CNN
—
Former President Donald Trump is scheduled to address evangelical Christian voters at a major gathering Saturday in Washington, where he will seek to shore up their support as his legal troubles mount and his opponents take aim at his behavior. .
The Faith & Freedom Coalition’s Road to Majority Policy Conference kicks off a summer of “cattle calls” where the GOP field will audition before key audiences ahead of the 2024 presidential primary. Most of Trump’s opponents spoke out Friday, with several jabs, both direct and subtle, at the former president.
But Trump had the main speaking spot at the conference, giving what was billed as the keynote address at a dinner on Saturday. It was his first personal appearance at a 2024 gathering of presidential hopefuls since announcing his candidacy. For past events, such as the “Roast and Ride” of Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst earlier this month, Trump appeared through a video message.
The Faith & Freedom conference provided a window into a critical constituency in the battle for the Republican nomination: evangelical voters. Those voters will play a big role in the Iowa caucuses and South Carolina primary — the first and third contests on the 2024 GOP calendar.
For Trump, who a CNN poll last week found remains a clear lead in the 2024 GOP nod with 47% support among Republican-leaning and Republican-leaning voters nationwide — more of 26% by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former Vice President Mike Pence’s 9% – the most significant threat he faces now may be a series of legal battles, including his federal indictment on charges tied to his alleged wrongdoing handling of classified documents.
Trump has made that accusation a focus of recent events, addressing it loudly at rallies. In an interview with Bret Baier on Fox News, he offered several new reasons for keeping classified material after leaving the White House and refusing to hand it over to the National Archives and Records Administration.
For the rest of the field, the gatherings on Friday and Saturday represent a chance to shake off Trump’s support — or at least explain themselves in front of a key constituency if GOP voters ultimately leave. the former president.
Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who is also ambassador to the United Nations under Trump, used her speech on Saturday to mark the first anniversary of the US Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade
Haley said she believes there should be a federal law regulating abortion but acknowledged again that Republicans face a tough challenge enacting hard-line restrictions nationwide. due to lack of support in Congress.
“We have to humanize this situation. We must respect the fact that everyone has a story. And we have one goal – to make sure we save as many children as possible and protect as many mothers as possible,” said the former governor.
Former Texas Rep. Will Hurd, who entered the GOP presidential race on Thursday, was a late addition to the list of speakers. He focused his roughly five-minute remarks on his biography and his time working at the CIA, and, like Haley and many other GOP contenders who spoke at the conference, he did not mention Trump in front of Trump. -friendly crowd.
Hurd has been a vocal critic of Trump, calling the former president a threat to US national security following his federal indictment. Trump has pleaded not guilty to federal charges.
The Trump-heavy lineup at the conference — with the former president in the keynote slot and a number of his allies, including former Arizona gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham and Florida Rep. Byron Donalds, on the speaker roster. – emphasized his dominance within the party.
However, on Friday, several candidates used their speeches to target the former president, both in direct and more subtle ways.
Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie emphasized the importance of “character” and told the crowd that “Trump has failed us.”
“Beware of a leader who never makes mistakes, beware of a leader who has no mistakes, beware of a leader who says that if something goes wrong, it’s everyone’s fault. And he’s going to go and regret it,” Christie said, in an apparent reference to Trump.
As Christie criticized Trump, several members of the audience began to boo.
“You can boo all you want,” he told them.
Some Republican 2024 contenders either ignore Trump entirely or defend him. South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott is the indictment of the special counsel of the Justice Department against Trump.
“In this radical left Biden administration, they are arming the Department of Justice against their political enemies. That is wrong. We deserve better in the United States of America,” said Scott.
A key issue in the GOP debates starting this summer will be abortion. Trump, who raised questions about the issue by taking credit for the US Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade, avoided specifying whether he supports a federal ban on abortion rights and if so, after several weeks of pregnancy he wants such a ban to be implemented.
The former president also privately blamed abortion hard-liners for the party’s poor 2022 midterm results.
Pence brought back that contention last Saturday in a virtual tele-rally organized by the anti-abortion group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America.
“My former running mate actually argued that overturning Roe v. Wade a year ago today is costing us seats in the 2022 midterms,” he said. “Where women and men standing for office stood unapologetically for the right to life, expressed principle and compassion, did not shy away from it, and then also discussed other issues that we are dealing with under the failed policy of the Biden administration, the candidates are very good.
Pence also spoke Saturday at an anti-abortion rally at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington to mark the first anniversary of the Dobbs decision, saying the ruling “gave America a new beginning in life.”
On Friday, the former vice president applied pressure to Trump and others who avoided the question of a national abortion ban, including Haley, calling on the GOP field to support a federal ban at 15 weeks.
“Every Republican candidate for president should support banning abortion before 15 weeks as a minimum standard across the country,” Pence said.
Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, another critic of Trump in the 2024 race, said he would sign a federal abortion ban but did not specify how many weeks into a pregnancy he would like such a ban to be implemented.
DeSantis, Trump’s top-polling rival, made only brief mention of the Florida measure he signed that bans most abortions in the state after six weeks. (The law has yet to go into effect amid a separate ongoing legal challenge before the state Supreme Court.)
But Florida’s governor relied on other cultural clashes, declaring his state a “fortress of freedom.” He pointed to a state law banning specific instruction about sexual orientation and gender identity in the classroom and dug into his fight with Disney, which DeSantis and GOP allies have targeted for retaliation for publicly opposing it. in the company critics of the law called “Don’t. Say Gay.”
“We oppose the sexualization of children. We will fight anyone who seeks to rob our children of their innocence. And on those principles, there will be no compromise,” said the governor. “We will fight the awakened corporations.”
This story has been updated with additional information.
