As buzz continues to build around Trump’s looming 2024 announcement some Republicans are already trying to burst his bubble.
Despite the obvious excitement surrounding Trump’s long-awaited presidential campaign announcement the Republican is already facing hurdles on the path to 2024.
Trump, who is already facing various legal challenges, will be effectively cut off from the Republican National Committee if he declares his candidacy committee chairwoman Ronna McDaniel told The Hill.
Last year, the RNC admitted it was paying for legal fees “that relate to politically motivated legal proceedings waged against President Trump” and in recent months the committee has funded Trump’s defense against probes launched by Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance Jr. (D) and New York Attorney General Letitia James (D).
“We cannot pay legal bills for any candidate that’s announced. So these are bills that came from the Letitia James lawsuit that started while he was president,” McDaniel said. “It was voted on by our executive committee for our former president, that this was a politically motivated investigation and that’s what it’s been.”
“But we cannot do in kind contributions to any candidate right now. He’s the former president being attacked from every which way with lawsuits, and he’s certainly raised more under the RNC than we’ve spent on these bills,” she added.
Advisers in Trump’s inner circle have indicated the announcement could come as soon as November 14th but some conservatives say it shouldn’t come as any shock.
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) said on Sunday that Trump’s upcoming announcement doesn’t surprise him, according to The Hill.
“Like, why should anybody be surprised,” Christie said, adding, “When something happens that you anticipated happening, it doesn’t make any difference.”
“He’s going to run. Everyone always knew he was going to run. He can’t miss the attention any more than he does, and he’s going to run,” the former governor added. “Now we’ll see what happens.”
However, reports began to swirl on Monday that Trump couls make his annoucenment during tonight’s rally in Ohio. Axios reporter Jonathan Swan was the first to report that Trump could move up the announcement date.
“Based calls/texts all morning, Trump/Vance rally in Ohio will be v closely watched by Rs. Speculation has reached a point of absurdity at this point but many Rs of varying degrees of closeness to Trump are anticipating accelerated announcement based on his recent private comments,” Swan tweeted.
Based calls/texts all morning, Trump/Vance rally in Ohio will be v closely watched by Rs. Speculation has reached a point of absurdity at this point but many Rs of varying degrees of closeness to Trump are anticipating accelerated announcement based on his recent private comments
A source close to the matter told The Washington Examiner that ultimately the decsion is up to Trump and nobody knows exactly when he will share the news.
“There’s a lot of back-and-forth right now, no one really knows if it’s going to happen tonight or if it’s going to happen in a week or so. Trump himself is the one who wants to do it ASAP. No one knows right now whether it’s happening tonight or not,” the source explained.
Even before the midterm elections have concluded former President Donald Trump is already drawing a line in the sand.
As speculation builds that Trump is gearing up to formally announce his third presidential campaign this month the former president is wasting no time crushing his potential opponents, first singling out Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. (READ NEXT:Kellyanne Conway Drops Major Hint on Trump’s Impending 2024 Announcement)
During a Pennsylvania rally, Trump awarded DeSantis a new nickname, “Ron DeSanctimonious”- one he’s likely not thrilled to receive.
“We’re winning big in the Republican Party for the nomination like nobody’s ever seen before,” Trump told the crowd before listing other Republicans who could potentially challenge him in 2024.
“There it is, Trump at 71 percent, Ron DeSanctimonious at 10%,” Trump told the crowd while reading approval numbers of various Republicans.
Trump and DeSantis are widely considered to be the top contenders to receive the Republican 2024 nomination but it seems Trump is not ready to waste any time. DeSantis has maintained his sole focus on winning his gubernatorial re-election and has insisted he’s not considering a presidential run.
There have also been reports of building tension between Trump and DeSantis camps for months as the former president has sought to squash any potential edge DeSantis may have in 2024. (READ NEXT:Trump Snubs DeSantis in Latest Campaign Stop Announcement)
However, Trump’s nasty new nickname triggered some Republicans to come out of the woodwork and seemingly take sides.
Surprisingly, Mike Pompeo who served as Trump’s Secretary of State seemed to side with DeSantis.
“Not tired of winning. @GovRonDeSantis you’ve proven conservative policies work. Florida is better for it. Vote for @GovRonDeSantis,” Pompeo tweeted Saturday evening in an apparent dig at Trump.
