Politics

By Tim Reid

(Reuters) -Donald Trump will attend the Iowa State Fair this Saturday, his campaign announced on Tuesday, a move likely designed to steal the limelight from his White House rivals, especially Florida Governor Ron DeSantis who will visit the event on the same day.

It had not been clear until now that Trump, the runaway frontrunner for the Republican nomination, would attend the annual fair, a political must for aspiring presidential candidates in state capital Des Moines that runs from Aug. 10 to Aug. 20.

Trump’s decision to attend the event on the same day flagged earlier by DeSantis, his closest rival for the nomination, is likely no coincidence.

DeSantis is desperately trying to recalibrate his campaign, which has been sinking in the polls and seen two staff shake-ups in the past two weeks.

The Iowa state fair last year attracted 1 million attendees and is an important venue for political candidates as they court voters in the state that opens the nominating contest in January.

Most of Trump’s rivals, including DeSantis, have agreed to be interviewed individually at the state fair by Iowa’s Republican Governor Kim Reynolds between Aug. 11 and Aug. 18, but Trump turned down her invitation. Trump has been angered by her public neutrality in the primary race and her appearance with DeSantis at several of his Iowa events.

In 2015, early in his ultimately successful bid for the White House, and when most pundits were dismissing his campaign, Trump flew into the Iowa State Fair in a helicopter.

He was given an enthusiastic reception by crowds, in an early sign of the support that would propel him to victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton in November 2016.

“Just like he had a great event in 2015, he’s going to have a great event at the Iowa State Fair in 2023,” a Trump aide told Reuters.

Trump is currently crushing his primary opposition. He is roughly 30 points ahead of DeSantis, with the others still only in single digits.

Trump has been telling crowds in recent weeks that he does not see the point of attending the first Republican debate on Aug. 23, because he is so far ahead of the field.

The aide said Trump has not ruled out attending the debate, but is “unlikely to attend.”

(Reporting by Tim Reid; Editing by Jamie Freed)

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By Gram Slattery

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Republican U.S. presidential candidate Ron DeSantis has replaced his campaign manager, a spokesperson said on Tuesday, as the Florida governor tries to reboot his flagging bid to overtake front-runner Donald Trump in the race for his party’s 2024 nomination.

Generra Peck, a longtime DeSantis aide, will be replaced by James Uthmeier, another close advisor, said Andrew Romeo, the campaign’s communications director.

The move comes four days after the biggest individual donor to a group supporting the DeSantis candidacy told Reuters he would not donate more money unless the pugilistic populist attracts more donors and adopts a more moderate approach.

The DeSantis campaign also made significant staff moves in July, cutting over a third of its staff and reshuffling some middle- and upper-level management.

“James Uthmeier has been one of Governor DeSantis’ top advisors for years and he is needed where it matters most: working hand in hand with Generra Peck and the rest of the team to put the governor in the best possible position to win this primary and defeat Joe Biden,” Romeo said in a statement.

DeSantis is running second in the race for the Republican nomination to face Democratic President Joe Biden in the November 2024 election, but has been sinking in opinion polls for months. The latest Reuters/Ipsos poll put his national support at just 13%, far behind former President Trump, with 47%.

Also joining the DeSantis campaign will be David Polyansky, who had a senior role at the main outside spending group supporting DeSantis, according to one person with knowledge of the matter, speaking on condition of anonymity.

DeSantis faces a crucial moment on Aug. 23 in Milwaukee at the first Republican debate of the 2024 campaign. Trump has said he plans to skip the debate, which would make DeSantis the focus of attacks from other candidates.

(Reporting by Gram Slattery; Editing by Scott Malone and Will Dunham)

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Two U.S. lawmakers on Tuesday asked the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to address questions about potential security concerns involving cellular modules made by Chinese companies including Quectel and Fibocom Wireless.

House China Select Committee chair Mike Gallagher, a Republican, and the panel’s top Democrat Raja Krishnamoorthi in a letter to FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel raised alarm that U.S. medical equipment, vehicles and farm equipment could be accessed and controlled remotely from China if they are made with Chinese-made cellular modules.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Mark Porter)

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By Nandita Bose

(Reuters) -President Joe Biden’s top labor adviser, Celeste Drake, has stepped down, according to a source with direct knowledge of the matter, as the administration attempts to maintain labor peace and avoid threatened strikes during an election year.

