(The Center Square) – Republican presidential rivals chose a safe lane while delivering keynote speeches at the annual North Carolina Republican Convention in Greensboro on Friday and Saturday.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was clear in an analogy to reference former President Donald Trump and his legal troubles though he didn’t mention his name, and former Vice President Mike Pence urged patience and prayer.
Trump, in his Saturday night speech, remained defiant of doing anything wrong just as he did with Georgians at their state GOP convention earlier in the day. A 49-page federal indictment against the 76-year-old Republican says Trump mishandled classified documents after his presidency, tried to hide records, and thwarted the probe of the Department of Justice, which raided his Mar-A-Lago home in Florida last year to retrieve the documents. Trump also faces unrelated criminal charges in New York.
Before the indictment was announced by Trump himself last week, the North Carolina event was already scheduled to feature DeSantis on Friday night, Pence at noon on Saturday and Trump in the headliner that evening. All three are among the Republicans vying for the presidency in 2024.
“Is there a different standard for a Democratic secretary of state versus a former Republican president?” DeSantis said during his address to the thousands gathered, referring to Hillary Clinton. “I think there needs to be one standard of justice in this country.”
Clinton was investigated by the FBI during her tenure as secretary of state under former President Barack Obama for using a private email server to store and send classified documents. She was never charged.
“At the end of the day, we will once and for all end the weaponization of government under my administration,” DeSantis said.
DeSantis and a number of Florida Republicans have spoken out against the Trump investigation.
“I’m going to urge patience, encourage people to be prayerful for the former president, but also for all those in authority and for the country going forward,” Pence said during his Saturday appearance.
Trump was greeted by plenty of support in both Georgia and North Carolina, and not just at the Peach State Waffle House he visited. Standing ovations were the norm at both political conventions.
“In the end,” he said in Greensboro, “they’re not coming after me, they’re coming after you, and I’m just standing in the way.”
He told the audience if he’s returned to the White House, “their reign will be over and America will be a free nation once again.”
