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      Mayor of Miami Francis Suarez enters 2024 Republican presidential race

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      The mayor of Miami, Francis Suarez, has entered the race for the Republican presidential nomination.On Thursday morning, he tweeted: “My dad taught me that you get to choose your battles, and I am choosing the biggest one of my life. I’m running for president.”The tweet was accompanied by a video of Suarez out for a run.Ahead of a speech at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California, the Cuban American mayor, 45, also spoke to ABC News.“I think I have a different message,” he said, claiming to have “implemented generational change”, touting his experience leading a major city and winning election and re-election by large margins.Suarez will be an outsider in a crowded field dominated by two other Florida men: Donald Trump, the twice indicted former president, and Ron DeSantis, the hard-right governor. Trump leads most polling averages by more than 30 points. The former vice-president Mike Pence leads the rest of the pack, way back.Asked what he thought of Trump’s indictment in Miami this week on 37 federal charges relating to his handling of classified materials, Suarez tried to dodge the question, saying the city had avoided “anarchy” around Trump’s court appearance.Pressed, Suarez said Republicans thought there “isn’t an equal administration of justice”.Quizzed again to say what he thought of Trump’s behaviour, Suarez said he would have turned over documents, as Trump refused to do, but also tried to link the case to an investigation of documents retained by Joe Biden.“I’m not an expert on these kinds of matters,” Suarez said. “But I do want to say this, that this conversation is not a healthy conversation. We should be talking about the issues the Americans care about.”Suarez insisted he was not running against Trump, but “against Joe Biden’s America”.The New York Times noted an ad buy in early voting states charging Biden with failing to control crime. The paper also referenced an FBI investigation that could damage Suarez’s run.“Mr Suarez is little known outside his state, and he is facing emerging allegations of influence-peddling on behalf of a real estate development company,” the Times said.The editorial board of the Miami Herald said “$10,000 monthly payments [Suarez] received from a developer for consulting work – while serving as mayor”, while “small potatoes compared to Trump’s legal problems … look like a conflict of interest”.The board also asked: “Is being president really Suarez’s goal?”In two terms, the paper said, the mayor had “turned himself into a tech-bro hero, cryptocurrency cheerleader and conservative cable news staple.“He likes the glitz and star power that come with running a city that’s transforming into a technology and financial hub. That attention seems to have convinced him he can run for president.”skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionThe Herald also noted Suarez’s history of departing from Republican orthodoxy – he voted against Trump twice – and his ability to represent the Hispanics Republicans need to attract.Suarez told ABC he would pledge to support Trump if he won the nomination, adding: “I’m the only candidate who’s Hispanic in both parties. I think that’s incredibly important because 20% of the country is made up of Hispanics that are trending Republican.”Citing the case of Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, who ran for the Democratic nomination in 2020, showed strongly and is now US transportation secretary, the Herald said Suarez might really be aiming to win a cabinet post.The paper said: “Suarez will have to define himself on the national stage and show Republican voters – many already smitten with Trump or, to a lesser degree, DeSantis – who he really is. Is he the hip moderate or the rightwing Biden baiter?“If Suarez truly is seeking the biggest political prize in the free world, he’ll first have to make a powerful case that he’s the better choice for the nomination. That said, he might end up with a really neat consolation prize.”Suarez was elected mayor in 2017 with 86% of the vote, and re-elected four years later with a still healthy 78%. With his city at ground zero of the climate emergency, he has broken with many Republicans’ views and considers rising seas and global temperatures “a real crisis” facing the planet.He has championed the Miami Forever bond, investing $400m of taxpayers’ money in projects to counter sea level rise and other consequences of the climate crisis, including increasingly prevalent flooding.The whiff of scandal, however, is likely to cling as primary season approaches. On Wednesday, the Republican US congressman Carlos Giménez, a former mayor of Miami-Dade county, said Suarez “had a snowball’s chance in hell” of winning.“I don’t think he has any business running for president. He has never established himself as having the capacity to run anything in his life,” Giménez told the Miami New Times.
      This article was amended on 15 June 2023 to correct the date of Carlos Giménez’s statement. More

