“My advice that we should wait until after the midterms was based upon a rather standard landscape. [The Justice Department] set off a nuclear bomb on that landscape yesterday. This is no longer a business-as-usual campaign. Not even close,” said Michael Caputo, a longtime Trump confidant, who previously urged the former President to wait for the 2022 election outcome before diving into a presidential primary.
One senior House Republican personally encouraged Trump on Tuesday to launch a bid before November, a source familiar tells CNN, dismissing concerns among fellow GOP lawmakers that a pre-midterm announcement could galvanize Democratic voters in a political environment that is otherwise considered favorable for Republicans.
Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, one of Trump’s Capitol Hill allies, told reporters he spoke to the former President twice on Tuesday and “the one thing I can tell you is that I believed he was gonna run before [and] I am stronger in my belief now.”
“I think President Trump is determined now more than ever to straighten this country out,” Graham added.
The thinking inside Trump’s orbit and among some of his top allies on Capitol Hill has undergone a notable shift since the search was executed at his waterfront estate, said three well-placed sources. Advisers who initially worried Trump would steal the spotlight from vulnerable Democrats if he announced before November have largely abandoned those concerns, while those who fear the FBI search was prompted by compelling evidence against Trump — and he thus shouldn’t rush into another presidential campaign — become a minority in his orbit. The former President, who previously told aides he was concerned about not being able to tap into the $121 million war chest he’s amassed once he declares his candidacy, is now shrugging off those concerns in the last 12 hours, according to a person close to him.
“Where others see criminal jeopardy, Donald Trump sees dollar signs,” said one person close to the former President.
“Most of the downsides of announcing early are regulatory or financial but the Democrats just guaranteed that Trump will raise three times the money he was going to and probably in the immediate future,” Caputo added.
A second person close to Trump said the episode has injected unity into the GOP, whose leaders were welcoming a contested presidential primary just weeks ago amid frustrations with Trump. This person said they had not seen Republicans “this unified…
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