Here's the latest from the 2024 campaign trail:
- Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy are holding campaign events in Iowa on Wednesday. South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem will also hold an event to boost former President Donald Trump. Former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley is campaigning in New Hampshire.
- House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., endorsed Trump today. With Emmer's backing, every member of House Republican leadership has now endorsed Trump.
- President Joe Biden's campaign announced that a speech initially planned for Saturday, the third anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack at the U.S. Capitol, will now be delivered Friday on account of an approaching winter storm. In his remarks, Biden will cast Trump as a threat to democracy.
- The Trump campaign is going after Haley for the first time on New Hampshire airwaves with a new ad focused on immigration.
Live coverage of this event has ended. Get the latest election news here.
In an interview with NBC News' Dasha Burns and Des Moines Register chief politics reporter Brianne Pfannenstiel, Ramaswamy rejected a question that he’s using conspiracy theories to get attention on the campaign trail.
Haley draws another big crowd at town hall event in New Hampshire
About 700 people attended Haley’s town hall tonight in Milford, New Hampshire, while some were turned away at the door because of capacity limits.
Haley’s crowds have grown considerably over the past few weeks in New Hampshire, where there's clear momentum for her.
“There is consolidation going on among the public. You can hear it at the dinner tables. Nikki Haley is the talk of the town in New Hampshire,” said Matthew Bartlett, a Republican strategist. “Trump could be on thin ice in New Hampshire, and that is a dangerous place to be in early winter."
Hutchinson blasts GOP rivals for saying they would pardon Trump
DES MOINES, Iowa — At a campaign stop tonight, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson said he’s the only Republican candidate campaigning in Iowa who has not promised to pardon Trump.
DeSantis and Haley have both said they’d pardon Trump if he’s convicted. Christie has said he wouldn't pardon Trump, but he hasn't campaigned in Iowa this election cycle.
“I’ve set myself apart. I stand alone in Iowa as being clear that Donald Trump is a risk to our democracy in the future. Now, I think Joe Biden’s a risk to our democracy, as well, with a weak border security and other challenges,” Hutchinson said. “But Donald Trump being motivated by revenge, by being autocratic and by saying he’s going to weaponize the Department of Justice against his political enemies, this is bad for America.”
Hutchinson kicked off his “Return to Normal” tour with an event at a brewery in Des Moines. More than 25 people were in attendance, many of them students from Cal Poly Pomona, who came to learn more about the caucus process.
Hutchinson, who has failed to qualify for the recent GOP primary debates, said that he now has a condo in Iowa and that his wife and dog will be coming to stay ahead of the Jan. 15 caucuses.
Trump campaign targets Haley for first time on New Hampshire airwaves
The Trump campaign is taking direct aim at Haley in a new advertisement airing in New Hampshire in a shift in strategy just weeks before the state’s primary.
The 30-second ad, viewed by NBC News, marks the first time the campaign has gone after Haley, a former Trump administration official, on the airwaves in the state ahead of its Jan. 23 primary.
The ad tries to connect Haley’s immigration positions with those of President Joe Biden by arguing that both opposed “Trump’s border wall” and “Trump’s visitor ban from terrorist nations.”
“Confirmed warnings of terrorists sneaking in through our southern border,” the ad’s narrator says. “Yet Haley joined Biden in opposing Trump’s visitor ban from terrorist nations. Haley’s weakness puts us in grave danger. Trump’s strength protects us.”
Trump boasts a 30-point lead over his rivals in Iowa as the Republican caucuses approach. NBC News’ Vaughn Hillyard reports from Des Moines on what to expect in the final weeks leading up to the critical caucuses as candidates hit the campaign trail in the Hawkeye State.
Biden campaign moves Jan. 6 speech up a day over weather concerns
With a winter storm threatening to disrupt travel in the Northeast this weekend, the Biden campaign announced tonight that it is moving Biden’s major speech marking the third anniversary of the Jan. 6 insurrection up a day, to Friday.
