BEDMINSTER, N.J. — Just last week, former Vice President Mike Pence said he hoped federal prosecutors would not bring charges against former President Donald Trump. On Wednesday, a day after Trump was arraigned on dozens of felony counts related to classified documents, Pence described the allegations as “a very serious matter."
Republican presidential candidate former Vice President Mike Pence addresses the North Carolina Republican Party Convention on June 10 in Greensboro, N.C.
“I cannot defend what is alleged,” Pence, who is challenging Trump for the Republican presidential nomination, said on CNBC. Later in the day, Pence 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 consistent strategy to take on the frontrunner as Trump’s unprecedented legal troubles threaten to dominate all other issues in the 2024 presidential contest.
Some Republican leaders this week demonstrated a newfound willingness to criticize Trump over the seriousness of the allegations, which include mishandling government secrets that he was entrusted to protect.
Republican presidential candidate Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis at an event held by the Never Back Down PAC on June 10 in Tulsa, Okla.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a former naval officer and Trump's top rival for the nomination, said that “if I would have taken classified (documents) to my apartment, I would have been court-martialed in a New York minute.”
But that was just a brief mention in a weekend speech at a North Carolina GOP gathering, during which he focused his censure on the Justice Department and the Biden administration.
Even the most aggressive challengers layered their criticism of Trump with attacks against the Justice Department — for bringing charges against him — that make it difficult at times to determine exactly where they stand on the former president.
And that’s precisely the point, given Trump’s continued popularity among GOP voters and his rivals' desire to dent his lead without alienating his base.
Former President Donald Trump gestures after speaking at Trump National Golf Club on June 13 in Bedminster, N.J.
Indeed, most of Trump's competitors are making a risky bet — for now — that the weight of his extraordinary baggage will sink his reelection bid. They believe it will take time.
Trump's Republican opponents privately concede that his political strength is likely to grow in the short term, as GOP voters, key officials and conservative media leaders rally around him.
For example, Pastor Robert Jeffress, of the First Baptist megachurch in Dallas, initially declined to endorse Trump's 2024 bid but declared Tuesday night that the GOP's presidential primary was all but over.
“I thought there would 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-indictment gathering at Bedminster, New Jersey. "People absolutely love this president, and I believe his base is going to turn out.”
The Republican establishment tried and failed to reject Trump and his divisive politics for much of the past decade. This time the GOP faces the very real possibility that a man who was indicted twice and charged with dozens of felonies could become the party’s standard-bearer in 2024.
Fighting that outcome, a powerful conservative voice is being raised for the first time.
The Koch network’s political arm, Americans for Prosperity, has begun running online ads across Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina — the first three states on the GOP’s presidential primary calendar — focusing on questions about Trump’s electability in next fall’s general election against Biden. The new ads make no mention of his legal troubles.
“Trump did a lot of good things as president," one of the ads says. “But this time, he can’t win.”
Americans for Prosperity CEO Emily Seidel said her organization has talked 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’re supporting Trump are also receptive to arguments that he is a weak candidate, his focus on 2020 is a liability, and his lack of appeal with independent voters is a problem,” Seidel said. "That 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.”
The former president commands a big lead in early Republican primary polls.
As they test evolving messages on the campaign trail and in media appearances, none of Trump's top-tier competitors is running paid advertisements pointing to his legal troubles.
In Iowa on Wednesday night, GOP presidential contender Tim Scott declined to mention his recent comments that Trump's indictment represents “a serious case” involving “serious charges” when a voter asked about a “weaponized” Justice Department — a reference to Trump's insistence that federal prosecutors are targeting him to weaken his presidential campaign.
The South Carolina senator instead pledged to root out politics within the Justice Department if elected president. “Americans must have a justice system where the lady of justice wears a blindfold. We cannot target Republicans and protect Democrats,” he said.
Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley takes a question from the audience during a campaign gathering May 24 in Bedford, N.H.
Republican presidential contender 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 allegations in the indictment are true. On Tuesday, she repeated the pointed criticism, but also said she’d be inclined to pardon Trump if he’s 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.
