Closing summary
Mike Pence is now officially on the presidential campaign trail, after kicking off his bid for the White House with a speech in Iowa where he unsurprisingly attacked Joe Biden, but also went directly at Donald Trump. Pence accused his former running mate of drifting away from conservative values and of asking him to violate the constitution, as the former vice-president sought to carve a place out for himself in the crowded Republican field. In the months to come, we’ll find out what voters think.
Here’s what else happened today:
North Dakota governor Doug Burgum started his own campaign for the Republican presidential nomination with a speech in Fargo.
Trump said he has not been told he is being indicted, after days of reports that prosecutors are nearing the end of their investigation into his possession of classified documents.
Major East Coast cities including Washington DC and New York City are grappling with an influx of wildfire smoke that has drifted down from Canada, rendering the air quality hazardous for some groups.
Clarence Thomas, the conservative supreme court justice, asked for extra time to file his financial disclosures following reports that he’d accepted gifts and travel from a Republican megadonor.
Ron DeSantis isn’t letting the wide gap between his second place and Trump’s lead in the polls phase him.
Trump denies being told he has been indicted
Donald Trump says he has not been told he is being indicted, despite reports in recent days that prosecutors are nearing the conclusion of their investigation into the classified documents found at his Mar-a-Lago resort last year.
Here’s what the former president wrote on his Truth social account:
No one has told me I’m being indicted, and I shouldn’t be because I’ve done NOTHING wrong, but I have assumed for years that I am a Target of the WEAPONIZED DOJ & FBI, starting with the Russia, Russia, Russia HOAX, the “No Collusion” Mueller Report, Impeachment HOAX #1, Impeachment HOAX #2, the PERFECT Ukraine phone call, and various other SCAMS & WITCH HUNTS. A TRAVESTY OF JUSTICE & ELECTION INTERFERENCE AT A LEVEL NEVER SEEN BEFORE. REPUBLICANS IN CONGRESS MUST MAKE THIS THEIR # 1 ISSUE!!!
Earlier this week, attorneys for the former president met at justice department headquarters in Washington DC with top officials, including Jack Smith, the special counsel appointed to handle the investigation into the classified documents, as well as Trump’s involvement in the January 6 insurrection and the plot to overturn the 2020 election result.
Such meetings typically take place before charging decisions are announced in federal investigations. Today, an aide to the former president, Taylor Budowich, said he had spoken to a grand jury investigating Trump.
The Guardian’s Hugo Lowell has reported the Budowich was among those summoned by federal prosecutors to appear before a new grand jury convened in Florida, which is focusing on Trump’s handling of national security matters and potential obstruction of justice. It remains unclear what that grand jury’s empaneling implies for the status of the overall investigation, but you can read more about it here:
Ron DeSantis doesn’t appear to be too worried about trailing Donald Trump in the polls for the Republican presidential nomination, and claims to be “really excited” about the enthusiasm he believes he has generated.
Florida’s governor, who entered the race with a glitch-ridden launch event on Twitter last month, has just been speaking at a immigration roundtable in Arizona, and was asked by a reporter about his numbers.
“Did you just see the Iowa polls that just came out?” DeSantis said, presumably referring to his own internal polling, reported by the New York Post, that purportedly shows him gaining ground on the former president in the state.
“We can talk about polls all day long. You’ve seen some some great stuff. When you run in these things, you run and you persuade people. I mean, that’s the whole point of it. Like you don’t do a poll a year out and say that that’s how the election runs out.
“If that were the case, you know, I wouldn’t have been elected in the first place as governor, and even my reelection I had people saying we were going to win by a couple of percentage points. We won by 20.
“So we’re really excited about the enthusiasm we’ve generated. I think you’re gonna see a lot of really good stuff over the ensuing weeks and months.”
The latest polling by Real Clear Politics for the Republican nomination has Trump at 53% and DeSantis at 22.
The academic and public intellectual Cornel West could pose a threat to Joe Biden’s hold on the White House, the former Trump strategist Kellyanne Conway said – not because West’s People’s Party candidacy has a chance of winning the race but because it could draw young voters and voters of colour away from the Democratic president.
