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COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is set to keynote the signature fundraiser for the Republican Party in South Carolina, home to the first Southern presidential primary and a crucial destination for potential White House hopefuls of both major parties.

Hes looking forward to coming down to South Carolina, being able to to deliver some red meat and speak his mind without having to worry about being a diplomat, state Republican Party Chairman Drew McKissick told The Associated Press last week, referencing a recent conversation with Pompeo. He delivers substance.

The fundraiser known as the Silver Elephant Dinner began in 1967 with a California governor, Ronald Reagan, as its keynote speaker, and has become an annual attraction for top GOP figures. Headliners over the ensuing decades have included a slew of other Republicans who went on to vie for their partys top billing, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum and former Texas Gov. Rick Perry among them.

Pompeo, who also served as CIA director during his four years in the Trump administration, has been making the rounds in other states with early presidential voting contests, such as Iowa and New Hampshire, fueling speculation he will seek the Republican presidential nomination.

But, as politicians often do this far out from a primary, Pompeo demurred when asked about future electoral ambitions, including a White House run, and whether a potential run by former President Donald Trump would sway any plans.

Only the Lord knows where I will be in 2023, Pompeo told AP last month during an interview about a political action committee he formed to assist down-ballot Republicans in the 2022 election cycle.

Such a political vehicle also serves to give anyone with presidential aspirations a platform by which they can develop connections in states across the country and maintain visibility.

Several other former administration officials also have formed such PACs as Republicans grapple with their partys future following Trumps term. Trump himself has complicated those conversations, implying he could seek a second term and recently returning to the large-scale rallies that have become his signature events.

Two and a half years out from the states first-in-the-South primary, other former Trump administration figures mentioned as potential GOP hopefuls have also begun courting South Carolina.

They include Nikki Haley, who cut short her second term as the states governor to serve as Trumps U.N. ambassador. During an April visit to a historically Black university in Orangeburg, Haley addressed the 2024 race when questioned by AP, saying she would not seek her partys nomination if Trump runs again.

Two weeks later, choosing South Carolina as the site of his first public speech since leaving office, former Vice President Mike Pence put down a marker for a potential return to office, telling a Columbia audience that in the coming months hell be pushing back on the liberal agenda he says is wrong for the country.

Another South Carolinian mentioned as a potential 2024 presidential candidate is Sen. Tim Scott, with his name appearing in a straw poll at this years Conservative Political Action Conference. Recently launching his 2022 Senate reelection campaign, Scott also gave the GOPs response to President Joe Bidens maiden address to Congress this year.

McKissick, South Carolinas GOP chairman, declined to estimate how much money the July 30 dinner could bring in for the party, but said a thousand or more people would attend.

In a statement to AP, Pompeo said he was looking forward to the event, as well as working to reelect great conservatives like Scott and South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster next year.

Now more than ever, its important to defend American values and stand up to the radical left, he said.

___

Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP.

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Pompeo to headline GOP dinner in early-voting South Carolina - The Associated Press

Welcome back to 10 Things in Politics. Sign up here to receive this newsletter. Send tips to bgriffiths@insider.com or tweet me at @BrentGriffiths.

Here's what we're talking about:

One thing to watch for: The Labor Department publishes June's jobs report at 8:30 a.m. Eastern. President Joe Biden is planning to speak about it at 10:15 a.m. ET.

Former President Donald Trump, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, former Vice President Mike Pence, and and former Ambassador Nikki Haley lead Insider's fifth ranking of possible 2024 presidential candidates. Former President Donald Trump, Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images; Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel/Tribune News; former Vice President Mike Pence, Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images; former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images.

1. IT'S NEVER TOO EARLY: Former President Donald Trump's lack of a social-media megaphone and continuing legal cloud over his namesake company have begun to thaw the freeze he's cast over the 2024 Republican presidential field. My colleague Tom LoBianco has taken stock with power rankings of where the vast array of hopefuls stand.

