President Biden on Saturday claimed that a Chinese spy balloon that drifted across the U.S. and caused a major international incident was ‘more embarrassing than it was intentional’ by the communist regime. 

The president also said he hopes to talk to China’s President Xi Jinping about how the U.S. and Beijing can ‘get along.’

Biden was asked whether Secretary of State Antony Blinken can ease tensions with China as part of his trip to the country. Biden, in response, raised the issue of the balloon, which flew over the U.S. in February until it was shot down off the coast of South Carolina.

‘China has some legitimate difficulties unrelated to the United States, and I think one of the things that balloon caused was not so much that it got shot down, but I don’t think the leadership knew where it was, knew what it was in it and what was going on,’ he said.

‘I think it was more embarrassing than it was intentional,’ he said.

The incident led to intense criticism of the administration from a number of Republicans, who said it should have been shot down much earlier, and caused Blinken to postpone a planned trip to China. The administration had cited safety concerns about shooting down the heavy object over populated areas.

An NBC News report in April said that the spy balloon was able to gather intelligence from several sensitive American military sites. The Pentagon later said it could not confirm that there was any real-time transmission of data. The Chinese have said that the balloon’s movements were accidental.

This week, more than a dozen Republican senators wrote to President Biden, complaining that the administration has not yet given a public account of the spy balloon incident’s ‘flagrant violation of U.S. sovereignty.’

‘While four months have passed since a Chinese surveillance balloon was allowed to fly across the United States, your administration has yet to provide the American people a full accounting of how this spy platform was allowed to traverse across sovereign U.S. territory, what the balloon carried, and what it collected during its mission,’ the lawmakers said.

On Saturday, Biden said he hoped to meet with Xi and discuss areas of potential cooperation between the two countries.

‘I’m hoping over the next several months, I’ll be meeting with Xi again and talking about legitimate differences we have but also how there are areas we can get along.’

Last week, the administration confirmed that China had been working to increase its spying efforts in Cuba, calling it an ‘ongoing issue’ that predates Biden, after saying that reports that Beijing had secured a deal to build a new spy base on the island 90 miles from the U.S. were inaccurate.

President Biden on Saturday pledged the federal government’s full support for reconstruction efforts in Pennsylvania after a portion of Interstate 95 near Philadelphia collapsed last weekend.

The president delivered remarks at the Philadelphia airport after taking an aerial tour of the damage on I-95, where a tanker truck caught fire below an overpass causing the collapse last weekend. A delegation of Pennsylvania officials was with the president, including Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro, senators Bob Casey, D-Pa., and John Fetterman, D-Pa., and Rep. Brendan Boyle, D-Pa., who represents the Philadelphia area. 

‘I want to say that we’re with you. We’re going to stay with you until this is rebuilt, until it’s totally finished,’ Biden said. 

‘There’s no more important project in the country right now as far as I’m concerned.’

The collapse is snarling traffic in Philadelphia as the summer travel season starts, upending hundreds of thousands of morning commutes, disrupting countless businesses and forcing trucking companies to find different routes.

One body was pulled from the wreckage. The resulting fire caused the collapse of the northbound lanes of I-95. The southbound lanes were compromised by the heat from the fire, authorities say. 

Construction crews began work on building a temporary roadway after debris from the collapse was demolished days ahead of schedule, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation said Friday. 

Biden praised those who worked quickly to clear debris and said $3 million in federal emergency funds were immediately made available to offset the cost of repairs. 

‘This is just a down payment,’ Biden said. ‘We’ll be getting a lot more federal funding out the door in the coming weeks.’ 

Shapiro said Saturday that, with assistance from the federal government, I-95 will be reopened within the next two weeks. 

‘We are going to get traffic moving again thanks to the extraordinary work that is going on here by these union trade workers,’ Shapiro said. 

Fetterman spoke as well, comparing the moment to when he and Biden visited a collapsed bridge in western Pennsylvania last year. 

‘He promised to make sure that any resources that they needed and any help and support — and guess what? And guess what? That bridge was rebuilt less than a year well, well in front of time and again,’ the senator said. 

Biden said the federal government will reimburse Pennsylvania ‘100%’ of the costs during the first 200 days of reconstruction and 90% afterward. The president said more than 150,000 vehicles use I-95 daily, including 14,000 trucks. 

