Politics

By Nathan Layne

CLIVE, Iowa (Reuters) – Republican presidential hopefuls will make their pitch to evangelical voters in Iowa on Saturday, the first major event for candidates to court the key conservative voting bloc in a state set to hold the party’s first nominating contest in early 2024.

The annual presidential forum, hosted by the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition conservative nonprofit is a chance for evangelical leaders and voters to see where the candidates stand on issues ranging from abortion to school choice.

It will be headlined by former Vice President Mike Pence, a devout evangelical who may soon launch a presidential bid, and U.S. Senator Tim Scott, who is exploring a run. Former President Donald Trump will participate remotely via video link.

The event comes as Trump appears to be consolidating his grip on the Republican Party, with some national polls showing him expanding his lead over Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a potential primary rival who is not attending the forum but will visit the state next month.

Iowa is slated to hold the first-in-the-nation Republican caucus in early 2024. Strong evangelical support early on in the nominating process could help give a challenger a chance to strike a blow against Trump, who won three-fourths of the white evangelical vote nationally in 2020.

“There is potential for somebody else because there are some Republicans, even some who voted for Trump in ’16 and ’20, who are saying it’s time to move on,” said Tim Hagle, a political science professor at the University of Iowa.

Among other scheduled speakers at Saturday’s event are former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, venture capitalist and author Vivek Ramaswamy and Michigan businessman Perry Johnson, all of whom have said they plan to seek the Republican nomination.

Trump won 76% of the white evangelical vote in 2020, down from 80% in 2016, according to Edison Research exit polls. About one-third of U.S. adults identify as born-again or evangelical Christians, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll in November 2020.

The former president seems to be gaining ground with evangelicals. In a March poll by Monmouth University, Trump edged DeSantis among evangelicals in a two-way matchup 51% to 42%, a nine-point improvement for Trump from the month before. 

Steve Scheffler, president of the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition, said each speaker on Saturday evening will have four minutes to talk freely to the audience, followed by a moderated session of questions and answers.

Scheffler said that while support for Trump remains solid, many evangelicals want to “kick the tires” and are open to another candidate. He said religious liberty, abortion and transgender issues would be among the topics in focus at the event.

(Reporting by Nathan Layne; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Alistair Bell)

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(Reuters) – A former prosecutor who led the Manhattan district attorney’s criminal probe into former U.S. President Donald Trump will go ahead with testimony in May before a congressional committee after an effort to block his appearance was dropped, the panel said on Friday.

Former Manhattan prosecutor Mark Pomerantz will testify May 12, a spokesperson for the chairman of the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee said.

The committee subpoenaed him in connection with the probe that led to Trump becoming the first ex-president to be criminally charged.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat, sued Jim Jordan, the Republican chair of the committee, to block the subpoena.

On Friday, both sides said the appeal had been dropped, paving the way for the deposition to take place.

“We are pleased with this resolution, which ensures any questioning of our former employee will take place in the presence of our General Counsel on a reasonable, agreed upon timeframe,” a spokesperson for the a Manhattan District Attorney said.

Trump, the Republican front-runner in the 2024 presidential nominating campaign, pleaded not guilty on April 4 to 34 felony charges. They related to a hush money payment before the 2016 election to a porn star to prevent her from discussing a sexual encounter she said they had. He denies the liaison took place.

(Reporting by Karen Freifeld and Kanishka Singh; writing by Costas Pitas; editing by Eric Beech and Cynthia Osterman)

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Elder, 70, made the announcement on Fox News’ “Tucker Carlson Tonight” and followed up with a tweet.

“America is in decline, but this decline is not inevitable. We can enter a new American Golden Age, but we must choose a leader who can bring us there. That’s why I’m running for President,” he wrote.

The long-shot candidate joins a Republican field that includes former President Donald Trump, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy. President Joe Biden, a Democrat, has said he plans to seek reelection.

Some Democrats say Elder’s role as a foil to Newsom helped the Democratic governor inspire voters in liberal California to turn out and reject the recall. Newsom attacked Elder for his support of Trump and his conservative positions, such as opposing abortion rights and restrictions imposed to slow the spread of COVID-19, such as mask mandates.

But Elder said the experience of running for office — and the millions of votes he received — showed he had a message that resonated with voters. A lawyer who grew up in Los Angeles’ rough South Central neighborhood, Elder attended an Ivy League college and then law school. He has a following among conservatives through his radio programs and has been a frequent guest on Fox News and other right-wing media.

Elder, who is Black, has criticized Democrats’ “woke” agenda, Black Lives Matter and the notion of systemic racism, positions that have put him at odds with many other Black people.