Longtime Donald Trump strategist Kellyanne Conway gave shocking insight into the former president’s long-awaited 2024 election announcement.
When asked when Trump plans to make a formal election announcement Conway revealed the former president will likely make it public following the midterm elections.
Conway noted that some in Trump’s circle had urged him to announce before the midterms, but she and others advised him against doing so and potentially stepping on Republicans’ chances of taking back both chambers of Congress.
“I give him a ton of credit for not announcing this year, for not stepping in the way of midterm candidates. […] I think you can expect him to announce soon,” Conway said at a Christian Science Monitor event.
Trump has recently made more subtle hints about his 2024 plans while in public. During recent appearances, Trump’s small but noticeable shift in language is considered a key indicator he’s preparing to make his announcement.
Last year, Trump told Fox News and other outlets he would “probably” wait until after the 2022 midterm elections to formally announce whether he will launch another White House bid, saying the timeline was “probably appropriate.”
However, at a rally in Robstown, Texas, on Oct. 22, Trump slightly altered his messaging, saying he will “probably have to do it again,” in what advisers close to him tell Fox News Digital is a “clear sign” of his plans.
“I ran twice,” Trump said. “And now in order to make our country successful, safe and glorious again, I will probably have to do it again.”
Trump advisors and those around him told Fox News Digital that they believe it is not a question of “if” Trump is going to run for president again in 2024, but “when” he is going to announce his campaign.
In his final week of campaigning, Trump is focused on get-out-the-vote efforts, but sources close to him tell Fox News Digital that he sees his involvement in early primaries in key battleground states like Arizona, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Florida and Michigan as “key tests,” noting that the outcomes of those races will be “important” to, what some call, an “inevitable” decision.
A new report from The New York Times indicates Trump already has a potential date for the announcement and multiple advisers. According to sources close to the former President, Trump is eyeing November 14th as the potential date he announces his third presidential campaign.
Trump’s daughter, Tiffany Trump is scheduled to get married at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida on Nov. 12. An announcement could come shortly after that event.
New York Republican gubernatorial nominee Lee Zeldin has been targeted in a new investigation less than two weeks before the midterm elections.
Zeldin is under investigation by the State Board of Elections over allegations that he coordinated with two super PACs supporting his campaign, according to The Hill.
Michael Johnson, the chief enforcement counsel of the New York State Board of Elections, opened a preliminary investigation into Zeldin’s campaign after the allegations emerged.
Johnson is now seeking subpoena authority from the State Board of Elections to compel cooperation with his investigation, according to the Times.
However, he was stymied when two Republican members of the board unexpectedly missed a business meeting on Tuesday, preventing the board from reaching a quorum to vote on the subpoena issue and likely delaying the issue until after the election, per the Times.
The Albany Times-Union first reported in mid-October that there were several overlaps between Zeldin’s campaign and two super PACs supporting him — Safe Together New York and Save Our State New York.
Days later, the New York State Democratic Party filed a complaint against Zeldin’s campaign over the alleged super PAC. Super PACs are legally allowed to raise and spend unlimited amounts of money to advocate for or against candidates but are barred from coordinating with the candidates they benefit.
Zeldin has been rapidly closing the gap against New York Gov. Kathy Hochul in recent weeks.
Donald Trump is giving Florida Governor Ron DeSantis the silent treatment.
In what appears to be the latest rift between the two Republicans, Trump announced he plans to campaign for Florida Sen. Marco Rubio two days before Election Day, notably leaving out the Governor from the event.
Trump’s plan to hold a Nov. 6 rally in Miami shocked sources close to DeSantis who say the governor wasn’t notified of the event prior to the former president’s Wednesday announcement, according to Politico.
The timing of the Trump and Rubio event means any campaign event DeSantis holds that day won’t receive as much attention during the all-important final stretch of the 2022 midterms.
“You’ve got the Sunday before Election Day totally hijacked by Trump parachuting in on Trump Force One taking up the whole day,” said a longtime Republican consultant who is close to the governor. “No Republican could go to a DeSantis event that day. None. And DeSantis won’t be here? This is big.”
Another person who is influential in DeSantis’ world said it was “an elbow to Ron’s throat” and blamed Trump advisers.