The event will take place at Montgomery County Community College in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, near the Revolutionary War encampment at Valley Forge.
Top Trump adviser raps Ramaswamy for 'whining'
A top aide to Trump who once admired Ramaswamy is getting annoyed with the biotech entrepreneur’s recent moves.
In a joint interview today with NBC News and The Des Moines Register, Ramaswamy said Trump was “wounded” and not best positioned to lead the GOP in 2024.
The criticism is an escalation from Ramaswamy, who earlier in the race spoke more favorably of Trump. And it came a day after Ramaswamy announced that, like Trump, he will counterprogram CNN’s Republican debate in Iowa between Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley. (Trump had met the polling thresholds to qualify for the debate, but he has yet to participate in one this election cycle. Ramaswamy failed to qualify for next week’s debate.)
Asked tonight whether Trump’s team was frustrated with Ramaswamy’s increasingly caustic approach, Chris LaCivita, a senior Trump campaign adviser, offered a rebuke.
“Playing and whining in a sandbox is not a good place to start the job interview process,” he said.
LaCivita declined to elaborate, but Ramaswamy’s rise on the national GOP scene has stoked speculation that he could be in line for a post in a second Trump administration. Polls show him behind Trump, DeSantis and Haley in Iowa, which holds its first-in-the-nation caucuses on Jan. 15.
For months Ramaswamy was the Republican primary challenger whom high-ranking Trump hands and other allies loved to promote, seeing him as a friendly combatant who did more damage to Trump’s higher-polling challengers. After the first debate last summer in Milwaukee, LaCivita held court in the spin room, delighting in how Ramaswamy had aggressively attacked Haley onstage.
“Vivek,” LaCivita said at the time, “clearly showed that he wanted to be up there and that he wanted to be a part of it and took the opportunity that was presented to him and really made a fight for it.”
Haley super PAC strategist says DeSantis must be 'measured against' expectations he set for Iowa
Mark Harris, the lead strategist for the pro-Haley super PAC Stand for America Inc., told reporters on a conference call today that DeSantis' performance in Iowa must be weighed against the expectations he and his team set there.
The super PAC has cut an ad compiling the times DeSantis and his allies talked up their ability to win this month's Iowa caucuses.
“I know now it’s been a while that people have accepted that Ron and Nikki are in a tough fight right now in Iowa," Harris said. "But if we step back to six or eight months ago, certainly that would have been a sort of ludicrous argument. The DeSantis people have repeatedly, including up into the last few days, reiterated that they have to win Iowa. They have to come in first. That certainly was their posture throughout much of last year.
“Think back to where we were in April or May," he continued. "To be in a position where Nikki is competitive and was in a position to finish well and even, potentially, with a little luck, to beat Ron DeSantis in Iowa, I mean, that would have been an unthinkable situation even a few months ago. And the fact we’ve been able to have a spending advantage, a significant spending advantage, in the state the last few weeks I’m sure was something that if you asked Never Back Down or the DeSantis campaign about at the start, they would have thought is absolutely ludicrous.”
Haley and DeSantis are polling neck and neck in Iowa, where both trail Trump by significant margins. On Wednesday, DeSantis' campaign released a statement targeting the significant spending by Haley and on her behalf in Iowa over the past few weeks, saying she was trying to "spend her way" to a second-place finish.
“I do think it’s important to think back to where things started, which is certainly a DeSantis campaign that was sort of ascendant and triumphal and that is certainly not the position they’re in today," Harris said. "Iowa remains a state that has structural advantages for Ron. He spent a lot of time there. He has repeatedly laid the marker down that he is going to win in Iowa. … And I think it’s important that since him and his team have set that marker that that’s the marker that they’re measured against.”
Harris was also asked about the impact Christie's candidacy was having on Haley in New Hampshire, where she is polling closer to Trump, while Christie has built up a support base that could bolster her bid should he withdraw from the race.
