BEDMINSTER, NJ (AP) — Former Vice President Mike Pence said last week that he hoped federal prosecutors would not file charges against former President Donald Trump. On Wednesday, a day after Trump stood trial on dozens of felony charges related to classified documents, Pence called the allegations “a very serious matter.”
“I can’t stand for what’s supposed to happen,” Pence, who is now challenging Trump for the Republican presidential nomination, told CNBC. Later in the day, the former vice president faced pointed questions from a conservative radio host after refusing to say whether he would pardon Trump if given the chance.
Pence’s evolving message highlights the high-stakes dilemma for Trump’s Republican rivals, who are struggling to find a clear and coherent strategy to take on the front-runner as Trump’s unprecedented legal woes threaten to overwhelm all the other issues in the 2024 presidential contest.
Some Republican leaders this week have shown a renewed willingness to criticize Trump over the seriousness of the allegations, which include his mishandling of the government secrets he was tasked with protecting as commander in chief.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a former naval officer and Trump’s main challenger for the nomination, said that “if I had brought classified (documents) into my apartment, I would have been court-martialed in a minute in New York “.
But that was only a brief mention in a weekend speech at a North Carolina GOP meeting, during which he focused his criticism on the Justice Department and the Biden administration.
The same has happened with the other challengers. Even the most aggressive have topped their criticism of Trump with attacks on the Justice Department — for bringing charges against him — that sometimes make it difficult to determine exactly where they stand with the former president.
And that’s precisely the point, given Trump’s continued popularity among Republican voters and his rivals’ desire to reduce his lead without alienating his base.
Indeed, most of Trump’s competitors are making a risky bet, for now, that the weight of his extraordinary baggage will eventually sink his re-election bid. They think it will take time.
Trump’s Republican opponents privately concede that his political strength is likely to grow stronger in the short term as GOP voters, key officials and conservative media leaders rally around him.
For example, Pastor Robert Jeffress of Dallas’ First Baptist megachurch initially declined to endorse Trump’s 2024 bid, but declared Tuesday night that the GOP presidential primary is over.
“I thought there was going to be almost a civil war in the Republican Party for the nomination, but that quickly turned into an unconditional surrender,” said Jeffress, who mingled at Trump’s post-impeachment meeting in Bedminster , New Jersey. “People absolutely love this president, and I think his base will come out.”
The Republican establishment has tried and failed to reject Trump and his divisive politics for much of the past decade. But this time the GOP faces the very real possibility that a man who has been impeached twice and charged with dozens of felonies will become the party’s standard-bearer in 2024.
Fighting against this outcome, which previously seemed almost inevitable, a powerful conservative voice is being raised for the first time in the struggle.
The Koch Network’s political arm, Americans for Prosperity, has begun running online ads in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, the top three states on the GOP presidential primary calendar, focusing on eligibility questions of Trump in next fall’s general election against Biden. The new ads do not mention his legal troubles.
“Trump did a lot of good things as president,” reads one ad. “But this time, he can’t win.”
Americans for Prosperity CEO Emily Seidel said her organization has spoken to thousands of voters in key states to determine the most effective arguments to undermine Trump’s political strength.
“Based on the data we’re collecting, more than two-thirds of people who say they support Trump are also receptive to arguments that he’s a weak candidate, his focus on 2020 is a liability, and he’s unattractive with independent voters are a problem,” Seidel said. “This tells us that many Republicans are ready to move on; they just need to see another candidate step up and show they can lead and win.”
So far, Trump’s rivals are still trying to find their footing, as the former president holds a big lead in early Republican primary polls.
And as they test evolving messages on the campaign trail and in media appearances, none of the top contenders are running paid ads pointing to Trump’s legal troubles.
Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley, the former ambassador to the United Nations in the Trump administration, told Fox News on Monday that Trump was incredibly “reckless with our national security” if the impeachment’s allegations are true. certain On Tuesday, she repeated the pointed criticism, but also said she would be inclined to pardon Trump if he is convicted.
“I think it would be terrible for the country to have a former president in prison for years because of a documents case,” Haley said on the Clay Travis and Buck Sexton radio show.
Pence declined to say he would pardon Trump when pressed on the same conservative radio show Wednesday, saying it was premature to have such a conversation and that he would “follow the facts.”
He appeared to be fine with Trump in prison and felt “quite disrespectful,” he was told.
“Look, we either believe in our judicial process in this country or we don’t,” Pence said. “Either we respect the rule of law or we don’t.”
Others have made defending Trump a central message in their early campaigns.
Speaking in court in Miami on Tuesday, White House hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy said his campaign had sent a letter to other 2024 candidates challenging them to join his pledge to pardon Trump for his first day in office “or explain publicly why he won’t”.
Trump, for his part, is trying to take advantage of the media storm. After his appearance in federal court in Miami, he made a stop at the city’s famous Versailles restaurant in Little Havana, news cameras in tow. He then headed home to his summer residence in Bedminster, where aides had gathered hundreds of supporters, club members and journalists for a post-indictment speech.
Trump was greeted like a general returning home from battle. Insisting he was innocent of all charges, he vowed that as president he would appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Biden and his family.
As for the indictment and charges? “This is called election interference and another attempt to rig and steal a presidential election,” Trump said.
Counting on the logistical complications of balancing court appearances with campaign rallies, as well as the possibility that Trump could face years behind bars, his political advisers stress what they see as the political benefits. They believe that the wall-to-wall coverage of their legal problems makes it difficult for their competitors to be heard.
“From a campaign standpoint, I mean, what have the other candidates done today? Do we know?” asked Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung. “There’s no oxygen for the other candidates.”
These other candidates are eager to highlight cracks in Trump’s support, though they seem modest for now.
On Capitol Hill, a small but growing Republican minority of lawmakers recently called the new federal charges against Trump serious.
“I would not be comfortable with a convicted felon in the White House,” Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., told CNN. He pointed to Trump’s attacks on Hillary Clinton, who was accused of mishandling classified documents in her emails in 2016. “His words have set the standard.”
Veteran Republican strategist Ari Fleischer cautioned that it would take time to understand the political impact of Trump’s mounting legal challenges.
“A short-term rally around Trump right now is not the real measure,” Fleischer said. “The only test is a long-term test.”
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Villages reported from New York. Associated Press writer Ali Swenson in New York contributed to this report.
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