Here are some of the highlights:

Legal troubles or not, Trump is still in command ... for now: "Political parties only shift when they lose, and the GOP is not convinced yet that Trump is bad for winning elections," said Michael Cohen, a Republican pollster. This means 2022 may loom far larger than any legal clouds.

See where the rest of the GOP field stands.

2. Trump and his allies brand New York investigation 'witch hunt': Running the same strategy suffers from one potentially fatal flaw, however: Trump is no longer president. He and his allies are still hoping they can win the PR battle even with the former president deprived of the bully pulpit and his Twitter account. For now, they also aren't worried about Trump being implicated directly.

Someone clearly didn't watch 'The Wire': New York prosecutors' indictments of the Trump Organization and CFO Allen Weisselberg cite company documents that listed certain payments to Weisselberg as "Holiday Entertainment" in official records and then in a different place listed the money as part of Weisselberg's compensation. The holiday money is one of the instances that prosecutors say show Weisselberg and the Trump Organization evaded paying taxes.

3. Supreme Court dealt another blow to voting rights: The court's justices ruled 6-3 to uphold two Arizona voting restrictions in a pair of key cases over whether the laws violated one of the surviving sections of the Voting Rights Act. A leading expert on voting rights, who has been sharply critical of Republican-led efforts across the country to expand voting restrictions, told NPR that the ruling would severely restrict future federal challenges of state laws.

Family members holding a vigil for the missing victims of the Surfside, Florida, condo collapse. Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

4. Rescue work resumed at Florida condo site: Rescue efforts stalled for 15 hours over concerns for the stability of the remaining structure of the Surfside condominium that partially collapsed, the Miami Herald reports. The search for the 145 people still missing will be more limited because of the instability of the debris.

5. Federal executions are temporarily halted: Attorney General Merrick Garland ordered the Department of Justice to pause federal executions after the Trump administration made historic use of capital punishment by carrying out 13 executions in just six months, the Associated Press reports. This doesn't end federal executions for good nor does it stop prosecutors from seeking the death penalty.

Trump delivering remarks to US troops during an unannounced visit to Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan in 2019. REUTERS/Tom Brenner

6. A major milestone in the US withdrawal from Afghanistan: American forces have left Bagram Airfield, once the center of the US war effort in Afghanistan, officials said. The US military withdrawal from the country is expected to be completed soon, though some troops are expected to remain longer to protect the US Embassy.

7. CDC director says vaccinated don't need to wear masks despite variant: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, says fully vaccinated Americans are "safe" from all coronavirus variants identified so far in the US and don't need to wear masks. The World Health Organization sparked confusion when it recommended that even vaccinated people revert to social distancing and mask-wearing to stem the spread of the Delta variant. Despite the CDC's guidance, Los Angeles County is urging Californians of any vaccination status to wear masks indoors as a precaution.

8. Rep. Liz Cheney is lone Republican on Capitol-riot panel: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi named Cheney as one of her appointments to the newly created select committee tasked with investigating the January 6 insurrection. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has reportedly threatened to strip any Republicans who join the panel of their other committee assignments. McCarthy questioned whether Cheney, who was ousted from GOP leadership over her criticism of Trump in connection to the riot, might be more loyal to Pelosi than "to us."

9. Hundreds are thought to be dead amid heat wave: The death toll in Oregon alone is 79, the Associated Press reports. Many were found alone in homes without air conditioning or fans as triple-digit temperatures blanketed the Pacific Northwest. Officials tried to help residents, but the scorching weather was simply too much.

10. There's a bipartisan push in Washington to #FreeBritney: Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bob Casey are pressing for more federal oversight over conservatorship after Britney Spears' emotional testimony last week describing her past 13 years under a conservatorship, Time magazine reports. More on what the senators are doing here.

Today's trivia question: Which founding father was dead certain that we would all celebrate July 2 for years to come? Email your guess and a suggested question to me at bgriffiths@insider.com.

