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Donald Trump demonstrated exceptional political clout in the Republican primaries, with scores of candidates succeeding because they had the endorsement of the former president.

The general election will indicate whether that clout extends beyond the hard core. Ive picked a dozen races thatll test that.

The commonalities these dirty dozen share: They are in competitive contests in a year that should tilt Republican, were chosen over the preferences of establishment officials, are all election deniers (reiterating the Big Lie that the 2020 election where Joe Biden won by 7 million votes was fraudulent) and are embracing what were once considered fringe views.

J.D. Vance, author of the best-selling memoir, Hillybilly Elegy, leapt to the top of the Ohio GOP primary after Trumps endorsement. Once a harsh Trump critic, Vance has done a full 180. He charges the Biden administrations support for Ukraine grows out of its opposition to Vladimir Putin, who doesnt believe in transgender rights.

Herschel Walker, a former football star, had a professional sports relationship with Trump. Walker hadnt lived in Georgia in decades, but cleared the field when Trump embraced him. Not conversant with issues, Walker explained the fallacy of the Democrats climate change initiatives, saying Our good air decided to float over to Chinas bad air. So when China gets our good air their bad air got to move. So it moves over to our good air space.

Dr. Mehmet Oz, the TV doctor who peddled dubious medicinal cures, won the Pennsylvania Senate nomination over hedge funds executive David McCormick with Trumps surprise endorsement. A New Jersey resident who moved to Pennsylvania earlier this year, Oz, in a social media video, said he was shopping at Wegners. There is no such store in Pennsylvania; he explained that sometimes he gets his childrens names wrong.

A fourth first-time candidate backed by Trump is Blake Masters, a protege of venture capitalist Peter Thiel running for John McCains old Senate seat in Arizona. He disassociates from the late GOP icon, declaring, Its not his Republican Party in Arizona anymore. Masters has called for privatizing Social Security and a total abortion ban with no exceptions; for the general election, he slightly modified his stances.

Ted Budd was an obscure North Carolina congressman until Trumps endorsement; then, he blew past former Gov. Pat McCrory. A gun store owner, Budd voted against the modest gun control bill that was supported by the states two GOP Senators. Budd has said the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol really was nothing. It was just patriots standing up.

In Maryland, Trumpite Dan Cox trounced the candidate supported by the states popular outgoing GOP Gov. Larry Hogan. Cox attended the Jan. 6 Capitol rally; when Vice President Mike Pence refused to alter the electoral college count, Cox tweeted, Mike Pence is a traitor.

Kari Lake, a longtime Phoenix TV anchor and once an Obama voter, went full MAGA and beat the establishment candidate supported by the governor and Mike Pence. She is a favorite of the radical right, appearing with people linked to the Q-Anon conspiracy and thanking a Nazi sympathizer for support.

Tim Michels, with Trumps backing, defeated the once-favored former Wisconsin lieutenant governor, even though he has only lived in the state part-time. Michels, a businessman, said he might decertify the states 2020 election results Biden won Wisconsin by more than 20,000 votes even though thats constitutionally impermissible.

Doug Mastriano, to the shock of Pennsylvanias GOP establishment, easily won the nomination. The former Army officer attended the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol, but didnt enter the building apparently. He campaigns as a Christian nationalist and espouses right-wing conspiracy theories.

Donald Trumps obsession to drive out of office the ten Republicans who voted to impeach him at best only two will return boosted decorated veteran Joe Kent, who defeated Jaime Herrera Beutler in Washington State. Although Nathan Gonzaless Inside Politics rates this a solidly Republican seat, Kents hard right views and associations with white nationalists and the Proud Boys, a violence-prone hate group, could put it in play.

In Michigan, John Gibbs with Trumps backing defeated another Republican who voted for impeachment. Gibbs has promoted crazy fringe conspiracies, like claiming that Hillary Clintons 2016 campaign engaged in satanic rituals.

Bo Hines, a former college football player fueled by Trumps backing, scored an upset in a primary for an open North Carolina seat.The 27-year-old newcomer has called for defunding the FBI and for a federal ban on abortion with no exceptions.

Whatever happens to the runner-up in the last presidential election, Trumpism will remain the dominant force in the Republican party. If at least nine or ten of these candidates win in November, it will only tighten his hold.

If, however, most of the dirty dozen lose in what is supposed to be good GOP year, it will cause consternation and maybe even some rethinking in the party ranks.

Al Hunt is the former executive editor of Bloomberg News. He previously served as reporter, bureau chief and Washington editor for The Wall Street Journal. For almost a quarter century he wrote a column on politics for The Wall Street Journal, then The International New York Times and Bloomberg View. He hostsPolitics War Roomwith James Carville. Follow him on Twitter@AlHuntDC.