"It’s up to him what he wants to do," Harris said. "He can stay in the race; he cannot. Obviously, the data does indicate that his voters overwhelmingly would head towards Nikki should he get out. Him being in certainly has some helpful impact for Trump; I’m not going to lie about that. But we absolutely believe whether he’s in or out that there’s a clear path for us to win in New Hampshire.
“He’ll have to decide what he wants his legacy to be," he added. "But we’ll be focused on winning over as many as his voters as possible."
Harris said Trump’s biggest weakness is among voters who would like to see less "chaos," a message Haley has repeated on the trail.
"I would take it from what Nikki says on the stump, which is you can’t solve Democratic chaos with Republican chaos and that people want to move on to the future, be future-looking, get over the drama of the past," he said. "And so I think you’re going to hear more of that messaging, thematic messaging, which clearly she believes is key to her candidacy, and we believe that, as well."
Vivek Ramaswamy argues Trump is ‘wounded’ and his movement needs a new leader
DES MOINES, Iowa — Ramaswamy repeatedly described Trump as “wounded” today and said he was the best candidate to lead the MAGA movement forward as he makes a final attempt to sway Republican voters still enthusiastic about Trump.
The comments, which Ramaswamy made in a joint interview with NBC News and The Des Moines Register, are part of a complicated balancing act he is trying to strike ahead of the Iowa caucuses: praising Trump and his policies while suggesting he could push them further or implement them better — and also saying Trump can’t win the election because of forces lined up against him, leaving Ramaswamy as the best choice for Trump fans.
“They don’t have on me what they have on him,” Ramaswamy said when he was asked why he would fare better than Trump while running against the same “system.” “You can just look right now. They’ve got four different wars they’ve waged on this man,” he added, referring, among other things, to Trump’s indictments and the 14th Amendment challenges to his ballot access in some states.
Trump asks Supreme Court to overturn Colorado ballot eligibility ruling
Trump today asked the Supreme Court to overturn a state court ruling in Colorado that said he is ineligible to appear on the state primary ballot because of his actions leading up to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
The Colorado Republican Party had already filed its own appeal in the case. Based on language in the state court ruling, Trump for now remains on the Colorado ballot until the Supreme Court acts.
The Colorado Supreme Court based its Dec. 19 ruling on language in the Constitution’s 14th Amendment that prohibits those who “engaged in insurrection” from running for various federal offices. The case raises various novel legal questions, including whether the language applies to those running for president.
Florida Supreme Court will hear GOP challenge to proposed amendment on abortion
The Florida Supreme Court said it would hear a challenge from the state's Republican attorney general to a proposed ballot measure that aims to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution.
Taking the case would potentially allow the conservative-majority bench (five of the seven justices on the court have been appointed by DeSantis, a fierce opponent of abortion) to prevent voters from deciding on the proposed measure in November — even if the group behind it collects the required number of signatures for it to appear.
The court said that it scheduled oral arguments in the case for Feb. 7.
Floridians Protecting Freedom, the pro-abortion-rights group behind the effort to place the proposed measure on the November ballot, is on track to collect the nearly 892,000 validated signatures required by Feb. 1 to get the measure placed. (As of Friday, the group needed only about 28,000 more validated signatures, according to the Florida Division of Elections, which is tracking the signatures.)
But Republicans have already begun battling the proposal on multiple fronts.
Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, a Republican, filed a brief to the state Supreme Court in the fall urging the court to keep the question from appearing on the ballot altogether, regardless of the outcome of the signature collection. Her suit, which slams the proposed measure as an effort designed to “hoodwink” voters, is the one the Supreme Court has agreed to hear next month.
The effort in Florida to place the ballot measure is one of at least 10 across the U.S. seeking to put abortion rights directly in the hands of voters in 2024. Having an abortion question on the ballot could help boost Democratic turnout in the 2024 presidential election by tapping into the enthusiasm around the issue.
Currently, abortion is legal in Florida for up to 15 weeks, though that law’s future will also be determined by the state Supreme Court. If the court upholds that law, the decision would mean that a six-week abortion ban, with exceptions for rape, incest and the mother’s life — which was enacted last year but remains blocked — would be allowed to stand.
