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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial
ARTICLE VIEW:
Top Trump surrogates and VP contenders hit airwaves in defense of
former president on trial
By Alayna Treene, Kit Maher and Daniel Strauss, CNN
Updated:
7:00 AM EDT, Tue April 16, 2024
Source: CNN
’s campaign is deploying his top surrogates, including potential vice
presidential picks, to span the airwaves in what they are
characterizing as a full-fledged media defense of the former president,
as he confronts in New York City, his advisers told CNN.
In recent days, the Trump campaign has circulated a document of talking
points, obtained by CNN, to his allies, as well as directly booked
surrogates on television as part of its effort to have the former
president’s top allies “blanketing the airwaves,” as one senior
Trump adviser described it.
Trump has told his advisers that he wants as much media coverage of his
court appearances as possible – including having his supporters
defend him on TV, sources familiar with the conversations told CNN.
The campaign’s strategy of having Trump’s surrogates maximize media
coverage isn’t new: It’s the same approach his team used in the
aftermath of each of his indictments. A new element playing out behind
the scenes, however, is the timing of this media defense campaign.
Not only is the proceeding taking place at a time when his team is
uncertain of how the trial and the salacious details of the case will
play with general election voters, but it also comes as Trump is
weighing potential running mates – making this period a tryout of
sorts for his vice presidential contenders.
Some of Trump’s prospective VP picks are taking their own initiative,
without urging from the former president’s campaign, to defend him,
according to sources familiar with their tactics.
“The stakes are very high not just for the president personally and
politically but also for his surrogates. They have to know – and
I’m sure they all do – that everything you say is going to be
noticed not just by the president but by his closest advisors as
well,” said Gregg Keller, a Republican strategist. “It’s not just
going to be a situation where maybe you say something sub-optimal and
it gets lost in the mix or doesn’t get noticed. That’s not how
things operate in Trump World. They know and hear about everything.”
Another veteran Republican strategist, granted anonymity to speak
candidly, said, “Really, the assignment is nominally ‘go defend
Trump on TV.’ The assignment is actually ‘go show that you’re a
really, really effective communicator so Trump believes he has in you
an ally and a surrogate that’s going to be compelling.’”
Already, at least four potential Trump VP contenders have appeared on
TV or made statements on social media undercutting the credibility of
the case and , or falsely claimed election interference.
On CNN Monday morning, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum called the case
“a sham trial” run by a “politically motivated” district
attorney and claimed: “If this was brought against anybody other than
President Trump, this would have been a misdemeanor.”
Burgum also suggested that the criminal trial’s unprecedented nature
has been blown out of proportion. “What’s unprecedented, what’s
historic, is the fact the lawfare that’s going on where the two-tier
justice system is trying to take something that’s basically a boring
business filing case and turn it into the trial of the century, and
Americans can see right through it,” he said.
Putting the general election in focus, Burgum also said the American
people want to see Trump debate on stage, as the Trump campaign last
week called on the Commission on Presidential Debates to move up the
debate schedule and add more debates.
Burgum has kept in regular touch with Trump officials and spoke with
them as recently as the Sunday before his interview, according to a
Republican with knowledge of those talks.
Rep. Elise Stefanik, the House Republican conference chair, highlighted
how she led a in November 2023 demanding Attorney General Merrick
Garland immediately investigate Trump’s former personal attorney
Michael Cohen for lying to Congress during a February 2019 deposition.
“The DOJ still refuses to charge the disgraced, disbarred attorney
who admitted his guilt. Now, Soros-funded Alvin Bragg is relying on
disgraced Michael Cohen as his key witness in his sham case. The double
standard of justice is clear,” Stefanik . She presiding Judge
Juan Merchan “corrupt” and called the case a “show trial,”
claiming election interference.
Moments later, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance of the Manhattan district
attorney: “What is doing to President Trump is a disgrace to the rule
of law and the opposite of Justice. It’s also election
interference.”
Rather than mentioning the trial specifically, Sen. Tim Scott painted
with a broader brush.
“What the radical Left is doing is not just election interference,
it’s election engineering. They will try everything (and fail) to
stop Donald J. Trump,” the South Carolina Republican .
While Trump told entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy that he will not be
chosen as his running mate, according to a source familiar with the
conversation, he is being considered for a Cabinet position. was
first to report on the conversation, which the source said occurred at
Mar-a-Lago in the first week of March.
Monday morning, Ramaswamy direct-to-camera arguing that Bragg’s case
demonstrates “a bastardization of our legal system.”
“You have Alvin Bragg, a Manhattan DA who was elected on the promise
of going after Donald Trump. For what crime, we have no idea, just the
idea that they had to go after Donald Trump,” Ramaswamy said. “I
think Trump is going to prevail. But most importantly, I hope we move
beyond this phase of our history, where you have one political party
that thinks it can use the legal system to prosecute its opponents.”
The talking points
Much of the commentary being shared by Trump’s surrogates reference
the themes highlighted in talking points circulated by the former
president’s campaign.
The document, labeled “The Biden Trial, Talking Points,” parrots
the same language the former president has used to attack the case.
It urges Trump surrogates to paint the trial as “a full-frontal
assault on American Democracy and the Constitution” and a “witch
hunt” designed by the Biden campaign to hurt the former president’s
2024 White House bid – despite it being a state case brought by
Manhattan’s top prosecutor.
It also directs supporters not to refer to the case as a “hush money
case,” instead labeling it as being “entries in the company’s
records,” and claiming Trump “did not control the books.”
The talking points dedicate an entire page to attacking Bragg, and a
separate section to discrediting Cohen, Trump’s former “fixer”
who is expected to serve as a lead witness in prosecutors’ arguments.
The document emphasizes Cohen’s 2018 guilty plea to campaign finance
violations and paints him as someone with a “personal vendetta”
against the former president.
Sprinkled throughout the document is an emphasis on Trump’s
innocence, claiming that “President Trump did nothing wrong, his
position has never wavered.”
And twice, the same line, which acknowledges Trump could potentially be
convicted, appears – claiming that Trump “faces no realistic threat
of jail, even with a wrongful guilty verdict from the jury.”
The talking points also say Trump will “never stop fighting” for
the American people – rather than as a means of self-preservation –
something surrogates emphasize in underscoring how they believe he will
prevail and efforts against him will fail.
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