“Even if you don’t become president, you, as a third-party candidate spoiler, can decide who is the president,” Conway told Fox News.
Conway gave the example of Ross Perot, the millionaire businessman whose third-party run is widely held to have cost George HW Bush dear in 1992, when he was turfed out of the White House by Bill Clinton.
Other third-party candidates who have had an impact on presidential races include Ralph Nader, widely held to have damaged Al Gore in the knife-edge 2000 election against George W Bush.
In 2016, when Conway managed Donald Trump’s victory over Hillary Clinton, both the Libertarian candidate, Gary Johnson, and the Green candidate, Jill Stein, made an impact at the polls in states that decided the contest.
Conway continued: “It’s important also … that if you play to win and you’re Cornel West, and you are still not satisfied with the trajectory of the Democratic party being progressive enough for you under a Biden-Harris administration, then you’re going to run to the left of them.”
West, Conway said, is “going to make a play for people who feel forgotten, who feel abandoned by this Democratic party, who feel like nobody’s listening to them and including them.
“It’s part of how Trump won in 2016, but I think he could do it from the left.
“I know him. He’s a super-smart guy. He’s very committed to the principles and policies that he thinks more Americans want to hear.”
The supreme court justice Clarence Thomas has asked for extra time to file his financial disclosures, records keenly awaited amid the ongoing scandal concerning his links to, and extensive gifts from, the Republican mega-donor Harlan Crow.
Crow and another conservative on the court, Samuel Alito, asked for 90 more days to file their annual financial disclosures, the Washington Post reported.
The Post added: “Both requests were confirmed by the Administrative Office of the US Courts on Wednesday, the same day that disclosure reports filed by their court colleagues were posted on the court system’s website.”
As the Post also said, the supreme court “is under increasing pressure from Democratic lawmakers and transparency advocates to strengthen disclosure rules and adopt ethics guidelines specific to the justices after news reports revealed Thomas’s undisclosed real estate deals and private jet travel, and raised questions about the recusal practices of both conservative and liberal justices”.
Crow is the subject of attempts by Senate Democrats to obtain details of gifts given to Thomas.
Supreme court justices are nominally subject to the same ethics rules as all federal judgs but in practise govern themselves. Thomas and Crow deny wrongdoing. Thomas has said he did not declare extensive and costly gifts from Crow because he was advised he did not have to.
In a statement after news of Thomas’s request for an extension, Kyle Herrig, president of the pressure group Accountable.US, said: “Justice Thomas and his billionaire benefactor Harlan Crow can’t dodge accountability forever. It was their decades-long improper relationship that sparked the supreme court corruption crisis in the first place.
“What more is Thomas trying to hide? Are his gifts and connections so extensive that he needs more time to account for them all? Chief Justice [John] Roberts needs to act immediately to clean up his court.”
Further reading:
Updated
The day so far
Mike Pence is now officially on the presidential campaign trail, kicking off his bid for the White House with a speech in Iowa where he unsurprisingly attacked Joe Biden, but also went directly at Donald Trump. He accused his former running mate of drifting away from conservative values and asking him to violate the constitution in an attempt to carve a place out for himself in the crowded Republican field. In the months to come, we’ll find out what voters think.
Here’s what else has happened today so far:
North Dakota governor Doug Burgum started his own campaign for the Republican presidential nomination with a speech in Fargo.
An aide to Trump confirmed he had spoken to a grand jury that the Guardian reports has been empaneled in Florida to look into the former president’s handling of national security matters and potential obstruction of justice.
It’s really smoky on the East Coast. Also, a volcano is erupting in Hawaii, and you can watch it happen live.
Trump allies respond to Pence's campaign by asking 'why?'
A major Pac supporting Donald Trump has responded to Mike Pence’s campaign announcement with a statement that dismisses both him and Florida governor Ron DeSantis.
“Mike Pence’s entrance into the race caps off another bad week for Ron DeSantis’ faltering campaign, but the question most GOP voters are asking themselves about Pence’s candidacy is ‘Why?’” Make America Great Again Inc spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said.
As Pence’s speech wrapped up, he accused Donald Trump and Joe Biden of being too mean to lead.