‘It’s critical to our economy. It’s critical to our quality of life,’ Biden said. ‘We’re going to continue to do everything within our power to get this back open as quickly and easily as possible, not leaving until it’s done.’

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

It was less than two weeks ago that Gov. Chris Sununu of New Hampshire passed on running for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

Now, the popular governor, who’s been a staple on the national cable news networks and Sunday talk shows, sounds like he may be passing on running for an unprecedented fifth term steering the northeastern battleground state.

‘I haven’t firmly made the decision that I’m not going to run,’ Sununu in an interview on Boston radio station WEEI on Friday. 

‘I’m not leaning towards it,’ Sununu said of another run. He later added that he’ll ‘talk to the family about it and see what we do. But no one has ever been a five-term governor in New Hampshire. I’m not here to break records — but I could.’

After a hard-fought election to the New Hampshire governor’s mansion in 2016 and a single-digit re-election two years later, Sununu easily cruised to a landslide re-election in 2020 and a large double-digit victory last November.

‘Could I win again? Of course. But it’s [public] service, and someone else needs to kind of take the mantle,’ Sununu said.

Noting that there are opportunities for him to earn a higher salary in the private sector, he noted that ‘I’ve got kids to put through college and all that sort of thing.’

This isn’t the first time Sununu’s hinted that he might not run again for governor. He sparked plenty of speculation in April when he seemingly joked during an address to a regional business association  that ‘I’m not saying I’m not running again, but you know … I’ve gotta get a real job.’

After announcing earlier this month that he wouldn’t seek the White House, Sununu said he’d have a decision early in the summer about his political future. 

Asked about his timetable, the governor told Fox News a week ago that he would have a decision ‘this summer. Maybe after the Fourth or something.’ And pointing to his wife, Valerie, and three children, Sununu added, ‘I’ve got to talk to Val and the kids. I’ll figure it out. I really don’t know.’

For Democrats who have been unsuccessful in trying to oust Sununu, the possibility of the governor voluntarily stepping aside could be a political gift.

‘If Sununu is so eager to get a ‘real job,’ we encourage him not to waste another day or taxpayer dollar and be honest with New Hampshire families that he no longer cares about fixing their problems as governor,’ Democratic Governors Association spokesperson Izzi Levy argued in a statement.

Cinde Warmington, the only Democrat on New Hampshire’s five-member elected Executive Council, is already running. And three-term Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig, who’s already formed an exploratory committee, is expected to formally jump into the race in the coming months.

Three Republicans have been laying the groundwork to launch campaigns if Sununu doesn’t seek re-election.

Former Senator Kelly Ayotte, who is also a former state attorney general, former state senate president Chuck Morse, and Frank Edelblut, Sununu’s education commissioner who came close to defeating Sununu in the 2016 GOP gubernatorial primary, are reportedly weighing a gubernatorial bid.   

This isn’t the first time there’s been widespread speculation over Sununu’s political plans. 

He was heavily courted by national Republicans in the 2022 election cycle to challenge Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan, Sununu’s predecessor as governor. 

After months of mulling the idea, Sununu decided against a Senate bid.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced this week that it had arrested a Mexican illegal immigrant who was convicted of sexual assault of a child, but was put on parole and later escaped monitoring.

The unnamed Mexican national was convicted in Cook County, Illinois, in 2019 and sentenced to six years in the Illinois Department of Corrections.

But in April, he was paroled on electronic monitoring. The terms of his parole meant that he had to register as a sex offender, live in a halfway house and be monitored by state parole officers.

Less than two months later, he cut the electronic monitor off on May 30 and absconded.

The escape led to a multi-day manhunt after the DOC noted his failure to return to the address. On June 2, ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations officers from both the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force and Chicago’s Fugitive Operations Team arrested him as part of what the agency described as a ‘targeted enforcement operation.’

‘Partnering with federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies is a crucial aspect of protecting the children in this community,’ acting ERO Chicago Field Office Director Ladeon Francis said in a statement. ‘We, and our law enforcement partners, work tirelessly each day to remove unlawfully present predators from our streets, but we need the public’s help. It’s important to note that with a proactive public who report their suspicions to law enforcement, together, we will increase public safety.’

