With his silent trial still in full swing, former President Donald Trump’s vice presidential prospects turned the Lower Manhattan courtroom into an ordeal floor.
Several of the most frequently mentioned candidates to join Trump’s ticket started appearing at 100 Center Street in support of Trump. The trial became practically a de facto campaign stop in recent weeks, as the former president and his allies took advantage of breaks in court proceedings to address the press, often ridiculing legal thinking and prosecutors behind the accusations and attacking President Joe Biden.
Senator JD Vance of Ohio, the first serious vice president candidate to visit the trial, described Trump on Monday as “very excited despite the circumstances,” echoing many of the president’s criticisms of the trial.
“I think this trial is absolutely ridiculous. I think it’s a false accusation,” Vance told reporters outside the courthouse in an impromptu news conference, lashing out at Judge Juan Merchan and members of his family — a matter that is beyond Trump’s own purview, due to a court-imposed gag order against the defendant.
Inside the courtroom, Vance posted his observations from the trial on X.
“I saw a media report a few days ago that Trump seemed to be falling asleep or bored or something. The obvious narrative they’re trying to sell is ‘yes, Biden is mentally unfit, but this other guy is also bad,’” Vance wrote after describing the court as “dirty.”
“I’m 39 years old, I’ve been here 26 minutes, and I’m about to fall asleep,” Vance added.
Trump arrived at the courthouse Tuesday with even more potential running mates in tow. Trump was joined by North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, among others, as he delivered remarks before entering the courtroom.
Hours later, at their own press conference in a park outside the courthouse, the trio of vice presidential candidates painted a similar picture to the one Vance illustrated the day before: staunch defense of their party leader, punctuated by claims that the The trial taking place inside is a form of electoral interference.
“The American people have already absolved Donald Trump,” Burgum said, citing Trump’s lead over Biden in recent polls in swing states.
“The sooner this sham trial can be concluded, the sooner the president can get back to campaigning and talking to the American people about the issues that matter to them,” he continued.
Ramaswamy, in his own remarks, compared the trial to a “Kafka novel” and that “the prosecution’s main strategy appears to be to bore the jurors into submission.”
As Trump spends most of his weeks in court and his legal fees pile up, diverting money from his political operation, fundraising has also proved a key test for the vice presidency for those seeking to curry favor from Trump.
Several potential running mates will attend a big-ticket fundraiser alongside the former president at Manhattan’s Upper East Side after court on Tuesday. And many of the people Trump’s long list of vice presidents relaxed their relations with donors earlier this month at the Republican National Committee’s spring retreat in Palm Beach, Florida.
Trump’s timeline for selecting his 2024 running mate remains unclear. As of early May, Trump’s team had not yet moved beyond the initial stages of vetting potential vice presidents, according to multiple sources familiar with the process.
Trump himself often pinpoints the exact timing of an announcement, including last week, when he said he would not be able to broadcast his final pick until the Republican convention in mid-July.
“I don’t think I’ll announce it before the convention,” Trump said of his vice presidential selection process in an interview with Miami’s Telemundo 51.
“I think we’ll do it then,” he added.
This story originally appeared on NBCNews.com read the full story