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      Trump’s 2024 Republican rivals react to indictment: ‘Very serious allegations’

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      When news broke on Thursday that Donald Trump would be indicted for his alleged mishandling of classified documents, most of his Republican presidential primary opponents rushed to his defense, blaming the charges on the “weaponization of federal law enforcement”, as the Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, said.But several Republican candidates have shifted their tone since the indictment was unsealed on Friday, revealing the full extent of the serious charges Trump faces. Those Republicans’ willingness to challenge the former president’s claims of “political persecution” could mark a new chapter in the 2024 primary fight, although the candidates may have to change their tune if Trump becomes the nominee.According to the indictment filed by the office of special counsel Jack Smith, Trump willfully withheld 31 classified documents from federal officials and obstructed justice in his efforts to conceal the materials. Some of those documents included highly sensitive government information on America’s nuclear programs, military vulnerabilities and planned responses in the event of a foreign attack. The former president pleaded not guilty to all 37 federal counts at his arraignment in Miami, Florida, on Tuesday.The nature of the classified information kept in ballrooms and bathrooms at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida caught the attention of his vice-president and now primary opponent, Mike Pence. While Pence had previously attacked the department of justice over the indictment, he told the Wall Street Journal editorial board on Tuesday that he considered his former boss’s alleged actions to be indefensible.“Having read the indictment,” Pence said, “these are very serious allegations. 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, whose son and son-in-law served in the US military, specifically chastised Trump over endangering service members.“Even the inadvertent release of that kind of information could compromise our national security and the safety of our armed forces,” Pence said. “And, frankly, having two members of our immediate family serving in the armed forces of the United States, I will never diminish the importance of protecting our nation’s secrets.”That line was echoed by former South Carolina governor and presidential candidate Nikki Haley. Although Haley initially responded to news of the indictment by condemning “prosecutorial overreach, double standards and vendetta politics”, she begrudgingly acknowledged on Monday that Trump’s alleged behavior represented a grave threat to Americans’ safety.“If this indictment is true, if what it says is actually the case, President Trump was incredibly reckless with our national security,” Haley told Fox News. “I’m a military spouse. My husband’s about to deploy this weekend. This puts all of our military men and women in danger.”The South Carolina senator Tim Scott softened his own impassioned defense of Trump after the indictment was made public. While Scott lamented “a justice system where the scales are weighted” on Thursday, he told reporters on Monday that Smith’s indictment represented a “serious case with serious allegations”.But those three candidates did not go as far as the former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, who has been far more outspoken in his criticism of Trump. At a CNN town hall on Monday, Christie credited Smith’s team with crafting “a very tight, very detailed, evidence-laden indictment”.“Whether you like Donald Trump or you don’t like Donald Trump, this conduct is inexcusable, in my opinion, for somebody who wants to be president of the United States,” Christie said.Christie, who was once a Trump loyalist before turning against the former president, attributed the retention of the classified documents to “vanity run amok”.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotion“He’s saying I’m more important than the country,” Christie said. “And he is now going to put this country through this when we didn’t have to go through it.”Even after the release of the incriminating indictment, however, some Republican candidates have continued to circle the wagons in Trump’s defense. Presidential candidate and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy traveled to Miami for the arraignment on Tuesday, and he spoke to supporters about the need to pardon Trump if he is convicted.“This is my commitment: on January 20, 2025, if I’m elected the next US president, to pardon Donald J Trump for these offenses in this federal case,” Ramaswamy, a long-shot candidate, said. “I have challenged, I have demanded that every other candidate in this race either sign this commitment to pardon on January 20, 2025, or else to explain why they are not.”Although Haley has criticized Trump’s recklessness, she said she would be inclined to pardon him if she becomes president.“When you look at a pardon, the issue is less about guilt and more about what’s good for the country,” Haley said on Tuesday. “I think it would be terrible for the country to have a former president in prison for years because of a documents case.”But with Trump continuing to dominate in polls of likely primary voters, it appears unlikely that Haley or any other Republican candidate will be in the position to issue a pardon. Given that the Republican National Committee has demanded presidential candidates pledge their support for the eventual nominee, whispers of criticism among Trump’s opponents may soon dim to silence, as they did in 2016.As Republicans have clashed over Trump’s fate, Joe Biden has remained above the fray, seemingly content to watch his rivals tie themselves in knots over a former president accused of jeopardizing national security. When asked about the arraignment on Tuesday, the White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, responded in the same way she has for days: no comment. More

