POLITIEK
Trumps voormalige bondgenoten worden vijanden
March 20, 2024 - Former President Donald Trump faces multiple criminal cases, and former aides and allies have become enemies.
Trump is now the Republican presidential nominee-presumptive after passing the 1,215 delegate threshold on March 12 after rival, Nikki Haley, bowed out of the race in the aftermath of Super Tuesday.
Mike Pence, Trump’s former Vice President, told Fox News host Martha MacCallum on March 15 that he does not have his support.
“It should come as no surprise that I will not be endorsing Donald Trump this year,” he said.
The announcement that he won’t back his former boss sees Pence joining an ever-growing list of ex-Trump administration officials refusing to back his latest White House bid -- many of them saying they no longer believe him to be fit for office.
Joining the former Vice President are two Trump-appointed Secretaries of Defence, Jim Mattis and Mark Esper, and former Attorney General Bill Barr.
In a brief filed Tuesday (March 19), Trump’s lawyers have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to grant their client “absolute immunity” from criminal prosecution.
The president “cannot function, and the Presidency itself cannot retain its vital independence, if the President faces criminal prosecution for official acts once he leaves office,” the brief claims.
Lower courts have already twice rejected the immunity claims, but Trump’s lawyers will get a fresh chance to press their case before the Supreme Court when the justices hear arguments on April 25.
- 24 former Trump allies and aides who turned against him (CNN)
- James Mattis Denounces President Trump, Describes Him as a Threat to the Constitution (The Atlantic)
- Trump infighting risks rise as allies face legal bills, cash crunch (The Hill)
- Bill Barr calls “bullshit” on Trump’s election lies (The New Yorker)