on X after the verdict was announced, linking to his campaign fundraising page.

“While this defendant may be unlike any other in American history, we arrived at this trial, and ultimately today at this verdict, in the same manner as every other case that comes through the courtroom doors — by following the facts and the law, and doing so without fear or favor,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, whose office prosecuted the case, told the media Thursday.

“The real verdict is going to be Nov. 5, by the people,” Trump himself said. “And they know what happened here, and everybody knows what happened here.”

Johnson agreed that voters will have the final say.

“The objective was to be able to call the Republican nominee for president a ‘convicted felon,'” Johnson said. “And I think that’s outrageous, and I think most of the American people understand that.”

Said Turner, “This is sad that our judicial system was used for political purposes.”

Johnson’s Louisiana congressional district includes Barksdale Air Force Base. While at Wright-Patterson, Johnson and Turner were able to visit the National Air and Space Intelligence Center (NASIC) and the National Space Intelligence Center (NSIC), intelligence-gathering operations that provide information to Johnson and Turner as members of the congressional “Gang of Eight,” a group of eight lawmakers who receive prized classified briefings. Turner, as chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, also is a member of that cadre.

“The classified briefings that we attend regularly on Capitol Hill assessing the threats to the country, I’ll just tell you at a very high level, that so much of the information we’re receiving in Washington emanates from right here,” Johnson said, referring to Wright-Patterson. “It’s just a critical operation to all of our national security.”

NASIC and NSIC’s 3,500 employees “work in the shadows so that we might live in the light of liberty,” Johnson said.

“When you’re in Washington, you sort of know that this is happening. But to come here and see it yourself is a real eye-opener,” the speaker added.

Turner has hosted the previous speaker at Wright-Patt, former congressman Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican, in 2022 and 2023.

And recently, Turner hosted national intelligence principals for national security briefings at NASIC and the base.