Trump calls Fani Willis and Nathan Wade "low lives"
From CNN's Kit Maher in Vandalia, Ohio
Former President Donald Trump on Saturday mocked Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and Nathan Wade, the former lead prosecutor in the Georgia election subversion case who resigned Friday.
“We have these two low lives trying to take down a president of the United States,” Trump said at a rally in Vandalia, Ohio.
The former president's remarks come after a Fulton County judge ruled Friday that either Willis or Wade would have to leave the case as they had a romantic relationship. Wade sent his letter of resignation just hours later, saying he was resigning “in the interest of democracy."
Trump and more than a dozen co-defendants face state charges in Georgia stemming from their alleged efforts to overturn the former president’s 2020 electoral defeat. Trump has pleaded not guilty.
Trump suggests "it's going to be a bloodbath" if he loses the election
From CNN's Kit Maher and Alayna Treene in Vandalia, Ohio
Former President Donald Trump speaks to supporters during a rally at the Dayton International Airport in Vandalia, Ohio, on Saturday. Scott Olson/Getty Images
Former President Donald Trump suggested Saturday that if he were to lose the 2024 election, “it's going to be a bloodbath for the country."
The remark came as Trump promised a "100% tariff" on cars made outside the US.
“We're going to put a 100% tariff on every single car that comes across the line, and you're not going to be able to sell those guys if I get elected," Trump said in Vandalia, Ohio. "Now, if I don't get elected ... it's going to be a bloodbath for the country."
Trump appeared at the rally just outside of Dayton with Ohio Senate candidate Bernie Moreno, whom the former president has endorsed in the GOP primary to take on Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown. Trump called Moreno to the stage toward the end of the remarks, and the Senate hopeful praised the former president as "a good man."
"I am so sick and tired of Republicans that will say, 'I support President Trump's policies, but I don't like the man,'” Moreno said. “This is a good man. This is a great American.”
Moreno had previously been critical of the former president. CNN's KFile found that Moreno deleted tweets in which he called Trump a "fake republican" who stokes “hatred and fear," and said there was “no scenario” in which he would support Trump.
5:44 p.m. ET, March 16, 2024
Trump promises not to cut Social Security and Medicare, claims Biden's policies will destroy them
From CNN’s Kit Maher in Vandalia, Ohio
Five days after suggesting he was open to cuts to Social Security and Medicare, former President Donald Trump promised Saturday to protect entitlements and claimed that President Joe Biden’s policies and the influx of undocumented immigrants arriving in the US would destroy them.
“Your Social Security will be destroyed by the people coming in. There's too many of them. It's not sustainable. Joe Biden is costing you Medicare and he's costing you your Social Security,” Trump said at a rally in Vandalia, Ohio, just north of Dayton.
Trump suggested that his energy policies, including domestic drilling, would enrich the economy and leave entitlements untouched.
“I made a promise that I will always keep Social Security, Medicare. ... We won't be cutting it. We have liquid gold under the ground. We'll be drilling like a son of a gun, but we're leaving your Social Security around.”
On the trail, Trump has repeatedly vowed to “always defend Medicare and Social Security,” but on Monday, he told CNBC, “There is a lot you can do in terms of entitlements, in terms of cutting and in terms of also the theft and the bad management of entitlements.”
His campaign said Trump was “clearly talking about cutting waste, not entitlements.”
4:27 p.m. ET, March 16, 2024
Trump-backed Senate candidate urges Ohioans to rid state of "RINO establishment" by nominating him Tuesday
From CNN's Kit Maher in Vandalia, Ohio
Republican businessman and Senate candidate Bernie Moreno speaks in Vandalia, Ohio, on March 16. Meg Kinnard/AP
Republican businessman Bernie Moreno, who is battling for a chance to unseat Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, said Saturday that Ohioans can rid the state of the “RINO establishment” and give him the opportunity to crack down on undocumented immigrants in America.
"This is the last gasp of breath of the swamp RINO establishment in Ohio," Moreno said, using the abbreviation for "Republican in name only." He added: "I need you to stab it in the heart."
