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(WASHINGTON) — A federal judge on Tuesday directed the Biden administration to take action after a conservative group sued to reveal government records about Prince Harry’s immigration to the U.S.
U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols urged the government to decide how it will respond to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request from The Heritage Foundation, a Washington-based think tank, that aims to obtain documents related to the duke of Sussex’s visa and legal status in the U.S.
Harry, who married Meghan Markle in 2018, moved to California in 2020 after stepping back from the British royal family.
Visa applications are not typically disclosed publicly due to privacy concerns.
But the Heritage Foundation filed a lawsuit last week to get Harry’s immigration documents, calling for the Department of Homeland Security to expedite its FOIA process because of media coverage of the prince’s admitted drug use when he was younger.
The Heritage Foundation has said in court filings that the drug use “surfaced the question” about whether Harry received favorable treatment in being granted entry to the U.S. and whether Harry disclosed his past in his visa application, as required.
The question of whether immigration authorities must release the documents has not been taken up by the federal court. Judge Nichols said Tuesday that he was “frustrated” he was instead forced to consider a “highly technical and procedural” freedom of information question instead of getting straight to the merits of the case.
DHS now must decide whether it can release any of the requested documents, expedite the FOIA process or deny The Heritage Foundation request. If the foundation is denied, they could seek to have the judge release the paperwork in the public interest — a claim the government has played down.
Federal lawyers argued on Tuesday that the U.K. tabloids noted by the Heritage Foundation as significant examples of public interest were not “mainstream media” to most Americans.
Multiple sub-agencies of DHS, including U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, have already denied the foundation’s request, according to a Justice Department attorney.
(NEW YORK) — Florida officials confirmed on Tuesday that they organized two flights carrying migrants from Texas to California in recent days.
It’s the latest example of a controversial strategy under Gov. Ron DeSantis, who says he wants to spotlight what he calls the failures of southern border policies — as migrant advocates say he is exploiting vulnerable people for political ends.
State officials in Florida insist they are helping safely send migrants where they want to go, not deceiving them.
Community leaders and officials in California say that 36 immigrants in total have been flown from Texas to Sacramento since Friday. Approximately 20 migrants arrived on a flight on Monday and another group of about 16 landed three days earlier.
On Tuesday, a spokesperson for Sacramento Area Congregations Together (ACT), a community group, gave an overview of what the migrants say they experienced when they were flown into the city.
The people were originally approached outside a migrant center in El Paso, Texas, by a group purporting to be part of an organization that could help them relocate, Sacramento ACT spokesperson Cecilia Flores said.
She said that all of the migrants who arrived in Sacramento are asylum seekers and are awaiting immigration court hearings. City officials are now helping to link the group with immigration lawyers to make sure they don’t miss their court dates.
The group is made up of people in their 20s and 30s, mostly from Colombia, Guatemala and Venezuela, Flores said. One dog — named Geico — also traveled with them.
Flores said the migrants were originally told they’d be provided with shelter, housing and job opportunities.
The migrants said they did not know they were getting on a plane to California, according to Flores. After both flights, the groups were dropped off outside the Diocese of Sacramento and were told by the people transporting them that they’d return — but instead these people left and never came back.
The 16 migrants who arrived Friday did not know where they were and only had a backpack’s worth of belongings, Diocese of Sacramento Bishop Jaime Soto previously said in a statement.
A spokesperson for the California Attorney General’s office said that the private company Vertol Systems organized the flights. Vertol also coordinated flights for Florida transporting migrants to Martha’s Vineyard last year.
Representatives with Vertol could not be reached for comment for this story.
Speaking with reporters on Tuesday, community faith leaders in Sacramento said that while a “handful” of the migrants have since been picked up by family members, many in the group do not have any ties to the area and will likely be reuniting with their loved ones throughout the country. Some may choose to stay in the area, however.
The Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM) on Tuesday sharply challenged the details of how the migrants were flown from Texas to California. DeSantis’ office did not respond to a request for comment.
FDEM shared a video with ABC News that they claim shows some of the migrants signing paperwork and volunteering to get on a flight.
ABC News could not independently verify where and when the images were taken.
In one part of the video a man is seen saying, in Spanish, “We made it to California. Thank God. Very thankful to God.”