If the amendment were passed in November, it would effectively undo both laws.
Habba: Trump concerned that SCOTUS could disqualify him from the ballot
Trump's lawyer Alina Habba said during an interview on Fox News today that the former president is concerned that the Supreme Court will rule against him in his 14th Amendment case and disqualify him from the ballot.
Responding to reporting by The New York Times' Maggie Haberman about Trump’s mindset, Habba affirmed that he’d conveyed his concern that the three justices who were confirmed during his tenure in the White House would rule against him to look neutral.
"That’s a concern that he’s voiced to me — he’s voiced to everybody publicly, not privately," she said. "And I can tell you that his concern is a valid one. You know, Republicans are conservative — they get nervous. They, unfortunately, are — sometimes shy away from being pro-Trump because they feel that — even if the law is on our side — they will be swayed much like the Democratic side, right? So they’re trying so hard to look neutral that sometimes they make the wrong call. And I just encourage them to really look at the law and the Constitution."
Trump is expected to appeal soon the Colorado Supreme Court's ruling last month that removed him from the state's primary ballot.
Since Trump left office in January 2021, the former president has not fared well at the Supreme Court, despite its conservative majority, including three justices he appointed.
These losses illustrate how, even as major new legal issues involving Trump reach the justices, he does not always receive a warm reception at the court he helped shape with his appointments of Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett, ensuring a 6-3 conservative majority.
Sununu says it’s ‘just a given’ that Trump will win Iowa
New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu said at a campaign event today that it's "just a given" that Trump will win Iowa but he expects Haley to "shock" everyone with a second-place finish.
"We know Trump is going to win the caucus in Iowa," said Sununu, who endorsed Haley in December. "That’s just a given."
But Sununu said he believes Haley is going to “shock everyone in Iowa with a strong second.” The New Hampshire governor said a “strong second-place finish was always our goal.”
Sununu told the crowd that coming in second place will bring even more “momentum” to Haley’s campaign.
“We’re going to win this state,” Sununu told the audience. “We’re going press a reset button for the entire country. The entire country is going to say, ‘Oh, wait a minute, it is a one-on-one race.’”
Sununu is planning to campaign with Haley in Iowa on Friday.
Iowa isn't just about winning and losing; it's also about expectation setting, and that's exactly what Sununu is doing here.
If Haley were to finish in a strong second place, she might have an easier time making the case to New Hampshire voters that she can compete, even in a place like Iowa where she wouldn't typically be considered a strong candidate.
New Hampshire voter has concerns about Haley's VP answer
During a town hall in Kingston, New Hampshire, a voter asked Haley, "If she somehow end up as the vice president to Donald Trump, can you say right here, right now that you will always support the Constitution of the United States of America?"
Haley said what she normally says when asked about being Trump's VP: “I do not play for second. I never have and I’m not going to start now.”
The voter who asked her this question, JoAnn Dworman, is an undeclared voter in New Hampshire who is planning on voting in the Republican primary. She said Haley is her second choice after Christie.
“My concern is if I vote for her, and she doesn’t get in, but she gets that momentum to be vice president, that she will go along with whatever he’s doing when she’s vice president,” Dworman told NBC News.
"She’s been asked if she would accept being vice president for Trump. And she won’t answer that," Dworman said. "Which makes me think that she would be open to that position. And because I’m such an anti-Trumper, I don’t want to support somebody that’s going to be part of that."
Club for Growth joins forces with Trump in Ohio's Senate race by endorsing Bernie Moreno
CLEVELAND — A conservative advocacy group that has been at odds with former President Donald Trump is now aligned with him in one of the biggest Senate races of the year.
The Club for Growth PAC announced Wednesday that it has endorsed Bernie Moreno, a self-funded businessman who last month scored Trump’s endorsement in what’s expected to be a competitive three-way Republican primary.