Moreno, who is backed by former President Donald Trump, also gave a firm warning to those who are “in this country illegally.”
“Starting in January of 2025, you will be deported,” Moreno said at a rally just north of Dayton, Ohio, where Trump is set to speak this afternoon.
Moreno is competing in Tuesday’s GOP primary against Secretary of State Frank LaRose and state Sen. Matt Dolan.
The Trump-backed candidate had previously been critical of the former president. CNN's KFile found that Moreno deleted tweets in which he called Trump a "fake republican" who stokes “hatred and fear," and said there was “no scenario” in which he would support Trump.
2:47 p.m. ET, March 16, 2024
Congressional Republicans are eager to give Trump more January 6 fodder
From CNN's Edward-Isaac Dovere and Steve Contorno
Former President Donald Trump holds a campaign rally in Rome, Georgia, on March 9. Mike Stewart/AP
In one of his first moves after taking over the job, House Speaker Mike Johnson announced in November he would release all Capitol Hill security footage from January 6, 2021, that does not contain sensitive information.
GOP Rep. Barry Loudermilk of Georgia is spearheading the Republican-led investigation into the work of the former January 6 select committee, going after star witnesses of the probe and alleging the former select committee withheld witness transcripts from the public to undercut some of their most explosive claims.
That’s earned Loudermilk being called a “hero” by Donald Trump at that rally in Georgia.
Meanwhile, leading Trump ally GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida introduced a largely symbolic resolution last month declaring Trump did not incite an insurrection or rebellion on January 6. More than one-third of the House Republican Conference have signed on.
Some are true believers. Some, said GOP Rep. Tim Burchett of Tennessee, are attached because “I’m sure they are afraid not to.”
Some Republicans argue it’s the Democrats who are keeping the issue alive.
“It happened, not the very best day. But Democrats are focusing on it because they have nothing else to focus on,” GOP Rep. Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey said of January 6. “They have to make you look at the shiny object over here because otherwise you’re going to keep your eye on the game. And in the game, [Biden] is losing badly. He’s in trouble.”
3:30 p.m. ET, March 16, 2024
The contrast between Biden and Trump on the campaign trail was stark this week
From CNN's Kevin Liptak, Jeff Zeleny, Tierney Sneed and Hannah Rabinowitz
President Joe Biden speaks at the Pieper-Hillside Boys & Girls Club in Milwaukee on March 13. Morry Gash/AP
After President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump both spent last campaigning weekend in Georgia ahead of the state's primary Tuesday, the rest of the week for the two nominees were very different.
Biden's embarked on a weeklong tour of five electoral battlegrounds. The president encountered swing-state voters ata high school gym, an industrial event space, an indoor tennis court, a Boys & Girls Club and a supporter’s front porch.
But the president came face to face with a relatively small number of supporters – much less undecided voters. The audiences for his speeches numbered in the hundreds, not thousands, and his invitation-only events were mainly intended for the party faithful and friendly local officials.
Advisers say the president’s first order of business is to excite Democrats and ease any concerns about his decision to run. His campaign is planning to dramatically scale up its brick-and-mortal presence in battleground states this month, and Biden is expected to make stops in Nevada and Arizona next week.
This sketch shows former President Donald Trump in court with his lawyers and Judge Aileen Cannon of the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida, top right, during a classified documents hearing in Fort Pierce, Florida, on March 14. Lothar Speer
Meanwhile, Trump was in a Florida courtroom. The former president tried to get charges dismissed in his classified documents case, arguing that the law prosecutors used to charge him for allegedly retaining national defense records without authorization was too vague to be used against him. However, fewer than three hours after the hearing, Judge Aileen Cannon rejected that claim.
In Trump's separate hush money case in New York, the Manhattan district attorney’s office said it's willing to delay trial for up to 30 days, according to a court filing. The trial is currently scheduled to start on March 25.
