by tyler | Sep 8, 2023 | CNN, politics
Former Donald Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro has been convicted of contempt of Congress for not complying to a subpoena from the House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.
Navarro is the second ex-aide to the former president to be prosecuted for his lack of cooperation with the committee. Steve Bannon was convicted last year on two contempt counts. Bannon’s case is currently on appeal.
Navarro pledged to appeal based on executive privilege issues.
“We knew going in what the verdict was going to be. That is why this is going to the appeals court,” he told reporters outside the courthouse. “And we feel – look, I said from the beginning this is going to the Supreme Court. I said from the beginning I’m willing to go to prison to settle this issue, I’m willing to do that.”
Asked by CNN if he’s spoken with the former president or reached out for help on legal bills, Navarro called Trump “a rock,” but did not elaborate on any communications.
“President Trump has been a rock in terms of assistance. We talk when we need to talk,” Navarro said. “He will win the presidential race in 2024, in November. You know why? Because the people are tired of Joe Biden weaponizing courts like this and the Department of Justice.”
After the verdict was read, Navarro’s lawyers sought a mistrial, raising concerns about any influence alleged protestors may have had when jurors took a break outdoors Thursday afternoon. US District Judge Amit Mehta did not immediately rule on the motion.
The judge scheduled Navarro’s sentencing for January 12, 2024.
Tim Mulvey, former spokesperson for House January 6 committee, celebrated the verdict.
“His defiance of the committee was brazen. Like the other witnesses who attempted to stonewall the committee, he thought he was above the law. He isn’t. That’s a good thing for the rule of law. I imagine that those under indictment right now are getting a good reminder of that right now,” Mulvey told CNN in a statement.
Prosecutors told the jury during closing arguments Thursday that Navarro “made a choice” not to comply with a February 2022 subpoena.
Justice Department attorney Elizabeth Aloi said that government only works if people play by the rules and are held accountable if they don’t.
“The subpoena – it is not hard to understand,” she said, adding that Navarro knew “what he was required to do and when he was required to do it.”
Navarro’s attorney Stanley Woodward contested the idea that the subpoena was simple, staying that the subpoena did not specify where in the Capitol complex Navarro was supposed to show up for his deposition.
He also said that prosecutors failed to prove that Navarro was willful in his failure to comply with the subpoena, arguing that prosecutors hadn’t established that his non-compliance with the demand for testimony was not the result of a mistake or accident.
“Why didn’t the government present evidence to you about where Dr. Navarro was or what he was doing” on the day of the scheduled deposition, Woodward asked the jury. “Something stinks.”
Prosecutor John Crabb responded: “Who cares where he was. What matters is where he wasn’t.”
Crabb repeatedly referred to Navarro as “that man’ while pointing to him, telling the jury at one point, “that man thinks he is above the law.”
The gestures elicited strong reactions from Navarro, who at times threw up his hand, shook his head or laughed. Woodward eventually jumped up and whispered to his client, and the two stood quietly together for the remainder of the proceeding.
The jury was attentive during closing arguments, watching carefully as lawyers presented their final case. Navarro stood directly across the room with his hands clasped and stared at jurors intently.
After the jury was dismissed, Woodward told the judge that the defense was seeking a mistrial because they had learned the jury had taken an outdoor break shortly before rendering the verdict and that during that break, they were around a “number” of January 6-related protestors demonstrating and chanting outside of the court.
“It’s obvious the jury would have heard those protestors,” Woodward said. “It’s impossible for us to know what influence that would have” on their verdict.
Crabb challenged the idea that there were protestors in the park next to the courthouse where the jurors took their break. Woodward countered that Navarro himself had been “accosted” earlier in the day by a protestor when he was coming through that park.
Mehta said he knew that jurors had asked to take their break outside, where they were accompanied by a court security officer, but that he was not aware that protestors were in the park. He told Woodward that he was not going to rule on the mistrial request without receiving more briefing and evidence.
Navarro was briefly interrupted by protesters when he left the courthouse after the verdict was read Thursday.
It’s a “sad day for America, not ‘cause … they were guilty verdicts, because I can’t come out and have an honest, decent conversation with the people of America,” Navarro said.
“People of America, I want you to understand that this is the problem we have right here – this kind of divide in our country between the woke Marxist left and everybody else here. And this is nuts,” he added.
Navarro joined the Trump White House to advise on trade and became a well-known face of the Trump administration, while earning a reputation for sparring behind the scenes with his White House colleagues.
