Thursday proved to be a strong display of the highs — and the lows — of former President Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential bid.
We saw the highs in New Hampshire, where Trump arrived the clear frontrunner in the GOP presidential primary and set his sights on President Joe Biden, largely ignoring his GOP rivals as he seeks to portray himself as the inevitable Republican nominee, per NBC News’ Jonathan Allen.
And we saw the lows in a courtroom and grand jury proceeding hundreds of miles away, where former Vice President Mike Pence testified in front of a Washington D.C. grand jury looking into Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election. And also in New York, where writer E. Jean Carroll reiterated on the witness stand her accusation that Trump raped her.
The vast majority of Republicans — 68% in the latest NBC News poll — say all the investigations into Trump are politically motivated and that the party should rally around him. That’s why he is so far ahead in the GOP primary polling right now. But winning the primary is only half the battle, and general election voters likely won’t be as forgiving.
In other campaign news…
A date set in granite: President Joe Biden may be the far-and-away favorite for the Democratic nomination, but as NBC News’ Alex Seitz-Wald reports, he may have to forfeit the New Hampshire primary if it brushes aside Democratic Party rules and still tries to hold its primary first.
We’re doing it again, Joe: Biden has been looking to elevate Vice President Kamala Harris’ work as the Democratic ticket embarks on their re-election bid, NBC News’ Yamiche Alcindor reports.
The biblical holy land and Florida’s holy land: DeSantis signed anti-hate crime legislation Thursday in Israel, while he brushed aside Disney’s lawsuit against him and other state officials. Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal is out with a long read on “DeSantis’s Miscalculation” with Disney.
Pot call the kettle?: CNN reports that Trump wrote in a 2000 book that Social Security was a “huge Ponzi scheme,” said he was open to raising the age of benefits and privatizing it, despite attacking DeSantis for similar proposals in his political past.
Tim’s timeline: Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., who launched an exploratory committee for president, said he hopes to decide whether to officially jump into the race by the end of May, per the Post and Courier.
Senate battle: National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman Steve Daines believes Trump can help the GOP take back the Senate, Daines tells NBC News’ Allan Smith.
Justice of West Virginia: Term-limited GOP Gov. Jim Justice officially jumped into the West Virginia Senate race on Thursday. He’s a top recruit for Republicans, but he’ll still face a potentially divisive and expensive primary race.
Kentucky fried primary: The Associated Press explores the hotly contested GOP primary for governor in Kentucky.
New York state of mind: Politico reports that former Rep. Mondaire Jones, D-N.Y. is planning to run for his old House seat, likely setting up a primary clash between Jones and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s sister, Liz Whitmer Gereghty.