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Trumps Dirty Dozen 12 Republican candidates to keep an eye on - The Hill

Pat Cipollone, the White House counsel during the Trump administration, appeared at federal court on Friday to testify before a grand jury probing events surrounding the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Cipollone and his attorney Michael Purpura were greeted in the hallway by Thomas Windom, the lead prosecutor investigating a failed bid by former President Donald Trump's allies to overturn the results of the 2020 election by submitting alternative slates of fake electors to the U.S. National Archives. They proceeded to the third floor, where the grand jury meets, according to a Reuters witness.

Former White House Deputy Counsel Pat Philbin also was expected at the federal courthouse in Washington later on Friday. He and Cipollone were subpoenaed earlier this year to appear as witnesses. The two men are the two most high-profile witnesses to date to appear before the grand jury. Others who have appeared to testify include former Vice President Mike Pence's chief of staff, Marc Short, and Greg Jacob, who was Pence's top counsel.

The grand jury, which convenes each Friday in the federal courthouse in Washington, is known to be specifically probing the fake electors plot. Electors are people chosen to formally cast a state's electoral votes in the U.S. Electoral College system used in presidential elections.

The fake elector plot has featured prominently in multiple hearings of the Democratic-led House of Representatives committee probing the attack on the U.S. Capitol. Rusty Bowers, the Arizona state House Republican speaker, told the panel that Trump and his close aides, including his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani and adviser John Eastman, urged him to reject the election results. Bowers refused their request.

The Justice Department has since seized Eastman's phone and searched its contents, as part of the ongoing probe. It has also seized the phones of Republican congressman Scott Perry, a Trump ally, and Jeffrey Clark, a former top Justice Department lawyer who also tried to promote a plan which entailed urging Georgia state lawmakers to convene a new session and submit alternate slates of electors on the false premise of voter fraud.

In recent months, the Justice Department has delivered grand jury subpoenas to numerous individuals who may have knowledge about the bid to submit the phony slates, as well as some of the individuals who signed the bogus certificates themselves. The subpoenas ask for copies of documents related to "any effort, plan or attempt to serve as an elector in favor of Donald J. Trump and/or Mike R. Pence."

They are also seeking copies of communications between would-be electors and any federal government employees or any employees or agents of Trump, as well as communications with a long list of people including Giuliani, who promoted Trump's bogus claims of election fraud, and Eastman.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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Former Trump White House counsel appears before grand jury probing Jan. 6 - Devdiscourse

The following is the transcript of an interview with Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland that aired Sunday, Sept. 4, 2022, on "Face the Nation."

MAJOR GARRETT: We're joined now by Maryland Congressman Jamie Raskin, a Democratic member of the January 6, select committee. Congressman, good to see you. Good morning.

REP. JAMIE RASKIN (D-MD): Thanks so much for having me Major.

MAJOR GARRETT: So, former President Trump says that MAGA Republicans are trying to save democracy, they want to be taken seriously on this issue. So let's review what the former president said this week earlier. He said the 2020 election should be rerun, or he should be reinstated in office, and that if reelected in 2024, he would provide apologies and full pardons to those charged and or convicted for storming the Capitol on January 6, evaluate that.

REP. RASKIN: Well, first, if he's saying that the election should be rerun, which is something he's been asserting from the beginning, that's totally outside of the Constitution. There is no procedure for the military just to seize the election machinery and run a new election, which is one of the things that his disgraced former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn was pushing and we know was part of the January 6 plot. And look, more than 60 courts rejected every claim of electoral fraud and corruption which Donald Trump advanced. He's had the benefit of more than 60 courts, including eight courts, where he appointed the judges to office, look at all those claims and they were all rejected. It was rejected in the states and he lost the election. Two of the hallmarks of a fascist political party are one, they don't accept the results of elections that don't go their way and two, they embrace political violence. And I think that's why President Biden was right to sound the alarm this week about these continuing attacks on our constitutional order from the outside by Donald Trump and his movement.

MAJOR GARRETT: Let's talk about the January 6 committee. There is conversation about having Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House come in. He has described this committee as a "Stalinist show trial'' earlier this year, he said under a Republican led Congress, members of this committee might be arrested. How do you respond to that remark- those remarks? And what would be the value of him coming in talking to the committee?

REP. RASKIN: Well, we're inviting in only people who have relevant evidence and testimony

MAJOR GARRETT: What's his relevant evidence and testimony?