He played a prominent role in the administration’s Covid-19 response as well. He led some of the efforts to speed up the deployment of medical supplies and also was a defender of fringe Trump views about the virus, including the former president’s advocacy of the controversial drug hydroxychloroquine.
Navarro was still working at the White House in the period after the 2020 election and lost a pre-trial fight to argue to the jury that Trump asserted an executive privilege that shielded him from the subpoena, and he and his attorneys have signaled that, if convicted, he will raise that and other legal issues on appeal.
“So today’s ‘Judgment Day,’” Navarro told reporters as he walked into the courthouse Thursday.
“I have been stripped, stripped of virtually every defense by the court and yet there is some defense left and the reality here is the government has not proved his case,” he said. “Please understand that the Biden-weaponized Department of Justice is the biggest law firm in the world. That’s what I’m fighting against.”
The trial itself moved forward this week with notable speed and simplicity. It took less than a day for the jury to hear all the evidence in the case.
Prosecutors put just three witnesses on the stand, all former staff members of the House January 6 committee. The Justice Department used their testimony to make the case that the committee had good reason to subpoena Navarro and that he was informed repeatedly of its demands.
In her closing argument, prosecutor Aloi told the jury that Navarro “had knowledge about a plan to delay the activities of Congress on January 6.”
“The defendant was more than happy to share that knowledge” in television interviews and in other public remarks, Aloi said, “except to the congressional committee that could do something about” preventing a future attack.
Woodward sought to paint the mention about the attack on the Capitol and the disruption of the peaceful transfer of power as a distraction.
“This case is not about what happened on January 6,” Woodward said in his closing argument.
Navarro’s defense team engaged in only brief cross examination, questioning just one of the government’s witnesses. His lawyers were focused on the element of the charge that requires a showing that Navarro was willful and deliberate in his decision not to comply with the subpoena – meaning that his lack of compliance was not the result of an inadvertent mistake or accident.
The defense did not put on any witnesses of their own, having abandoned a plan to call an FBI agent who worked on the Justice Department probe into Navarro for questioning on the lack of DOJ investigating into Navarro’s whereabouts on the day his committee deposition was scheduled.
Navarro’s service as a Trump White House aide has generated continuing legal troubles for the former trade adviser – troubles that go beyond the criminal case.
The Justice Department brought a civil lawsuit against him to obtain government records from Navarro’s personal email account that were withheld from the National Archives upon his departure from government. He has appealed the ruling against him in that case.
This story has been updated with additional developments.
by tyler | Sep 8, 2023 | CNN, politics
Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis aggressively pushed back Thursday against a man who blamed him for the deaths in a racially motivated attack in Jacksonville last month.
“I did not allow anything with that,” DeSantis – also a 2024 Republican presidential candidate – said to the man. “I’m not gonna let you accuse me of committing criminal activity. I’m not gonna take that.”
DeSantis was taking questions Thursday morning following a news conference focused on his anti-Covid-19 mandate policies in light of an uptick in new cases. The man, who first thanked DeSantis for his military service, quickly moved to criticize him, saying the governor “allowed people to hunt people like me.”
It is unclear from the taping of the news conference who the man is and if he represents any particular outlet or group.
The Florida governor has eased gun restrictions in his state, including signing a bill that allows the carry of concealed weapons without a permit. And as he looks to secure the GOP presidential nomination next year, DeSantis has positioned himself as a more conservative alternative to Donald Trump on the issue of guns.
The Jacksonville community is still reeling from the deadly rampage late last month that killed three Black people. On August 26, a White gunman first went to a historically Black university before open firing at a Dollar General a few minutes later using two, legally purchased firearms, CNN previously reported.
DeSantis condemned the attack at a vigil the following day, adding, “We are not going to let people be targeted based on their race.” He pledged state funds to the community and the university.
But the man pointed to the state’s relaxed gun policies, telling the Florida governor that he is “one of the Americans who does not agree” with all of the policies he’s enacted and that he has “allowed weapons to be put on the streets” that led to people’s deaths including the recent Jacksonville shooting.
“That is nonsense, that is such nonsense,” DeSantis said animatedly. “We’ve done more to support law enforcement in this state than anybody throughout the United States.”
“The notion that we’re not supportive of safety is absurd,” he added.