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      Donald Trump leaves court after pleading not guilty to federal criminal charges at Miami indictment hearing – live

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      From 3h agoDonald Trump has pleaded not guilty to charges related to allegedly hoarding government secrets at his Mar-a-Lago resort and frustrating efforts by the federal government to retrieve them at his ongoing arraignment in Miami, Reuters reports.Donald Trump’s sons Eric and Donald Trump Jr took to social media as their father pleaded not guilty in the courthouse.Eric retweeted a post by the Republican congressman Jim Jordan that said there were different standards of justice for the Trump and Biden families.While Donald Trump Jr praised Ohio senator, JD Vance, for saying he wouldblock all nominees to the Department of Justice over the indictment against the former president.Ohio senator, JD Vance, who was endorsed by Donald Trump in his 2022 race, has said he would block all nominees to the Department of Justice “until Merrick Garland stops using his agency to harass Joe Biden’s political opponents”.In a statement posted to Twitter, Vance called the former president “merely the latest victim of a Department of Justice that cares more about politics than law enforcement” and said he would “grind [Garland’s] department to a halt” in protest of “the unprecedented political prosecution” of Trump.Vance said:
      Starting today, I will hold all Department of Justice nominations. If Merrick Garland wants to use these officials to harass Joe Biden’s political opponents, we will grind his department to a halt.
      Vance’s hold will just slow down the confirmation process for DoJ nominees, who will now all need to go through a procedural vote and a confirmation vote.As Punchbowl News’ John Bresnahan points out, the Ohio senator’s announcement doesn’t really change anything.As we reported earlier, Donald Trump’s personal valet Walt Nauta was not arraigned today as his lawyer was not admitted to practice in the southern district of Florida.Nauta is now scheduled to be arraigned on 27 June.A navy veteran from Guam, Nauta worked as a White House valet during the Trump administration and moved to Florida following the 2020 election to become Trump’s personal aide.Prosecutors allege that Nauta was a point person for Trump whenever he wanted to access or hide the boxes of classified documents.The indictment states that Trump directed Nauta to transport various documents to Trump’s personal residence and that Nauta helped Trump try to conceal the boxes of top secret information from the FBI. Nauta also texted two Trump employees about the documents, in one case sending a photo of a tipped-over box and classified documents spilled out on the floor of a storage room.Nauta faces several charges including conspiracy and making false statements, such as telling investigators that he didn’t know where the boxes of classified documents were being stored. He is the only person other than Trump charged in the case.Here’s a guide to the most important people involved in the indictment against Trump:Donald Trump has boarded his private plane in Miami, and is heading to his luxury golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey.He is expected to make a statement on today’s criminal proceedings at a fundraising event later today.A judge has said E Jean Carroll, the writer who won a $5m jury verdict against Donald Trump last month, can pursue a separate defamation lawsuit against the former president.The writer and former Elle magazine columnist had sought to amend her original defamation lawsuit filed in 2019 so she could try to seek additional punitive damages after Trump repeated statements a federal jury found to be defamatory.A New York jury last month found Trump had sexually assaulted Carroll in a New York department store in 1996. The jury found that the former president “sexually abused” Carroll, defined as subjecting her to sexual contact without consent by use of force, and for the purpose of sexual gratification. But the jury did not find that Trump raped her. Trump was ordered to pay Carroll $2m for battery and $3m for defamation.Carroll then sought to amend her separate defamation lawsuit over a similar denial by Trump in June, in which he told a White House reporter that the rape never happened and that Carroll was not his “type”. The revision also sought to incorporate Trump’s comments made in a CNN town hall, where he called Carroll’s account “fake” and labeled her a “whack job”.Here’s a clip of Donald Trump arriving at the Miami courthouse earlier this afternoon for his formal arraignment, where he pleaded not guilty to all counts related to his alleged mishandling of classified documents.Donald Trump’s visit to the famous downtown Miami restaurant Versailles, where he was greeted by supporters, was pre-planned and part of his team’s attempt to control his image, HuffPost’s SV Dáte writes.As the New York Times’ Maggie Haberman points out, Trump is determined to fight the battle in the court of public opinion for as long as possible, including by having his co-defendant Walt Nauta close by him today.After he left court, Fox News showed Trump visiting a cafe in Miami and being greeted like a wronged hero.Supporters gathered around him and prayed for him. Someone shouted: “Jesus loves you!”Trump smiled and waved to the crowd and declared: “Food for everyone!” The crowd erupted in applause and cheers. One yelled: “Keep fighting, sir!”Then, ahead of Trump’s 77th birthday tomorrow, the patrons broke out in a chorus of “Happy birthday dear Donald, happy birthday to you!”The former president remarked:
      Some birthday! We’ve got a government that’s out of control.
      He then made brief comments about “a rigged deal”, suggesting that “we have a country that is in decline like never before,” and promising to speak more in Bedminster, New Jersey tonight.Someone shouted: “God bless Donald Trump!” as he departed and returned to his motorcade.Donald Trump has stopped by the Miami restaurant, Versailles, after the conclusion of his court hearing, where he told customers that he would pay “for food for everyone”.A group of people appeared to pray as he entered the cafe, while a crowd sang happy birthday to the former president, who turns 77 tomorrow.Trump’s co-defendant Walt Nauta was also seen in the restaurant.Earlier we reported that a protester was seen running in front of Donald Trump’s motorcade as it departed the courthouse in Miami.Here’s the clip of the man being tackled by security services, as shared by MSNBC’s Manny Fidel: More