“Bernie Moreno is a principled constitutional conservative with a firsthand understanding of the damage Bidenomics has inflicted on the economy and families across Ohio and the country,” the PAC’s president, David McIntosh, said in an emailed statement. “His perspective will be a welcome addition to the United States Senate, and we look forward to doing whatever it takes to ensure he wins the race.”
Moreno faces Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose and state Sen. Matt Dolan in the March primary. The winner will take on Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown — seen as a vulnerable incumbent in a state Trump won twice by wide margins — in November.
The Club in 2023 had signaled plans to mount an aggressive anti-Trump campaign to boost an alternative Republican in this year’s GOP presidential race. But those efforts floundered, with little money ultimately spent toward blocking the former president’s comeback bid. The group also has split with Trump in other key races in recent years; most notably the group is backing Rep. Alex Mooney over Trump-endorsed Gov. Jim Justice in West Virginia’s marquee race to succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin.
By joining forces with Trump in Ohio, the Club, known for investing heavily in TV advertising on behalf of its preferred candidates, has delivered another setback to LaRose. The secretary of state had been hoping for Trump to at least stay neutral and attract support from outside groups like the Club to make up for his relative lack of cash. Both Moreno and Dolan, whose family owns the Cleveland Guardians, have put their personal wealth behind their campaigns.
But the Club was unsuccessful in its efforts to swing Ohio’s last GOP Senate primary. In the 2022 election cycle, the group endorsed Josh Mandel, a former state treasurer who lost to Brown in a 2012 race. Trump endorsed author JD Vance, who won the nomination and the general election.
Politico was first to report the Moreno endorsement.
Haley super PAC cuts ads highlighting DeSantis' sky-high expectations for Iowa
Stand for America Inc., a Nikki Haley super PAC, cut an ad Wednesday showing the multiple times that Ron DeSantis and his backers expressed optimism that he would win the Iowa caucuses.
The ad comes as both candidates, who trail Trump significantly in the polls, try to set expectations for what a win looks like in Iowa should they not topple the former president.
Watch the ad:
Earlier Wednesday, DeSantis' campaign highlighted intense negative spending against the governor by Haley and her backers in recent weeks, with DeSantis' deputy campaign manager, David Polyansky, saying in a statement that she "is trying to spend and rent her way to a second-place finish as her own establishment supporters have boldly predicted."
"Given her massive Iowa spending advantage, it's now second place or bust for her," he added.
Christie slams New Hampshire Gov. Sununu for saying his presidential 'race is at an absolute dead end'
Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie took aim at New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, a vocal Trump critic who has endorsed Nikki Haley, for saying the former New Jersey governor’s “race is at an absolute dead end.”
In an interview with CNN last night, Christie accused the New Hampshire governor of not being “the same Chris Sununu anymore” since he began campaigning for Haley.
“He has said that Donald Trump is unfit, all things his candidate is unwilling to say,” Christie said. “Chris Sununu has said that the states should decide abortions — Nikki Haley is in favor of a six-week ban. He’s abandoned that as well. I mean the shame of this is that Chris has abandoned his principles in order to try to get himself some political favor inside his own state.”
Asked whether he thinks Sununu backed Haley because he thinks she’s the one who can win, Christie said he doesn’t think so and that he endorsed her “based on polling at that moment.”
“I would ask Gov. Sununu what indications does he have that she wants to beat Donald Trump?” he added, suggesting that should be a criterion in supporting a nominee.
Christie also criticized Sununu for supporting Haley after she declined to say that slavery was a cause of the Civil War during a New Hampshire town hall last week.
“By the way, how does Chris Sununu defend what she said on Civil War? I don’t understand it,” he said. “At the end of it, she gave an answer that is typical of someone who has been pandering to a certain constituency in South Carolina for most of her political career.”
Trump lawyers make final request to grant him immunity in federal election interference case
Lawyers for Trump again argued that the former president has presidential immunity that protects him from prosecution in a filing to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit yesterday.
The 41-page filing marks the final written request by Trump lawyers to the federal appeals court ahead of a hearing for the election interference case next Tuesday.