As the large pool of GOP presidential hopefuls look to ramp up their campaign following Labor Day, DeSantis is nearly 30 percentage points behind Trump and the governor’s backing has dipped by 8 points since June, a recent CNN poll showed.
by tyler | Sep 8, 2023 | CNN, politics
The US Justice Department on Thursday announced indictments against nine men for working for a notorious cybercriminal network with alleged ties to Russian intelligence and which held US hospitals for ransom and reaped over $100 million in payments.
It’s the culmination of a years-long FBI investigation into a ransomware gang that pledged allegiance to Russia as it launched its assault on Ukraine last year, and whose members have allegedly discussed hacking a journalist investigating the poisoning of Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny.
The nine men – eight Russians and a Ukrainian, according to the charging documents – remain at large, but US officials are hoping a multimillion-dollar rewards program run by the State Department can lead to tips on the men’s whereabouts if and when they leave Russia.
“The offer has been proven to be highly valuable to us and our operations against cybercriminals,” a senior FBI official told CNN.
The Treasury Department also slapped sanctions on the men, cutting off their access to the dollar.
It’s the latest move in an aggressive campaign by the US and its allies in the last two years to disrupt ransomware gangs in Russia and Eastern Europe that have knocked schools and health care providers offline.
Without any cooperation from the Russian government in rounding up alleged cybercriminals, the US Justice Department has relied on publicly exposing the hackers’ tactics, seizing their computer infrastructure if it is hosted by Western tech firms, and hoping that the hackers go on vacation to a country willing to extradite them to the US.
Despite the long odds of arrest, the US has multiple accused Russian hackers in custody, including a 42-year-old man whom a US judge sentenced to nine years in prison on Thursday for his alleged role in a $93 million securities trading scheme.
US officials have considered alleged Russian hackers in US custody as potential candidates in prisoner swap negotiations for Americans detained in Russia.
The nine men whose indictments were unsealed Thursday allegedly used two types of hacking tools affiliated with Russian-speaking cybercriminals: one, known as TrickBot, to initially hack victims, and another, known as Conti, to lock up their computers and demand exorbitant payments. (People affiliated with TrickBot and Conti have overlapped, and US officials sometimes refer to them as a singular gang.)
The Conti ransomware has been used on hundreds of organizations worldwide, including almost 300 in the US, according to the senior FBI official. That includes a sheriff’s department and an emergency medical service in Tennessee, according to the indictments unsealed Thursday.
Conti operatives have racked up $180 million in ransom payments, according to UK officials, who also announced sanctions on some of the alleged cybercriminals on Thursday.
The Conti gang garnered international headlines in February 2022, when it pledged its “full support” for the Russian government as it attacked Ukraine. A Ukrainian cybersecurity researcher retaliated by leaking thousands of internal documents on the group, including evidence that appears to suggest Conti operatives have contacts within the Russian government.
The Ukrainian researcher told CNN at the time that an FBI agent contacted him to tell him to stop leaking the information. Exposing Conti infrastructure could have, in theory, made it more difficult for the FBI to track the group because it might set up new computer systems. The FBI has declined to comment on any interaction with the researcher.
The Conti code hasn’t been used in recent ransomware attacks, but that doesn’t mean the hackers have been quiet. “Conti went away, but the actors didn’t necessarily,” the senior FBI official conceded.
The FBI official declined to comment on the current whereabouts of the nine newly indicted men, or how the FBI tracks them. “This is ongoing. We’re not done with it yet.”
by tyler | Sep 8, 2023 | CNN, politics
Joe Biden’s defenders downplayed worries over his age and poor poll numbers on Thursday as the president faced a fresh wave of concern related to his ability to serve a second term.
A CNN poll released Thursday morning showed the president’s approval rating significantly underwater with just 39% of those polled approving of the job he’s doing as president. Significantly, about three-quarters of Americans say they are concerned Biden’s age might negatively affect his current level of physical and mental competence and his ability to serve another full term if reelected. The poll also showed that there is no clear leader between Biden and former President Donald Trump, the front-runner to challenge him in November 2024.
In an interview on CBS that aired Thursday morning, Vice President Kamala Harris was asked about an earlier poll from the Wall Street Journal that showed two-thirds of Americans believe Biden is too old to serve a second term. Harris downplayed those worries, saying that “Joe Biden is going to be fine.”
“I work with Joe Biden every day,” she said. “The work that under Joe Biden’s leadership our administration has accomplished is transformative. I think the American people, most of all, want a leader who actually gets things done.”