Drake is leaving the White House to serve as the Deputy Director-General of the International Labor Organization (ILO), based in Geneva, Switzerland, and starts in her new role on Aug. 14, according to the source, who did not wish to be named.

The ILO did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

Drake’s departure comes at a critical time for an administration dealing with a summer of labor unrest, with estimates from national labor unions showing more than 650,000 U.S. workers were on or threatened strikes in the first half of 2023.

Hollywood actors and writers are currently on strike, and auto worker unions last month warned they are prepared to do the same unless Detroit’s Big Three automakers – General Motors, Ford Motor and Chrysler parent Stellantis – agree to fair contracts. Workers at UPS and its Teamsters union just signed a tentative labor deal.

Biden, 80, is tying his 2024 re-election bid to the health of the economy, highlighting job growth, rising wages and easing fears of a recession. Any major strike, especially of a key link in the supply chain or industry, could hurt the Democratic president’s pitch.

At the White House, Drake advised Biden and his team on labor negotiations that had a direct impact on the country’s supply chain and the economy, current and former White House officials said.

She carried the title of deputy assistant to the president as well as deputy director of the White House’s economic policymaking arm, the National Economic Council (NEC).

“She was involved deeply on some of the most consequential labor negotiations that we’ve seen from ports to railways, and also in crafting policy around how to support workers,” said Brian Deese, former director of the NEC, adding that her tenure came at a “very complicated and consequential time.”

Drake helped direct a team of top White House officials and three cabinet secretaries, including former Labor Secretary Marty Walsh, during the rail negotiations that helped Biden block a strike that could have devastated the American economy.

Even though a majority of the unions involved in the negotiations approved the deal, some workers and labor allies criticized Biden, a staunch union backer, for the contract that increased wages but lacked paid sick leave.

A competitive market for workers, increased job site risks during the pandemic, high housing and food costs, tech disruptions, expiration of cyclical contracts and union-friendly policies from the Biden administration are fueling a workers’ rights movement in the country.

Responding to concerns around the timing of her departure, Deese said the White House has planned for this transition and it will be able to maintain its “strong focus on labor.”

The White House did not comment on Drake’s potential successor.

The source said a replacement for Drake is expected to be named soon.

Another key Biden labor adviser, Erika Dinkel-Smith, was recently promoted to the position of senior labor adviser within the White House’s Office of Political Strategy, the source added. Gene Sperling, Biden’s longtime adviser, who oversaw the implementation of the $1.9 trillion pandemic relief package, has also been appointed co-ordinator between the administration, the auto workers unions and the companies, the source said.

A former trade specialist at the labor confederation AFL-CIO, Drake joined the administration in April 2021 as the first ever director of the Made in America Office at the White House’s Office of Management & Budget.

She then transitioned to the NEC in summer 2022, where she served as deputy assistant to the President and deputy director of the NEC for labor and economy.

She took over the position from Biden’s former top labor adviser Seth Harris.

In a statement, Biden’s acting secretary of labor, Julie Su, described Drake as one of the administration’s “leading authority on labor policy” and one of its “greatest champions for working families.”

Biden’s chief of staff, Jeff Zients, praised Drake’s “sharp policy focus” and “deep relationships” and said “nobody could have served better” as Biden’s voice in working with unions.

(Reporting by Nandita Bose in Washington; Editing by Trevor Hunnicutt, David Gregorio and Mark Potter)

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By Tim Reid

(Reuters) – Donald Trump plans to attend the upcoming Iowa State Fair but will skip events with other Republican presidential candidates, an aide to the former president said on Monday, a move likely designed to steal the limelight from his White House rivals.

It had not been clear until now that Trump, the runaway frontrunner for the Republican nomination, would attend the annual fair in state capital Des Moines that runs from Aug. 10 to Aug. 20.

It last year attracted 1 million attendees and is an important venue for political candidates as they court voters in the state that opens the nominating contest in January.

