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The second Republican presidential debate without Donald J. Trump is missing the front-runner’s star power, but the performances of his rivals on Wednesday are still expected to be deeply consequential — forecasting whether the 2024 field of Republicans will consolidate around a single Trump alternative. Ron DeSantis of Florida has been the chief challenger to Mr. Trump. Among those watching at home will be some of the Republican Party’s biggest donors who have so far held out from backing any of the candidates. Major contributors are planning to watch the second debate carefully, according to people in contact with several of them, in order to see who, if anyone, they might rally behind in the coming months. All seven candidates at the debate are facing the dual-track challenge of trying to emerge as a singular rival of Mr. Trump without letting the former president entirely run away with the contest before that happens.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, Ron DeSantis, Ronald Reagan, — Organizations: Gov, Ronald Reagan Presidential, Republican Locations: Florida, New Hampshire, South Carolina, California

Mr. Trump made his comment during a lengthy interview with Kristen Welker, the new moderator of NBC’s “Meet The Press,” broadcast on Sunday morning. His comment about Mr. Meadows could attract new interest. A lawyer for Mr. Meadows did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Both Mr. Meadows and Mr. Trump are among 19 co-defendants in the Fulton County, Ga., indictment brought by the district attorney, Fani T. Willis. “By the way, do you think your former chief of staff, Mark Meadows, is still loyal to you?

Persons: Donald J, Trump, Mark Meadows —, —, ”, Kristen Welker, Jack Smith, Meadows, Fani, Willis, Mark, Ms, Welker Organizations: White House, Press Locations: Georgia, Fulton County ,, Mark Meadows

Former President Donald J. Trump, whose Supreme Court appointments led to the overturning of Roe v. Wade, harshly criticized his top rival in the Republican presidential primary, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, for a six-week abortion ban that he called a “terrible thing.”Mr. Trump issued his broadside — which could turn off socially conservative Republican primary voters, especially in Iowa, where evangelicals are a crucial voting bloc — during an interview with the new host of NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Kristen Welker, that was broadcast on Sunday morning. Asked whether Mr. DeSantis went too far by signing a six-week abortion ban, Mr. Trump replied: “I think what he did is a terrible thing and a terrible mistake.”Since announcing his candidacy last November — just a week after Republicans underperformed expectations in midterm elections shaped by a backlash against the overturning of the abortion ruling — there has been no policy issue on which Mr. Trump has appeared more uncomfortable than on abortion.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, Roe, Wade, Ron DeSantis, Mr, ” Kristen Welker, DeSantis, “, — Organizations: Republican, Gov, Press Locations: Florida, Iowa

The 2024 Executive Power Survey We asked candidates about presidential authority. Here is what they said.

Organizations: Survey

Career civil servants include professional staff across the government who stay on when the presidency changes hands. Portraying federal employees as unaccountable bureaucrats, the Trump team has argued that removing job protections for those who have any influence over policymaking is justified because it is too difficult to fire them. Critics saw the move as a throwback to the corrupt 19th-century patronage system, when all federal jobs were partisan spoils rather than based on merit. Congress ended that system with a series of civil-service laws dating back to the Pendleton Act of 1883. Everett Kelley, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, described Schedule F as “the most profound undermining of the civil service in our lifetimes.”

Persons: Trump, —, Critics, Everett Kelley Organizations: Trump, American Federation of Government Employees Locations: Pendleton

If President Biden were elected to a second term, he pledged to go to Congress to start any major war but said he believed he was empowered “to direct limited U.S. military operations abroad” without such approval when such strikes served critical American interests. “As president, I have taken great care to ensure that military actions carried out under my command comply with this constitutional framework and that my administration consults with Congress to the greatest extent possible,” he wrote in response to a New York Times survey of presidential candidates about executive power. “I will continue to rigorously apply this framework to any potential actions in the future,” he added. The reply stood in contrast to his answer in 2007, when he was also running for president and, as a senator, adopted a narrower view: “The Constitution is clear: Except in response to an attack or the imminent threat of attack, only Congress may authorize war and the use of force.”