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      House business to resume as McCarthy and Republicans break impasse

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      The US House of Representatives is set to resume votes on a handful of Republican-backed bills on Tuesday after a week-long impasse between Kevin McCarthy, the speaker, and a small group of far-right Republicans.Business is set to resume on the House floor on Tuesday afternoon. A slate of previously stalled votes, including a procedural measure to advance legislation protecting gas stoves, are expected to move forward.The agreement comes after a group of 11 Republicans brought the chamber to a halt last week by voting with Democrats and tanking a pair of GOP-backed bills in a revolt against McCarthy for working with Biden to address the debt ceiling. Members of the House Freedom Caucus criticized McCarthy for weak leadership.McCarthy appeared to have resolved the conflict with the holdouts following a closed-door meeting on Monday afternoon.“We know when we work together and work on conservative issues, we were winning, and we get more victories that way,” McCarthy told reporters after emerging from the talks.But lawmakers warned on Monday that they would continue to stall the GOP agenda if McCarthy did not listen to their demands. Among calls for deeper spending cuts, hardliners asked for a resolution condemning Biden’s calls for stricter gun control.“Perhaps we’ll be back here next week,” Congressman Matt Gaetz, a member of the House Freedom Caucus, told reporters as he exited the meeting.Later on Monday evening, McCarthy announced defense and domestic spending bills would include deeper spending cuts in a sign of the outcomes of the closed-door talks, according to the Washington Post.Since assuming the top House leadership role, McCarthy has struggled to gain the support of the Republican party. It took 15 rounds of votes for McCarthy to win the speakership in January as far-right Republicans stalled his confirmation.Yet other Republican members of the House criticized the hardliners for stalling their agenda. In a weekly closed-door meeting of the Republican conference on Tuesday morning, lawmakers condemned last week’s vote blockade.First-term congressman Derrick Van Orden, of Wisconsin, lashed out against the House Freedom Caucus in a fiery speech, according to multiple reports, saying his daughter is dying of cancer yet he still shows up to work every day. More