Trump’s move to attend the event appears designed to take the spotlight away from the other Republican candidates, especially his nearest rival, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who has been sinking in the polls and who is desperately trying to recalibrate his campaign in the early voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire.

Most of his rivals have agreed to be interviewed individually at the state fair by Iowa’s Republican Governor Kim Reynolds between Aug. 11 and Aug. 18, but Trump turned down her invitation. Trump has been angered by her public neutrality in the primary race and her appearance with DeSantis at several of his Iowa events.

In 2015, early in his ultimately successful bid for the White House, and when most pundits were dismissing his campaign, Trump flew into the Iowa State Fair in a helicopter.

He was given an enthusiastic reception by crowds, in an early sign of the support that would propel him to victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton in November 2016.

“Just like he had a great event in 2015, he’s going to have a great event at the Iowa State Fair in 2023,” the aide told Reuters.

Trump is currently crushing his primary opposition. He is roughly 30 points ahead of DeSantis, with the others still only in single digits.

Trump has been telling crowds in recent weeks that he does not see the point of attending the first Republican debate on Aug. 23, because he is so far ahead of the field.

The aide said Trump has not ruled out attending the debate, but is “unlikely to attend.”

(Reporting by Tim Reid; Editing by Jamie Freed)

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By Jacqueline Thomsen

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Donald Trump’s lawyers on Monday urged a Washington, D.C., federal judge to only restrict “genuinely sensitive materials” in the former president’s 2020 election case from being released to the public ahead of trial.

“In a trial about First Amendment rights, the government seeks to restrict First Amendment rights,” Trump’s attorneys said in court papers filed on Monday, referring to the right of free speech guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.

Prosecutors on Friday had asked U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan for a protective order limiting how evidence from the trial may be handled. That filing pointed to a post from Trump on his Truth Social site that said, “IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I’M COMING AFTER YOU!”

U.S. Special Counsel Jack Smith’s office said the post could suggest that Trump, front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, might intimidate witnesses by improperly disclosing confidential evidence received from prosecutors.

Protective orders are typically issued in criminal cases.

Monday’s court filing from Trump’s lawyers did not directly address the claims of potential witness intimidation by their client.

Trump on Thursday pleaded not guilty to federal charges that he orchestrated a plot to try to overturn his 2020 election loss to Democratic President Joe Biden. It was the third criminal case brought against Trump so far this year.

Trump at his arraignment on Thursday swore to not intimidate witnesses or communicate with them about the case without legal counsel present.

Under a process known as discovery, prosecutors must provide defendants with the evidence against them so they can prepare a defense. Prosecutors in their Friday filing said they are prepared to provide Trump with a “substantial amount” of evidence once a protective order is issued.

Chutkan has said she may hold a hearing on the matter.

A Trump spokesperson on Saturday denied that the Friday post was related to the trial, saying instead that Trump was attacking people dubbed “Republicans in Name Only” or RINOs.

But Trump’s social media posts attacking both the case and Chutkan have escalated since prosecutors’ Friday court filing. He has said he will seek Chutkan’s recusal in the case, although his lawyers have yet to officially make such a request.

Chutkan has previously ruled against Trump in a civil lawsuit seeking to block White House records from a congressional investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters. She also has strongly spoken out against the Capitol attack in criminal cases stemming from the riots. Prior court rulings are not enough to require a federal judge to step aside from a case.

Trump lawyer John Lauro has said he will seek to transfer the 2020 election case from Washington, D.C., to West Virginia. While criminal cases are sometimes tried in different locations than where they are brought in order to sit an impartial jury, others charged in the Capitol siege have failed in trying to have their criminal cases transferred out of the Washington federal trial court.

(Reporting by Jacqueline Thomsen; Editing by Scott Malone and Howard Goller)

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By James Oliphant and Gram Slattery

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The first Republican debate of the 2024 U.S. presidential campaign is shaping up as a crucial moment for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who badly needs some momentum in his challenge to former President Donald Trump for the party’s nomination.

Complicating the matter for DeSantis: Trump, by far the front-runner in the race for the right to challenge Democratic President Joe Biden, appears unwilling to provide him with a target.