Persons: Biden, “, ” Organizations: New York Times

Over the past several months, Mr. Trump has kept a close watch on House Republicans’ momentum toward impeaching Mr. Biden. Mr. Trump has talked regularly by phone with members of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus and other congressional Republicans who pushed for impeachment, according to a person close to Mr. Trump who was not authorized to publicly discuss the conversations. Mr. Trump has encouraged the effort both privately and publicly. House Republicans are proceeding with the impeachment inquiry without proof that Mr. Biden took official actions as vice president to benefit his son’s financial interests or that he directly profited from his son’s foreign deals. During those conversations, Ms. Stefanik also briefed Mr. Trump on the impeachment inquiry strategy, this person said.

Persons: Trump, Mr, Biden, Greene, Joe Biden, ”, “, Biden’s, Hunter, Elise Stefanik, Stefanik Organizations: Republicans, Caucus, White House, of Justice, Republican Locations: New York

Former President Donald J. Trump on Sunday called Blake Masters, the failed Arizona Senate candidate considering a second run next year, and told him he didn’t think Mr. Masters could win a primary race against Kari Lake, the former news anchor who ran unsuccessfully for governor last year, according to two people briefed on the conversation. Mr. Trump’s delivery of this blunt political assessment — which could indicate that Mr. Trump may endorse Ms. Lake if she has a relatively open path to the nomination — is at odds with Mr. Trump’s posture so far this political cycle, in which he has shown more restraint in endorsing candidates than he had in the 2022 midterms. Mr. Trump’s call on Sunday came days after a report that Mr. Masters, a 37-year-old venture capitalist, was preparing to make a second run for the Senate in the swing state after his loss to Senator Mark Kelly, the Democratic incumbent, in 2022. Ms. Lake, who lost a bitter contest with Gov. Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, is looking at announcing a Senate campaign in the first half of October, two people familiar with the matter said.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, Blake Masters, Masters, Kari Lake, Trump’s, Mark Kelly, Katie Hobbs, Kyrsten Sinema Organizations: Senate, Democratic, Gov, Democrat, Republican Party Locations: Arizona

President Biden said on Friday that he would meet with Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida on Saturday during a visit to tour the aftermath of Hurricane Idalia, the Category 3 storm that hit the state’s Gulf Coast and swept across the Southeast this week. The unusual miscue between the two chief executives — and potential 2024 rivals — came after Mr. Biden said during a visit to FEMA headquarters in Washington on Thursday that he would head south to see the damage. “By the way, I am going to Florida,” Mr. Biden said. While Mr. Biden did not provide details about the trip, during an event at the White House Friday morning he responded to a reporter’s question about whether he planned to see Mr. DeSantis in Florida, saying simply, “Yes.”

Persons: Biden, Ron DeSantis, Idalia, —, ” Mr, “ I’m, ” Organizations: Gov, Mr, FEMA, White, Service Locations: Florida, Coast, Washington, DeSantis

That loss happened in 2016, when Mr. Roe ran the presidential primary campaign of Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, who came closer than any other candidate to toppling Mr. Trump. But because the DeSantis campaign has relatively little cash and the super PAC has had plenty, Never Back Down has taken over all of those functions. The unusual arrangement has necessitated an awkward tap dance around campaign finance laws. Mr. DeSantis insists he is technically separate from this super PAC even as he travels around on a bus funded by the super PAC and even as he attends his own events as a “special guest” of the super PAC. In July, Mr. DeSantis laid off more than a third of his campaign staff.

Persons: Roe, Ted Cruz, Trump, DeSantis, Donors, Generra Peck Organizations: Mr Locations: Ted Cruz of Texas

The Trump campaign is taking no chances on a contested convention. Many of those changes, which favor Mr. Trump, remain in place. Mr. Trump himself has gotten involved deep in the weeds of convention politics. This loyalty has already delivered results for Mr. Trump’s campaign. This month, the Nevada Republican Party quietly announced it would not share political data or coordinate with super PACs — a blow to Gov.

Persons: Trump, —, Justice Department —, Trump’s, Cruz, Henson, Brian Jack, Susie Wiles, Chris LaCivita —, — Bill Stepien, Justin Clark, Nick Trainer —, Ron DeSantis, Jeff Roe, Cruz’s Organizations: Justice Department, Republican, Nevada Republican Party Locations: Louisiana , Colorado, Nevada, Milwaukee, Florida

☆ Ramaswamy-Pence Clash Shows New Right’s Radical Break From Reaganism
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-27 | by ( Jonathan Swan | More About Jonathan Swan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Disbelief flashed across Vivek Ramaswamy’s face. The Republican presidential candidates, minus the front-runner, were 42 minutes into their first debate when former Vice President Mike Pence took issue with the young businessman’s claim that America was gripped by a national identity crisis. “We’re not looking for a new national identity,” said Mr. Pence, 64. “The American people are the most faith-filled, freedom-loving, idealistic, hard-working people the world has ever known.”“It is not morning in America,” Mr. Ramaswamy, 38, shot back in his rapid-fire Harvard debating style. Yet here was an upstart candidate, with no record of public service, standing at center stage in a G.O.P.