Another part of the video appears to show a group dancing and celebrating inside a vehicle and a woman is seen asking the group if they feel like they were treated poorly, to which the group responds, “No.”
A spokesperson for FDEM insisted in a statement that “as you can see from this video, Florida’s voluntary relocation is precisely that – voluntary. Through verbal and written consent, these volunteers indicated they wanted to go to California. A contractor was present and ensured they made it safely to a 3rd-party NGO [in Sacramento].”
However, on Tuesday, a spokesperson from Sacramento ACT said they believe the migrants were misled into getting on the flights.
Outcry from California leaders
California Gov. Gavin Newsom has raised the specter of kidnapping charges for the coordinators of the migrant flights and he singled out DeSantis by name.
In a social media post on Monday, Newsom called DeSantis a “small, pathetic man,” adding, “This isn’t Martha’s Vineyard” alongside a photo of the state statute that explains kidnapping charges.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta likewise denounced how the migrants were transported.
“We are a nation built by immigrants and we must condemn the cruelty and hateful rhetoric of those, whether they are state leaders or private parties, who refuse to recognize humanity and who turn their backs on extending dignity and care to fellow human beings,” Bonta said in a statement this weekend.
State officials are evaluating potential civil action against those who transported or arranged for the transport of “these vulnerable immigrants,” Bonta has said.
The California Department of Justice likewise is investigating the circumstances around the group’s travel and whether the individuals orchestrating this trip misled anyone with false promises or have violated any criminal laws, Newsom has said.
In their statement on Tuesday, the FDEM spokesperson pushed back on such claims.
“From left-leaning mayors in El Paso, Texas, and Denver, Colorado, the relocation of those illegally crossing the United States border is not new. But suddenly, when Florida sends [migrants] to a sanctuary city, it’s false imprisonment and kidnapping,” the FDEM spokesperson said.
That echoes what DeSantis has previously said about the migrant flights.
Last year, amid controversy over chartered planes sent to Martha’s Vineyard, a tiny island community off the coast of Massachusetts, DeSantis said the choice to send migrants from Texas and not Florida was a way to prevent a large group of migrants from coming to his state.
“Florida gave them an opportunity to seek greener pastures in a sanctuary jurisdiction that offered greater resources for them, as we expected,” his office said in a statement at the time.
The governor has maintained that many of the migrants who cross the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas plan to travel to Florida and that it is easier to meet them at the source.
Last year, DeSantis suggested complaints over the migrant flights were hypocritical compared with what happens to other people who try to enter the country.
“You’ve had migrants die in the Rio Grande — you had 50 die in Texas in a trailer because they were being neglected,” DeSantis said on Fox News in September. “Was there a freakout about that? No, there wasn’t.”
(NEW YORK) — Nearly 22,530 pounds of beef chili with beans that was meant to be served in schools has been recalled by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
J.T.M. Provisions Company announced the recall of its “frozen, ready-to-eat beef chili with beans products that may be contaminated with extraneous materials, specifically white plastic,” the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) said on Sunday.
The affected items from the Harrison, Ohio-based food manufacturer were produced on Feb. 27.
The products in question include a 30 pound case of “CHILI WITH BEANS” that contains six 5-pound boilable bags of “CP5309 CHILI WITH BEANS” with lot code 23058 printed on the bag, and “February 27, 2023” and lot code 23058 printed on the case, the USDA wrote in the recall announcement.
“The products subject to recall bear establishment number ‘EST. 1917’ inside the USDA mark of inspection on the case. These products were purchased by USDA Foods for the National School Lunch Program (NSLP). These items were shipped to distributors in California, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Wisconsin,” the statement said.
The FSIS was first notified of the problem from the company after it received “a customer complaint about semi-rigid white plastic material found in the frozen, ready-to-eat beef chili with beans.”
As of time of publication, there have been no confirmed reports of adverse reactions due to consumption of these products.
The FSIS said it’s “concerned that some product may be in school freezers or refrigerators” and advised all school nutrition professionals who may have purchased the products not to prepare or consume them.
“These products should be thrown away or returned to the place of purchase,” the agency stated.
Consumers with additional food safety questions are encouraged to call the toll-free USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline at 513-367-4900 or live chat online.