Trump has said he plans to skip the Aug. 23 debate in Milwaukee. If that happens, DeSantis himself likely would become the focus of attacks from other candidates looking to climb past him and brand themselves as voters’ primary alternative to Trump, according to interviews with rival campaigns, Republican political advisers and a former presidential candidate.

A Republican strategist close to Nikki Haley, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations who is also seeking the nomination, said the field is likely to treat Trump “gingerly” and instead train their fire on DeSantis, who is expected to occupy the center slot on the stage.

“The guy on the stage in the No. 1 spot is probably going to be taking more heat than the others,” said the strategist, who spoke on condition of anonymity and was offering his views on the Republican field in general and not about Haley’s strategy in particular.

Rival campaigns smell blood in the water as DeSantis has faced questions over profligate campaign spending and his readiness for the national stage.

In the most recent Reuters/Ipsos poll, released last week, Trump held 47% of the Republican vote nationally, with DeSantis dropping 6 percentage points from July down to just 13%. None of the other candidates due to attend the debate have broken out of single digits.

Hotel entrepreneur Robert Bigelow, the biggest individual donor to a group supporting the DeSantis presidential bid, told Reuters on Friday he will not donate more money unless the Florida governor attracts new major donors and adopts a more moderate approach.

Rick Santorum, a former U.S. senator and Republican presidential candidate who participated in a series of debates in the 2012 election, said DeSantis will need to be ready for an “onslaught” of attacks.

During the early primaries when Santorum briefly held center stage as the front-runner, he was widely viewed as having a tough night trying to defend his record in Congress.

“I didn’t prepare to be the center of attention,” Santorum said. “I didn’t prepare enough for the attacks and where the attacks were going to come from. And it cost me.”

The DeSantis campaign declined to comment on his debate preparations.

A former U.S. Navy attorney who graduated from Harvard Law School, DeSantis can be an effective sparring partner, said Justin Sayfie, who served as a top adviser to Republican Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor and presidential candidate.

“I have to believe he will be well prepared to punch back hard when he gets punched,” Sayfie said.

THE TRUMP QUANDARY

Beyond Trump and DeSantis, at least five other candidates appeared to be on track to qualify for the debate: Haley, North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, U.S. Senator Tim Scott and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.

Former Vice President Mike Pence had struggled to reach the debate’s requirement of 40,000 individual donors, but Fox News, which is hosting the debate, reported late on Monday that he had met the threshold and would join the others on stage.

Trump has questioned whether he should show up and lend their candidacies credence. His absence would present a quandary for his lesser-known rivals as they get a chance to introduce themselves to a national television audience of millions: Do they attack Trump in absentia with no risk of return fire or do they focus on those on stage?

With the exception of Christie and Pence, Republican candidates largely have stood by Trump as he has faced a mounting wave of legal troubles, the most recent a four-count federal indictment for conspiring to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

DeSantis has largely avoided talking specifics about the latest Trump case, but he has criticized the process as “politicized” and implied he would pardon Trump. While Trump does not feature in stump speeches by DeSantis, the governor in recent weeks has subtly upped his criticisms of the former president’s conduct when questioned about him on the campaign trail.

In an excerpt of an interview with NBC News to be aired on Monday, DeSantis said that Trump “of course” lost the 2020 election to Biden. Trump has made false claims that the election was stolen from him through widespread voting fraud, a view embraced by many Republican voters.

Santorum said the candidates need to take advantage of the moment to go after the front-runner – Trump – and try to peel off some of his support.

“If I was on that stage, I would be going after Trump,” Santorum said. “That’s where the votes are.”

Aaron Kall, an expert on presidential debates at the University of Michigan, agreed.

“When Trump is not on the stage, it’s time to do it. It’s then or never,” Kall said. “It’s easier when he’s not there, to not have to look him in the eye.”

(Reporting by James Oliphant and Gram Slattery; Editing by Colleen Jenkins, Will Dunham, Alistair Bell and Raju Gopalakrishnan)

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Two conservative groups are asking a federal court to block the Biden administration’s plan to cancel $39 billion in student loans for more than 800,000 borrowers.

