>https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/cocaine-proof-ex-secret-service-
>agent-says-they-know-exactly-who-brought-drugs-to-white-house/ar-
>AA1e2hpV?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=613e1789325246c584a82ff79d7b98f3&ei=

Trump might as well admit it's his because he's going to prison anyway and
nobody believes his lies. He's always been a coke addict.

Stupid Trump was easily outwitted by President Biden. Trump is of low
intelligence.

Looming indictment wrenches open the central question of 2024: Is Trump
fit to serve?

Privately, the fear is that a third indictment, even if it�s the most
serious one yet, will once again help Trump.
Donald Trump stands at a podium on stage as a red light flashes across his
face.

Early responses suggest the GOP field remains uncomfortable going after
Donald Trump directly over Jan. 6, but, instead, would attack him around
the edges. | Giorgio Viera/AFP/Getty Images

By Adam Wren and Natalie Allison

07/18/2023 07:36 PM EDT

Updated: 07/18/2023 09:21 PM EDT

Donald Trump�s announcement on Tuesday that he expects to soon be a
thrice-indicted candidate is forcing GOP candidates to fully contend with
the fundamental question of the 2024 presidential primary.

Is the former president fit to reoccupy the office?

The early responses suggest the field remains uncomfortable going after
Trump directly over Jan. 6, but, instead, would attack him around the
edges.

In South Carolina, Ron DeSantis said Trump �should have come out more
forcefully� as rioters ransacked the Capitol, but added that it fell short
of criminal activity. Vivek Ramaswamy told POLITICO in a statement he
�would have made very different judgments than President Trump did� on
Jan. 6. And Nikki Haley said the rest of the primary is threatening to be
drowned out by Trump�s legal �drama.�
DeSantis says Trump 'didn't do anything' to stop Jan. 6

The answers represented at least a small crack in the deference that some
previously courteous candidates had shown to Trump following his earlier
two indictments. But only a small one. And privately, the campaigns were
skeptical that even those modest attacks would have any impact other than
benefiting Trump himself.

�Jan. 6 just gins up the base,� said a strategist working for a Trump
rival.

Critics of the former president were left to wonder what it would take for
the field to actually turn on him over Jan. 6, if a �target letter�
informing Trump he was about to be indicted for his behavior around that
day didn�t do the trick.

�This is the kabuki dance they�re going to be doing for months � it ain�t
going to be the first time and it ain�t going to be the last time,� said
Mike Madrid, the Republican strategist and co-founder of the anti-Trump
Lincoln Project. �The kabuki dance is trying to have it both ways while
they try to wait for dust to settle on his legal problems.�

Nearly a month before the first debate, the actions of Special Counsel
Jack Smith�s grand jury has candidates hurtling toward a Rubicon they�ve
not fully found a way to navigate: To assail Trump�s character as
exhibited in the lead up to and on Jan. 6 or not.

Trump�s former vice president, Mike Pence, dealt with the matter head on
in his announcement speech last month in Iowa, saying Trump �demanded�
that he �choose between him and our Constitution,� and adding that �anyone
who asked someone else to put them over the Constitution should never be
president of the United States again.�

And former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson went further than his past remarks
about Trump�s first and second indictments, declining to pad his
statements with references to �presumption of innocence� and the need to
�wait on the facts.�

�While Donald Trump would like the American people to believe that he is
the victim in this situation,� Hutchinson said in a written statement,
�the truth is that the real victims of January 6th were our democracy, our
rule of law, and those Capitol Police officers who worked valiantly to
protect our Capitol.�

Chris Christie, the former New Jersey governor, slammed Trump as well,
saying his �conduct on January 6th proves he doesn�t care about our
country & our Constitution,� regardless of what the latest case shows.
Christie bashes Trump: CNN town hall moments

But aside from that trio, the rest of the field is landing in a proverbial
no-man�s land on the question of Trump�s conduct on Jan. 6. Their
reticence underscores how hard they continue to believe it is to hit Trump
without looking squishy to the base.

DeSantis experienced that firsthand. Following his gentle criticism that
Trump �should have come out more forcefully� on Jan. 6, the Florida
governor was saddled by longtime Trump adviser Jason Miller with a new
derisive moniker: �Ron DeCheney,� a reference to former Rep. Liz Cheney,
the Republican vilified by the rank-and-file after co-leading the Jan. 6
committee.

Republican operatives have internalized the idea that to question Trump�s
innocence related to Jan. 6 is to invite the wrath of his base. And though
the expected indictment�s focus on Trump�s actions surrounding Jan. 6
would appear to give them ground to stand on, it�s unclear that line of
attack is swaying primary voters.

�If you�re looking for an anti-Trump lane, it�s a fool�s errand,� said
Madrid. �You�re looking for the fountain of youth. It doesn�t exist. What
you may be trying to do is hoping that you can occupy a lane that opens up
if he is put on trial and thrown in jail before the election.�

Republican consultants working to support Trump�s primary rivals didn�t
immediately see Tuesday�s news as a defining moment in the race. The
previous indictments already boosted Trump�s fundraising and rallied GOP
voters to his side.

�It seems like each indictment has only gotten him more support,� said a
senior adviser to a rival campaign who was granted anonymity to discuss
campaign dynamics.

The adviser added that this likely forthcoming indictment is far more
serious than the first two. But absent further details from Smith himself,
it�s unclear what the political fallout would be.

�If it looks more like New York, then he will get a bump out of it,� said
another GOP consultant granted anonymity to discuss the dynamics of the
race, in reference to the indictment over alleged hush money payments to a
porn actress. �But if [the DOJ] handles it like the other indictment in a
professional way and they have a lot of backup, I think he is likely to
suffer � but not a ton of damage.