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Right-wing U.S. radio host Larry Elder, a Black lawyer who has denied there is systemic racism in America, has announced his candidacy for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

“America is in decline, but this decline is not inevitable. We can enter a new American Golden Age, but we must choose a leader who can bring us there,” Elder said in a Twitter post late on Thursday.

Elder emerged as the most serious challenger in California’s 2021 recall election with a message that Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom had botched his response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Newsom handily beat back a Republican campaign to oust him from office in the deeply Democratic state.

Elder defines himself as “an American who is Black” rather than African American, telling The Hill in a 2019 interview: “The idea that there’s systemic racism against Black people is a lie.”

He has said his views grew out of his parents’ contention that he could overcome racism with hard work and determination.

Elder calls himself the “Sage from South Central,” referring to a largely African American district of Los Angeles. He left Los Angeles after high school, attended Brown University in Rhode Island and earned a law degree at the University of Michigan.

After practicing law in Cleveland, he returned to Los Angeles in the 1990s and began his career as a radio host, later becoming syndicated nationwide.

He joins a handful of Republicans who have announced their candidacies as they seek to win the White House back from Democrat Joe Biden, who is expected to make a formal announcement on his re-election bid next week.

They include former President Donald Trump, Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, investor Vivek Ramaswamy and former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson. Tim Scott of South Carolina, the only Black Republican serving in the U.S. Senate, has formed an exploratory committee.

(Reporting by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Nick Macfie)

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By Tim Reid, Alexandra Ulmer and Nathan Layne

(Reuters) – Current and former Republican Party operatives who have spent years trying to banish Donald Trump from American political life say the former president’s 2024 campaign has begun to gain so much steam that they fear he is by far the favorite to become the party’s presidential nominee again.

While the party’s nomination race is still in its early days, the angst among “Never Trumpers” — a small group of Republicans who have publicly opposed Trump since he was first elected in 2016 — is a sign that the former president could be gaining momentum over his top potential rival Ron DeSantis.

Seemingly entrenched in culture wars, Florida governor DeSantis risks being overshadowed by Trump’s fundraising, improving polling numbers and endorsements by lawmakers, anti-Trump donors say.

Trump had a huge lead over DeSantis among Republican and independent voters nationally of 58% to 21% in a Reuters/Ipsos poll in early April. Other polls of Republicans alone show Trump has surged into a commanding lead over DeSantis in recent weeks.

The “Never Trumpers,” some of whom have left the Republican Party but still vocally oppose Trump and work to undermine him with voters, say their hopes for DeSantis are waning.

Some have effectively given up.

“If we could stop Trump becoming the nominee, we would do that. But he’s going to be the nominee,” said Reed Galen, co-founder of the Lincoln Project, a prominent anti-Trump group of current and former Republicans.

The Lincoln Project spent millions of dollars on anti-Trump ads on social media, TV and in newspapers in 2020. It is already looking beyond the 2024 Republican nomination fight, Galen said.

The group will still raise money for ads to attack Trump in presidential swing states, Galen said, not with a view to stopping him becoming the nominee but to damage him ahead of the general election in 2024 against likely Democratic candidate President Joe Biden. 

DeSantis’s mixed messaging on U.S. support for Ukraine, his reluctance to respond forcefully to Trump’s attacks on him, and his poorer showing in some national and key state polls have unnerved allies and donors.

Political strategists stress that while the shine has come off DeSantis’ nascent bid in recent weeks it is still early in the nominating process and DeSantis is not yet even a candidate.

“DeSantis has a lot of time to course correct,” said Doug Heye, a Republican strategist.

TURNAROUND  

Still, both Trump and DeSantis have experienced a reversal of political fortunes since a number of candidates endorsed by Trump in the November midterm elections were defeated by Democrats. Republican lawmakers, party officials and voters saw him as weakened and wondered if it was time for someone new.

DeSantis, fresh off a resounding second-term win in the election and with a growing list of conservative legislative accomplishments to boast about, appeared to be that person.

However, many Republicans have rallied around Trump since his indictment by a New York district attorney on April 4 over hush money payments to a porn star. He has received a surge in endorsements by elected Republicans in the U.S. Congress and in Florida, home to both Trump and DeSantis.

Trump has so far collected 66 endorsements for the Republican nomination, including from 56 members of Congress, according to FiveThirtyEight.com, a website that tracks opinion polls and politics. DeSantis has four.

History shows that early endorsements by elected party officials give candidates momentum and can be predictive of who wins a presidential nomination.