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      ‘We’re ready’: Miami police prepared for Trump arraignment

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      As court officials set up barricades and police tape around the Miami courthouse where Donald Trump is due to be arraigned on Tuesday afternoon, police officials sought to assure local residents they would safely handle any protests.“Make no mistake about it, we’re taking this event extremely seriously, and there’s a potential for things to take a turn for the worse,” said the city’s police chief, Manuel Morales, adding “but that’s not the Miami way.“We’re bringing enough resources to handle crowds, anywhere from 5,000 to 50,000,” he added. “We don’t expect any issues. We’re ready. Ready for it to be over and done.”Miami’s mayor, Francis Suarez, also said he was confident the city’s police will be able to handle the crowds and any protests if they occur as Trump is due to be booked and brought before a judge on federal criminal charges.“I have full faith and confidence our police will have the right action plan and resources in place,” Suarez said during the news conference. “We are prepared for what will happen tomorrow.”Public reaction to Trump’s scheduled arraignment at the Wilkie D Ferguson federal courthouse may be a window into the shifting political character of Miami and Trump’s strong support among Latino Americans.The Associated Press reported that Alex Otaola, a Cuban-born YouTube personality who is running for Miami-Dade county mayor, has rallied followers to show up in support of the former president.“Those of us who believe that America’s salvation only comes if Donald Trump is elected for a second term, we will gather on Tuesday,” Otaola said in a YouTube clip.Trump left Bedminster, New Jersey, where he had played golf at his club there over the weekend, on Monday to fly into Miami airport and stay overnight at his Trump National Doral Miami golf club.According to CBS News, a motorcade protected by Miami-Dade police will escort Trump to the downtown courthouse where he will be handed over to the security of US marshals for his arraignment.“In there you’re going to have City of Miami, probably the chief himself, you’re going to have Miami-Dade county, Secret Service, FBI, the marshals. They’ll all be there to make sure there’s a unified command,” the retired Miami police chief Jorge Colina told the outlet. More

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      There will be no civil war over Trump. Here’s why | Robert Reich

