Trump to make first public appearances since indictment at GOP conventions

GOP Sen. Mike Rounds: Trump indictment should ‘concern all of us’

Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., a vocal critic of Trump’s baseless election fraud claims, said the federal indictment against the former president “should concern all of us.”

Rounds, who did not mention Trump by name, said in a statement that it was “unacceptable that sensitive information, which could undermine our national strategy, has been treated so carelessly by current and former members of the executive branch.”

“At the same time,” Rounds went on to say, “I am concerned about the Department of Justice’s decision to pursue this case against the former president at a time when our current president has also admitted to the possession of classified documents while out of office.”

The South Dakota Republican was alluding to a separate special counsel review of classified materials found in Joe Biden’s Delaware residence and a Washington office he used during his time as vice president.

Rounds has endorsed Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina in the 2024 Republican presidential primary.

Tennessee Democrat says documents case makes Nixon ‘look like a choirboy’

The federal indictment against Trump makes “Richard Nixon look like a choirboy,” Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., said on MSNBC’s “The Katie Phang Show” this morning.

“Watergate was the worst thing that happened to the presidency in our history,” the lawmaker and staunch Trump critic said. But the crimes alleged in the Trump indictment are “so much worse.”

Cohen also criticized Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., who tweeted Friday that the indictment in the Trump classified documents case means the U.S. is now in a “war phase.” Cohen called that bellicose comment “unpatriotic.”

McCarthy: House Republicans will ‘get the answers Americans deserve’

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy doubled down on his support for Trump on Saturday, vowing in a video posted to Twitter that House Republicans will “get the answers Americans deserve.”

“In America, some of our greatest strength is equal justice and today it shows that it is not,” McCarthy said, comparing the Trump classified documents case to the federal investigation into Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents.

McCarthy said he’s already spoken to Reps. James Comer, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, and Jim Jordan, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, about “things that we could do to make sure equal justice.”

Jordan, in an apparent effort to discredit federal investigators, has pressed the Justice Department for documents related to special counsel Jack Smith’s probe of Trump’s handling of classified documents.

Comer and Jordan have also pursued a series of investigations into the Biden family’s business dealings since House Republicans took over the chamber earlier this year. The White House has criticized these probes, arguing that they are politically motivated and designed to hurt Biden’s re-election chances.

Trump campaign will release indictment fundraising figures on Saturday

The Trump campaign said that it intends to release indictment fundraising numbers on Saturday.

In March, the former president’s campaign announced that it had raised $4 million 24 hours after a New York grand jury voted to indict him in connection with hush money payments that were made ahead of the 2016 presidential election.

This time around, in the classified documents case, we have not yet seen such braggadocio. The Trump campaign, however, has been blasting fundraising emails and selling T-shirts since the former president’s second indictment on Thursday.

Pence to speak at North Carolina event hours ahead of Trump

Former Vice President Mike Pence is scheduled to speak at the North Carolina GOP Convention this afternoon, hours before his former running mate takes the stage at the same event.

Pence, who announced his own run for president this week, has criticized the Justice Department’s decision to charge Trump in the government docs probe but has also avoided speaking to reporters since news of the indictment.

After calling on Attorney General Merrick Garland to unseal the indictment before it was made public Friday, Pence has yet to comment on its contents.

Speaking in New Hampshire Friday before the indictment was unsealed, Pence said, “We can each make our own judgment about whether or not this was an appropriate action or whether or not that’s one more example of the politicization and weaponization that’s taken place in the Department of Justice in recent years.”

Trump to make first public appearances since indictment

The former president has two long-planned speaking events on Saturday that will be his first public appearances since he was indicted on Thursday.

Trump is scheduled to address the Georgia GOP convention at 2:30 p.m., followed by remarks at the North Carolina GOP convention four hours later.

Former Vice President Mike Pence — who launched his own presidential campaign this week — is scheduled to speak to the North Carolina convention earlier in the day.