Trump's lawyers repeated arguments they made in earlier filings, noting that it would be unprecedented to criminally charge anyone who has served as president.
“The 234-year unbroken tradition of not prosecuting presidents for official acts, despite vociferous calls to do so from across the political spectrum, provides powerful evidence of it,” D. John Sauer, a lawyer for Trump, wrote.
Sauer also argued that charging Trump for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election could potentially open the door to more indictments against future presidents: “The likelihood of mushrooming politically motivated prosecutions, and future cycles of recrimination, are far more menacing and crippling to the presidency than the threat of civil liability,” he wrote.
DNC previews 2024 message, calling election denial ‘the central litmus test’ in GOP
Previewing its 2024 election message, the Democratic National Committee is releasing a memo Wednesday that says, “Election denialism has become the central litmus test to lead Donald Trump’s Republican Party.”
The memo, written by DNC communications director Rosemary Boeglin, highlights the unique role of House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., in seeking to block 2020 election certification along with other House GOP members. It also accuses 2024 GOP candidates like Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis of “following [Trump’s] lead” by campaigning with election deniers, and in the case of DeSantis, “promoting dangerous conspiracy theories” about the attack on the U.S. Capitol.
The memo, first reported by NBC News, hits Trump for “preemptively claiming — again without evidence — that the 2024 election will be stolen” and laying “the groundwork for another conspiratorial attempt to undermine American democracy.” The message dovetails with Biden’s plans to highlight safeguarding democracy on the Jan. 6 anniversary this weekend.
“As the nation prepares to mark the third anniversary of the January 6 attack on our Capitol this Saturday, MAGA Republicans should remember that while election denialism might be a winning strategy to gain Trump’s approval, it’s a losing strategy with voters,” Boeglin writes.
Trump endorsed by all four House Republicans from Minnesota
Trump received endorsements from the entire Minnesota Republican congressional delegation this morning, including House Majority Whip Tom Emmer.
Emmer’s endorsement, following that of House Majority Leader Steve Scalise yesterday, means Trump now has the backing of all the top House GOP leadership.
Trump said yesterday that he plans to compete aggressively in states that historically vote Democratic in presidential races, such as Minnesota, New York, New Jersey and New Mexico, including rallies in those states in the general election should he win the GOP nomination, Breitbart News reported.
Ron DeSantis ignores question about potential Trump conviction and nomination
WAUKEE, Iowa — Ron DeSantis declined to weigh in when asked by NBC News whether he would stand by Trump at the Republican National Convention if the former president is convicted of crimes and wins the party’s nomination.
DeSantis walked by without answering the question.
DeSantis indicated last week that he would pardon Trump if he were convicted in the multiple legal battles he faces. Speaking to reporters after a campaign event in Iowa last week, DeSantis said he “already said that long ago” when asked about a potential pardon for Trump.
Pressed by NBC News to confirm that the Florida governor meant he would pardon a convicted Trump if elected, DeSantis’ campaign spokesperson said, “Correct,” in a response on Saturday.
Trump is facing charges in four criminal cases, which include allegations of election interference in federal and state cases, the mishandling of classified documents, and falsifying business records in a hush money case. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges and has denied any wrongdoing.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. qualifies for presidential ballot in Utah, the first state to grant him access
SALT LAKE CITY — Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has collected enough signatures to appear on the 2024 presidential ballot in Utah, election officials say, marking the first state where the independent candidate and prominent anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist has qualified.
Kennedy has met the 1,000-signature requirement needed to qualify for the Utah ballot and can officially file to run as a presidential candidate in the state before a March 5 deadline, state Elections Director Ryan Cowley said.
Utah is the first state where Kennedy’s campaign submitted signatures and qualified for ballot access, campaign spokesperson Stefanie Spear said. She did not indicate which day he would file for candidacy.
A scion of one of the nation’s most famous Democratic dynasties, the longtime environmental lawyer veered from the party last fall and announced his independent bid for the White House. He is a son of former senator and U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and a nephew of Democratic President John F. Kennedy.