However, the Mexican national will not yet be deported. He was instead returned to the Illinois DOC, where he will be expected to complete his sentence. ICE said it has issued an immigration detainer for him, which is a request that he be transferred into ICE’s custody when he completes his sentence, so he can be removed from the U.S.

The case highlights the dangers of some of those who come across the border illegally. 

U.S. Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz announced on Friday that in a single week, Border Patrol agents stopped four convicted sex offenders across the border.

He also noted that there were over 5,700 illegal aliens who evaded agents and escaped into the U.S.

This week, Fox News reported how Texas law enforcement recently arrested an illegal immigrant from Honduras who is both an MS-13 gang member and on an international criminal organization watchlist.

Separately, troopers stopped a Mexican illegal immigrant with a handgun and cocaine in his vehicle. He was also smuggling 12 illegal immigrants into the U.S., including two children.

President Biden held his first major 2024 re-election campaign rally to a receptive Philadelphia audience on Saturday, boasting his administration’s accomplishments and naming himself the most pro-labor president ever.

The president picked Philadelphia and a friendly union-affiliated audience for the rally, made up of over 1,000 union workers chanting encouraging cries like ‘We want Joe!’ and ‘Let’s go, Joe!’

Biden touted accomplishments such as the Build Back Better Act, claiming the bill cut insurance premiums and lowered the cost of prescription drugs.

‘I’m looking forward to this campaign,’ Biden said confidently. ‘We’ve got a record to run on.’

According to rally organizers, the unions at the rally represented 18 million laborers across the U.S. Biden was endorsed by AFL-CIO, American Federation of Teachers and other significant unions Friday.

The Philadelphia speech marks the first major non-donor event Biden has hosted on the 2024 campaign trail. He recently held a fundraiser in Greenwich, Connecticut and plans on more in Illinois, New York, California and Maryland.

An optimistic Biden supporter told the Associated Press that she was confident about the president’s re-election chances.

‘I’m very optimistic. I fear that the Republicans are going to get caught in their cycle that they did last time and people aren’t going to buy it this time, so Joe’s going to sweep right in,’ librarian Jennifer McKinnon said. 

Another union worker, a 63-year-old retired electrician named Clark Hamilton, was generally supportive of the president but criticized Biden for urging Congress to block last year’s potential rail strike.

‘That’s a shame,’ Hamilton stated. ‘But he was trying to save the economy.’

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Michael Cohen, former President Trump’s onetime personal lawyer and the key witness against him in his New York state indictment, was denied early release from his probation following his three-year prison term Friday. 

U.S. District Judge Jesse M. Furman in Manhattan said that Cohen has continued to lie in recent comments, citing comments he made in a book and on television in March when he said he hadn’t committed tax fraud, his charges were ‘all 100 percent inaccurate’ and that he was ‘threatened’ by prosecutors into pleading guilty.   

Cohen is a regular on cable news problems, often giving his opinion on Trump. 

Cohen’s lawyer David M. Schwartz claimed he had ‘clearly demonstrated’ his rehabilitation after being a ‘model prisoner’ who had ‘substantially cooperated with all government authorities.’ 

In 2018, Cohen pleaded guilty to several charges, including tax evasion, campaign finance violations, lying to Congress and several banks to obtain campaign financing and was sentenced to three years in prison.

CONVICTED FELON, KEY WITNESS MICHAEL COHEN CLAIMS TRUMP SEEKS ‘VIOLENT CLASH’ AHEAD OF INDICTMENT 

New York prosecutors relied on Cohen’s testimony before indicting Trump earlier this year on 34 charges connected to alleged hush money payments to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal after federal prosecutors declined to bring charges against him. Trump has pleaded not guilty. 

Cohen has also spoken out against Trump in two memoirs: ‘Disloyal’ in 2020 and ‘Revenge’ in 2022. 

He worked as Trump’s personal lawyer for more than a decade. 

Cohen ended up serving nearly two-thirds of his three-year prison sentence at home due to the coronavirus outbreak. 

Cohen told the Associated Press he will issue a statement Monday. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

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A top Rhode Island official announced his resignation Thursday, closing part of an investigation into accusations of misconduct, including racially and ethnically charged remarks and requests for special treatment, during a business trip to Philadelphia earlier in the year.