“Joe Biden promised to restore decency and civility if he was elected president. He broke that promise on day one. He’s continually vilified those of us that disagree with him, and even vilified members of his own party,” Pence said.
‘Our politics are more divided than ever before, but I’m not convinced our country is as divided as our politics. Most Americans treat each other with kindness and respect even when we disagree. We know how to be good neighbors. That’s not too much to ask our leaders to do the same. But sadly, it’s clear that neither Joe Biden or Donald Trump share this belief.”
Pence is taking both Joe Biden and Donald Trump to task over their approach to managing the US government’s debt and spending, and their support for Ukraine.
“Joe Biden’s policy is insolvency,” Pence said, after recounting the looming challenges the massive government Social Security and Medicare problems face. “But you deserve to know, my fellow Republicans, that Donald Trump’s position on entitlement reform is the same. Both of them refuse to even talk about the issue taken to the American people.”
He then turned to both Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the possibility of war with China.
“America is the leader of the free world. We’re the arsenal of democracy … Donald Trump and others who would seek the presidency would walk away from our traditional role on the world stage,” Pence said.
“President Trump, he described Vladimir Putin as a ‘genius’ at the outset of the invasion and another candidate for the Republican nomination described the invasion of Ukraine as a quote, territorial dispute,” he continued in a reference to Florida governor Ron DeSantis, a competitor for the Republican nomination.
“I know the difference between a genius, I know the difference between a territorial dispute and a war of aggression. The war in Ukraine is not our war but freedom is our fight and America must always stand for freedom, and when I’m your president, we will.”
One more broadside at Trump: “What President Trump and others are forgetting is that our administration succeeded not because we compromised or abandoned conservative principles, but because we acted,” Pence said.
Updated
Pence hasn’t held back on criticizing Joe Biden.
Earlier in the speech, he decried his “disastrous presidency”, and promised to, if elected, lower taxes, “give the American people freedom from excessive federal regulations” and end Biden’s “trillion-dollar spending spree that’s driving inflation”.
But Pence also needs to get through a crowded Republican primary field that includes Donald Trump if he wants to appear on the general election ballot, and the former vice-president has spent a considerable portion of his speech criticizing his ex-boss.
“You know, when Donald Trump ran for president in 2016, he promised to govern as a conservative. Together, we did just that. Today, he makes no such promise,” Pence said.
“After leaving the most pro-life administration in American history, Donald Trump and others in this race are retreating from the cause of the unborn. Sanctity of life has been our party’s calling for a half-a-century, long before Donald Trump was a part of it. Now he treats it is an inconvenience, even blaming our election losses in 2022 on overturning Roe v Wade,” he continued.
“Mr. President, I will always stand for the sanctity of life, and I will not rest and I will not relent until we restore the sanctity of life to the center of American law in every state in the land,” Pence said.
What he did not say: whether he would sign a federal law banning abortion.
As Pence continues his speech, his strategy for taking on Donald Trump has become clear.
The former vice-president is touting the Trump administration’s accomplishments, while simultaneously portraying his former running mate as straying from true conservative principles.
“I’ll always be grateful for what president Trump did for this country. I’ve often prayed for him over the past few years. And I prayed for him again today. I had hoped he would come around, see that he had been misled about my role that day,” Pence said, referring to January 6.
“The Republican party must be the party of the constitution of the United States. We’ve had enough of the Democrats in the radical left repeatedly trampling on our constitution, threatening to pack the court, to dismantle the God given rights that are enshrined,” Pence continued, saying the GOP must protect the “right to life” as well as keep firearms freely available.
And then he again turned to Trump.
“I believe that anyone who puts themselves over the constitution should never be president of the United States. And anyone who asked someone else to put them over the constitution should never be president of the United States again,” Pence said. “Our liberties have been bought at too high a price.”
Mike Pence continued by getting into the technical details of why he could not overturn Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory.
“Article two, section one of the constitution provides that the president of the Senate, the vice-president, shall, in the presence of the Senate and the House, open all the certificates and the votes shall be counted. No more no less. Despite the fact that the constitution’s language is clear, and provides the vice-president with no authority to reject or return electoral votes, my former running mate continues to insist that I had the right to overturn the election,” he said.