Similarly on Capitol Hill, a series of Democratic senators sought to downplay Biden’s poor poll numbers.
Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren told CNN that Biden does not need to campaign more aggressively because Trump is enough of an albatross to his own party. Warren added that the legislation that Democrats passed during the first two years of Biden’s presidency, combined with issues such as abortion and protecting democracy, will improve enthusiasm as the election gets closer.
“I think enthusiasm comes from two things. One, is things that affect you, like getting rid of junk fees, $35 insulin. I think it also comes from pride in defending democracy,” she said. “Voting for President Biden is going to be about preserving our democracy. And I think a lot of Americans are going to show up to do that.”
Sen. Sherrod Brown, a vulnerable Ohio Democrat who is in one of the toughest Senate races in 2024, added that Biden’s low polling numbers wouldn’t stop him from campaigning with the president.
“I campaign on my own. If he comes in, sure. I work with anybody that wants to work with me on all kinds of issues,” Brown said.
Pressed on how having an unpopular president at the top of the ticket could affect his own chances, Brown replied, “I’m not concerned. I stand on my own.”
The poll comes amid a period of tough news for the president: Special counsel David Weiss said in a court filing on Wednesday that he intends to indict Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, before the end of the month. He also faced criticism from the president of the United Auto Workers as that union appears headed for a massive strike against the Big 3 American automakers. And a rise in Covid-19 cases that hit close to home – first lady Dr. Jill Biden tested positive on Monday – has struck the nation’s frayed nerves over the virus.
None of the concerns over the president’s age are necessarily new to Biden’s team and the White House has continuously worked to reassure Americans that the president is in good health and his age is not an issue. A new ad unveiled by the president’s reelection campaign showcased his trip to Kyiv earlier this year, a grueling trip that involved a flight to southern Poland and a 20-hour roundtrip train ride to the Ukrainian capital to meet with President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“Joe Biden walked shoulder-to-shoulder with our allies in the war-torn streets. Standing up for democracy in a place where a tyrant is waging war to take it away,” a narrator says over video of Biden walking with Zelensky.
The narrator continued, “In the middle of a war zone, Joe Biden showed the world what America is made of. That’s the quiet strength of a true leader who doesn’t back down to a dictator.”
That trip is one that aides and supporters often point to as an example of the president’s fitness and energy level.
On Thursday, he embarked on another intense period of travel, flying to New Delhi for the G20 Summit before a Sunday trip to Hanoi, Vietnam, to meet with the leaders of that nation in an attempt to counter China’s influence in the Indo-Pacific. He’ll then fly to Alaska where he will mark the anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks before flying home later that night.
Such travel schedules led White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre to tell CNN’s Jake Tapper last week that “no other president has been able to do” the job like Biden.
“People have come after the president about his age – they did it in 2019, they did it in 2020 leading into the general election, and they did it in 2022, and guess what? He beats them every time,” Jean-Pierre said, “because he has a finger on the pulse of what it is that the American people need, he talks about issues that really matter to the American people, and he is delivering.”
Still, it was clear that some prominent Democrats saw Thursday’s poll – and others like it – as a warning sign for the White House.
David Axelrod, a former top aide to Barack Obama and a CNN senior political commentator, said the poll is “not good” for the White House.
“These numbers are not good, and they are consistent with most of the other polling that we have seen, that the country’s in a sour mood,” he said.
Axelrod added, “He’s not getting credit for what I think is a fairly substantial list of achievements. And there’s real concern about his age. That’s been true for some time. It continues to be true. And the reality is if this were a referendum, he would be in deep, deep trouble.”
Kate Bedingfield, who served as Biden’s communications director and is now a CNN political commentator, said it will be a challenge for the White House to avoid the 2024 election being a referendum on his first term.
“I don’t think anybody is saying that’s easy. I don’t think the Biden White House would say that’s easy. But that’s the challenge before them, is to really make this about the contrast,” Bedingfield said.
Some of the president’s allies on Capitol Hill called on the White House to do more to sell their accomplishments to the American people. Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut told CNN that the White House needs to be far more aggressive in its messaging.
“The more the better, in terms of pushing that message and making the American people aware of President Biden’s achievements,” he said. “Yes, more aggressive, earlier, and more widely, I think is the right way to go.”
Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona also acknowledged that the administration could be doing more on the economy to boost its polling numbers. Biden, he added, needs to focus on highlighting his accomplishments from his first two years in office, when Democrats controlled both chambers of Congress.
