CNN
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Former President Donald Trump addressed evangelical Christian voters at a key rally in Washington on Saturday, seeking to bolster their support as his legal troubles mount and rivals target his character.
Trump told attendees at the Faith and Freedom Coalition’s Majority Policy Conference that he believed there was “still a vital role” for the federal government in restricting abortion. But he did not specify what kind of federal legislation he would push for or support if he were again president.
Trump has repeatedly sidestepped the question of whether he would sign a federal abortion ban if it reached his desk and, like many of his 2024 GOP rivals, has struggled to resolve the political issue.
The Faith & Freedom conference kicked off a summer of “cattle calls” in which the GOP camp will audition in front of key audiences ahead of the 2024 presidential primaries. Most of Trump’s rivals spoke Friday, with several , both direct and subtle, to the former president.
But Trump had the main talking point of the conference, delivering what was billed as his keynote speech. It was his first in-person appearance at a 2024 presidential candidate meeting since announcing his candidacy. For previous events, including Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst’s “Roast and Ride” earlier this month, Trump had appeared via video message.
The conference also provided a window into a critical constituency in the race for the Republican nomination: evangelical voters. Those voters play a particularly important role in the Iowa caucuses and South Carolina primary — the first and third contests on the 2024 GOP calendar.
Trump, speaking on the first anniversary of the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, touted his appointment of three of the justices who voted with the majority to eliminate federal protections against abortion.
“Exactly one year ago today, these justices were the pivotal votes in the landmark Supreme Court decision that ended the constitutional atrocity known as Roe v. Wade,” he said.
“With Roe v. Wade, you had none, you had no power,” Trump said. “Now we’ve given pro-life people enormous power to negotiate something that’s happy, that’s good for everybody.”
For Trump, who a CNN poll last week found remains the clear favorite for the 2024 GOP endorsement with 47 percent support among Republican and GOP-leaning voters nationwide, much for over 26% for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former Vice President Mike. Pence’s 9%: The biggest threat he currently faces could be a series of legal battles, including his federal indictment on charges related to his alleged mishandling of classified documents.
Trump has made this accusation a focus of recent events, addressing it at length at rallies. In an interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier, he offered a host of new justifications for keeping classified material after leaving the White House and refusing to turn it over to the National Archives and Records Administration.
For the rest of the field, Friday and Saturday’s meeting represented an opportunity to chip away at Trump’s support, or at least define themselves in front of a significant constituency in case GOP voters ultimately abandon the former president.
Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who also served as U.N. ambassador under Trump, used her speech Saturday to mark the first anniversary of the Dobbs decision, which overturned Roe v. Wade.
Haley said she believes there should be a federal law regulating abortion, but acknowledged again that Republicans face a major challenge in enacting hardline restrictions across the country in due to the lack of support in Congress.
“We have to humanize this situation. We must respect the fact that everyone has a story. And we have one goal: to make sure we save as many babies as possible and protect as many mothers as possible,” the former governor said.
The former Texas representative Will Hurd, who entered the GOP presidential race Thursday, was a late addition to the list of speakers. He focused his roughly five-minute remarks on his biography and his time working at the CIA and, like Haley and many other Republican candidates who spoke at the conference, did not mention Trump in front of the pro-Trump crowd.
Hurd has been a vocal critic of Trump, calling the former president a threat to US national security in the wake of his federal indictment. Trump has pleaded not guilty to federal charges.
Trump’s strong lineup at the conference, with the former president in the main slot and some of his allies, including former Arizona Gov. nominee Kari Lake, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham and Florida Rep. Byron Donalds, on the list of speakers. – underlines his dominance within the party.
Still, on Friday, several candidates took advantage of their speeches to target the former president, directly and more subtly.
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie focused on the importance of “character” and told the crowd that Trump had “let us down.”
“Beware of a leader who never makes mistakes, beware of a leader who has no mistakes, beware of a leader who says that when something goes wrong, it is the fault of others. And he goes and blames,” Christie said, in a clear reference to Trump.
As Christie criticized Trump, several members of the audience began booing loudly.
“You can boo all you want,” he told them.
Other Republican candidates in 2024 either ignored Trump altogether or defended him. South Carolina Senator Tim Scott criticized Trump’s indictment of the Justice Department’s special counsel.
“In this hard-left Biden administration, they are arming the Justice Department against their political enemies. This is wrong. We deserve better in the United States of America,” Scott said.
Abortion could be a key issue in GOP debates starting this summer. Trump has avoided being drawn on whether he supports a federal ban on abortion rights and, if so, after how many weeks into pregnancy he would like to see the ban go into effect.
The former president has also privately blamed abortion supporters for the party’s lackluster midterm results in 2022.
Pence rejected that argument Saturday at a virtual telethon organized by the anti-abortion group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America.
“My former running mate has argued that overturning Roe v. Wade a year ago today cost us seats in the 2022 midterms,” he said. “Where women and men running for office unapologetically stood for the right to life, expressed principle and compassion, didn’t shy away, and then also talked about all the other issues that we’re struggling under the failed policies of the Biden administration, these candidates did very well.”
Pence also spoke at an anti-abortion rally at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington on Saturday to mark the first anniversary of the Dobbs decision, saying the ruling “gave America a new start for life.”
On Friday, the former vice president pressed Trump and others who have sidestepped the issue of a national abortion ban, including Haley, asking the GOP camp to support a federal ban at 15 weeks.
“All Republican presidential candidates should support banning abortions before 15 weeks as a minimum national standard,” Pence said.
Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, another Trump critic in the 2024 race, said Friday he would sign a federal abortion ban, but did not specify how many weeks into a pregnancy he would want the ban to go into effect. vigor
DeSantis, Trump’s main rival, made only a brief mention Friday of the Florida measure he had signed to ban most abortions in the state after six weeks. (The law has not yet taken effect amid an ongoing legal challenge before the state Supreme Court.)
But Florida’s governor leaned into other cultural clashes, touting his state as a “citadel of freedom.” He pointed to a state law that bans certain instruction about sexual orientation and gender identity in the classroom and addressed his feud with Disney, which DeSantis and GOP allies have targeted as retaliation as the company publicly opposed critics of the law who have dubbed it “Don’t do it.” Say gay.”
“We oppose the sexualization of children. We will fight anyone who seeks to rob our children of their innocence. And on those principles, there will be no compromise,” the governor said. “We will fight the woke corporations.”
This story and headline have been updated with additional information.