That's all! Have a healthy and happy holiday weekend.

Excerpt from:
10 Things in Politics: Trump's woes expand 2024 field - Business Insider

Mike Pence's role in the Trump administration

Mike Pence's role in the Trump administration has been forced more into the spotlight with the president's illness from coronavirus. Here's a look back at Pence's career.

Dwight Adams, dwight.adams@indystar.com

At a Thursdayevening event in Simi Valley, California, former Vice President Mike Pence appeared to use his strongest language yet on the deadly U.S. Capitol riot that endangered his life and the lives of fellow lawmakers and Hill staff.

"There's almost no idea more un-American than the notion that any one person could choose the American President. The presidency belongs to the American people and the American people alone." Pence said, reasserting that he had no authority to rejectany electoral votes certified by states, as insisted by former President Donald Trump.

More: How Mike Pence's new Carmel home compares to the last one he owned

"I understand the disappointment many feel about the last election I can relate," Pence said, to some chuckles in the room."I was on the ballot. But you know, there's more at stake than our party and our political fortunes in this moment."

His words emerged as a slow, but sharp, move away from how Pence has previouslytalked about the Capitol riot.

At his first post-vice presidencypublic address in late April, Pence remained silent on the traumatic events of Jan. 6, when rioters chanted "Hang Mike Pence" andBring out Pence."

Pence South Carolina speech:Praise for Trump, attacks on Biden, silence on Jan. 6

He spoke about the riot again in early June, in front of a crowd in New Hampshire, this time chalking up the ensuing tension withTrump as something where they might just never "see eye to eye."The former vice president did call it a "dark day" in American history, but he alsoblamedDemocrats and news media for what he called an outsized scrutiny over the day.

Former VP Mike Pence: Trump and I may never 'see eye to eye' on Jan. 6 Capitol attack

In another June speech,thoughhe was not speaking about the riot, some hecklers at the Faith & Freedom coalition in Floridabooed him and shouted "traitor" as he introduced himselfas he often does as "a Christian, a conservative and a Republican, in that order."

Though Pence is trying to reassert and justify his actions to certify the results of the 2020election, as he was expected to do by the Constitution, the day remains the only signal of distance between him and Trump.

Other than not seeing "eye to eye" on Jan. 6, Pence has continued to praise Trump and his role in the administration throughout his recent public speeches. Thursday evening, at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute, Pence applauded the former president for being one of a kind and a disruptor.

"President Trump taught us what Republicans can accomplish when leaders stand firm on conservative principles and don't back down," Pence said, touting the administration's record on unemployment, trade deals and border security.

With the building momentum of the conservative movement, Pence says there is no going back."

IndyStar reporter Sarah Nelson contributed to this report.

Contact IndyStar reporter Rashika Jaipuriar atrjaipuriar@gannett.comandfollow her on Twitter@rashikajpr.

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'Un-American': Mike Pence uses strongest language yet on refusal to deny election results - IndyStar

Before the fated election that delivered a blow to then-president Donald Trump and his running mate Mike Pence, there was reportedly some tension brewing between the former VP and Trumps son, Donald Trump Jr., on the campaign trail.

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Both men were slated to speak ahead of President Trump at the campaign stop in February 2020. Donald Jr. was supposed to introduce Pence, but the crowd was so loudly chanting, Forty-six! Forty-six!, referring to supporters wanting Donald Jr. to become the next president, it brought the event to a halt.

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One step at a time, Donald Jr. told the adoring crowd, reported Daily Mail. Let's worry about 2020. That's all we've got to focus on, right? Let's keep winning.

After introducing Pence, the crowd suddenly went silent, according to Bender, with no forty-six chants. Pences communications director noticed the deafening silence and remarked, Thats funny.

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Following his speech to the crowd, Pence made an awkward joke about the moment to Donald Jr. and his girlfriend Kimberly Guilfoyle, the book states.