“When you look at the accomplishments over the last two-and-a-half years – you know, especially last Congress with the House, this Senate, bipartisan legislation that we got passed, things that are going to improve our infrastructure, climate, bringing down the price of prescription drugs – he’s got a strong record to run on,” said Kelly.
“There’s 14 months until an election, and there’s a lot of work we have to do.”
by tyler | Sep 8, 2023 | CNN, politics
Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor and onetime attorney to Donald Trump, owes millions of dollars in legal fees, a source familiar with the matter told CNN, a debt that Giuliani hopes to eat into Thursday night at a fundraiser at Trump’s Bedminster golf club.
Amid a host of lawsuits and now criminal charges tied to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, Giuliani is expected to take in more than $1 million for his legal defense fund at a $100,000-a-plate fundraiser hosted by Trump Thursday evening. It is the first of two fundraisers Trump is expected to sponsor for Giuliani.
Giuliani’s son, Andrew Giuliani, who helped organize the fundraiser at Trump’s New Jersey club, said in an interview Thursday on Sid Rosenberg’s WABC radio show that the event would not cover all of Giuliani’s legal fees. But he said that it would help Giuliani “be able to have the resources necessary to put a team together to fight against what many of us see as political prosecutions.”
Giuliani’s closest allies have been soliciting donations from people the former New York mayor has helped in the past – including former deputies and politicians who previously solicited favors from Giuliani, as well as from high-dollar donors who have contributed to Giuliani’s political endeavors. It’s unclear how successful this effort has been, but a source familiar with the legal defense fund said it has raised “peanuts” compared to the millions of dollars Giuliani owes.
The fundraiser at Bedminster comes amid a split in Trump world about whether the former president should be doing more to help Giuliani pay for his mounting legal bills, multiple sources familiar with the conversations and dynamics between the two men told CNN.
Trump has pushed back on the idea that he should pay Giuliani’s bills himself so that their interests remain aligned, arguing that he hasn’t committed any wrongdoing, some sources said.
But despite not paying his legal bills, the two men still spend time together. Trump and Giuliani ate lunch together Monday and greeted Trump supporters together at the former president’s Bedminster resort.
Giuliani has struggled to pay his legal bills – which one source estimated to be as high as $5 million – while defending against multiple defamation lawsuits. Giuliani has been sued over his comments and actions after the 2020 election spreading false claims of election fraud.
Last week, a judge ruled Giuliani lost a defamation lawsuit from two Georgia election workers against him after he failed to provide information sought in subpoenas. He has already been sanctioned nearly $90,000 in attorneys’ fees and now faces the prospect of significant damages that could amount to thousands if not millions of dollars.
And in a defamation case brought by voting technology company Smartmatic against Giuliani and others, his attorney said last month that Giuliani couldn’t afford to pay $15,000 to a data-hosting company for an electronic search of his phone records.
Giuliani is also facing criminal charges in Fulton County, Georgia, for his role in an alleged conspiracy to subvert the will of voters after Trump lost the state to Joe Biden in 2020.
Legal bills for the Fulton County case could easily add millions to Giuliani’s tab. Prosecutors told Judge Scott McAfee Wednesday that they expect the Georgia trial will last approximately four months and they intend to call more than 150 witnesses. Giuliani is currently represented in the Georgia case by attorneys Brian Tevis and David Wolfe, as well as New York based attorney John Esposito.
But it is still unclear if Giuliani will be able to come up with the money to retain his defense team.
There is disagreement among Trump advisors about whether he should be helping Giuliani. Multiple advisers have told Trump that it would be in his best interest to help his former lawyer with these bills as a way to keep him in the fold and to aid a longtime ally.
Others have encouraged the former president to cut Giuliani loose.
Andrew Giuliani blamed some Trump aides for suggesting there was a wedge between them. During his WABC interview, he said that his father was willing to tell Trump when he “sees somebody that’s yessing him to death” who isn’t giving the former president good information.
“And guess what – some of those people don’t like Rudy Giuliani for doing that,” Andrew Giuliani said.
Sources close to Trump pushed back on the idea that Trump was not helping Giuliani, specifically pointing to the fundraisers he has agreed to sponsor, as well as a payment from his political action committee to cover Giuliani’s debt to a data-hosting company.
“This is his way of helping him,” one source said.