(WASHINGTON) — Former Vice President Mike Pence announced in a video on Wednesday that he is running for president against his former boss — Donald Trump — because, he said, “Different times call for different leadership.”
In the video, however, Pence did not once mention or show an image of Trump or the event which caused their split: the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by a pro-Trump mob.
Instead, Pence cast the contest as a battle for a country that is “in trouble” under President Joe Biden and what Pence calls the radical left.
“We’re better than this. We can turn this country around, but different times call for different leadership. Today, our party and our country need a leader that will appeal, as [Abraham] Lincoln said, to the better angels of our nature,” Pence said in the video. “It’d be easy to stay on the sidelines — but that’s not how I was raised. That’s why today, before God and my family, I’m announcing I’m running for president of the United States.”
Pence is set to kick off his campaign alongside family and supporters on Wednesday afternoon in Iowa, an early-voting state he plans to barnstorm to beat Trump on the road to the Republican presidential nomination.
The former congressman and Indiana governor filed paperwork on Monday with the Federal Election Commission to make his candidacy official.
Pence was a loyal No. 2 to Trump until Jan. 6, 2021 — the climax to Trump’s campaign to try and pressure Pence to reject their Electoral College loss, which Pence was constitutionally unable to do as vice president.
Later, Pence said he hoped Trump “would come around in time, that he would see the cadre of legal advisers that he surrounded himself with led him astray, but he hasn’t done so.”
While Trump has since repeatedly criticized Pence, some others have argued the former vice president should take on Trump to a greater extent.
For example, whereas fellow presidential candidate Asa Hutchinson condemned Trump following Trump’s indictment by a New York grand jury — on charges Trump denies — Pence sounded similar complaints as the GOP’s MAGA wing to try and delegitimize the case. He discouraged the protests the former president called for but noted their First Amendment right to peacefully assemble.
“Pence is very methodical and strategic,” said Doug Heye, a former communications director for the Republican National Committee. “He’s going to take Trump head-on on those things where, politically, he sees the best advantage — and with an eye to history, as he’s obviously trying to do.”
Others, like GOP donor Dan Eberhart, compliment Pence but are concerned with his level of support.
“Mike Pence is a true conservative and a great public servant. He just doesn’t have the support among Republicans that he needs to be competitive. His net favorables with Republicans are 18%. That’s comparable to Dan Quayle when he ran for president,” Eberhart said.
However, Heye said it would be premature for anyone to count Pence out.
“That’s why you see so many people getting in,” Heye said. “They see a vulnerability with Trump, very clearly. And while he’ll certainly have some obstacles, it’s clear that Pence knows his weaknesses better than anyone else.”
Pence is expected to court the evangelical vote, a significant block of Iowans, and campaign on Ronald Reagan-era conservative values. In his launch ad, he showed a photo of himself as a congressman in the Oval Office with Reagan.
Setting the groundwork for a campaign, Pence has already visited Iowa at least eight times this year, and allies launched a super PAC, called “Committed to America,” in May. He also published a memoir, So Help Me God, in November.
“It’s hard to think of anybody who would have more credibility in that community than Mike Pence,” said Heye.
Expanding primary field
Pence is not the only Trump loyalist-turned-challenger jumping into the 2024 race this week.
Former adviser and former ABC News contributor Chris Christie launched his campaign on Tuesday in New Hampshire, another pivotal early-voting state.
Pence joins a crowded primary field — where early polls show Trump is ahead of his competitors right now.
Thus far, Pence and Trump’s major GOP primary challengers are: Christie, Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, Hutchinson, Vivek Ramaswamy and Tim Scott.
(RICHMOND, Va.) — Two people are dead and five others injured after a shooting following a high school graduation in Richmond, Virginia, on Tuesday, police said.
A 19-year-old believed to be involved in the shooting is in custody, and there is no ongoing threat to the community following the incident, Richmond police said. Police said they plan on seeking charges of second-degree murder.
A second person who was initially in custody and who had a firearm was uninvolved in the shooting, police said during a Tuesday night press conference.
The two victims who passed away, an 18-year-old who was a graduating student and a 36-year-old man who was attending the event, suffered life-threatening injuries, police said.
Those who have non-life-threatening injures are 14, 32, 55 and 58 years old, and a 31-year-old remains hospitalized with a life-threatening injury, police said.