Trump picked up endorsements from five congressmen in Florida this week alone, deals sealed with an invite to a “thank you” dinner at his Mar-a-Lago home on Thursday night.

In the early nominating state of New Hampshire, a University of New Hampshire poll found DeSantis leading Trump by 12 points in January. This week, a poll showed Trump had leaped to a 20-point lead.

Trump’s fundraising has also surged. He raised nearly $19 million in the first quarter this year, through his joint fundraising committee and his campaign, his aides say. Much of that came after his indictment, which many Republicans view as politically motivated.

Trump has also intensified his attacks on DeSantis, at a time when DeSantis is forbidding classroom instruction about gender identity and sexual orientation, taking on gun control groups, and attacking the Walt Disney Co.. These culture war appeals to Trump’s Republican base so far do not appear to be working.

Trump has sent out email blasts this week attacking DeSantis, calling him a “loser” in his battle with Disney. The Florida governor has not only failed to push back, but ended up defending Trump over the criminal charges.

“By defending him on the indictment, DeSantis becomes a supporting cast member in the central drama of Donald Trump. That makes him look weaker, not stronger,” said Sarah Longwell, a Republican strategist and longtime Trump critic.

Longwell cautioned that Trump’s current dominance could fade, but added: “It could be that DeSantis just doesn’t have it, that he doesn’t have the political talent.”

A spokesman for Trump did not respond to a request for comment. DeSantis aides say he is still going to run and view Trump’s attacks as predictable efforts to convince people the race is over before the Florida governor announces his candidacy.

DONORS FRET

DeSantis’ recent signing of a ban on abortion after six weeks of pregnancy in Florida, his focus on book bans, and his tussle with Disney have caused some major donors to pause, according to several who spoke to Reuters. 

“If it wasn’t for abortion and the book-banning, there would be no question I would support him,” metals magnate Andy Sabin told Reuters. 

However, many in the Republican donor class are largely fed up with Trump. Many deem him chaotic and unelectable, according to Reuters interviews with nearly two dozen donors and their aides.

While many donors have been putting their faith in DeSantis as the best candidate to beat Trump, they acknowledge there is no concerted effort by them to weaken the former president. Some say they want to support DeSantis but are not yet willing to back him.

Sam Nunberg, a former Trump aide who broke with the former president years ago and now backs DeSantis, said that while the Florida governor appeared to be on his back foot this week none of the damage would be permanent.

(Reporting by Tim Reid in Los Angeles, Alexandra Ulmer in San Francisco and Nathan Layne in Wilton, Connecticut; Editing by Alistair Bell)

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By Gram Slattery and James Oliphant

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who is expected to run for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, is set to begin a trip abroad on Saturday taking him through Japan, South Korea, Israel and the United Kingdom.

While the trip is officially billed as a trade mission, the tour is widely seen as an attempt to burnish his foreign policy credentials in the lead-up to an official announcement, expected in the late spring or early summer.

The governor had said in March that the Ukraine War is a “territorial dispute” and that it is not of strategic interest to the United States, a position he has since partially walked back. Those comments provoked criticism from Democrats and many Republicans, though it is a stance he shares with about half of the party’s base as well as Republican former President Donald Trump.

In Japan, DeSantis will meet with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi during his visit on April 24 and 25, the Japanese foreign ministry said. He is then slated to travel to Seoul, where he will meet with Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, before continuing to Tel Aviv and London, where he will talk with a mix of government and business leaders.

Back home in Florida, there are signs he is beginning to build out a foreign policy apparatus. His political operation is in the process of bringing on Dustin Carmack, a cybersecurity and intelligence expert with significant foreign policy experience, said one person with knowledge of the matter.

DeSantis traveled to Washington earlier this week to meet with Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives. Shortly after his visit, several representatives from Florida endorsed Trump in a blow to the governor. DeSantis is set to address an event hosted by the Heritage Foundation, a major think tank, on Friday.

(Reporting by Jim Oliphant and Gram Slattery in Washington and Yukiko Toyoda and Tim Kelly in Tokyo; Editing by Christopher CushingEditing by Matthew Lewis)

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy has floated a plan that would pair $4.5 trillion in spending cuts with a $1.5 trillion increase in the U.S. debt ceiling.

His proposal does not include some of the more dramatic fiscal ideas floated by Republicans who control the House. Here are some possibilities that did not make the cut:

WILL IT BALANCE THE BUDGET?

Total U.S. debt has risen steadily over the past two decades as the government has not collected enough revenue to cover its costs. The $31.4 trillion national debt is now equal to 98% percent of the economy, up from 32% the last time the United States posted a budget surplus in 2001.