Trump has paid the full legal bills of a number of advisers, aides and employees connected to both the House select committee that investigated January 6, 2021, and the federal investigations into the former president.
Many of these individual whose bills Trump’s PAC has covered are relatively unknown, unlike Giuliani, who still has supporters willing to dole out money at fundraisers.
Bernie Kerik, Giuliani’s longtime friend and former New York police commissioner, is advising him on finding lawyers and also raising money to help pay Giuliani’s outstanding bills, according to sources. Kerik traveled with Giuliani to Georgia for his arraignment last month and was seen walking with the former mayor into the Fulton County jail.
“I don’t care who you are and what you have done for Trump – Giuliani’s done ten-times more and suffered more than anyone,” Kerik told CNN. He estimates Giuliani has lost between $10-$20 million in business because of his work for Trump.
Kerik worked closely with Giuliani after the 2020 election to chase down supposed election fraud. Though he is not charged in the sprawling indictment out of Fulton County, Kerik’s attorney confirmed to CNN that Kerik is the unnamed individual listed in the indictment as co-conspirator 5.
Giuliani currently owes more than $1 million to his former attorney Robert Costello, according to a source familiar with matter. As CNN first reported, the two men met with Trump earlier this year to discuss helping pay off Giuliani’s legal debt. But multiple sources said Costello did all the talking in those meetings.
Giuliani has not been willing to personally ask Trump for help directly.
“He will not do it. He thinks its disrespectful to the president,” a source close to Giuliani said.
After the meetings with Costello, Trump’s Save America political action committee paid $340,000 to a data-hosting company, Trustpoint, on Giuliani’s behalf, according to federal campaign records. CNN confirmed that the payment from Trump’s leadership PAC – which has paid roughly $40 million in legal fees for Trump and his aides and advisers – covered Giuliani’s debt with the company and allowed him to pay for an additional search for evidence.
Trump also agreed after meeting with Giuliani and Costello to attend two fundraisers for Giuliani, a source said.
Andrew Giuliani has also made direct appeals to Trump on behalf of his father. The younger Giuliani, who set up a political action committee to help with his father’s legal bills, has developed his own relationship with Trump.
Sources who have spent time with Trump and Rudy Giuliani describe a friendship and said that the former president remains very fond of the former mayor.
“It’s not that he is refusing to help,” one source said, noting Trump’s PAC’s payment for Giuliani’s debt to the data-hosting company. The source also said Trump had not ruled out taking on more of Giuliani’s legal bills in the future, should his other fundraising efforts fall short.
Andrew Giuliani, who did not respond to CNN’s questions about Thursday’s fundraiser, said on WABC Thursday that the former New York mayor is ready to take on the charges against him.
When he called his father to ask how he was feeling shortly after the Fulton County indictment was unveiled, Andrew Giuliani said he was “almost chipper because he had a challenge.”
“I hang up the phone and I’m like, ‘This guy’s half-crazy. He loves the chaos,’” the younger Giuliani said. “He’s like Trump in that in that regard. And that really is true. They’re wired a little bit differently than most of us. They love the chaos. They love the challenge.”
by tyler | Sep 8, 2023 | CNN, politics
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem is expected to endorse former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally in her home state Friday, two sources familiar with the plans tell CNN, fueling speculation about the role the Republican governor may play in his third bid for the White House.
Once a potential 2024 candidate herself, Noem initially inched away from Trump after last fall’s midterm elections and the launch of his latest campaign. She told The New York Times at the time that she didn’t believe the former president offered “the best chance” for the Republican Party in 2024.
However, the South Dakota governor has since changed her tune, opting out of a White House bid and offering support for Trump. But Noem is still angling to be in the 2024 discussion. She’s remained in contact and on good terms with the former president, according to sources familiar with their interactions. Though Noem didn’t attend last month’s first Republican presidential debate, ads touting her state’s low taxes and job openings aired during it and since then on Fox News.
Noem has another connection: Corey Lewandowski, Trump’s former campaign manager and confidant, has advised her since 2020. Lewandowski’s on-again-off-again relationship with the former president has leveled, according to sources, and he now regularly speaks to Trump.
“The fact is, none of them can win as long as Trump’s in the race. And that’s just the facts. So why run if you can’t win,” Noem, who has been in touch with Trump and his team, said of the former president’s primary rivals in an interview on Fox News’s “Fox and Friends.”