Six others were injured in the aftermath of the shooting, including two who fell, one who was hit by a car, and three who were treated for anxiety, police said. A 9-year-old was hit by a car and is currently hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries, police later said.
The shooting occurred around 5:13 p.m. in Monroe Park, near Virginia Commonwealth University, officials said.
Multiple police agencies responded to the scene near the Altria Theater, which was scheduled to host several graduation ceremonies for Richmond Public Schools Tuesday.
A Richmond Public Schools official told ABC News the shooting took place in Monroe Park after the Huguenot High School graduation in the Altria Theater had ended.
Students in graduation gowns could be seen running from the scene amid the police response.
Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney called the shooting a “selfish, senseless act.”
“A child should be able to go to their graduation and walk up to graduation and enjoy the accomplishment with their friends and their families,” Stoney told reporters during a press briefing Tuesday evening.
Thomas Jefferson High School’s graduation ceremony scheduled for Tuesday night has been canceled, and all Richmond Public Schools will be closed on Wednesday “out of an abundance of caution,” the school district said.
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin said state law enforcement are supporting Richmond police in the investigation.
“My administration continues monitoring the terrible shooting in the heart of Richmond tonight,” Youngkin tweeted.
(NEW YORK) — Hazy and dangerous fumes from ongoing Canadian wildfires have engulfed the skies over most of the northeast coast, prompting serious air quality alerts for millions of Americans.
As of Tuesday evening, 17 states have issued those alerts as the thick fumes have blocked the sky and sent people indoors to avoid breathing in the polluted air.
Canadian officials said firefighters are scrambling to put out the blazes in Quebec, where more than 160 forest fires are currently active. The fires are fueled by high temperatures and dry conditions, according to officials.
Here are the latest updates on the situation.
Latest headlines:
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern.
Jun 06, 8:18 PM EDT
Who is at most risk from unhealthy air
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has specific guidance for vulnerable groups if the air quality in their area is deemed “unhealthy.”
While the agency warns that all people will experience adverse side effects from exposure to the unhealthy air it said that those anyone with heart or lung disease, pregnant people, children and the elderly are most sensitive.
Those groups should consider moving all of their activities indoors until the air quality alert is lifted, the EPA said.
Jun 06, 8:03 PM EDT
Northeast covered in haze as forecasters warn of more smoke to come
Millions of people in New York City and other northeast locations scrambled to keep themselves free of the smoky air throughout the day and evening.
The city’s skyline was barely visible for most parts of the day and the smell of the smoke was strong as commuters hit the evening rush.
Large cities with the lowest air quality include New York City, Albany and Cincinnati, a map by Airnow, a website that publishes air quality data, shows.
Another large and dense plume of smoke will be moving down across parts of the Northeast on Wednesday, according to forecasters.
That batch of very dense smoke will push down across the Northeast throughout the day on Wednesday, giving some relief to New England and the Midwest.
-ABC News’ Julia Jacobo, Max Golembo and Daniel Peck
(WASHINGTON) — The gas stove debate is boiling over, but it’s Kevin McCarthy’s speakership that may have been burned.
A procedural first step to take up GOP-backed legislation to prohibit the federal government from banning gas stoves failed Tuesday afternoon — at the hands of 12 GOP lawmakers.
It was merely the first opportunity for House Freedom Caucus members dissatisfied with McCarthy and President Joe Biden’s debt limit deal to revolt publicly against the speaker, joining 208 Democrats to vote down the rule.
While it may be wonky, this procedural hurdle puts the fragility of McCarthy’s speakership on full display.
“We’re not going to live in the era of the imperial speaker anymore,” GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz told reporters after he voted against the rule Tuesday.
“We’re not going to live in an era where our members are punished like this,” the Florida lawmaker said, referring to Rep. Andrew Clyde.
Clyde told reporters earlier Tuesday that GOP leadership threatened not to bring up one of his sponsored bills if he voted against the debt ceiling rule last week.
On the House floor Tuesday afternoon, nearly a dozen Freedom Caucus members — including Gaetz and Clyde — engaged in heated conversations with Majority Leader Steve Scalise and Whip Tom Emmer. Reporters in the gallery could hear the back and forth while the vote was open for more than 40 minutes.
