Trump back in court after private donor retreat

Former President Donald Trump was back in court today on the heels of a private retrieve for campaign donors at Mar A Lago over the weekend. Guests were told that in April, $76 million was raised between the campaign itself and the Republican National Committee. Among the the attendees, several contenders to be his running mate this November. And CBS News chief election and campaign correspondent Robert Costa joins us now from New York. Bob, good to see you there. I know you’re in New York covering the trial, but I do want to talk a little bit about this retreat at Mar a Lago over the weekend and in terms of kind of what the campaign, what the Trump campaign was trying to focus on there. Good to be with you. While former President Donald Trump has been inside the courthouse behind me all day sitting for his criminal trial over those hush money payments to Stormy Daniels back in 2016, his campaign continues to plow ahead. And despite all of these legal challenges, Trump is trying to rally not only his supporters, but some of the biggest Republican donors in the country to stand with him, and he gathered with many of them over the weekend. What’s most notable, based on our reporting at CBS News, is that Trump was searing in his criticism of these legal challenges, particularly of this trial, but also of Special Counsel Jack Smith at the federal level. He compared all of these prosecutions to the Gestapo, the secret police from Nazi Germany. It’s of course a false statement to be made. He is being prosecuted here at a local level, in Manhattan, also at a federal level in the United States justice system, Not, of course, by the Nazis, but that kind of rhetoric from Trump indicates where he is politically. The donors are sticking with him, despite him having all of these issues, despite him using language like that. And he is testing the bounds of what he can say about all of these cases to the point where the judge, as we know, said this morning, if you don’t stop talking about jurors in this case, you will face potential imprisonment. Yeah. Yeah, Bob, I want to get to that in a moment because that’s so critical here because the former president is it’s not like he’s stopping campaigning. And what’s also interesting about this donor retreat that he had was that, you know, he entertained several potential vice presidential picks possibly. Is there any indication that we have about who he may be leaning towards at this moment? Of course, we may anticipate that he doesn’t make this decision for quite a while. Earlier today, the South Dakota governor, Kristi Noem, was on CBS mornings. I got to spend some time with her behind the scenes here in New York, coincidentally. And what’s notable is that she is being advised by Corey Lewandowski, the former 2016 Trump campaign manager. Corey Lewandowski was here in New York as the governor launches her, her latest book, and that shows you that she is close to Trump’s orbit. Lewandowski remains close to Trump. No remains close to Trump. But regardless of what happens with this book, roll out or not, she is not someone who’s guaranteed the spot, but she’s certainly not someone who’s out of the mix at all. She is one of a number of names I’m hearing from Trump allies, Trump donors, about who could be the running mate for Trump in the next few months. I’m also hearing another person from the Dakotas, Doug Burgum, the governor of North Dakota. He is someone who is very wealthy, A businessman, built a tech business in his state that was later bought by Microsoft. He is seen by someone by Trump who would be a help to him on the ticket in the sense that he appeals to traditional Republicans as well as to Trump people. And you also hear names like Senator Tim Scott, Senator JD Vance, among many others. Some people seem to be floating their own names from time to time because it seems to be an open ball game. Indeed, we have seen a lot of jockeying and positioning. And if we know anything from from the last time around, kind of seeing this play out in public is something that we’re likely to see as well, this audition process, so to speak. Bob, thank you very much for covering the campaign and the courtroom for us today. We appreciate it.