Global Courant
Trump lands in Georgia for the GOP convention
Trump has landed at Columbus Airport in Georgia, where he is expected to make remarks at the state’s GOP convention in the early afternoon.
He was met by a small crowd of supporters on the tarmac.
Courtney Brogle/NBC News
Trump merchandise sells, but no one buys Pence, GOP convention attendees say
Pence prepares to speak at the North Carolina GOP convention in Greensboro before Trump takes the stage at the same event later today.
Prior to their comments, NBC News spoke with Gabby and Brandon Saxton, an Ohio couple who travel to Republican conventions across the country to sell collectible pins from presidential candidates.
The Saxtons said they have “sold no pence pins at all” so far. “Because he’s not really popular.”
“Some people aren’t really happy that he didn’t support Trump when everything went down with the election,” he said.
GOP Senator Mike Rounds: Trump impeachment should concern us all
Senator Mike Rounds, RS.D., a vocal critic of Trump’s baseless election fraud claims, said the federal charges against the former president “should concern all of us.”
Rounds, who did not name Trump, said in a statement that it was “unacceptable that sensitive information, which could undermine our national strategy, has been so carelessly handled by current and former members of the executive branch.”
“At the same time,” Rounds continued, “I am concerned about the Justice Department’s decision to pursue this case against the former president at a time when our current president has also admitted to possessing classified documents when he was not was in prison. office.”
The South Dakota Republican alluded to a separate investigation by a special council of classified material found at Joe Biden’s Delaware residence and a Washington office he used during his time as vice president.
Rounds has endorsed South Carolina Senator Tim Scott in the 2024 Republican presidential primary.
Tennessee Democrat says documents case makes Nixon ‘look like a choirboy’
The federal indictment against Trump makes “Richard Nixon look like a choirboy,” said Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., This Morning on MSNBC’s “The Katie Phang Show.”
“Watergate was the worst thing that’s happened to the presidency in our history,” said the legislator and staunch Trump critic. But the crimes alleged in the indictment against Trump are “so much worse”.
Cohen also criticized Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., who tweeted Friday that the indictment in the Trump case with classified documents means the U.S. is now in a “war phase.” Cohen called that bellicose remark “unpatriotic.”
McCarthy: House Republicans will get ‘the answers Americans deserve’
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy doubled his support for Trump on Saturday, vowing in a video on Twitter that House Republicans will “get the answers Americans deserve.”
“In America, equal justice is one of our greatest strengths and today it shows that is not the case,” McCarthy said, comparing the Trump case of classified documents to the federal investigation into Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents.
McCarthy said he has already spoken with Representatives James Comer, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, and Jim Jordan, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, about “things we could do to ensure equal justice.”
Jordan, in an apparent effort to discredit federal investigators, has pressed the Justice Department for documents related to Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into Trump’s handling of classified documents.
Comer and Jordan have also conducted a series of investigations into the Biden family’s business dealings since House Republicans took over the chamber earlier this year. The White House has criticized these probes, arguing that they are politically motivated and designed to hurt Biden’s re-election chances.
Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy. Jose Luis Magana / AP file
Trump campaign will publish fundraising figures on Saturday
The Trump campaign said it plans to release the fundraising charges on Saturday.
In March, the former president’s campaign announced it had raised $4 million 24 hours after a New York grand jury voted to indict him over hush money payments made ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
This time, in the case of secret documents, we have not seen such boasting. However, the Trump campaign has been selling fundraising emails and T-shirts since the former president’s second indictment on Thursday.
Pence will speak hours before Trump at the North Carolina event
Former Vice President Mike Pence will speak at the North Carolina GOP convention this afternoon, hours before his former running mate takes the stage at the same event.
Pence, who announced his own candidacy for president this week, has criticized the Justice Department’s decision to indict Trump in its investigation of the administration’s documents, but has also avoided speaking to reporters since the news of the charges.
After calling on Attorney General Merrick Garland to unseal the indictment before it went public Friday, Pence has yet to comment on its contents.
Speaking in New Hampshire Friday before the indictment was unsealed, Pence said: “We can each make our own judgments about whether or not this was an appropriate action or not, whether that is another example of the politicization and weaponization which has taken place at the Ministry of Justice in recent years.”
Trump appears in public for the first time since indictment
The former president has two long-scheduled speaking engagements on Saturday that will be his first public appearances since he was indicted on Thursday.
Trump is expected to address the Georgia GOP convention at 2:30 p.m., followed by remarks at the North Carolina GOP convention four hours later.
Former Vice President Mike Pence – who launched his own presidential campaign this week – will speak at the North Carolina convention earlier today.
