(TheConservativeTimes.org) – Former national security adviser and retired Gen. Keith Kellogg slammed former Vice President Mike Pence, expressing his disappointment with Pence’s remarks on the recent grand jury indictment against former President Donald Trump, who he subsequently endorsed. While Kellogg respects Pence’s service, he believes Pence has a leadership deficit compared to the bold rhetoric and style of Trump, who challenges the status quo rather than avoiding confrontation.
The indictment focuses on the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election, which the grand jury believes led to Trump making false claims which defrauded state legislators and election officials, obstructed Congress’ electoral certification process, and hindered the right to vote for Americans. Special Counsel Jack Smith will have to argue that Trump had the knowledge that remarks about the 2020 election were false and prove that claims made by Trump are knowingly false, which could be particularly difficult.
In the wake of the indictment, Pence condemned Trump for attempting to make him violate the Constitution and said he would not rule out serving as a witness for the prosecution. Another Republican critic and 2024 presidential candidate, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, also attacked Trump, saying that he believes Trump deserves indictment due to his actions, which he asserts helped to obstruct the electoral certification. However, despite some Republican critics hoping for a successful prosecution, Trump lawyers are increasingly confident that their argument that Trump’s remarks were political speech will lead to a not guilty verdict.
Kellogg’s endorsement doesn’t signal that the remaining 2024 Republican presidential field condemns Trump. Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy slammed the indictment as un-American and a political prosecution against the Republican frontrunner by the Biden administration. And Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis hopes the charges pressed against Trump are not successful. Despite this, Kellogg’s decision for Trump continues to indicate the gradual consolidating of support in the Republican primary Trump is garnering. According to FiveThirtyEight aggregate polling, Trump leads with 53.3%, DeSantis follows with 14.3%, Ramaswamy has 6.7%, and all the other candidates are below 5%, which indicates that Trump may dominate the nomination process even despite the indictment.
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