If it’s WEDNESDAY… Special counsel examines 2020 meeting where Donald Trump was briefed on U.S. election system’s integrity… Vote to legalize abortion in Ohio qualifies for the ballot in November… Nikki Haley, in New Hampshire, holds a discussion on the fentanyl crisis… And in federal court in Delaware, Hunter Biden is expected to plead guilty to two misdemeanor counts of failing to pay his taxes.
But FIRST... With less than six months until the first GOP presidential contest, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ problems are piling up.
His campaign has fired more than 40% of its original staff, NBC’s Matt Dixon and Jonathan Allen report.
Despite raising $20 million in the last fundraising quarter, nearly $14 million came from maxed-out donors who can’t donate again (though DeSantis’ super PAC still has plenty of money to pitch in).
Casting himself as the GOP’s more electable choice, he’s taken unpopular positions for a general election — such as Florida’s six-week abortion ban, reforms to Social Security and Medicare, and possibly pardoning Jan. 6 rioters.
And he doesn’t have the longstanding history and biography that past presidential candidates who eventually turned around their struggling campaigns — like John Kerry in 2004 and John McCain in 2008 did — to win the nomination.
But DeSantis’ biggest obstacle is the man who continues to have a stranglehold over today’s Republican Party: Donald Trump.
A Monmouth University poll released Tuesday found 69% of GOP voters saying Trump is either “definitely” or “probably” the party’s strongest candidate against President Biden.
The same poll showed 47% of Republican voters saying they’re not concerned about the multiple criminal indictments Trump is facing, with another 25% saying they’re not too concerned.
And our own NBC News poll from last month found 49% of Republican primary voters saying Trump should remain the party’s leader — which is a big number in a multi-candidate field.
So even if DeSantis was doing everything right — keeping his campaign’s spending under control, raising tons of money of small-dollar donors, pursuing popular policies with an eye on the general election — he’d be facing a difficult challenge against Trump.
But it’s even harder with all of DeSantis’ self-inflicted problems.
Headline of the day
Data Download: The number of the day is … 495,938
That’s how many signatures supporters of an Ohio constitutional amendment on abortion rights collected, more than enough to earn a spot on the ballot this November.
The group needed only more than 413,487 valid signatures in a certain number of counties to make the ballot, and GOP Secretary of State Frank LaRose, who is also running for Senate, certified in a letter Tuesday that supporters of the amendment exceeded that threshold.
But before Ohioans can directly vote to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution, they’ll first head to the polls in August to vote on a constitutional amendment that would increase the portion of votes needed to pass future constitutional amendments. If the August measure passes with a simple majority, future constitutional amendments (including the one on abortion) will need over 60% of votes in favor to pass.
Read more about the amendments on the Meet the Press Blog.
Other numbers to know
8: The number of search warrants and affidavits filed in the federal classified documents case against Trump.
340,000: The number of UPS workers covered by a tentative agreement between the shipping company and the Teamsters, as negotiators try to avert a strike.
3: The number of times that a Russian fighter jet had a near-collision with a U.S. drone over Syria this month.
70%: The portion of donor-related and legacy applicants to Harvard University that are white, groups allege in a complaint that led the Education Department to investigate the school’s legacy admissions policy.
18: The number of months one Jan. 6 rioter, who was identified by the letterman jacket he wore in photos of the riot, was sentenced to prison.
5: The number of years on man was sentenced to prison for his role in the “We Build the Wall” fundraising fraud scheme alongside Steve Bannon, who has also been charged for his role in the effort.
60: How many days a state of emergency declared by Ecuador’s president will last in the country amid a wave of violence there.
101.1: The temperature, in degrees Fahrenheit, of the water in Manatee Bay on Monday, as waters in South Florida continue to get warmer.
Eyes on 2024: Trump on the trail amid possible indictment
Former President Donald Trump has still been active on the campaign trail and on social media as he awaits a potential indictment for his role in trying to overturn the 2020 election and in the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the Capitol.
On Tuesday he headed to New Orleans for a closed-door fundraiser and made a stop at the famous Cafe Du Monde. Dozens of supporters turned out to the airport to greet Trump. Marcus Cleaver, a 51 year-old Republican from Covington, La., told NBC News’ Jake Traylor that an indictment would be “a badge of honor.”
“When you have this many people coming after one man, relentlessly, I think it’s wise to follow that man,” Cleaver said.
For his part, Trump has continued to stress his innocence. Asked by Traylor if he is concerned that some in his orbit have been testifying in the case, Trump said at the airport, “We’re innocent, we’re totally innocent. We have a bunch of crooked people running this country. They’re dishonest and crooked people running this country.”
Meanwhile, Trump has continued to post missives on his Truth Social platform, per NBC News’ Olympia Sonnier, targeting Special Counsel Jack Smith and Attorney General Merrick Garland, calling the investigations into his conduct political persecution.
Trump’s campaign also has continued to fundraise off of a potential indictment, Sonnier reports.
“We all know that change cannot and will not come from within this poisonous, corrupt justice system,” read one missive on Tuesday afternoon. “Rather, at this pivotal moment in our nation’s history — as America is teetering on the brink of tyranny — our only hope of justice will come from YOU.”
In other campaign news …
Christie sharpens his elbows: NBC News’ Nnamdi Egwuonwu and Emma Barnett report on how former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is sharpening his lines of attack against other candidates besides Trump.
All hawkeyes on the GOP candidates: Iowa Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds is sitting down with a handful of Republican presidential candidates for interviews at the Iowa State Fair next month. Trump is not on the list, but Fox News reports that Reynolds invited the whole field.
Leave a dollar, take a $20: Miami Mayor Francis Suarez is the latest candidate promising to give donors money in exchange for them contributing to his campaign.
Abortion in the courtroom: Iowa’s Supreme Court agreed on Tuesday to hear an appeal of a lower court order that blocked a six-week abortion ban GOP Gov. Kim Reynolds signed into law earlier this month, NBC News’ Jillian Frankel and Alex Tabet report.
Pence feels the pressure: Former Vice President Mike Pence’s campaign is imploring donors to give to his campaign explicitly so that he can make the first GOP presidential debate in August, NBC News’ Sarah Dean reports. “Our numbers are getting extremely close, and we are more confident than ever that he’ll be on the debate stage in August,” the campaign said.
ICYMI: What ELSE is happening in the world:
Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s suggestion that the House could begin an impeachment inquiry into Biden “drew a blend of praise and skepticism from GOP colleagues,” writes NBC News’ Sahil Kapur.
Documents obtained by a conservative group show that Commander, one of the Biden family dogs, bit multiple Secret Service officers.