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      The former president of the United States, now running for re-election, assails “the ‘thugs’ from the Department of Injustice”, calls Special Counsel Jack Smith a “deranged lunatic” and casts his prosecutions and his bid for the White House as part of a “final battle” for America.In a Saturday speech to the Georgia Republican party, Trump characterized the entire American justice system as deployed to prevent him from winning the 2024 election.“These people don’t stop and they’re bad and we have to get rid of them. These criminals cannot be rewarded. They must be defeated.”Once again, Trump is demanding that Americans choose sides. But in his deranged mind, this “final battle” is not just against his normal cast of ill-defined villains. It is between those who glorify him and those who detest him.It will be a final battle over … himself.“SEE YOU IN MIAMI ON TUESDAY!!!” he told his followers on Friday night in a Truth Social post, referring to his Tuesday arraignment.It was chilling reminder of his 19 December 2020, tweet, “Be there, will be wild!” – which inspired extremist groups to disrupt the January 6 certification.At the Georgia Republican party convention on Friday night, the Arizona Republican Kari Lake – who will go to Miami to “support” Trump – suggested violence.“If you want to get to President Trump, you’re going to have to go through me and you’re going to have to go through 75 million Americans just like me,” Lake exclaimed to roaring cheers and a standing ovation. “Most of us are card-carrying members of the NRA,” the National Rifle Association gun lobby. “That’s not a threat, that’s a public service announcement.”Most Republicans in Congress are once again siding with Trump rather than standing for the rule of law.A few are openly fomenting violence. The Louisiana representative Clay Higgins suggested guerrilla warfare: “This is a perimeter probe from the oppressors. Hold. rPOTUS [a reference to the real president of the United States] has this. Buckle up. 1/50K know your bridges. Rock steady calm.”Most other prominent Republicans – even those seeking the Republican presidential nomination – are criticizing Biden, Merrick Garland and the special counsel Jack Smith for “weaponizing” the justice department.All this advances Trump’s goal of forcing Americans to choose sides over him.Violence is possible, but there will be no civil war.Nations don’t go to war over whether they like or hate specific leaders. They go to war over the ideologies, religions, racism, social classes or economic policies these leaders represent.But Trump represents nothing other than his own grievance with a system that refused him a second term and is now beginning to hold him accountable for violating the law.In addition, the guardrails that protected American democracy after the 2020 election – the courts, state election officials, the military, and the justice department – are stronger than before Trump tested them the first time.Many of those who stormed the Capitol have been tried and convicted. Election-denying candidates were largely defeated in the 2022 midterms. The courts have adamantly backed federal prosecutors.Third, Trump’s advocates are having difficulty defending the charges in the unsealed indictment – that Trump threatened America’s security by illegally holding (and in some cases sharing) documents concerning “United States nuclear programs; potential vulnerabilities of the United States and its allies to military attack; and plans for possible retaliation in response to a foreign attack”, and then shared a “plan of attack” against Iran.Republicans consider national security the highest and most sacred goal of the republic. A large number have served in the armed forces.Trump’s own attorney general, Bill Barr, said on Fox News Sunday that he was “shocked by the degree of sensitivity of these documents and how many there were, frankly … If even half of it is true, then he’s toast. I mean, it’s a very detailed indictment, and it’s very, very damning. And this idea of presenting Trump as a victim here, a victim of a witch-hunt, is ridiculous.”None of this is cause for complacency. Trump is as loony and dangerous as ever. He has inspired violence before, and he could do it again.But I believe that many who supported him in 2020 are catching on to his lunacy.Trump wants Americans to engage in a “final battle” over his own narcissistic cravings. Instead, he will get a squalid and humiliating last act.
      Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is professor of public policy at the University of California, Berkeley, and the author of Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few and The Common Good. His new book, The System: Who Rigged It, How We Fix It, is out now. He is a Guardian US columnist. His newsletter is at robertreich.substack.com More

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      Republicans censure senator for backing LGBTQ+ rights and gun control

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      The Republican US senator Thom Tillis has been reprimanded by party officials in his home state of North Carolina after his support of gun control and same-sex marriage.More than 1,000 delegates at the North Carolina Republican party’s annual convention voted behind closed doors on Saturday to censure Tillis, a move that does not affect his elected position but signals strong dissatisfaction with him.“We need people who are unwavering in their support for conservative ideals,” the Republican delegate Jim Forster told the Associated Press about censuring Tillis, who has been willing to break with party stances on LGBTQ+ rights, gun control and immigration policy. “His recent actions don’t reflect the party’s shift to the right – in fact, they’re moving in the exact wrong direction.”Tillis, who has held his Senate seat since 2015, does not apologize for his voting record, according to a statement from a spokesperson for his office.The censure against Tillis comes after Republicans in Texas and Wyoming approved similar measures against federal lawmakers who opposed the preferences of party officials in those states.Texas Republicans in March censured party member Tony Gonzales after the congressman voted in favor of gun control and same-sex marriage, which Americans mostly support.Meanwhile, in 2021, Wyoming Republicans censured congresswoman Liz Cheney for voting to impeach Trump before losing her re-election campaign during a primary last year.Tillis was among just 15 Republicans in the Senate who supported the gun control bill that Joe Biden signed into law last year. The legislation expanded background checks for the youngest gun buyers while funding mental health and violence intervention programs, though – according to the non-partisan Gun Violence Archive – it has not prevented the US from recording nearly 300 shootings with four or more victims so far this year.He also voted in favor of legislation which enshrined protections for same-sex and interracial couples. His support for the Respect for Marriage Act came about a decade after he played a pivotal role in the same-sex marriage ban that North Carolina passed in 2012, when he was the speaker of the state’s house of representatives.Tillis also often spoke out against the generally restrictive immigration policies which Donald Trump pursued during his presidency.His voting record on those issues gained him the reputation as one of Capitol Hill’s bipartisan dealmakers. And not every North Carolina Republican agreed with Saturday’s censure.One state senator, Bobby Hanig, said such a divisive action ahead of the 2024 presidential election was unwise.“A mob mentality doesn’t do us any good,” Hanig said. “Senator Tillis does a lot for North Carolina … so why would I want to make him mad?”Another state senator, Jim Burgin, added: “I don’t think we need to be attacking our own. You don’t shoot your own elephants.”The Associated Press contributed reporting More