In a lawsuit filed Friday in Michigan, the groups argue that the administration overstepped its power when it announced the forgiveness in July, just weeks after the Supreme Court struck down a broader cancellation plan pushed by President Joe Biden.

It asks a judge to rule the cancellation illegal and stop the Education Department from carrying it out while the case is decided. The suit was filed by the New Civil Liberties Alliance on behalf of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy and the Cato Institute.

The Education Department called the suit “a desperate attempt from right wing special interests to keep hundreds of thousands of borrowers in debt.”

It’s part of a wave of legal challenges Republicans have leveled at the Biden administration’s efforts to reduce or eliminate student debt for millions of Americans. Biden has said he will pursue a different cancellation plan after the Supreme Court decision, and his administration is separately unrolling a more generous repayment plan that opponents call a “backdoor attempt” at cancellation.

The conservative groups say Biden’s plan undercuts Public Service Loan Forgiveness. The Mackinac Center and Cato Institute say they employ borrowers who are working toward student loan cancellation through the program. They say Biden’s action illegally accelerates progress toward relief, diminishing the benefit for nonprofit employers.

“This unlawful reduction in the PSLF service requirement injures public service employers that rely on PSLF to recruit and retain college-educated employees,” the suit alleges.

The Cato Institute previously sued the administration over the cancellation plan that was struck down by the Supreme Court. The Mackinac Center is separately challenging Biden’s pause on student loan payments, which is scheduled to end this fall with payments resuming Oct. 1.

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CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Few even mentioned his name, and the new federal indictment he faces was completely ignored, as Republican candidates for president tried in Iowa Sunday to present themselves as Donald Trump alternatives.

Over the course of two hours, seven GOP hopefuls took their turn on stage in front of about 800 party activists in the leadoff caucus state, all invited to speak at Iowa Rep. Ashley Hinson’s fundraising barbecue at a Cedar Rapids racetrack.

But in their pitches to challenge Trump for the 2024 nomination, it was as if his indictment Tuesday on federal charges accusing him of working to overturn the 2020 election results had never happened, even from the candidate who has suggested the former president quit the race.

Instead, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who has been a vocal Trump critic, touched only on the related Republican outrage with the Department of Justice, which many conservative activists allege has been politically biased in its investigation of Trump. The former president is also facing federal charges filed in June accusing him of improperly keeping sensitive documents in his Florida home and obstructing efforts to recover them.

Hutchinson Sunday only called for revamping the Department of Justice and in a popular applause line for GOP candidates promised to name a new head of the department.

“And yes, I would get a new attorney general that would enforce the rule of law in a way that is fair for our country,” said Hutchinson, earning polite applause from the audience.

Even Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has warned that Republicans will lose next year by looking backward and repeating Trump’s false claims the 2020 election was stolen, came only as close as saying, “The time for excuses is over.”

Trump remains very popular within the Iowa Republican caucus electorate. A New York Times/Siena College poll of likely Iowa Republican caucus attendees, published Friday but taken before Trump’s indictment was made public, showed him far ahead of his closest rival. All other would-be challengers, except DeSantis, received support in the single digits.

Still, the poll suggested Trump’s position may be slightly less strong in Iowa than it is nationally.

Throughout the early months of the campaign, Republican strategists have warned against attacking Trump directly, arguing it tends to anger voters who have supported him and see the charges he faces as political persecution, even as they are open to other candidates.

DeSantis, Hutchinson, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, conservative radio host Larry Elder and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy made their arguments for their candidacies with no mention of Trump.

Only two candidates Sunday mentioned Trump by name.

Former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, who served in the post under Trump, mentioned him in an anecdote about a report she filed to him, an illustration of her irritation about member nations who opposed U.S. policy but received foreign financial aid.

Michigan businessman Perry Johnson was the only other candidate to name Trump, first by noting the former president had spent more money than he had to raise campaign contributions.

Johnson, who received little support in the New York Times poll noted he had pledged to pardon Trump last spring after the former president was indicted by a grand jury in New York on charges he falsified documents related to payments made to a porn star.

“I think that it’s unfair that we start picking on our candidates and letting the Democrats decide who should be running,” Johnson said.