Some House Republicans have called for balancing the budget within 10 years, but McCarthy’s proposed cuts would almost certainly not hit that goal. His promised $4.5 trillion in savings would fall well short of the $16.7 trillion in spending cuts that the Republican Study Committee, a group of House conservatives, outlined in its balanced budget proposal last year.

Republicans would get another chance to extract more cuts, as his proposed debt-ceiling hike would not cover the nation’s borrowing needs past March 31, 2024.

DOES IT CUT TAXES?

Republicans have broadly ruled out tax increases as way to tame the national debt. McCarthy’s plan would revoke a budget increase for the Internal Revenue Service that the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office predicts would boost revenue by $204 billion over the coming 10 years due to increased enforcement.

McCarthy’s plan would not repeal two tax hikes secured by Democrats in last year’s Inflation Reduction Act: a 15% minimum tax on large corporations and a 1% excise tax on stock buybacks. The CBO predicted those would raise $222 billion over 10 years.

It also does not try to make permanent the temporary individual tax cuts contained in the 2017 Republican tax-cut package that are due to expire in 2025.

DOES IT DEFUND THE FBI?

Former President Donald Trump called for defunding the Justice Department and the FBI following his criminal indictment in New York earlier this month. His former budget director, Russell Vought, called for cuts to housing, education and health programs in a proposal released earlier this year.

McCarthy’s plan steers clear of these sorts of specifics. Instead, it would cut a broad swath of “discretionary” spending by 9% in the next fiscal year and limit increases to 1% annually after that. Lawmakers would have to work within those constraints to set funding levels for agencies like the Pentagon and the Environmental Protection Agency.

WHAT ABOUT SOCIAL SECURITY AND MEDICARE?

The Social Security retirement program and the Medicare health plan for seniors together are projected to double in cost over the next 10 years as the population ages. Recipients could face sharp benefit cuts if Congress does not shore up the trust funds that help cover costs.

McCarthy’s plan would not touch either program, and he has said they are off limits. This makes political sense, as Republican and Democratic voters alike say they do not support benefit cuts.

That is a contrast with previous Republican House speakers like John Boehner, who proposed raising the retirement age, and Paul Ryan, who called for partially privatizing Medicare — as well as former President George W. Bush, who unsuccessfully tried to partially privatize Social Security during his tenure.

More recently, the Republican Study Committee proposed raising the age at which Americans would become eligible for both programs.

WILL IT REPEAL OBAMACARE?

Opposition to Democratic former President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act was a unifying goal for Republicans over the past decade. But they came up short in a 2018 attempt to repeal the sweeping expansion of health coverage.

Since then, seven Republican-led states have opted to expand Medicaid coverage for low-income Americans, a key pillar of the law.

Some 16 million Americans signed up for subsidized insurance through Obamacare’s exchanges this year, the highest level yet. Another 21 million receive coverage through the Medicaid expansion.

McCarthy’s plan would not repeal Obamacare, or roll back enhancements secured by Democrats in 2021 and 2022.

(Reporting by Andy Sullivan; Editing by Scott Malone and Jonathan Oatis)

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By Luc Cohen

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. Representative Jim Jordan, one of Donald Trump’s staunchest allies in Congress, on Friday urged an appeals court to let his House Judiciary Committee depose a former prosecutor in the Manhattan district attorney’s criminal probe of the former U.S. president.

The district attorney, Democrat Alvin Bragg, had earlier this week appealed a lower court’s ruling that the Republican-led House of Representatives committee may depose Mark Pomerantz, who led the Trump probe before resigning in February 2022.

Pomerantz’s testimony had been scheduled for Thursday, but the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals put it on hold. A three-judge panel is expected to hear oral arguments on Tuesday about whether to extend the stay until Bragg’s full appeal is heard.

In papers filed on Friday, Jordan said the subpoena was covered by a constitutional protection for “speech or debate” in Congress. He said Pomerantz’s testimony was necessary for the committee to consider possible legislation to “help protect current and former Presidents from potentially politically motivated prosecutions.”

Bragg is expected to reply by Saturday afternoon.

He has argued that Jordan’s subpoena was part of a campaign of intimidation in response to his indictment of Trump, the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024.

On April 4, Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 felony charges tied to a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential election, to prevent her from discussing a sexual encounter she says they had.

Trump denies that the encounter occurred. Daniels’ real name is Stephanie Clifford.

Bragg has said Pomerantz’s testimony could improperly reveal confidential information related to his office’s probe, and that Congress did not have oversight of state-level criminal cases.

(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

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By Trevor Hunnicutt

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden may announce his re-election campaign by video as soon as Tuesday, two people familiar with the matter said on Thursday, setting the stage for a possible rematch with his Republican predecessor Donald Trump.

