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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial | |
ARTICLE VIEW: | |
Trump’s VP hopefuls make high-profile TV appearances as they | |
audition to join his ticket following weekend fundraiser | |
By Kit Maher and Greg Clary, CNN | |
Updated: | |
7:32 PM EDT, Sun May 5, 2024 | |
Source: CNN | |
After spending time with their potential future boss at his Florida | |
home over the weekend, many of Donald Trump’s vice presidential | |
hopefuls hit the Sunday show circuit, repeating the former | |
president’s doubts about election results and bashing President Joe | |
Biden for his handling of campus protests. | |
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem remained on defense after blowback from | |
an anecdote about killing a 14-month-old dog and goat on her farm. As | |
CNN , sources said Noem was off the shortlist long before the excerpts | |
dropped and won’t be under consideration anytime soon. | |
Following a joint Trump-Republican National Committee fundraiser at | |
Mar-a-Lago on Saturday, where the presumptive GOP nominee brought | |
several of the potential candidates on stage, House GOP Conference | |
Chair Elise Stefanik, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, South Carolina | |
Sen. Tim Scott and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio all made high-profile TV | |
appearances on Sunday as speculation swirls over who Trump will | |
select. | |
Campus unrest | |
Stefanik, who has spearheaded Republican efforts to attack college and | |
university presidents over claims of antisemitism, used her Sunday | |
appearance on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures” to try to draw a | |
connection between unrest on campuses and Biden and the Democratic | |
Party. | |
“This is Joe Biden’s Democrat Party today,” the New York | |
Republican said, alluding to scenes of chaos on campuses nationwide. | |
“And the reality is this is why Republicans continue to poll stronger | |
and stronger, because we represent peace and security. We represent | |
standing up for the Constitution. We represent supporting our ally of | |
Israel and we strongly condemn antisemitism.” | |
Rubio, speaking on “Fox News Sunday,” called Biden “weak” and | |
“feeble,” adding that international students should have their | |
visas revoked if they are found “defacing statues” and “ripping | |
down American flags and putting up Palestinian flags.” | |
Scott claimed Biden took too long to condemn antisemitism and is | |
“pandering” to his base. | |
“The reason in part is because his base refuses to let them do so. | |
He’s pandering to politics, as opposed to standing up for fairness | |
and standing against antisemitism,” he said on NBC’s “Meet the | |
Press.” | |
Until last Thursday, when he made on the protests in remarks from the | |
White House, Biden had said little about the unrest. He had told | |
reporters at an Earth Day event on April 22 that he condemned | |
antisemitism and also “those who don’t understand what’s going on | |
with the Palestinians.” | |
Doubts about election results | |
As Trump continues to focus on his false claims over election | |
integrity, many of his potential deputies expressed their own concerns. | |
Scott refused to say whether he will accept the results of the 2024 | |
election regardless of the winner, asserting that “at the end of the | |
day, the 47th president of the United States will be President Donald | |
Trump.” | |
“President Trump himself said he expects this election to be fair, he | |
expects it to be honest, and he expects to win. That’s what the | |
presidential candidate should expect. … And, frankly, the American | |
people agree with him. This is an issue that is not an issue,”� | |
Scott said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” | |
Trump told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel last week that he will only | |
accept the election’s results “if everything’s honest.” | |
Asked several times by NBC’s Kristen Welker, Scott said, “I look | |
forward to President Trump being the 47th president. Kristen, you could | |
ask it multiple times, but I just answered the question at the end of | |
the day.” | |
Burgum, meanwhile, said he believes Biden won the 2020 election, but he | |
falsely claimed that there were a “huge number of irregularities” | |
due to changed voting rules during the Covid-19 pandemic. There is no | |
evidence of widespread voting fraud in the 2020 election. | |
Goodbye, Sunshine State? | |
Rubio, who represents the same state where Trump now lives, was | |
pressed on whether he’d be open to changing his residency in order | |
to serve as vice president. | |
The 12th Amendment requires electors to vote for at least one candidate | |
from a different state than theirs, meaning either Trump or Rubio would | |
need to change their state residency in order to collect electoral | |
votes from Florida if Trump were to tap Rubio for the role. | |
Instead of addressing the question, Rubio used it to pivot to the | |
subject of Trump’s legal battles, attacking those who have brought | |
charges against the former president. | |
“Before anyone decides to move from their state, you better make sure | |
you move to a state where there’s not some DA that makes a career | |
after going after Republicans, because what we’re seeing all over the | |
country right now is the weaponization of our criminal justice after | |
Donald Trump, which is now well-documented,” Rubio said. | |
Rubio also tried Sunday to tamp down on speculation that he would be | |
Trump’s vice president. | |
“The vice presidential choice for Donald Trump’s gonna be made by | |
one person and that’s Donald Trump, and all this other stuff is just | |
speculation. And I get it. You know, political reporters have to cover | |
political topics and primaries over the general six months away. So, | |
they want to speculate on the VP thing,” Rubio told Fox News | |
Sunday. | |
Praising his party and those gathered at the RNC spring retreat with | |
Trump over the weekend, Rubio said, “The amount of talent that we | |
have in the Republican Party is extraordinary. He doesn’t just have a | |
bunch of choices for VP. He has a bunch of choices for cabinet. He’s | |
going to have an extraordinary group of talented people that can serve | |
this country in multiple roles.” | |
South Dakota governor plays defense | |
Noem continued to defend herself after excerpts of her book “No Going | |
Back” detailed her killing a goat and on her farm, and offered a | |
glimpse at why she might have included the anecdote in the book in the | |
first place during her Sunday appearance on CBS’ “Face the | |
Nation.” | |
“This has been a story that my political opponents have tried to use | |
against me for years. It’s well known in South Dakota and it has been | |
to other people and I want the truth to be out there,” Noem said. | |
In her book, Noem appears to suggest that President Joe Biden’s dog | |
Commander should suffer a similar fate to Cricket, the working dog she | |
shot. | |
“What would I do if I was president on the first day in office in | |
2025? Thanks for asking. I happen to have a list. The first thing I’d | |
do is make sure Joe Biden’s dog was nowhere on the grounds | |
(‘Commander, say hello to Cricket for me’),” Noem writes. | |
Commander, the Biden family’s German shepherd, bit Secret Service | |
personnel in at the White House and other locations, according to | |
CNN’s reporting from February. | |
The dog was last October. | |
“Joe Biden’s dog has attacked 24 Secret Service people,” Noem | |
said on “Face the Nation.” “So, how many people is enough people | |
to be attacked and dangerously hurt before you make a decision on a dog | |
and what to do with it? | |
CNN reported Friday that, while at Noem was at one point considered a | |
top contender for Trump’s vice presidential pick, his advisers have | |
said for weeks that is no longer the case. | |
Noem also on Sunday addressed an error in her book, in which she | |
claimed to have met Kim Jong Un. | |
“I remember when I met with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. | |
I’m sure he underestimated me, having no clue about my experience | |
staring down little tyrants (I’d been a children’s pastor, after | |
all),” Noem wrote, according to an excerpt displayed on “Face the | |
Nation.” | |
Asked specifically whether she had met with Kim, Noem told CBS, “As | |
soon as this was brought to my attention, I certainly made some | |
changes.” | |
“I’ve met with many, many world leaders. I’ve traveled around the | |
world,” the governor continued, adding that the updated version of | |
the book hits shelves on Tuesday. | |
This story has been updated with new reporting. | |
CNN’s Casey Gannon and Veronica Stracqualursi contributed reporting. | |
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