A reportedly embarrassed Pence strategy team made it a rule that the former VP was never again to follow Donald Jr. onstage at a rally. He's just a hard act to follow, Pences political strategist Marty Obst told the Trump campaign.

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The reported divide between Pence and Trump supporters comes after Pence has increasingly publicly tried to separate himself from his former boss, and fired back at Republicans who falsely claimed he could have overturned Joe Bidens 2020 election win.

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Speaking during an event at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif., on Thursday, June 24, Pence who many believe is gearing up for a White House bid of his own in 2024 asserted that he did his constitutional duty when he led the certification of the election results.

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Now there are those in our party who believe that in my position as presiding officer over the joint session that I possessed the authority to reject or return electoral votes certified by the states, he told the crowd, OK! reported. But the Constitution provides the vice president with no such authority before the joint session of Congress.

Pence continued: The truth is, there is almost no idea more un-American than the notion that any one person could choose the president. The presidency belongs to the American people, and the American people alone.

More:
'Hard Act To Follow': Mike Pence Jealous Of Attention Donald Trump Jr. Was Getting On Campaign Trail, New Book Claims - OK!

If theres one person whose lead you probably dont want to follow, its Rudy Giuliani. And if theres one person whose lead you most definitely do notnever, ever, under any circumstanceswant to follow, its Drunk Rudy Giuliani. Yet according to Landslide: The Final Days of the Trump Presidency, the newest book by Michael Wolff, premier chronicler of the stupidity of the Trump administration, it was a perpetually hammered Giuliani who convinced Donald Trump that Mike Pence had the power to ignore the votes of more than 81 million Americans and overturn the presidential election and declare Trump the winner.

New York Magazine published an excerpt from Wolffs upcoming book, which seems to confirm that the final months of Trumps presidency were a Groundhog Day of unhinged political strategies and a complete lack of understanding of American democracy. Making matters worse, according to Wolff, was that the then-president had been all but abandoned by his closest advisers in his final dayswith the exception of Rudy, who was apparently drinking heavily and in a constant state of excitation, often almost incoherent in his agitation and mania. You dont say?

Almost everyone who remained around the president understood that he, along with Giuliani, did in fact actually believe that there was yet a decent chance of upsetting the electoral count and having Trump declared the Electoral College winner or, failing that, prolonging the election and returning the fight to the disputed states. The presidents aides (and family) understood, too, that he was the only one (along with Giuliani, which only made the situation more alarming) in any professional political sphere to believe this. Hencealthough they did not call it such and tried to see it as more nuancedderangement.

There had been hardly a waking hour in the past 48 during which he and Giuliani had not been on the phone in pent-up nervousness and excitement over the coming battle in Congress on January 6. They were two generals poring over a map of the battlefield. Both men, egged on by hypotheticals ever nearer to fantasy and after exhausting all other options, had come to take it as an article of faith that the vice-president could simply reject Biden electors in favor of Trump ones and thereby hand the election to Trump; or, falling short of that, that the vice-president could determine that a state legislature ought to give further consideration to possible discrepancies in the states vote and send back the questioned electors for a reconsideration of their certification.

There is no question, none at all, that the VP can do this. Thats a fact. The Constitution gives him the authority not to certify. It goes back to the state legislatures, said Giuliani, as though on a loop. He kept repeating this to the president and to the others who were part of the continual conversation on his cell phone.

Had the described scenario been set to the Benny Hill theme song, it would have been funny. Unfortunately, it was all too real, and is what led to the Capitol riots on January 6th. And its Giulianis actions in those days that have caused him to be stripped of his license to practice law in the state of New York. While we sit and anxiously await seeing how this embarrassing chapter in American history will ultimately end, Wolff can fill in some of the horrifying details.

Landslide: The Final Days of the Trump Presidency will be published on July 27, 2021.

(Via New York Magazine)

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Report: Drunk Giuliani Told Trump That Pence Could Decide The Election - UPROXX