With little fires everywhere, Republicans present most diverse slate of presidential candidates in party history
Another day, another indictment against the former president of the United States.
Donald Trump was indicted by a grand jury for the second time on June 8, this time in relation to the mishandling of classified documents.
Those classified documents weren’t locked up in a safe or guarded by security. Instead, Trump felt comfortable leaving boxes piled in the ballroom of Mar-a-Lago, while more than a dozen others were left in a private bathroom.
If that wasn’t flagrant enough, Trump sought to hide documents from FBI investigators.
First, he suggested his attorney falsely represent to the FBI and grand jury that Trump did not have documents laid out in a subpoena.
Boxes of documents were then moved to conceal them from the FBI, the grand jury, and even Trump’s own attorney.
The indictment alleges Trump also suggested his attorney hide or destroy documents before going on to provide an incomplete portion of the documents to investigators while claiming to be cooperating fully.
The seven-count indictment includes charges of:
conspiracy to obstruct justice
willful retention of documents
false statements
concealing a document in a federal investigation
Last week, Trump appeared in a Miami courtroom, where he pleaded not guilty to the 37 felony charges.
It’s unclear whether the case will make it to trial ahead of the 2024 presidential election, a contest in which Trump appears to be the frontrunner for the Republican nomination.
The unprecedented nature of trying a former president also raises a number of questions about how the case against Trump will move forward.
As Pence enters Republican primary, Trump will need a new running mate
If Trump doesn’t have enough legal calamities on his plate, he will need to name a new running mate should he emerge victorious in the GOP primary.
Former Vice President Mike Pence launched his presidential bid this month, attacking his ex-boss for his involvement in the January 6 insurrection.
"Anyone who puts themselves over the Constitution should never be president of the United States, and anyone who asks someone else to put them over the Constitution should never be president again," Pence told a crowd at a rally in Des Moines, Iowa.
Pence might have been the most high-profile candidate to enter the GOP field of contenders over the last month, but he was far from the only one.
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum officially filed his paperwork with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and launched his campaign on June 7.
After becoming governor in 2016, Burgum made a name for himself after establishing a traffic safety initiative called the Vision Zero Project, which resulted in traffic deaths in the state reaching record lows.
The former software engineer also took a controversial stance as a Republican against greenhouse gas emissions, pledging that North Dakota would become carbon neutral by 2030.
Don’t get too excited about his ambitious climate plan. Burgum also threatened to sue the state of Minnesota over an energy plan that would prohibit electricity sources that emit carbon dioxide.
While it’s unclear who Republicans will rally behind in the primary, the party has presented one of its most diverse rosters of candidates. In fact, with five candidates of color running for the Republican nomination, that’s a record for the party, which has struggled to see similar diversity emerge at the ballot box.
After weaponizing mail voting during the 2020 presidential election, the GOP is shifting gears in an effort to prevent another disaster at the ballot box.
The Associated Press recently reported that party leaders are set to introduce a massive get-out-the-vote campaign for 2024 that highlights the importance of early voting, which Democrats have pushed for years to ensure support ahead of election day.
Also on the ballot
Saturday marked President Joe Biden’s first rally of his re-election campaign. The 80-year-old Washington veteran appeared at an event in Philadelphia, Pa., an expected battleground state for Democrats.
While Biden is slated for a slew of fundraising stops this month ahead of the June 30 second quarter fundraising deadline, the president isn’t expected to start holding large-scale campaign events until next year.
With headlines around Trump, Pence, and Ron DeSantis, Sen. Tim Scott’s campaign hasn’t gained the same traction with pundits and voters. But when it comes to political endorsements, Scott is the clear frontrunner, with more than 140 current and former elected officials in his state of South Carolina throwing their support behind him.
Meanwhile, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has launched his presidential campaign. Christie, known for his administration’s involvement in the 2013 “Bridgegate” debacle, ran unsuccessfully in the 2016 primary before eventually endorsing Trump. He has since emerged as a leading critic of the former president among Republicans.
Another long-shot candidate entered the crowded GOP field this month. Miami Mayor Francis X. Suarez would make history as the first mayor to receive a promotion to the presidency. It’s not an impossible feat; after all, Democrat Pete Buttigieg mounted a strong campaign in 2020 that helped him win a controversial Iowa caucus, becoming a household name in the process.
Suarez, who has garnered notoriety for wanting to make Miami the next Silicon Valley and a hub for cryptocurrency, attacked DeSantis for signing a six-week abortion ban into law in Florida. While Suarez — the only Hispanic Republican candidate running for president — might not be wrong that the governor is "too severe," his support for a 15-week federal abortion ban makes the opposition to DeSantis on the subject little more than lip service.