Possible Trump indictment forces another moment of choosing for GOP
Associated PressORLANDO, Fla. — From the moment he rode down the Trump Tower escalator to announce his first presidential campaign, a searing question has hung over the Republican Party: Is this the moment to break from Donald Trump? The California Republican called the potential indictment “pure politics” and slammed New York prosecutors for New York City’s rising crime rates. The Florida governor said he hoped to stay out of what he called a “manufactured circus.” Donald Trump Jr. condemned DeSantis’ response as “pure weakness.” Trump himself attacked DeSantis using his pet nickname for him, “Ron DeSanctimonious” and promoted a decades-old picture of DeSantis posing with young women when he was a high school teacher. Despite Trump’s repeated calls for protests, he added: “I think President Trump, when you talk to him, he doesn’t think that either.” Meanwhile, all but a few Republican members of Congress have so far declined to endorse Trump’s 2024 presidential bid. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, one of just eight House Republicans who have formally endorsed Trump’s third presidential bid, said Americans should be outraged by the so-called political persecution of a former president.