However, an adviser close to Trump said that the event isn’t meant to take attention away from the Florida governor and is just part of a series of campaign stops scheduled for the former president.
“This is an event President Trump is holding as part of a series of stops he is making for Republican Senate candidates,” the Trump adviser said. “It came after he and Senator Rubio spoke directly.”
Trump and DeSantis have been at odds over potentially going toe to toe in 2024 for the Republican nomination. Trump has strongly hinted at launching a presidential campaign but early polls have shown an increase in Republicans preferring DeSantis as a potential nominee, posing a major threat to Trump.
Earlier this week, DeSantis split with Trump when he opted to endorse Colorado Senate candidate Joe O’Dea who the president previously referred to as a “stupid person with a big mouth.” Trump said DeSantis’ endorsement was a “BIG MISTAKE” is a message to his TRUTH Social.
The U.S. Census underreported populations in multiple Republican-leaning states, costing them representation in Congress, the Electoral College, and more…
Office of U.S. House Speaker, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams is in hot water once again.
New reports indicate Abrams’ voting rights group Fair Fight Action has funneled millions of dollars to a law firm led by the chairwoman for Abrams’s gubernatorial campaign.
According to The Washington Examiner, Fair Fight Action spent $9.4 million in 2019 and 2020 with Lawrence & Bundy, a boutique Atlanta law firm that counts Abrams’s campaign Chairwoman Allegra Lawrence-Hardy, a close friend of the candidate, as one of its two partners, according to the nonprofit group’s 2019 and 2020 IRS tax filings.
There are no definitive reports to show how much Lawrence-Hardy’s firm has received from Fair Fight Action in 2021 and 2022. The organization has been involved in a legal fight against Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) for the past years. Fair Fight Action filed the lawsuit after Abrams lost her 2018 gubernatorial bid to Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, whom she is currently running against, claiming the secretary of state engaged in voter suppression. In September, U.S. district judge Steve Jones ruled against Abrams and found no evidence of voter suppression.
“This is a win for all Georgia election officials who dedicate their lives to safe, secure and accessible elections,” Raffensperger said at the time. “Stolen election and voter suppression claims by Stacey Abrams were nothing but poll-tested rhetoric not supported by facts and evidence.”
“Judge Jones’ ruling exposes this legal effort for what it really is: a tool wielded by a politician hoping to wrongfully weaponize the legal system to further her own political goals,” Kemp said in a statement celebrating the ruling.
The $9.4 million that Lawrence & Bundy received accounts for over 37% of the roughly $25 million in legal fees that Fair Fight Action has racked up in the past two years, according toPolitico, which first reported on the payments to Lawrence-Hardy’s law firm.
Fair Fight Action raised over $61 million in 2019 and 2020 after being founded in 2018. At least one-third of that money has gone toward the lawsuit against Raffensperger, while $20 million has been put in cash reserves, tax records show. While there are eight separate law firms that worked on the case against the secretary of state, Lawrence & Bundy has earned the most in fees.
Abrams and Lawrence-Hardy were classmates together at Georgia’s Spelman College, and Abrams graduated from Yale Law School three years after Lawrence-Hardy.
Craig Holman, a government affairs lobbyist for the left-wing think tank Public Citizen, says that Abrams’s years-long friendship with Lawrence-Hardy represents a clear conflict of interest.
Despite Abrams’s accusations of rampant voter suppression in the Peach State early voting data reports Georgians to have already broken records for early turnout. According to The Hill, Saturday’s turnout surpassed the 2020 election’s sixth day of early voting by 20 percent.
The 79,682 voters who cast ballots on Saturday also marked a 159 percent increase from the first Saturday of early voting in the 2018 midterm elections, according to the Georgia secretary of state’s office.
“Early Voting is strong because Georgia’s voter registration system is strong,” said Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in a statement. “Every eligible Georgian who wants to be registered to vote is registered to vote.”
However, despite the record-breaking data Abrams is still claiming voter suppression is underway in Georgia.
“In 2018, we had record turnout,” Abrams said in a press conference Monday. “We had record turnout that shattered records for Democrats among communities of color and in that same election … we know that 85,000 Georgians were denied their right to vote due to voter suppression tactics that shut down their precincts. We know that 50,000 voters had their right to vote held hostage by the exact match process which was proven to be voter suppression tactics. We know that thousands of people stood in lines for hours because of voter suppression tactics.”