“But president Trump was wrong then, and he’s wrong now.”
He then sought to redirect the crowd’s attention to his vow to defeat Joe Biden.
“I will always believe, by God’s grace, I did my duty that day. I kept my oath to ensure the peaceful transfer of power under the constitution of the United States,” Pence said.
“I understand the disappointment that many still feel (about) the outcome of the 2020 election. I can relate, I was on the ballot. But I had no right to overturn the election. And Kamala Harris will have no right to overturn the election when we beat them in 2024.”
Trump asked me to 'choose between him and the constitution' - Pence
Mike Pence directly addressed the rivalry between him and Donald Trump, saying on January 6, his then-boss asked him to “choose between him and the constitution.”
“January 6 was a tragic day in the life of our nation,” Pence began. “As I’ve said many times, on that fateful day, president Trump’s words were reckless. They endangered my family and everyone at the Capitol. But the American people deserve to know that on that day, president Trump also demanded that I choose between him and the constitution. Now, voters will be faced with the same choice: I chose the constitution and I always will.”
Updated
Mike Pence just uttered the magic words.
“I’ve long believed that to much is given, much will be required. That’s why today, before God and my family, I’m announcing that I’m running for president of the United States of America,” he said, to applause.
'Proud to stand by President Donald Trump every single day', Pence says
Mike Pence has been the subject of Donald Trump’s ire ever since defying him on January 6, but in his ongoing presidential campaign launch speech, he just spoke proudly of his time in the White House.
“I was proud to stand by President Donald Trump every single day when we made America great again,” Pence said, after detailing his time as a congressman and as governor of Indiana.
It’s quite a reversal from just a few months ago, when Pence said, “President Trump was wrong … his reckless words endangered my family and everyone at the Capitol that day, and I know that history will hold Donald Trump accountable.”
Mike Pence is now onstage after being introduced by his wife, former first lady of the United States Karen Pence.
And he’s kicking off his speech with what seems like a zing at his former boss Donald Trump – a prolific user of Twitter during his presidency.
“Indiana will always be home for us, and I get why people make big announcements back home, in their hometown, at their resort, even on Twitter,” Pence said.
“But we wanted to be here, in person, in Iowa. We are here because we know that Iowa was the right place to start our engines for the great American comeback.”
For a second there, you would think you were listening to a Democrat. Greg Pence directly referenced his brother’s defiance of Donald Trump on January 6, though he didn’t mention the ex-president by name.
“Mike is a man who will unflinchingly stand his post. And if you’re a veteran like myself, and you know the sixth general order. The sixth general order says I will not leave my post until properly relieved. My brother never did on January 6. In the face of those who would seek to bend his iron-tested character, Mike Pence never wavered. That strength and courage will lead America back to greatness and again, it’s what we need today.”
And then he went back to the usual Republican talking points against Joe Biden.
“We know under Joe Biden America has become a troubled nation. Our economy is in distress. Inflation is at record high. Wages are down, my utility bills have gone through the roof, our borders wide open to illegal immigrants and dangerous drugs, and fentanyl is killing our youth,” Pence continued.
“These difficult times call for new leadership, ladies and gentlemen. In Michael,” as his older brother calls him, “I see the steady hand our country needs in these time of turmoil.”
Mike Pence’s presidential launch event has kicked off with a speech by another Pence: his brother, Republican Indiana congressman Greg Pence.
“The Pence family is from southern Indiana so I’m real comfortable with the corn here in Iowa,” Pence began, declining to mention Iowa’s role as the first state to vote in the Republican nominating process.
“I can’t be more proud than to be here and stand with my brother in this race that he is starting off today,” Pence continued, adding that no other “Republican in this field has the ability to defeat Joe Biden, other than my brother. He will turn our country around.”
Pence to give presidential campaign launch speech in Iowa
Republican former vice-president Mike Pence is in a few minutes scheduled to deliver his presidential campaign launch address in Ankeny, Iowa. Will the well-known anti-abortion politician vow to crack down on the procedure nationwide? Will he attack his former boss Donald Trump, or discuss how he stood up to him on January 6?