REP. RASKIN: Well, he- he has appeared at numerous times in- throughout the investigation about the attempt to propound "the big lie", and to keep things going long after the election had been settled. But it's interesting that he invoked Stalinism, when all of the Stalinists are on Donald Trump's side, like Vladimir Putin, the former head of the KGB who said that the collapse of the Soviet Union was the greatest catastrophe of the 20th century, or the dictator of North Korea who Donald Trump writes love letters to. The Stalinist are on their side, and they should keep them on that side of the aisle because our side is fighting for democracy in America.

MAJOR GARRETT: Does the committee still have interest in obtaining testimony from Ginni Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas?

REP. RASKIN: Look, what we're interested in getting testimony from anyone who has relevant evidence about the attempt to overthrow the 2020 election. Let's not lose sight of what we're talking about here

MAJOR GARRETT: There were disclosures this week that she was in email conversation with people in Wisconsin about that topic.

REP. RASKIN: I, speaking as one member and only as one member, I would say she has a relevant testimony to render, and she should come forward and give it. I don't want to overstate her role. We've talked to more than 1000 people. But we'd like to hear from Gingrich and we'd like to hear from her too.

MAJOR GARRETT: What is the probability former Vice President Pence testifies?

REP. RASKIN: Well, look, Vice President Pence was the target of Donald Trump's wrath and fury and effort to overthrow the election on January 6, the whole idea was to get Pence to step outside his constitutional role, and then to declare unilateral lawless powers to reject Electoral College votes from the states. So I think he has a lot of relevant evidence, and I would hope he would come forward and testify about what happened

MAJOR GARRETT: Voluntarily or view- via subpoena?

REP. RASKIN:

Well, we're trying to get everybody to come forward voluntarily

MAJOR GARRETT: But the subpoena's not out of question?

REP RASKIN: In no one's case is a subpoena out of question, but I would assume he's going to come forward and testify voluntarily, the way the vast majority of people have.

MAJOR GARRETT: One of the mandates of this committee is to create legislation. 10 Republicans on the Senate side have signed on to an Electoral Count Act revision. Is there a bill on the House side? Will there be and do you expect this to be updated and resolved legislatively, either before the midterms or in the lame duck session?

REP. RASKIN: Well, we want to take a much broader view, I think. I mean, the narrowest thing you could say is, well, the vice president doesn't have the power to unilaterally rebuff Electoral College votes from the state

MAJOR GARRETT: Clarify that.

REP. RASKIN: But yeah, but if that's all we do, in a certain sense, it's validating Donald Trump's argument that there was any ambiguity about it in the first place, which there was not. No vice president had ever tried to reject Electoral College votes and Mike Pence and his team ultimately said it was ridiculous. So I think we need to take a much broader view about Donald Trump's attack on the entire electoral college process and the entire Democratic process from the counties and the towns and the cities through the states all the way up to the federal government. So I think we got to defend the right to vote in democracy itself.

MAJOR GARRETT: Does that mean the Senate bill would be unacceptable in the house?

REP. RASKIN: No, I think it's a- it's a good first start. It's a good first offer. But I think we need to look far more systematically at what Donald Trump was trying to do. And we've seen, for example, when he called Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, and said, just find me 11,781 votes, when they tried to intimidate election officers. This was a far more sweeping plot than just what happened in the last couple of hours there.

MAJOR GARRETT: We have less than a minute, one of your colleagues on the committee, Adam Kinzinger, said the next step for the committee is to look into the money behind and the money being made off of the big lie. True?

REP. RASKIN: That was an important degree, an important dimension of everything that was happening. This was a Donald Trump operation. So it was always an effort to

MAJOR GARRETT: But, will that be brought in the public presentation of that committee coming forward.

REP. RASKIN: It will undoubtedly be part of our report and whether, you know, it comes up again in the hearings. I can't say yet because we're still working all of that out.

MAJOR GARRETT: There is much anticipation in the nation's capital, possibly across the country in the report propounded by the committee. When can the country expect to see that?

REP. RASKIN: Well, certainly by the end of the year, because, you know, we're like Cinderella, at midnight, our license runs out at the end of the year. But under House Resolution 503, that's a significant part of our responsibility to report to the American people about how to prevent coups, insurrections, political violence and attacks on our democratic process going forward.

MAJOR GARRETT: Maryland Congressman Jamie Raskin, thanks so much.

REP. RASKIN: Thanks for having me Major.

MAJOR GARRETT: Face The Nation will be back in just one moment. Please stay with us.

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Transcript: Rep. Jamie Raskin on "Face the Nation," Sept. 4, 2022 - CBS News

The House Select Committee investigating the events of January 6, 2021 may soon seek testimony from former Vice President Mike Pence, according to Republican Representative Adam Kinzinger.

Pence's potential testimony could shed light on issues surrounding the former vice president's interaction with the Secret Service during the Capitol riot and in particular suggestions that Pence believed there was a coup attempt.