Has Florida Governor Ron DeSantis inadvertently sparked a feud with Donald Trump?
DeSantis’ decision to endorse Colorado Republican Senate candidate Joe O’Dea has sparked Trump’s fury, calling the endorsement a “huge mistake.”
“Hello this is Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. America needs strong leadership and desperately,” said DeSantis in a robocall. “That’s why I’m endorsing Joe O’Dea for U.S. Senate. Colorado, please vote for Joe O’Dea.”
Trump later sharedThe Washington Examiner piece on his social media site TRUTH Social and wrote, “A BIG MISTAKE!”
Over the summer, Trump opted to support state Rep. Ron Hanks during the primary and since then has traded insults with the Republican candidate. O’Dea has publicly derided Trump as a “black eye” for the United States and has said he plans to actively campaign against him if he launches a presidential campaign in 2024.
“There’s this RINO character in the Great State of Colorado, Joe O’Dea, that is running against the incumbent Democrat for the United States Senate, who is having a good old time saying that he wants to “distance” himself from President Trump, and other slightly nasty things. He should look at the Economy, Inflation, Energy Independence, defeating ISIS, the Strongest EVER Border, Great Trade Deals, & much more, before he speaks. MAGA doesn’t Vote for stupid people with big mouths. Good luck Joe!” Trump shared in a TRUTH Social message.
“President Trump is entitled to his opinion, but I’m my own man and I’ll call it like I see it,” O’Dea responded. “Another Biden-Trump election will tear this country apart. DeSantis, Scott, Pompeo or Haley would be better choices. These elections should be focused on Joe Biden’s failures supercharged inflation, a broken border, rampant crime, a war on American energy, not a rehash of 2020.”
Trump has all but confirmed his 2024 plans but has stopped of making any formal announcement that would tie him to specific campaign finance laws. DeSantis has also been named an early presidential contender but has maintained his only focus is winning his gubernatorial re-election.
The House Select Committee officially issued a subpoena to testify before the panel to former President Trump on Friday morning.
Last week, the committee investigating the Jan. 6th Capitol riot voted unanimously to subpoena during what could be its last public hearing last week.
“As demonstrated in our hearings, we have assembled overwhelming evidence, including from dozens of your former appointees and staff, that you personally orchestrated and oversaw a multi-part effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election and to obstruct the peaceful transition of power,” Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-MS) and Vice Chair Liz Cheney (R-WY) wrote in a joint statement.
“The Unselect Committee has willfully ignored the fact that days before January 6, 2021, I recommended and authorized thousands of troops to be deployed to ensure that there was peace, safety, and security at the Capitol and throughout Washington, D.C. on January 6th because I knew, just based on instinct and what I was hearing, that the crowd coming to listen to my speech, and various others, would be a very big one, far bigger than anyone thought possible,” Trump wrote.
Despite Trump’s ire towards the House panel a source close to the former president insists he “loves the idea of testifying.” The source told Fox News, that if Trump does in fact testify he plans to “talk about how corrupt the election was, how corrupt the committee was, and how Nancy Pelosi did not call up the National Guard that Trump strongly recommended for her to do three days earlier on January 3, 2021.”
Tech. Sgt. Samuel King Jr., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Despite a series of scandals, Herschel Walker is still a favorite among voters.
A new poll reports that while Latino voters are undecided on their choice for governor, they overwhelmingly support Republican candidate Herschel Walker over incumbent Democrat Sen. Raphael Warnock.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution/Georgia News Collaborative poll puts Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams at 49% and incumbent Gov. Brian Kemp at 48% among likely Hispanic voters, with a margin of error of plus or minus 5.6 percentage points. Walker’s lead over Warnock is greater, 47% to 41%, with Libertarian candidate Chase Oliver pulling in 11% of the vote.
Georgia shattered early voting records on Monday, with nearly 123,000 in-person voters casting their ballots, according to state election officials.
“This blows away the previous midterm first-day record of approximately 72,000, and we have lots of voting to go today,” Gabriel Sterling, the chief operating officer at the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office, tweeted Monday.
Republicans and Democrats have been making inroads with Hispanic voters over the years.