We’ll find out soon. Follow along here for the latest, or watch it live at the video embedded at the top of this page.
Here’s the moment North Dakota governor Doug Burgum made his presidential campaign official, during a speech in Fargo:
Gov. Doug Burgum (R-ND): “I am officially announcing I’m running for the president of the United States of America.” pic.twitter.com/4SGRUf4dpr
— The Recount (@therecount) June 7, 2023
We expect former vice-president Mike Pence to say the same words pretty soon, in a speech in Iowa.
Trump aide confirms grand jury testimony
Taylor Budowich, an aide to Donald Trump, confirmed that he spoke to a federal grand jury today and characterized the investigation as an effort to “use the power of government to ‘get’”, the former president.
Here’s Budowich’s full statement:
Today, in what can only be described as a bogus and deeply troubling effort to use the power of government to “get” Trump, I fulfilled a legal obligation to testify in front a federal grand jury and I answered every question honestly.
— Taylor Budowich (@TayFromCA) June 7, 2023
America has become a sick and broken…
Earlier today, the Guardian’s Hugo Lowell reported the Budowich was among those summoned by federal prosecutors to appear before a new grand jury convened in Florida, which is focusing on Trump’s handling of national security matters and potential obstruction of justice:
We’re about an hour away from Mike Pence’s campaign launch in Iowa, and a CBS News reporter at the event noticed something telling in his campaign’s arrangements for the media.
As noted below, the password for the wifi provided to journalists seems to be a reference to Pence’s refusal to go along with Trump’s demand that he block Congress’s certification of Joe Biden’s election win on January 6:
Pence team’s nod, perhaps, to a certain day in January when he followed the rule of law. The scene here in Iowa this morning. Greg Pence, Pence’s older brother and congressman, is also here. pic.twitter.com/zHPRu07u5q
— Robert Costa (@costareports) June 7, 2023
This is not the first time a wifi password has referenced January 6. Here’s a throwback to a NBC News reporter’s tweet from two days before the insurrection:
DALTON — Hello from the site of Trump’s Georgia rally tonight, where the music playing now is “Fortunate Son” and the WiFi password is pic.twitter.com/RuMvpvrSbW
— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) January 4, 2021
That said, when Pence released his campaign launch video this morning, he did not mention his actions during the attack on the Capitol. If you haven’t seen it already, you can watch it here:
Let’s step back from politics for a minute to look at what life is like right now in America, 517 days away from the 2024 elections.
A huge swath of the country is under air quality alerts due to smoke from Canadian wildfires that has drifted along the eastern seaboard, affecting tens of millions of people, the Guardian’s Adam Gabbatt reports from New York City:
Tens of millions of people in the US were under air quality alerts on Wednesday, as smoke from Canadian wildfires drifted south, turning the sky in some of the country’s biggest cities a murky brown and saturating the air with harmful pollution.
States across the east, including New York, Massachusetts and Connecticut, issued air quality alerts, with officials recommending that people limit outdoor activity.
In New York City, where conditions were expected to deteriorate further through the day, residents were urged to limit their time outdoors, as public schools canceled outdoor activities.
Smoke from wildfires in Canada has been moving south into the US since May. Hundreds of fires are burning in Canada, from the western provinces to Nova Scotia and Quebec in the east, where there are more than 150 active fires in a particularly fierce start to the summer season.
And the country’s farthest western flank is dealing with its own unique environmental event: an erupting volcano. Lava began pouring out of Kīlauea on Hawaii’s Big Island this morning, and you can watch the flow live below:
You’ve heard the arguments detailing why Republicans probably won’t vote for Mike Pence – now, have a look at the reasons why progressives will not, under any circumstances, give their backing to Donald Trump’s former deputy.
“For years, Mike Pence stood shoulder to shoulder with Donald Trump, helping him win in 2016 and turning a blind eye to astonishing abuses of presidential power. Pence remained by Trump’s side as he sowed distrust in our electoral process and attacked the very foundations of American democracy,” Sean Eldridge, the president and founder of progressive advocacy group Stand Up America, said in a just-released statement that’s typical of the sentiment towards the former vice-president.