The investigation focused on the visit by David Patten to review a state contractor, Scout Ltd., on March 10. Patten served as state director of capital asset management and maintenance in the Department of Administration.

After the trip, Scout officials wrote an email alleging what they described as bizarre and offensive behavior from Patten.

On Thursday, Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee called for Patten’s resignation.

An aide to McKee pointed to a human resources investigation which he said highlighted Patten’s ‘highly inappropriate conduct, which was disturbing, entirely unacceptable, and not representative of Rhode Island’s values or the integrity of our state workforce.’

Patten, through his lawyer Michael Lynch, announced his decision to step down Thursday, effective June 30.

Lynch said in a statement his client’s behavior was ‘the result of a health issue termed an acute stress event — culminating from various events over the past 3 years for which he treated and has been cleared to return to work.’

‘While a simple apology is never enough, Mr. Patten is apologetic to the citizens of Rhode Island,’ Lynch added. ‘He also apologizes to the many individuals in Philadelphia he met with in March and were, unfortunately, recipients of comments that resulted from Mr. Patten suffering this acute stress event.’

Patten’s alleged transgressions were detailed in the Scout email released in response to appeals from The Providence Journal and WPRI-TV.

When speaking with a doctor who helped the poor, Patten allegedly asked, ‘When you go to the bars at night, you must have to swat off the women.’ The doctor said he was happily married. When Patten pressed him on his heritage, the doctor said he was Jewish, apparently prompting Patten to say ‘mazel tov’ and that he knew Jewish people in Brooklyn, according to the email.

During a visit to a shoe store, Patten was offered sneakers. After receiving the pair, he allegedly said, ‘Are these made in China? I hope not, because I really hate China,’ and then directed his attention to a female Asian staff member, saying, ‘No offense, hun.’

The e-mail said Patten pressed other businesses to let him take items for himself.

‘Patten at almost every visit insisted on taking something from the tenant home with him, whether that be vegan cheese, hand blown glass or a pair of sneakers,’ the email read.

Patten had been on paid leave since three days after the trip. As part of his resignation, the state will continue to pay a portion of his health coverage until Sept. 30.

McKee addressed the incident and Patten’s resignation with reporters Friday.

‘We expect more from our state employees than the behavior that Mr. Patten is now apologizing for in Philadelphia,’ McKee said. ‘People who behave in that way, I don’t expect that they are going to be employed by the state of Rhode Island.’

McKee said his hands had been tied earlier in the process when the incident was being reviewed by human resources, adding that ‘the investigation was as thorough and swift as possible.’

McKee said the situation began during the March 10 trip to Philadelphia when a report about Patten’s behavior was sent to human resources, prompting the initial investigation.

Two days later, the state received an email from Scout alleging ‘bizarre, offensive’ behavior that was ‘blatantly sexist, racist and unprofessional.’

On March 14, Patten’s access to state computer systems and cell phones was locked.

‘I personally called Scout Management to apologize for the behavior that was being reported,’ McKee said, adding he also offered to speak with anyone Scout asked him to call as governor to also provide an apology.

In April, McKee said his legal office referred the matter to state police. That investigation is ongoing, he said.

On May 30, Patten’s doctor cleared him to return to work. Instead, he was put on paid administrative leave to allow the human resources investigation to continue, according to the governor.

McKee called for Patten’s resignation Thursday. Patten announced his resignation and the human resources investigation was suspended.

Patten was making more than $174,000 annually.

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President Biden on Friday said that Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has been asking him to stop the U.S. from sending guns to Mexico — even as the U.S. is tackling a massive fentanyl crisis that has primarily come into the country from its southern neighbor.

‘You know what I get when we’re talking about the fentanyl at the border and all that,’ Biden said at a speech at the Safer Communities Summit in West Hartford, Connecticut. 

‘I speak to the president of Mexico: ’Will you stop sending guns to us?’’ he said. ‘We are sending dangerous weapons, particularly assault weapons, to Mexico. To Mexico. They’re asking us, ‘Please stop it. Cut it off at the border.’’

The flow of guns into Mexico from the U.S. has been a major issue between the two countries for years, with guns used in cartel violence and other crimes in Mexico often found to have originated in the U.S.