Kinzinger, one of two Republicans sitting on the committee, told The Wall Street Journal on Thursday that the select committee is considering asking Pence to appear before them for an interview.

As a major figure in former President Donald Trump's administration, Pence could provide key answers on a number of questions concerning January 6 and efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

Pence was present at the U.S. Capitol when the riot began and he may be able to answer lingering questions about the role his Secret Service detail played on the day.

During the riot, Pence refused to get into an armored limousine manned by Secret Service agents and he has so far offered no explanation about that decision.

In April, Democratic Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland, who sits on the select committee, suggested that Pence had refused to get into the vehicle because he felt it was part of an attempted coup.

"He knew exactly what this inside coup they had planned for was going to do," Raskin said. "It was a coup directed by the president against the vice president and against the Congress."

Some have theorized that the intention of Pence's Secret Service detail was to drive the then vice president away from the Capitol in order to prevent him from carrying out his role in certifying the 2020 Electoral College votes.

This theory has not been proven but it is highly likely Pence will be asked about his interactions with the Secret Service if he appears before the committee.

Pence's former chief of staff, Marc Short, and chief legal counsel, Greg Jacob, have already appeared before the committee.

Trump had publicly pressured Pence to intervene on January 6 and prevent the certification of Electoral College votes in order to kick the election back to the states in the hope that then president's defeat could be reversed.

Pence refused to do so and following the riot, he fulfilled his largely ceremonial constitutional role by overseeing the certification of slates of electors.

While Pence has distanced himself from Trump and his false claims about the 2020 election, he has not spoken publicly about efforts to overturn the election or how he was treated by Trump in the closing days of the administration.

If Pence appears, the committee is likely to grill him on a wide variety of matters, including claims from a former White House aide that Trump approved of those chanting "Hang Mike Pence" on January 6.

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Mike Pence Jan. 6 Testimony Could Finally Disclose Secret ... - Newsweek

Joe Bidens presidential hopes are finished. This is over.

Those are the words of CNBC political commentator Jake Novak. They were published on Feb. 12, 2020, after then-candidate Biden placed fifth with 8% of the vote in the New Hampshire Democratic primary. So much for foresight.

Biden, a former vice president at the time, foresaw a more favorable path ahead after getting clobbered in the opening presidential nominating contests. He never minded the naysayers and went on to win the 2020 presidential election, despite the delusions of former President Donald Trump and a disturbing number of his followers.

Which brings us to another former vice president with presidential aspirations, Columbus native Mike Pence.

Mike Pence is not going to be elected president of the United States.

Those are the words of Roll Call commentator Nathan Gonzales. They were published July 22, 2022, after a fresh Morning Consult survey found Pence had 7% support among Republicans expressing a view of who they favored as the partys nominee in 2024.

Former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis are far out in front of third-place Pence in the poll. But anyone who puts stock in what polls say more than two years ahead of an election should refrain from wagering.

Meager as Pences numbers are in the most recent poll, theyre climbing from the low single digits where hed been in prior polls. Further, Pence is ensured of a bright, likely sympathetic national spotlight when his memoir, So Help Me God is published in November.

The title revealed last week is a not-too-subtle reference to the final words of the oath Pence swore as vice president, to which he was faithful on Jan. 6 as a mob incited by Trump attacked the Capitol, some chanting, Hang Mike Pence! after Trump tweeted a target on Pences back amid the mayhem.

Publisher Simon & Schuster paid Pence a reported $3 million to $4 million for a two-book deal. That publishing house is in the CBS media family, so expect a 60 Minutes appearance and even more marquee exposure for Pence just after the upcoming mid-term elections. Theyll want a return on their investment. Thats not cynicism, its just how publishing and mega-media works today.

Pence hasnt officially announced hes running yet, but he is. You dont go speak in the places hes going and speaking if youre not running.

Looking back is instructive, too. In 2006, two years before Barack Obama was elected president, someone named John Edwards was the early Democratic favorite. Weve forgotten him for good reason.

Likewise, in 2014, two years before Trump was elected, another former Florida governor led the early Republican presidential primary polls. Anyone remember Jeb! Bush? Anyone?

History shows politics is a long game, and parties most often coalesce around candidates they know, who can make the case to a broad consensus of Americans that they are the right person at the right moment. Point is, Pence has not had his post-Trump moment yet, but hes about to.

We are making no predictions. However, based on history and the swirling vortex of Jan. 6 surrounding Trump, counting Pence out of the 2024 Republican presidential race at this early stage is foolhardy. Pence may never be president, but right now, history and time are on his side.

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Editorial: Its too early to count out Pence in 24 - The Republic