12:49 p.m. ET, March 16, 2024
Analysis: Will Trump and Biden end up debating in 2024?
From CNN's Zachary B. Wolf, CNN
Raul Ortiz and Jose Martin sit in a restaurant under a TV broadcasting the first debate between then-President Donald Trump and then-Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden in Miami on September 29, 2020. Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Former President Donald Trump has long argued the Commission on Presidential Debates is biased, even though multiple Republicans are involved with it.
The Republican National Committee withdrew from cooperating with the commission in 2022, although Trump has since cleaned house at the RNC, streamlining the organization with his campaign and installing a new chair and his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, as co-chair.
It remains to be seen if Trump will indeed make use of the commission debates or propose some other platform, or if Joe Biden will agree to debate Trump.
Trump has a history of complaining about debate moderators who he frequently argues are biased. At one point in 2016, Trump suggested debates proceed without moderators. But a candidate would have to be completely confident of victory to forego general election debates altogether.
Author and professor emeritus Alan Schroeder: "It would be really hard for either candidate to walk away from an audience of 70 to 80 million people, which would be the largest opportunity that either of them would have to make their case before the public, so I remain optimistic. I really would hate to see us not have a cycle with debates, because then I think that it becomes harder to restart things in the future."
Pence says he "cannot in good conscience" endorse Trump
From CNN's Veronica Stracqualursi
Former Vice President Mike Pence stands at the podium after suspending his presidential campaign in Las Vegas on October 28. Steve Marcus/Reuters
Former Vice President Mike Pence on Friday said he “cannot in good conscience” endorse presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump, a stunning repudiation of his former running mate and the president he served with.
“Donald Trump is pursuing and articulating an agenda that is at odds with the conservative agenda that we governed on during our four years. That’s why I cannot in good conscience endorse Donald Trump in this campaign,” Pence said on Fox News.
The former vice president, after ending his own presidential bid in October, withheld an endorsement in the 2024 Republican primary, but he previously vowed to back the eventual GOP nominee. Trump had said after Pence dropped out that his former vice president should endorse him, saying, “I chose him, made him vice president. But … people in politics can be very disloyal.”
While he said he is “incredibly proud” of the record of the Trump-Pence administration, Pence argued that the former president has walked away from conservative issues, pointing to Trump’s stance on abortion and US national debt and his reversal on TikTok.
“During my presidential campaign, I made it clear there were profound differences between me and President Trump on a range of issues. And not just our difference on my constitutional duties that I exercised January 6th,” Pence said on “The Story with Martha MacCallum.”
January 6 is a central issue of the 2024 campaign for Biden and Trump
From CNN's Edward-Isaac Dovere and Steve Contorno
Supporters of former President Donald Trump cheer during a rally in Greensboro, North Carolina, on March 2. Ryan Collerd/AFP/Getty Images
The rallies start with a recording of January 6 prisoners singing the national anthem. Campaign staff hand out pre-made “Too Big to Rig” signs to supporters. When the candidate takes the stage, he calls the rioters “people who love our country” and “hostages unfairly imprisoned for long periods of time.”
There is nothing subtle about how central Donald Trump has made January 6, 2021, to his campaign. More than just continuing to feed denialism and conspiracies about the 2020 election, he is constantly distorting the reality of what happened that day, preaching vindication to his base of voters.
In ways big and small – but often overlooked because they have become so commonplace at his events – the former president glosses over the violence. He promises pardons for the people who committed it.
On this, Trump and President Joe Biden agree: January 6 itself is a central issue of the 2024 campaign and will be even if Trump’s trials on related indictments get delayed past Election Day.
It’s Biden’s campaign aides who have been surprised how much that’s true.
“People know what happened on January 6,” said Mike Donilon, one of Biden’s closest advisers. “I think most of the country is going to say, ‘We don’t embrace political violence. We do embrace democracy. We do embrace the rule of law. We’re not interested in pardoning people who ransacked the Capitol, and we’re going to have a real problem supporting someone who embraces all that.’”