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      Kari Lake’s vow to defend Trump with guns threatens democracy, Democrat says

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      The Arizona Republican Kari Lake’s vow of armed resistance over Donald Trump’s indictment for retaining classified records “threatens the very core of our democracy”, an Arizonan Democratic congressman said.Ruben Gallego is running to replace the former Democrat Kyrsten Sinema in the US Senate next year.He said: “I know this language isn’t just hyperbole – it’s dangerous and it threatens the very core of our democracy.”The 38-count federal indictment against Trump was unsealed on Friday. He is due to appear in court in Florida on Tuesday. Jack Smith, the special counsel, told reporters he would “seek a speedy trial”.Trump was already in unprecedented legal jeopardy. He and other Republicans responded to the indictment under the Espionage Act with incendiary rhetoric.Lake, a TV news anchor turned far-right firebrand, lost the election for Arizona governor last year. She continues to insist without evidence her defeat was the result of fraud.Speaking to Georgia Republicans on Friday, she said: “I have a message tonight for [US attorney general] Merrick Garland, and Jack Smith, and Joe Biden. And the guys back there in the fake news media, you should listen up as well, this one’s for you.“If you want to get to President Trump, you’re going to have to go through me, and you’re going to have to go through 75 million Americans just like me.“And I’m going to tell you, most of us are card-carrying members of the NRA [National Rifle Association]. That’s not a threat – that’s a public service announcement.“We will not let you lay a finger on President Trump. Frankly, now is the time to cling to our guns and our religion.”Lake was speaking in place of Mike Pence, Trump’s vice-president who escaped the mob Trump sent to the Capitol on January 6, some of whom chanted about hanging him, to preside over certification of Biden’s election win.Pence is now a candidate for the Republican nomination but like all others he trails Trump by large margins, as the former president ruthlessly capitalises on – and successfully monetises – the various charges against him.Trump faces criminal charges at state level, in New York, over a hush money payment to the porn star Stormy Daniels, and federally, over his retention of classified records and obstruction of moves to secure their return.In a New York civil trial, found liable for sexual assault and defamation against the writer E Jean Carroll, he was ordered to pay $5m.Also expected to be indicted over his election subversion, at state level in Georgia and federally in an investigation also supervised by Smith, Trump denies wrongdoing.According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Lake’s remarks in Columbus on Friday met with a standing ovation.Responding to a reporter, Lake tweeted: “I meant what I said.”Gallego said: “As a marine who went all the way to Iraq to defend this country, our democracy, and our freedoms, I know this language isn’t just hyperbole – it’s dangerous and it threatens the very core of our democracy.”He also said Lake “owes every America-loving Arizonan an apology”, as the state had rejected “her off-the-rails rhetoric that does nothing but sow doubt in our elections”.But Lake remains an eager Trump ally, seen by some as a possible pick for vice-president. On Friday, she said she was “more than willing to fill Mike Pence’s shoes”.Like Trump, who features on a song splicing his voice with those of imprisoned Capitol rioters, Lake has released a single. Its title, 81 Million Votes My Ass, is a reference to Biden’s winning total. More