The House was in session at the Capitol on Thursday, but thanks to the latest procession of Republicans reporting for duty in front of a Manhattan criminal courthouse to show support for former President Donald J. Trump at his trial, the party risked ceding its control of the floor.
Almost a dozen House Republicans showed up at the courthouse on Thursday, including hard-right rabble rousers like Representatives Matt Gaetz of Florida; Anna Paulina Luna of Florida; Lauren Boebert of Colorado; and Representative Bob Good of Virginia. They said they were there to speak on behalf of Mr. Trump because a gag order has barred him from speaking for himself.
“We are here of our own volition, because there are things we can say that President Trump is unjustly not allowed to say,” Mr. Gaetz said at a news conference outside the courthouse. He said the former president was on trial for a “made-up crime” that he called “the Mr. Potato Head of crimes” — composed of unrelated elements awkwardly stuck together.
Mr. Good said the trial was an example of Democrats trying to “rig” the presidential election against Mr. Trump. After Ms. Luna sat in the courtroom, she came out to report that: “The president is doing well. He’s in good spirits.”
Republicans control the House by such a slim margin, 217-213, that just two defections can sink legislation if all members are present and voting — and just a few absences can erase their majority altogether. The show of support for Mr. Trump from such a large group of members meant that for much of Thursday, the G.O.P. may have handed the floor over to Democrats, leaving themselves exposed on the House floor.
House Republicans had a vote scheduled for Thursday afternoon to rebuke President Biden for his decision to pause an arms shipment to Israel and compel his administration to quickly deliver weapons.
The bill was designed to divide Democrats and embarrass Mr. Biden, and had no chance of passing the Senate or becoming law. But with so many Republicans off campus demonstrating their fealty to Mr. Trump, they left open the possibility that the party’s own messaging bill could be defeated. Democratic leaders in the House had advised their members to vote “no,” calling the measure “another partisan stunt by Extreme MAGA Republicans who are determined to hurt President Biden politically.”
The group that showed up in Manhattan on Thursday was composed of lawmakers who rarely shy from disrupting legislative business in the Capitol or embarrassing the party on the House floor. It included many of the same rebels from the House Freedom Caucus who have frozen the chamber for days on end, voting down their party’s own rules as an act of protest.
Paul Kane, a reporter for the Washington Post, posted on social media that the large number of Republican absences could allow Democrats to “pull some hijinks,” such as calling a motion to adjourn and shutting down the chamber all together.
House Democrats have worked to present themselves to voters as the “adults in the room” dedicated to governing, and as of midday on Thursday, no such stunt had been pulled nor were there any plans for one. But Mr. Kane’s post was making the rounds among Democratic staff aides, who admitted the idea was tempting.
Top congressional Republicans for days have been making the pilgrimage to Mr. Trump’s criminal trial: Senator J.D. Vance, Republican of Ohio and a potential Trump running mate, was the first to debut the new audition strategy. Other lawmakers who want to tie themselves to Mr. Trump for their own political survival or advancement have followed.
Mike Johnson, the speaker of the House, was there earlier this week. Senator Tommy Tuberville, Republican of Alabama, made an appearance Monday.
On Thursday, top Republicans had already changed at least one element of the House schedule to accommodate the G.O.P. field trip. The Oversight Committee postponed a meeting scheduled for Thursday morning to vote on holding Merrick B. Garland, the attorney general, in contempt of Congress, rescheduling it for 8 p.m.
With five of the panel’s members — Representatives Andy Biggs of Arizona, Michael Cloud of Texas, Mike Waltz of Florida, Ms. Boebert and Ms. Luna — in Manhattan, the G.O.P. had to delay the vote until it had enough members back in Washington to prevail.
Nate Schweber contributed reporting.