Scalise ultimately switched his vote to no, allowing the GOP to take advantage of a House procedure to bring up the rule vote again later.
The procedural step, H.R. 463, would have provided for the consideration of House Resolutions 1640 and 1615. H.R. 1640, the “Save Our Gas Stoves Act,” would prohibit the Department of Energy from finalizing the energy efficiency rules for gas stoves. H.R. 1615, the “Gas Stove Freedom and Protection Act,” would prohibit the Consumer Product Safety Commission from banning gas stoves as a hazardous product or issuing any product safety standard that would prohibit the sale of gas stoves or make them significantly more expensive.
The CPSC said in January it had no plans to ban gas stoves, although similar efforts have advanced at the state level, such as a law in New York banning natural gas stoves and furnaces in most new buildings.
McCarthy made several concessions to members of his party in his campaign for the speaker’s gavel earlier this year, including allowing a single member to introduce a motion to vacate.
Tuesday marks the first time in nearly 21 years that a rule vote has failed to pass the House. Even on the most contentious pieces of legislation, the majority party is able to deliver enough votes to open up floor debate of the given bill itself.
It also marks the second time in less than a week that McCarthy has faced an uphill battle during a procedural rubber stamp vote due to his slim majority: 222 Republicans to 213 Democrats. When the House needed to pass the rule on the debt ceiling deal last week, the speaker had to rely on 52 Democrats to pass it after he lost 29 GOP defectors.
As McCarthy meets with members of the Freedom Caucus in his office tonight, the chamber is at a standstill until further notice.
ABC News’ Stephanie Ebbs contributed to this report.
(OCALA, Fla.) — The family of Ajike Owens, 35, and their attorney Anthony D. Thomas held a news conference on Monday demanding an arrest be made for the shooting death of Owens, a Florida mother of four. The Owens family is also being represented by civil rights attorney Ben Crump.
Owens was shot and killed last Friday in Ocala, Florida on the doorstep of the suspect’s home, after she went to the suspect’s residence to question the unidentified woman about an alleged dispute with Owens’ children, according to police reports.
“She knocked on [name redacted because not confirmed]’s door, a closed, locked door,” Pamela Dias, Owens’ mother, said at the news conference. “Door never opened. My daughter, grandchildren’s mother was shot and killed with her nine-year-old son standing next to her.”
Marion County sheriff Billy Woods held a press conference earlier the same day. Woods said no arrests have been made yet because his department has to follow due process under Florida Stand Your Ground laws.
“I wish our shooter would have called us instead of taking actions into her own hands,” Woods said. “I wish Ms. Owens would have called us in the hopes we could have never gotten to the point at which we are here today.”
Woods said there was an ongoing feud between Owens and the suspect, and there was a heated confrontation between the two before the shooting. The Marion County sheriff’s office is conducting an investigation with the help of the state attorney to determine if an arrest will be made.
The day of the shooting, the children were playing in a field on the property in which the suspect’s home is located. The suspect allegedly yelled at the children to get off the field, according to Dias.
One of the children left a tablet on the property and went back to the suspect’s home to retrieve it because the suspect allegedly took it into her possession, according to a police report.
The unidentified woman allegedly threw a pair of skates at the child and the minor notified Owens, resulting in Owens going to the suspect’s home, according to Woods. Woods said more than one of Owens’ children may have witnessed the shooting. The children have not been interviewed yet out of respect for the trauma of losing their mother, according to Woods.
“According to the one side, there was a lot of aggressiveness from both of them,” Woods said. “Whether it be banging on the doors, banging on the walls and threats being made. And then at that moment is then when Ms. Owens was shot through the door.”
According to police records, when officers arrived on the scene, they found Owens under a nearby tree with a gunshot wound in an undisclosed location on her body. She had a faint pulse as the officers applied medical aid. Owens was transported to a local hospital where she was pronounced deceased at 9:33 P.M on June 2.
The police transported the suspect to their central operations bureau for an interview, according to police reports. Details of the interview were not disclosed. The suspect did not immediately return ABC News’ request for an interview or statement.
Woods said Florida Stand Your Ground laws make it harder to execute an immediate arrest.