Persons: Vivek Ramaswamy’s, Mike Pence, “, ”, Pence, ” Mr, Ramaswamy, Ronald Reagan, Reagan’s, Reagan, — Organizations: Republican, Harvard Locations: America

One thing was clear when former President Donald J. Trump decided to skip the first debate of the 2024 Republican primary race: There would be a vacuum to fill. But it was not Mr. Trump’s chief rival in the polls, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, who emerged at the epicenter of the first Trump-free showdown on Wednesday, but instead the political newcomer Vivek Ramaswamy, whose unlikely rise has revealed the remarkable degree to which the former president has remade the party. Mr. DeSantis had stumbled heading into the debate and was widely seen as in need of a stabilizing performance. All eight candidates mostly jostled for position among themselves, and few targeted the front-runner who is set to surrender on Thursday after his fourth criminal indictment.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, Trump’s, Ron DeSantis, Vivek Ramaswamy, DeSantis Organizations: Republican, Gov, Trump Locations: Florida

Eight candidates will appear onstage for the first Republican debate on Wednesday. Many far more politically experienced contenders have met their end under the bright lights of the debate stage. How Republican voters respond will offer some early clues into the ideological future of the party, particularly in a post-Trump era. He participated in eight face-offs during the 2016 campaign and helped coach Mr. Trump for his presidential debates in 2020. The debate offers Mr. Christie an opportunity to take aim at those aligned with Trumpism, even if they are opposed to Mr. Trump.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, Mitt Romney, gantlet, ”, Newt Gingrich, “ Donald Trump, —, Tucker Carlson, Ron DeSantis, Jordan Gale, Donald Trump, ” Mr, DeSantis, Trump’s, parry, Vivek Ramaswamy, Chris Christie, Pence, Mike Pence’s, AJ Mast, Mike Pence, Ramaswamy, Vivek Ramaswamy’s, MAGA, Victoria Coates, Roe, Wade, Tim Scott of, Christie, Scott, Nikki Haley, Will Christie, David Degner, Coke, New Coke, “ Ron DeSantis, Tim Scott, Haley, Doug Burgum, Maddie McGarvey, Burgum, Asa Hutchinson, “ We’re Organizations: Republican, Trump, Fox News, Fair, The New York Times, Wednesday, Fox News Radio, PAC, Ukraine, Harvard, Russia, Democratic, Republicans, United Nations, Mr, Credit, The New York, Gov Locations: Atlanta, Florida, Ukraine, Tim Scott of South Carolina, New Jersey, New Hampshire, South Carolina, U.N, Iowa, North Dakota, Arkansas

This winter, after receiving a subpoena from a grand jury investigating former President Donald J. Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election, Mark Meadows commenced a delicate dance with federal prosecutors. Yet Mr. Meadows — Mr. Trump’s final White House chief of staff — initially declined to answer certain questions, sticking to his former boss’s position that they were shielded by executive privilege. But when prosecutors working for the special counsel, Jack Smith, challenged Mr. Trump’s executive privilege claims before a judge, Mr. Meadows pivoted. Even though he risked enraging Mr. Trump, he decided to trust Mr. Smith’s team, according to a person familiar with the matter. Mr. Meadows quietly arranged to talk with them not only about the steps the former president took to stay in office, but also about his handling of classified documents after he left.