However, the U.S. has been facing a growing issue in recent years of a massive flood of fentanyl flowing into the country, directly leading to the deaths of tens of thousands of Americans each year.

There were 14,000 pounds of the drug seized last fiscal year at the southern border and more than 11,000 pounds this fiscal year to date. There were over 70,000 deaths recorded due to fentanyl in the U.S. in 2021, according to the National Institute of Health.

The illicit narcotic is primarily produced in Mexican drug labs using Chinese precursors. Yet, despite it leading to massive numbers of death in the U.S., López Obrador has sometimes been dismissive of the problem, or sought to blame the U.S. for his country’s failure to control the cartels.

‘Here, we do not produce fentanyl, and we do not have consumption of fentanyl,’ López Obrador said in March. ‘Why don’t they [the U.S.] take care of their problem of social decay?’

Later that month, he also took another jab at the U.S. on the issue.

‘There is a lot of disintegration of families. There is a lot of individualism. There is a lack of love, of brotherhood, of hugs and embraces,’ López Obrador said, according to The Associated Press. ‘That is why [U.S. officials] should be dedicating funds to address the causes.’

He has also responded aggressively to Republicans who have suggested taking out drug labs in Mexico, promising an ‘information campaign’ to encourage Hispanics in the U.S. not to vote for Republicans. 

López Obrador has also written to Chinese President Xi Jinping in an effort to help stop the flow of precursors into Mexico — but again used that move to swipe at the U.S.

‘Unjustly, they are blaming us for problems that in large measure have to do with their loss of values, their welfare crisis,’ López Obrador wrote. ‘These positions are in themselves a lack of respect and a threat to our sovereignty, and moreover they are based on an absurd, manipulative, propagandistic and demagogic attitude.’

Texas troopers busted a border smuggling operation this week as they stopped a Mexican illegal immigrant who was smuggling a dozen illegal immigrants — including two children — while both in possession of a handgun and cocaine.

Texas’ Department of Public Safety announced that a trooper stopped a Ford Pickup in Uvalde County on US-90.

Video of the incident shows the trooper interviewing the suspect through his window. He asks him for his license and insurance. The driver responds: ‘I lost it.’ He then asks for his ID, at which point he says he lost that too.

As he checked the vehicle, he spotted four illegal immigrants hiding in the rear seat area of the truck. He subsequently found that the driver — himself an illegal immigrant — was smuggling 12 illegal immigrants in the vehicle. 

Video shows multiple troopers opening the cargo bed and finding it packed with illegal immigrants who were stuffed into the tight space. Texas DPS said two children were among the illegal immigrants found in the bed.

‘Oh s—t,’ one trooper exclaims as he sees the cargo. ‘It’s full.’

A search of the vehicle subsequently found a .380 handgun and cocaine. The driver – Sergio Sanchez-Zuniga — will be charged with smuggling, drug possession and unlawful carrying of a weapon, authorities said. The illegal immigrants, who were on their way to San Antonio, were turned over to Border Patrol.

DPS spokesman Chris Olivarez said that the agency has rescued over 900 children from smuggling operations. 

The arrest is a glimpse into the ongoing smuggling operations at the border, including of both accompanied and unaccompanied children. Migrant numbers have dropped at the border since the historic highs seen before the end of Title 42 at the beginning of May, but officials have cautioned against believing it will stay that way. However, both Border Patrol and Texas authorities remain vigilant at the border amid continued smuggling of humans and contraband.

Texas this week announced that it arrested an MS-13 gang member on a transnational criminal watchlist who had previously been deported.

Earlier this week, a migrant smuggler led Texas authorities on a high-speed chase on Tuesday along the border, hitting speed of more than 100 mph.

Texas has also been sending migrants to ‘sanctuary’ cities, including most recently Los Angeles, in what Gov. Greg Abbott says is an effort to relieve pressure on the border state from a crisis he blames on the Biden administration.

Former President Donald Trump’s 2024 Republican primary opponents have taken a variety of approaches in responding to Trump’s indictment this week. 

Tuesday saw a first in American history when Trump turned himself in to law enforcement in Miami to face 37 federal counts alleging he mishandled sensitive documents.