“We have to rule out whether deadly force was justified or not before we can make an arrest,” Woods said. “And sometimes it makes it difficult and sometimes it becomes an obstacle, but only a temporary obstacle because it will be moved and the final answer will come forward.”
(HOUSTON) — Two teenagers have been arrested in connection with a spate of robberies along a popular Houston bike trail, as police look for more suspects in the attacks, authorities said Tuesday.
Since May 16, five people have been robbed and assaulted and “held up at gunpoint” while riding along the Columbia Tap Bike Trail, according to Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner. In the most recent incident, which occurred on Memorial Day, a victim was shot in the leg, police said.
Police believe the incidents could have been committed by the same suspects, Turner said.
Two male juveniles, both 17, have since been charged with robbery and evading arrest, police announced Tuesday. A third suspect has been identified but not yet arrested, police said. It is unclear how many additional suspects are involved, Houston Police Chief Troy Finner said.
“We’re laser-focused on getting everybody that’s involved in these crimes, and any other crime in our city — especially when it involves violence, especially when groups of individuals are terrorizing people,” Finner said during a press briefing on Tuesday. “We will not tolerate it.”
The Columbia Tap Bike Trail runs through Houston’s Third Ward neighborhood. Police presence along the trail has been increased amid the attacks, which primarily have been committed in the late evening, authorities said.
Finner urged people to “be vigilant” and to ride in groups as detectives continue to investigate the cases. He said people can expect to find teams of both uniformed and plainclothes officers on the trail.
“We want to make sure that cyclists, those who are walking on these trails, those who are riding on these trails, that they feel safe in doing so,” Turner told reporters Tuesday.
The city plans to continue to increase resources on the trail into the summer and is looking at adding more cameras to all trails, including the Columbia Tap Bike Trail, Turner said.
“By and large our trails are safe,” Turner said. “I don’t want two or three or four or five individuals who are just making bad decisions to stop the thousands of others from utilizing trails.”
Ellen Schmidt/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
(MANCHESTER, N.H.) — Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie announced he is running for president Tuesday, adding a firm anti-Trump voice to a still growing Republican primary field that has been hesitant to directly take on the former president and early front-runner.
“At every pivotal moment in our history, there was a choice between small and big — and America became the most different, the most successful, the most fabulous light for the rest of the world in history because we always picked big,” Christie said at a town hall event at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire, kicking off his campaign.
“The reason I’m here tonight is because this is one of those moments,” he said.
At the end of a roughly 30-minute speech, Christie, invoking a past conversation between President John Adams and first lady Abigail Adams, vowed to the audience: “I can’t guarantee to you success in what I’m about to do, but I guarantee you that at the end of it, you will have no doubt in your mind who I am and what I stand for and whether I deserve it.”
“So that’s why I came back to Saint Anselm … to tell all of you that I intend to seek the Republican nomination for president of the United States in 2024 and I want your support,” he said.
Elsewhere in his remarks, before he began taking questions from attendees, Christie repeatedly called out Trump as “self-serving” and “self-consumed” and a “mirror hog” incapable of admitting any fault or mistakes.
Christie, a former ABC News contributor, kicked off his campaign in a key early primary state that was also a focus for the former governor during his 2016 campaign, his first attempt at winning the White house.
That bid ended days after the “first-in-the-nation” primary, where he placed sixth despite his extensive efforts in the state. Soon after he dropped out, he endorsed then-candidate Trump and continued to largely back Trump throughout his presidency.
That changed after rioters attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, following a monthslong campaign by Trump and his allies to delegitimize the results of the 2020 election by alleging mass fraud. No evidence has arisen to support those false claims.
Christie joins an already large field that in addition to the former president includes former Ambassador to the U.N. and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is currently polling in second behind Trump.
In reaction to Christie’s campaign launch, a pro-Trump super PAC mostly focused instead on the former president’s current chief rival, writing in a statement, “Ron DeSantis is not ready for this moment, and Chris Christie will waste no time eating DeSantis’ lunch.”
Mike Pence, a former Indiana governor who served Trump’s loyal vice president until the events of Jan. 6, on Monday filed paperwork for his presidential candidacy with the Federal Election Commission and is expected to formally announce his long-expected campaign Wednesday in Iowa.
Doug Burgum, the relatively nationally unknown governor of North Dakota, is also expected to launch his campaign Wednesday.