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By James Oliphant and Gram Slattery

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The first Republican debate of the 2024 presidential campaign is shaping up to be a crucial moment for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who badly needs some momentum in his challenge to former President Donald Trump for the party’s nomination.

Complicating the matter for DeSantis: Trump, the front-runner in the race by far, appears unwilling to provide him with a target.

Trump has said he plans to skip the Aug. 23 debate in Milwaukee. If that happens, DeSantis will likely become the focus of attacks from other candidates looking to climb past him and brand themselves as voters’ primary alternative to Trump, according to interviews with rival campaigns, Republican political advisers and a former presidential candidate.

An adviser to Nikki Haley, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations who is also seeking the nomination, said the field is likely to treat Trump “gingerly” and instead train their fire on DeSantis, who is expected to occupy the center slot on the stage.

“The guy on the stage on the No. 1 spot is probably going to be taking more heat than the others,” said the adviser, who requested anonymity to discuss internal campaign matters.

Rival campaigns smell blood in the water as DeSantis has faced questions over profligate campaign spending and his readiness for the national stage.

In the most recent Reuters/Ipsos poll, released last week, Trump held 47% of the Republican vote nationally, with DeSantis dropping six points from July down to just 13%. None of the other candidates who will attend the debate have broken out of single digits.

Hotel entrepreneur Robert Bigelow, the biggest individual donor to a group supporting DeSantis’ presidential bid, told Reuters on Friday he will not donate more money unless the Florida governor attracts new major donors and adopts a more moderate approach.

Rick Santorum, a former U.S. senator and Republican presidential candidate who participated in a series of debates in the 2012 election, said DeSantis will need to be ready for an “onslaught” of attacks.

During the early primaries when Santorum briefly held center stage as the front-runner, he was widely viewed as having a tough night trying to defend his record in Congress.

“I didn’t prepare to be the center of attention,” Santorum said. “I didn’t prepare enough for the attacks and where the attacks were going to come from. And it cost me.”

DeSantis’ campaign would not comment on his debate preparations.

A former federal attorney who graduated from Harvard Law School, DeSantis can be an effective sparring partner, said Justin Sayfie, who served as a top adviser to Republican Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor and presidential candidate.

“I have to believe he will be well-prepared to punch back hard when he gets punched,” Sayfie said.

In a debate last year during his successful gubernatorial re-election campaign, DeSantis called his opponent, Democrat Charlie Crist, a “worn-out donkey.”

THE TRUMP QUANDARY

Beyond Trump and DeSantis, at least five other candidates appear to be on track to qualify for the debate, including Haley, North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, U.S. Senator Tim Scott and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.

Former Vice President Mike Pence has struggled to reach the debate’s requirement of 40,000 individual donors, but his campaign said it is confident Pence will ultimately make it.

Trump has questioned whether he should show up and lend their candidacies credence.

His absence will present a quandary for his lesser-known rivals as they get a chance to introduce themselves to a national television audience of millions: Do they attack Trump in absentia with no risk of return fire or do they focus on those on stage?

With the exception of Christie and Pence, Republican candidates have largely stood by Trump as he has faced a mounting wave of legal troubles, the most recent a four-count federal indictment for conspiring to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

Santorum said the candidates need to take advantage of the moment to go after the front-runner and try to peel off some of his support.

“If I was on that stage, I would be going after Trump,” Santorum said. “That’s where the votes are.”

Aaron Kall, an expert on presidential debates at the University of Michigan, agreed.

“When Trump is not on the stage, it’s time to do it. It’s then or never,” Kall said. “It’s easier when he’s not there, to not have to look him in the eye.”

Christie has made clear in interviews that Trump will be his quarry whether or not he is on the stage. Christie has said he will focus on the federal and state cases against the former president and how donors are paying Trump’s legal bills.

A former prosecutor known for his bluntness, Christie famously took down Marco Rubio, a U.S. senator, during a debate in the 2016 presidential race in a moment that was seen as mortally damaging to Rubio’s prospects.

Christie is preparing for both Trump scenarios, a source close to the campaign said, while recognizing most of the pressure at the debate will be on DeSantis to perform, not him.

(Reporting by James Oliphant and Gram Slattery; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Alistair Bell)

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