His success at gaining ballot access in Utah reignites questions of whether the independent could play spoiler for the eventual Democratic and Republican nominees. While it’s unlikely that an independent or a third-party candidate would win the presidency, they could siphon support from the major candidates in a way that tips the scales.
Allies of both President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, the likely nominees for their respective parties, have questioned whether Kennedy could be a spoiler for their candidate. Both Biden and Trump are unpopular among voters, increasing the likelihood that third-party support could play a deciding role in 2024.
Kennedy rose to prominence during the Covid-19 pandemic for his embrace of public health conspiracy theories and has a loyal following of people who reject the scientific consensus that vaccines are safe and effective.
In an increasingly polarized political climate, Kennedy is playing the middle, aligning with influential people on the far-right while touting his background as an environmentalist. It’s not yet clear in how many states he will qualify for ballot access. Each state sets its own requirements, and the process for collecting signatures and navigating legal hurdles can be costly for candidates not backed by the major parties.
An organization that Kennedy founded, Children’s Health Defense, currently has a lawsuit pending against a number of news organizations, among them The Associated Press, accusing them of violating antitrust laws by taking action to identify misinformation, including about Covid-19 and Covid-19 vaccines.
DeSantis administration urges 'halt' to use of most Covid vaccines
The DeSantis administration's top doctor has called on people to "halt" taking most Covid vaccines.
Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo, a well-known opponent of the Covid vaccines, said he is concerned about transparency issues related to vaccine data. Last month, the Food and Drug Administration sent him a letter trying to address those concerns, but Ladapo said the administration failed to do so.
"Providers concerned about patient health risks associated with COVID-19 should prioritize patient access to non-mRNA Covid-19 vaccines and treatment," Ladapo wrote Wednesday. "It is my hope that, in regard to Covid-19, the FDA will one day seriously consider its regulatory responsibility to protect human health, including the integrity of the human genome."
The vast majority of Covid vaccinations have involved mRNA. The only vaccine currently approved for use in the U.S. that doesn't use mRNA is the Novavax vaccine.
Ladapo was appointed by DeSantis in late 2021 and has since become one of the biggest opponents of the mRNA vaccines.
DeSantis initially supported the vaccine, including vaccinating a World War II veteran live on Fox News. But he has since become a skeptic of the vaccine, a change that has led him to appoint Ladapo and elevate scientists who speak out against vaccine use.
House Republican leadership line up behind Trump — cementing his influence in Congress for the next year
House Republican Whip Tom Emmer’s endorsement of Trump this morning completes the Republican front-runner’s sweep of House leadership support.
Emmer, whose Trump-skepticism doomed his short-lived bid for speaker last year, endorsed the former president one day after Majority Leader Steve Scalise’s Trump endorsement left Emmer as the only person in the top wrung of GOP leadership NOT backing the former president.
That all four of the House’s top Republicans now publicly back Trump is just the latest sign of his dominance within the lower chamber. No House member has endorsed anyone other than Trump since last June.
Now, as Congress resumes its work next week, Trump’s influence will likely weigh heavily on issues like government funding, and especially on border security negotiations linked to foreign aid spending for Israel and Ukraine, the latter of which the former president opposes.
The resumption of impeachment efforts against Biden could also take on outsize importance to the GOP majority, as it reflects a Trumpian desire for revenge after his own two impeachments by a Democratic-controlled Congress.
Ramaswamy dismisses white supremacy again and says he's unfamiliar with Dylann Roof
BETTENDORF, Iowa — In tense, wide-ranging remarks to reporters on Tuesday night, Vivek Ramaswamy called white supremacy a myth, cited actor Jussie Smollett as evidence, and said he didn’t know who Dylann Roof is.
After a series of questions about Ramaswamy’s endorsement by former Iowa Rep. Steve King, who has a history of making racist remarks, Ramaswamy was asked if he condemned white supremacy.
“This myth of white supremacy, the closest you can find is Jussie Smollett,” said Ramaswamy, referring to the actor convicted of disorderly conduct after being charged with staging a racist, homophobic attack against himself in 2019 and then lying about it to Chicago police.