Some of Trump’s fellow Republican candidates have been more willing to criticize the former president than others. Here is how the various candidates are responding as they jockey for position behind the frontrunner.

Pence

Trump’s former number two, former Vice President Mike Pence, initially called on Attorney General Merrick Garland last week to explain the indictment to the American public.

After the indictment came out, Pence told the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday that he couldn’t defend Trump. 

‘Having read the indictment, these are very serious allegations,’ Pence said. ‘And I can’t defend what is alleged. But the president is entitled to his day in court, he’s entitled to bring a defense, and I want to reserve judgment until he has the opportunity to respond.’

Pence also torched the Justice Department (DOJ) for its role in the ‘two and a half years of a Russia hoax’ that he says makes it hard for him to believe ‘that politics didn’t play some role in this decision.’

The former vice president faced criticism from some on the right after he refused to say on Wednesday whether he’d pardon Trump if elected president on the Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show, calling it a ‘premature conversation.’

Ramaswamy

GOP presidential contender Vivek Ramaswamy made headlines this week when he vowed that he would pardon Trump if elected to the presidency and challenged other candidates in the race to do the same.

‘The use of police force by a sitting U.S. President against his chief political rival in the midst of a presidential election sets a dangerous precedent in our country,’ Ramaswamy said in a press release.

‘No one is above the law: the U.S. President shouldn’t be able to use the federal police to arrest his opponents,’ he continued.

‘No one should be below the law either, yet there are now two standards of justice depending on your political viewpoints,’ Ramaswamy added. ‘That’s the single greatest threat to our constitutional republic today.’

Ramaswamy’s pledge has put pressure on other candidates to consider pardoning Trump in the event they ascend to the White House, but responses have been mixed so far with his opponents putting him on blast.

Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s campaign told Fox News Digital that they ‘have no comment on any Initiative which comes from Republican primary candidates.’

Haley

GOP presidential contender and former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley also appeared to take a different path in the Trump indictment.

On Monday, Haley said that if the charges in the indictment against Trump are true, he was ‘reckless’ with the nation’s national security.

‘If this indictment is true, if what it says is actually the case, President Trump was incredibly reckless with our national security,’ she said Monday on ‘The Story.’

‘More than that, I’m a military spouse: My husband’s about to deploy this weekend,’ she continued. ‘This puts all of our military men and women in danger.’

Come Tuesday, Haley threw her hat behind pardoning the former president, saying on the Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show that she is ‘inclined’ to pardon Trump if the former president is convicted.

‘When you look at a pardon, the issue is less about guilt and more about what’s good for the country,’ Haley said. ‘And I think it would be terrible for the country to have a former president in prison for years because of a documents case.

‘So I would be inclined in favor of a pardon,’ she continued, adding that it is ‘really premature’ to discuss a pardon prior to a conviction.

DeSantis

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who is currently trending in second among the GOP presidential primary candidates, is on a tightrope as he looks to take Trump’s top spot without alienating his voter base.

DeSantis denounced the indictment last week, calling it the ‘weaponization of federal law enforcement’ and noting the differences between Trump’s treatment and that of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Since then, though, DeSantis has been quiet on the indictment and whether he’d pardon Trump if elected president.

In May, DeSantis was asked on the Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show if he would pardon Trump or January 6 defendants, DeSantis didn’t name names but said his administration ‘will be aggressive [in] issuing pardons.’

Trump’s supporters are vehemently against the indictment, and DeSantis needs their support to take the nomination.

A backseat stance on the Trump indictment might not prove helpful for the governor if he is trying to win over the former president’s supporters — including in his own state.

Elder

GOP contender Larry Elder made it clear that he would pardon Trump if elected president, but would not be signing on to Ramaswamy’s pledge.

Elder told Fox News Digital he is ‘not running for President to play silly games and respond to every candidate’s demands.’

‘As President, I would instruct my Attorney General to drop the politically motivated charges against Trump,’ Elder said.

‘I can tell you that it is deeply disturbing that Hillary Clinton was not charged for her blatant violation of the Espionage Act when she destroyed her private email server,’ the California Republican continued. ‘And why is the special counsel investigation into [President] Biden’s mishandling of classified documents taking so much longer than the investigation of Trump?’