Eldridge continues:
While he ultimately made the right choice on January 6, 2021, Mike Pence has done more to imperil our democracy and our freedoms than to protect them. As a congressman, governor, and vice president, Pence championed policies at the heart of the MAGA agenda that undermine Americans’ fundamental freedoms, from the right to an abortion to the freedom to marry the person you love.
Americans deserve a president who will stand up for our democracy and our freedoms. Mike Pence’s record shows that he is not that leader.
Here’s more on that choice Pence made on January 6, which even his detractors give him credit for:
Donald Trump’s campaign is out with a new ad titled “Wolves”, though the most interesting thing about it is not its many shots of the quadrupedal canine native to North America.
Rather, it’s how the ad makes prominent Trump’s involvement in the overturning of Roe v Wade. While many GOP candidates are in favor of abortion restrictions, the subject has become an awkward one given the apparent unpopularity of such measures at the polls. The Trump ad mentions the overturning of Roe v Wade right at the beginning – though it doesn’t elaborate on what restrictions he would support if returned to the White House, a question Trump has avoided answering.
Watch the ad here:
🚨 MUST SEE— New Ad from the Trump Campaign: "Wolves" pic.twitter.com/JaHeD1uUUx
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) June 7, 2023
He may have plenty of competition, but polls indicate the frontrunner for the Republican nomination remains Donald Trump – despite all the legal trouble he appears to be in. The Guardian’s Hugo Lowell has more details on a new grand jury convened in Florida to investigate his conduct:
Federal prosecutors have subpoenaed multiple witnesses to testify before a previously unknown grand jury in Florida in the criminal investigation into Donald Trump’s handling of national security materials and obstruction of justice, according to people familiar with the matter.
The new grand jury activity at the US district court in Miami marks the latest twist in the investigation that for months has involved a grand jury that had been taking evidence in the case in Washington but has been silent since the start of last month.
Trump aide Taylor Budowich is scheduled to testify before the Florida grand jury on Wednesday, one of the people said, and questioning is expected to be led by Jay Bratt, the justice department’s counterintelligence chief detailed to the special counsel Jack Smith, who is leading the investigation.
CNN has played a big role in the presidential campaign thus far by hosting town halls with GOP candidates Donald Trump, Nikki Haley as well as other candidates to come. But its handling of the event with Trump was deeply controversial, and a candid magazine profile of CEO Chris Licht did not help matters. Today, reports emerged that Licht would be stepping down:
Chris Licht, the controversial and embattled chairman and chief executive officer of the cable news giant CNN is stepping aside after a very short, turbulent time at the top, according to a report on Wednesday morning.
Licht will leave and be replaced within 48 hours, Puck News reported.
Licht was under siege from within and apologized to his employees on Monday after an Atlantic magazine profile revealed he had been aware of the “extra-Trumpy” make-up of the crowd at a widely criticized town hall with former president Donald Trump last month.
According to the Atlantic, Licht had also been critical of CNN’s performance under his predecessor, telling employees they had alienated potential viewers through hostility to Donald Trump. His tenure also included the sacking of senior presenters, and widespread unrest as he pursued a stated goal of bringing the network more into the center of US political discourse and winning over Republicans.
North Dakota's Doug Burgum joins race for GOP presidential nomination
North Dakota governor Doug Burgum has made his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination official by filing with the Federal Election Commission. If you’re wondering who he is – and you probably are, since he leads a state that ranks 47th for population in the country and doesn’t have much of a national profile otherwise – the Guardian’s Martin Pengelly is here with the answer:
Doug Burgum, the Republican governor of North Dakota, has announced his candidacy for the party’s presidential nomination next year.
Burgum made the announcement in the the Wall Street Journal newspaper. A campaign event is scheduled for later on Wednesday in the city of Fargo.
“We need a change in the White House. We need a new leader for a changing economy. That’s why I’m announcing my run for president,” he said in a commentary on the Journal’s website.
The 66-year-old was a software entrepreneur, Microsoft executive and venture capitalist before becoming governor in 2016. He will be a rank outsider in a race dominated by two candidates: former US president Donald Trump and rightwing Florida governor Ron DeSantis.