Toward the end of the press gaggle, another reporter asked Ramaswamy, “Mr. Ramaswamy, how can you seriously cite Jussie Smollett when talking about white supremacy when people like Dylann Roof exist?”
Ramaswamy responded: “I don’t know who that is.”
Roof, an admitted white supremacist, was sentenced to death for killing nine Black members of Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015. After being told who Roof was, Ramaswamy pivoted and started speaking about crime in largely Black neighborhoods in Chicago.
This isn't the first time Ramaswamy has made controversial remarks on white supremacy and racism. At a campaign stop in Iowa over the summer, for example, he referred to progressive Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., and author Ibram X. Kendi as “modern grand wizards of the modern KKK” for their positions on racial discrimination.
Senate Republican leaders keep powder dry
With Majority Whip Tom Emmer throwing his support behind Donald Trump today, all top House GOP leaders have now endorsed the current GOP presidential front-runner.
It’s a different story in the Senate, where top GOP leaders have publicly feuded with the mercurial Trump over foreign policy, his involvement in the Jan. 6 attack and personal disputes. Chief among them is Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell, whose wife, Elaine Chao, Trump has personally attacked. McConnell has said he will endorse the party’s eventual nominee.
The No. 2 Senate leader, Minority Whip John Thune endorsed fellow GOP Sen. Tim Scott before he dropped out of the race, and has not made another endorsement. And Senate GOP Conference Chair John Barrasso is also keeping his powder dry but has said he expects Trump to be the nominee.
House GOP leaders may be rushing to endorse the GOP front-runner now given that he’s projected to win big in the Iowa caucuses, just 12 days away. House leaders also tend to represent safe, ruby-red districts where Trump is enormously popular, so these House members don't have much to lose, politically, by backing Trump.
Haley super PAC releases another Iowa ad bashing DeSantis
In a new TV ad out Wednesday, the main super PAC backing former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley’s GOP presidential bid slammed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as “phony.”
The ad, funded by SFA Fund Inc., features news clips that describe DeSantis’ presidential campaign as “floundering” and “plummeting.” And, a narrator adds in the spot, “You can’t beat Trump by trying to be Trump,” showing a video of Trump and DeSantis making similar hand motions while speaking.
The narrator also details one of DeSantis’ votes as a member of Congress, saying, “You can’t stop wasteful Washington spending when you already voted to add trillions in national debt.”
SFA Fund Inc., was the top spender on the airwaves in Iowa in 2023 and has over $3 million worth of ad space reserved in Iowa ahead of the state’s caucuses on Jan. 15.
Busy day of campaigning
DeSantis, Hutchinson and Ramaswamy are all holding campaign events in Iowa today. Trump won't be in the state, but South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem will be giving a speech to his supporters in Sioux City.
DeSantis will have four events, Hutchinson will have one and Ramaswamy will have five.
Haley will be in New Hampshire, where she will be doing three events.
Meanwhile, Kennedy will also be doing a "Bobby on the ballot" press event for his independent campaign in Utah.
Biden to deliver a speech on the Jan. 6 anniversary
President Joe Biden will cast former President Donald Trump as a threat to democracy Saturday in a speech set to be delivered on the third anniversary of the Jan. 6 insurrection, the Biden campaign said this week.
The speech is expected to be a key component of the campaign’s efforts to highlight the stakes of the presidential election, one that’s shaping up to be a rematch of the 2020 contest.
On a call with reporters announcing Saturday’s event, campaign officials used dire terms in warning against a potential Trump victory.
Communications director Michael Tyler said that if Trump wins in November, he “will use all of his power to systematically dismantle and destroy our democracy.”
Campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez added, “Our message is clear, and it is simple: We are running a campaign like the fate of our democracy depends on it. Because it does.”
Biden will deliver his remarks near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, a historic Revolutionary War site where George Washington worked to rally troops into a unified army in the late 1770s.