Persons: Donald J, Trump’s, Mark Meadows, Meadows, —, Jack Smith, Mr, Trump, Smith’s Organizations: White House, Mr, Republican Locations: Washington, Georgia

One of the arguments that the Republican National Committee chairwoman, Ronna McDaniel, made to Mr. Trump that day was that by skipping the debate, he would give President Biden an excuse to get out of debating Mr. Trump should they meet again in 2024, according to two people familiar with their conversation. Mr. Trump apparently disregarded the warning: He told people close to him in recent days that he had made up his mind not to participate in the first debate, though he has not ruled out debates later in the year. Instead, he sat for a taped interview with Tucker Carlson, the former Fox News host, which is expected to be posted online Wednesday. Still, it’s an argument that appealed to a key focus of the Trump campaign as it looks ahead to a possible rematch with Mr. Biden: getting both men onstage. Mr. Trump has repeatedly said publicly that he wants debates with Mr. Biden, and Mr. Trump’s advisers view face-offs with the incumbent president as vital to Mr. Trump’s chances of winning.

Persons: Donald J, Ronna McDaniel, Trump, Biden, Tucker Carlson, Mr, Trump’s Organizations: Republican Party, Republican National, Fox News Locations: Bedminster, N.J

The former president has told aides that he has made up his mind not to participate in the debate and has decided to post an online interview with Tucker Carlson that night instead, according to people briefed on the matter. Upstaging Fox’s biggest event of the year would be provocation enough. The decision is a potential source of aggravation for the Republican National Committee chairwoman, Ronna McDaniel, who privately urged him to attend, including in her own visit to Bedminster last month. But Mr. Trump’s primary motive in skipping the debate is not personal animosity toward Ms. McDaniel but a crass political calculation: He doesn’t want to risk his giant lead in a Republican race that some close to him believe he must win to stay out of prison. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak for the campaign.

Persons: Tucker Carlson, Upstaging, Carlson —, Trump, Ronna McDaniel, McDaniel, that’s, Fox —, Rupert Murdoch — Organizations: Republican National, Republican, Fox Corporation Locations: Bedminster

And Mr. Trump’s apparent decision to skip the first debate of the presidential nominating contest is a major affront to both the R.N.C. The exact timing and platform of the interview with Mr. Carlson remain unclear, but if it goes ahead as currently planned, the debate-night counterprogramming would serve as an act of open hostility. Fox sent Mr. Carlson a cease-and-desist letter after he aired a series of videos on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. The Trump campaign’s conversations with Mr. Carlson — and the possibility of counterprogramming — have previously been reported by multiple news organizations. Mr. Carlson also did not respond to requests for comment.

Persons: Trump’s, Carlson, Ronna McDaniel, Trump, Fox, Carlson —, — Organizations: Republican, Republican National Committee, Fox News, Fox, Twitter, Trump Locations: Bedminster, N.J

An opposition research memo about the Republican presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy that was written by the super PAC supporting Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida invokes the entrepreneur’s Hindu faith and family visits to India. With six months until the Iowa caucuses, Mr. Ramaswamy has been gaining on Mr. DeSantis in some public polls. In a separate debate strategy memo, Never Back Down officials advised Mr. DeSantis to take a “sledgehammer” to Mr. Ramaswamy in the debate as a way to create a “moment” for media coverage. They suggested that Mr. DeSantis call him “Fake Vivek” or “Vivek the Fake.”

Persons: Vivek Ramaswamy, Ron DeSantis, “ Ramaswamy —, Ramaswamy, DeSantis, Donald J, Vivek ”, Vivek Organizations: Gov, Mr, Trump Locations: Florida, India, America, Iowa

The DeSantis super PAC and campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Notably missing from the debate materials is a document focused on Mr. Trump. The former president, who has said he is unlikely to participate in the debate, is also not among the candidates whose previous attacks against Mr. DeSantis were highlighted by the super PAC, in a preview of what he might expect onstage. Key among the documents is one entitled “Debate Memo,” dated Aug. 15, which cynically describes how Mr. DeSantis — who has been battered by critical coverage and has struggled to capture attention in the face of Mr. Trump’s indictments — could wring the most favorable media attention from the debate. To that end, the memo lists “potential Orchestra Pit Moments,” beginning with one drama-making opportunity, complete with a recommendation for a Trump-style insult: “Take a sledgehammer to Vivek Ramaswamy: ‘Fake Vivek’ Or ‘Vivek the Fake.’”