Mike Pence’s problem, as this Atlantic article bluntly puts it in its headline, is that “nobody likes” him.
The author sat in on focus groups of two-time Donald Trump voters in various parts of the country. The participants held various perspectives on the former president, but when it came to Pence, the derision was practically unanimous:
“I don’t care for him … He’s just middle-of-the-road to me. If there was someone halfway better, I wouldn’t vote for him.”
“He has alienated every Republican and Democrat … It’s over. It’s retirement time.”
“He’s only gonna get the vote from his family, and I’m not even sure if they like him.”
“He just needs to go away.”
As Washington Post columnist Paul Waldman puts it, it’s a mystery why Pence is bothering to run at all:
The problem is that there is almost no significant group of voters who does not already dislike Pence for one reason or another. While Trump added him to his 2016 ticket to shore up support with the Christian right, that group’s loyalty to Trump grew so intense that Pence became an afterthought. The Trump presidency showed that what evangelicals wanted was not someone who believed what they believe, but someone who would smite their enemies with maximum savagery.
Then there’s Jan. 6, 2021.
The most conservative Republicans, whom Pence would want to appeal to, are now more fervently pro-Trump than ever. They are also the ones who call Pence a traitor because of the best thing he did as vice president: resisting Trump’s corrupt pressure to delay the electoral count in Congress so that the former president could overturn the outcome.
When Jan. 6 is inevitably brought up, Pence will become trapped. He says (correctly) that the law gave him no authority to halt the count. But that makes it sound as though his loyalty to rules outweighed his loyalty to Trump. Which was true, at least in that moment. But Trump taught the base that rules are for suckers.
The other option — to portray himself as a hero who saved democracy in the face of Trump’s corruption — isn’t possible either because it would define Trump as democracy’s enemy. After years of sycophancy toward his boss that was embarrassing — even by the standards of the lickspittles with whom Trump has always surrounded himself — Pence just doesn’t have it in him to defy Trump, even if he didn’t have to say the last thing Republican voters want to hear.
Pence plans afternoon campaign kickoff — but don't expect to hear about Trump
Mike Pence will launch his presidential campaign today in Ankeny, Iowa, with a speech set to begin at 1pm eastern time. A former governor of Indiana who also served in the House of Representatives for 12 years, this will be Pence’s first solo run for the White House, after standing twice as Donald Trump’s running mate.
If his kickoff video is any indication, you won’t be hearing much about Pence’s former boss when he launches the campaign. “I’ll always be proud of the progress we made together,” Pence says, without saying who he made the progress with. He continues: “Different times call for different leadership. Today our country and our party need a leader that can appeal, as Lincoln said, to the better angels of our nature.”
There’s not a glimpse of Trump in the video, but plenty of shots of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris – foes he will face only if he somehow manages to beat his former boss in the Republican primary.
Mike Pence announces bid for president, joining crowded GOP field
Good morning, US politics blog readers. Republican politicians are practically flocking to join the presidential race, with former vice-president Mike Pence announcing his intention to run in a video this morning that’s heavy on God and critical of Joe Biden – the general election opponent he would face if Pence makes it that far. Standing in his way is Donald Trump, who remains the frontrunner in the polls, and Florida governor Ron DeSantis the only other candidate to crack double-digit support in most surveys out there. Pence, you will recall, was Trump’s deputy, but fell out with him after refusing to take part in his attempts to overturn the 2020 election. As a result, Trump has turned his influential base against Pence, but he’s giving it a shot anyway. Also throwing their hat in the ring today: low-profile North Dakota governor Doug Burgum, who this morning filed papers to run for the White House.
Here’s what else is happening today:
Are rightwing Republicans revolting in the House of Representatives against speaker Kevin McCarthy? They did yesterday, by blocking debate on a package of messaging bills the chamber’s GOP leaders were hoping to pass. We may find out more about this today.
CNN announced it will next Monday host a live town hall with Chris Christie, the Republican former New Jersey governor who yesterday announced his candidacy for president.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre talks to reporters at 1pm eastern time.