While she is expected Friday to formally throw her support behind Trump – a move most other Republican governors have been reluctant to make so far – Noem has demurred on questions about her interest in the nation’s second-highest office.
“Of course, I would consider it,” Noem told Fox News host Sean Hannity recently when asked if she would be Trump’s vice president.
Noem’s office did not return a request for comment.
The steps Noem has taken to keep some of the 2024 spotlight on her has led some Republicans to see her as a strong potential running mate for Trump should he win the nomination.
“When [Noem’s] name comes up in conversation, it’s been positive,” one source close to Trump said. “She’s been loyal to him. She’s eloquent, she defends him but doesn’t steal the spotlight.”
Noem’s ambitions have been expansive for some time now. In 2016, she was vetted to be Trump’s secretary of agriculture before deciding against continuing that process. In 2022, as she was running for reelection, she opted to run digital campaign ads on Facebook in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina – early-voting states that are conspicuously important for a presidential candidate. A former state lawmaker who also represented South Dakota in the US House for four terms, Noem flirted with running for US Senate in 2022 when it seemed like GOP Sen. John Thune wasn’t going to run for another term, according to two Republicans with knowledge of the governor’s moves at the time. Ultimately, Thune opted to run for reelection, and Noem chose not to jump into the primary, despite Trump publicly encouraging her to challenge the senator.
Now, the read among Republican operatives is that Noem is keeping the most likely potential avenues to serving in a Trump administration open – either as a vice president or a Cabinet official.
“I think she’s angling to keep all her options open. With everything being so fluid on the national stage, she has been very good about pushing her state as an example during Covid and all of these national hot-button issues. She’s kept her state at the forefront,” Republican strategist Matt Langston said. “She’s got a bright future. She’s sticking with Trump, which is smart at this stage.”
Langston added: “The timing seems right to get out and get into the mix on speculation on key Cabinet positions. If you wait and the field gets cleared – Trump is the nominee or it’s down to one or two – the value of being from a smaller state, a state where they are really not at everyone’s forefront, they’re not on the American public’s eye. This is a real good time for her to insert herself and show real value to the Trump campaign. It sets herself up nicely.”
Strategists do see some kind of federal office in the governor’s future. One Republican strategist with deep knowledge of South Dakota politics said Noem could primary GOP Sen. Mike Rounds when the two-term senator (a former governor himself) is up for reelection in 2026.
“My sense is Gov. Noem is not done with DC,” the strategist said. “If I was Mike Rounds, I would be looking over my shoulder.”
Trump advisers insist there have been no serious conversations with the former president about a potential running mate, although that hasn’t stopped Trump from fueling speculation.
“Let them debate so I can see who I MIGHT consider for Vice President!” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform ahead of last month’s Republican primary debate, which he skipped. The former president has complained about many of the 2024 candidates and called them disloyal, offering little indication he would be willing to run alongside them.
Trump’s obsession with loyalty will be central to his potential running mate pick, particularly after what he perceives as betrayal from his former vice president, Mike Pence, two sources close to Trump said.
Trump has been known to float names of allies as potential running mates after spending time with them, only to never mention them again. He also has privately said he thinks it might be a good idea to pick a woman for the position, something many allies and advisers have encouraged.
A number of Trump allies appear to be maneuvering toward a position on his eventual vice presidential short list.
New York Rep. Elise Stefanik is always quick to defend Trump, endorsed him early and talks to the former president regularly, briefing him on happenings in the House. Trump has praised her privately for her loyalty.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia has long been rumored to be angling to be Trump’s running mate – regularly attending his rallies and posting after his federal indictment in the 2020 election interference probe that she would still vote for Trump even if he were in jail.
When asked if he would be open to serving as Trump’s vice president or in a future Trump administration, Florida Rep. Byron Donalds, whose endorsement of the former president over his home-state governor, Ron DeSantis, sent shockwaves through the Sunshine State, told CNN: “Look, who wouldn’t? Who wouldn’t? That’s something where it’s really up to him and his team. I have no control over that. But for me and, you know, I told them this, I’m about winning. I just want to win and get this country back on track.”
Kari Lake, a former TV anchor who was the losing GOP nominee 2022 Arizona gubernatorial race, has become a staple in Trump world. While openly weighing a bid for the US Senate, she is also considered to be vying for a spot on Trump’s ticket.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story inaccurately stated that Gov. Kristi Noem attended the August Republican presidential primary debate. She did not.