‘The politicization of the criminal justice system in this country is appalling, and the partisan prosecution of Donald Trump is just one example,’ Elder continued.

Elder said a ‘huge problem is the Soros-funded prosecutors throughout the country who are refusing to do their job and enforce the law.’

Scott

GOP presidential candidate and Senator Tim Scott, R-S.C., took a moderate stance on the indictment, saying at a Monday campaign stop that this is a ‘serious case with serious allegations’ and accusing the Biden administration of ‘hunting Republicans.’

‘As Americans, we have to have a justice system where the lady of justice wears a blindfold,’ Scott told reporters after his appearance in Spartanburg.

‘What we see today across this administration of President Joe Biden is a double standard,’ he said. ‘That double standard is both un-American and unacceptable. You can’t protect Democrats while targeting and hunting Republicans.’

When asked if he would pardon Trump, Scott said he did not want to speculate on a hypothetical question but that he grow Americans’ faith in the DOJ ‘so that every single American could have confidence that they will be treated the same, no matter your color and no matter your partisan affiliation.’

Christie

Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who jumped into the 2024 GOP primary last week, hopped on the airwaves with Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade, where he discussed Trump’s arraignment and whether he would pardon the former president.

Christie said Trump ‘disregarded’ the ‘system’ that was in place that denoted what he could and could not take from the White House.

‘And if you’re like an aide to the president, United States, and he says, hey, I’ve gone through that, those are mine. I want to keep them, put them on the helicopter,’ Christie said. ‘What are you going to do? Say, sir, I’d like to have the opportunity to review that, to see if you, the President [of] the United States [is] complying with the law.’

‘Here’s the problem, Brian: Donald Trump has turned everything on its head,’ Christie continued. ‘And what we have here is something he did as alleged in the indictment that was clearly not right. And he’s not looking to blame everybody else. It’s his fault he made these judgments.’

As for a pardon, Christie said ‘it’s impossible to answer that right now’ and noted the ‘pardon power is the power to say if . . . somebody thinks someone’s been treated unfairly, if you think there’s not been a fair trial, you have to consider all those things.’

‘I can’t imagine if he gets a fair trial that I would pardon him. I can’t imagine that I would remember. The other problem, to accept a pardon, you have to admit your guilt. To accept a pardon, you have to say, yes, I was wrong and I. And I accept the pardon. I can’t imagine Donald Trump would ever do that.’

Johnson

Perry Johnson, another Republican candidate for president, said early on in the Trump criminal charges saga that he would pardon the former president if elected, even putting out a campaign ad about it.

When asked about Ramaswamy’s challenge to pardon the former president, Johnson blasted his opponent as trying ‘to get to the front of the bandwagon.’

‘When I called for candidates to join me in supporting a pardon for Donald Trump just a few months ago, Vivek Ramaswamy refused,’ Johnson said. ‘Now, he’s trampling TV cameras to get to the front of the bandwagon.’

Even with Trump’s indictment and arraignment, Republicans’ support of behind the former president remains strong.

Suarez

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez entered the presidential race the same week Trump was arraigned in his city, and the former president’s angered supporters decried him as a ‘swamp monster.’

Suarez, a noted Trump critic who didn’t vote for the then-Republican nominee in 2020, said in an MSNBC interview this week that Trump is ‘innocent until proven guilty’ and entitled to a trial by a jury of his peers.

The Miami mayor said ‘that process has to play out before any type of a discussion on pardons can happen’ but stopped short of saying he would pardon the former president.

‘But certainly, if I became president, one of the things I would look at as president is using the pardon power to heal the country,’ Suarez said. ‘That, by the way, doesn’t go for one party. That goes for both parties.’

A Quinnipiac University poll Wednesday showed Trump’s favorability rating at 37% among registered voters, largely unchanged from the group’s previous polls. The poll was conducted June 8 through 12, while Trump’s charges and scheduled court hearing dominated the news. The indictment against Trump was unsealed on June 9.

Trump pleaded not guilty to federal criminal charges that he illegally retained national security records at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, following the end of his term in office, and that he obstructed federal efforts to recover the documents. In total, Trump faces 37 felony charges.

Fox News Digitals’ Charles Creitz and Kyle Morris contributed reporting.