Persons: Trump, DeSantis, ”, cynically, DeSantis —, Roger Ailes, Vivek Ramaswamy, Vivek Organizations: DeSantis, PAC, Mr, Fox News Locations: Iowa, Hampshire

Just days ago, the judge overseeing former President Donald J. Trump’s prosecution on charges of seeking to subvert the 2020 election admonished him against violating the conditions of his release put in place at his arraignment — including by making “inflammatory statements” that could be construed as possibly intimidating witnesses or other people involved in the case. But Mr. Trump immediately tested that warning by posting a string of messages on his social media website, Truth Social, that largely amplified others criticizing the judge, Tanya S. Chutkan. In one post, written by an ally of Mr. Trump’s, the lawyer Mike Davis, a large photo of Judge Chutkan accompanied text that falsely claimed she had “openly admitted she’s running election interference against Trump.” In two other posts, Mr. Trump wrote, “She obviously wants me behind bars. VERY BIASED & UNFAIR.”After eight years of pushing back at a number of institutions in the United States, Mr. Trump is now probing the limits of what the criminal justice system will tolerate and the lines that Judge Chutkan sought to lay out about what he can — and cannot — say about the election interference case she is overseeing. He has waged a similarly defiant campaign against others involved in criminal cases against him, denouncing Jack Smith, the special counsel who brought two federal indictments against him, as “deranged”; casting Fani T. Willis, the district attorney of Fulton County, Ga., as “corrupt”; and even singling out witnesses.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, Tanya S, Mr, Trump’s, Mike Davis, Judge Chutkan, “, she’s, ”, Chutkan, Jack Smith, Willis Organizations: Trump, ” Locations: United States, Fulton County ,

The document focuses on what detractors of the election have insisted are widespread voting anomalies in Georgia during that campaign, the people said. It has been in the works for many weeks, according to one of the people familiar with the matter. Ms. Harrington has been making calls to people outside of Mr. Trump’s campaign about the event, according to two people familiar with the matter. She posted on X, the site formerly known as Twitter, four hours after Mr. Trump announced the news conference. She also appears, although unnamed, in a key scene detailed in Mr. Trump’s first federal indictment, over his mishandling of classified documents.

Persons: Harrington, Trump, they’ve, Ms, Trump’s Organizations: “ Locations: Georgia, “ Georgia, Bedminster, N.J

Early on March 18, former President Donald J. Trump hit send on a social media post saying he would be “arrested on Tuesday of next week.”“Protest,” he wrote on his Truth Social website. “Take our nation back!”Mr. Trump’s prediction was based on media reports, according to his lawyers, and his timing was off by two weeks. Yet the statement set in motion events that profoundly altered the course of the Republican nominating contest. The party apparatus rushed to defend Mr. Trump. These series of falling dominoes — call it the indictment effect — can be measured in ways that reveal much about the state of the Republican Party.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, ”, Donors Organizations: Republican, Fox News, Mr, Republican Party, New York Times

☆ Mike Pence, the Indictment and the Chaos of Donald Trump - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-03 | by ( Katherine Miller | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

They left behind a few panicked people who remained grounded in reality like former White House counsel Pat Cipollone and Mr. Pence, and then Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell and the rest. Again and again, people describe desperate circumstances, arguments about doing things like seizing the voting machines, or trying to persuade Mr. Trump to call off the riot. According to prosecutors, at 7:01 p.m. on Jan. 6, Mr. Cipollone called Mr. Trump and asked him to withdraw his objections to certification; Mr. Trump refused. In his book, “Why We Did It,” Tim Miller debates this question with Alyssa Farah Griffin, a former White House communications official. In his book, Mr. Esper describes the way Mr. Pence represented a sane, normal presence in meetings.

Persons: Trump, Pat Cipollone, Pence, Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, Cipollone, Jonathan Swan, Trump’s, Tim Miller, Alyssa Farah Griffin, ”, Miller, Alyssa, flack, George Floyd, Mark Esper, Esper Organizations: Mr, White, Trump, Federal Trade Commission, White House

(It is not yet clear when a trial over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election will start. But Mr. Trump could essentially try to hit pause on any state charges. Things would get even more complicated if Mr. Trump were to be convicted in one or more cases and still win the 2024 election. And Mr. Trump would almost certainly use his control of the Justice Department to ensure that it reverses its position. Among the questions that possibility would raise is who qualifies as a cabinet member if the Senate has not confirmed any new political appointees by Mr. Trump.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, Jack Smith, Smith, Fani Willis, Bill Clinton, Richard Nixon, “, Trump’s, — Organizations: Republican, Trump, Republican Party, Mr, Justice Department, Justice, Department Locations: Washington, Florida, New York, Georgia, Fulton County

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