The hottest destination for a Republican lawmaker at the moment is the Manhattan courtroom where President Trump is on trial for facilitating criminal hush money payments. In total, four lawmakers have shown up just in recent days, and more could come as the trial nears its end and the veepstakes heats up. 

On Monday, Senator Vance, Senator Tuberville, and Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis joined Mr. Trump as he walked into the courtroom to hear testimony from his former fixer Michael Cohen. On Thursday, Senator Rick Scott sat in the courtroom to be with the former president.

“I’m here because I have known Donald Trump a long time,” Mr. Scott told reporters outside of the courthouse. “I knew him before I was governor. I consider him a friend. And what he is going through is just despicable.”

He went on to call Judge Juan Merchan and his daughter, as well as the prosecution, “political thugs.”

Mr. Vance is seen as a leading candidate to run on a ticket with Mr. Trump this year. One Trumpworld source previously told the Sun that the Ohio senator is one of the few vice presidential contenders on the shortlist that Mr. Trump “actually likes” and listens to.

During an appearance on CNN Sunday, Mr. Vance said of the trial: “This is not about law and this is not about justice.”

In a fawning post on X before the day’s proceedings got underway, Mr. Vance wrote of the splendor of Trump Tower and the “psychological” warfare being waged against the former president. 

“We started in Trump Tower with a beautiful view of Central Park. Then you come to a dingy court house with people like Alvin Bragg,” Mr. Vance said. “I’m now convinced the main goal of this trial is psychological torture. But Trump is in great spirits.”

At certain points, Mr. Vance was offering real-time criticism of the media and Cohen, who is testifying about details of the hush money payment made in 2016. Of the allegations by some reporters that Mr. Trump appeared to be falling asleep, Mr. Vance said it was a “narrative” to protect President Biden from questions about his own age and fitness. 

“I’m 39 years old and I’ve been here for 26 minutes and I’m about to fall asleep,” Mr. Vance wrote. 

“Cohen can’t remember how old his son is or how old he was when he started to work for Trump but I’m sure he remembers extremely small details from years ago!” Mr. Vance — who, unlike Mr. Trump, is not subject to a gag order preventing him from criticizing the witnesses in the case — wrote as Cohen was on the stand.