A Tuesday announcement by Biden, 80, would come four years to the day after his 2020 campaign launch. The source on Thursday cautioned that the exact timing could change.

Biden is the oldest person to have occupied the White House and would be 86 at the end of a second four-year term. He has struggled with low public approval ratings, with a Reuters/Ipsos poll completed on Sunday showing that just 39% of Americans approve of his job performance.

The White House and the Democratic National Committee declined to comment.

Republicans have not yet picked their candidate for the Nov. 5, 2024, presidential election, but polls show Trump leads a pack of declared and undeclared Republican candidates that include Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence and former UN ambassador Nikki Haley.

While Biden faces little serious competition for the Democratic nomination, 45% of Democrats responding to a March Reuters/Ipsos poll said they thought he should not run again in 2024, with 48% saying he should.

CIVILITY AND EMPLOYMENT

Biden plans to campaign on his record in the 27 months since he took over from Trump.

That includes winning Congress’ approval for billions of dollars in federal funds to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic and for infrastructure, restoring what his supporters see as civility to the White House and overseeing the lowest levels of unemployment since 1969, although a 40-year high in inflation has marred his economic record.

He faces potential economic headwinds including a showdown in the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives over a $31.4 trillion debt ceiling that risks a default that would shake global markets and could cause a U.S. recession.

Biden’s Democrats also face difficult U.S. Senate elections in 2024, when they will be defending seats in Republican-leaning states including West Virginia, Ohio and Montana. They hold a narrow 51-49 majority in that chamber.

Republicans won a House majority in last year’s midterm election, bringing Biden’s legislative agenda to a shuddering halt.

In recent weeks, Biden has laid out the likely themes of a re-election bid in political speeches, secured a doctor’s note that he is “fit for duty,” told Democrats to re-order the party’s primary calendar in a manner favoring his nomination and picked Chicago as the city where he would ostensibly formally become the nominee next year.

Biden is expected to meet next week with top volunteer fundraisers from his last campaign. Donors would be key to what might be the most expensive U.S. presidential election to date. They would also show that Biden’s strongest supporters have overcome doubts about his age and prospects in another grueling race.

Unlike the heavily virtual 2020 campaign due to the pandemic, a 2024 campaign would require him to travel to the handful of key states spread across the country that are expected to again be competitive, from Arizona to Pennsylvania.

After losing by seven million votes to Biden in 2020, Trump refused to concede defeat, falsely claiming widespread electoral fraud.

His supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, 2021, in support of his claims but failed to halt Congress’ certification of Biden’s win.

Biden is expected to remind voters of these actions, while lauding his handling of the pandemic economic recovery, especially the strength of the U.S. labor market.

Biden has used recent political events to attack Trump-aligned “MAGA” Republicans for trying to undo his legislative victories, but he has largely avoided directly speaking about the legal woes facing Trump.

(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt; additional reporting by Jeff Mason and Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Scott Malone and Josie Kao)

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By Trevor Hunnicutt

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden and his team may announce his re-election campaign by video next week, according to a source familiar with the matter on Thursday.

An announcement on Tuesday by Biden, 80, would come four years to the day of his 2020 campaign launch. The source cautioned that the exact timing of an announcement may be fluid.

Biden aides have ramped up planning for the long-expected launch of the president’s bid for a second, four-year term in 2024. Last week, Biden said he would launch his campaign “relatively soon.”

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment, while the Democratic National Committee (DNC) declined to comment.

Biden has long said he intends to run again but the lack of a formal announcement had seeded doubt among supporters about whether one of the oldest world leaders would or should commit to another four-year term. He would be 86 at the end of a second term.

In recent weeks, Biden has laid out the likely themes of a re-election bid in political speeches, secured a doctor’s note that he is “fit for duty,” told Democrats to re-order the party’s primary calendar in a manner favoring his nomination and picked Chicago as the city where he would ostensibly formally become the nominee next year. Biden is yet to face a serious challenge for his party’s nomination.

He is set for a meeting at the end of next week with top volunteer fundraisers from his last campaign, who will be expected to get the latest effort off to a strong financial start.

Donors would be key to what might be the most expensive U.S. presidential election to date. They would also show that Biden’s strongest supporters have overcome their own doubts about his age and prospects in another grueling race.

Biden has used recent political events to attack Republicans for trying to undo his legislative victories, but he has largely avoided directly speaking about the legal woes facing his likely opponent Donald Trump, the former president and top Republican candidate.

(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt; additional reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Josie Kao)

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