President Trump stuck to the script Tuesday night, supporting West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey’s Senate bid and mostly tuning out the legal travails of his former associates.
The president touched on his usual campaigning points, promising to “build a wall,” to “support ICE,” to promote “fair” trade and pressed the benefits of the 2017 tax reform bill. As he often does, Trump called special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential campaign a “witch hunt” and promised there is “no collusion” after the probe’s first convictions.
After Trump introduced him, Morrisey told the crowd that it was his “honor” to stand beside the president. The attorney general has even copied the president’s 2016 campaign slogan, promising voters he will “Make West Virginia Great Again.”
One thing that was notably missing from the president’s speech was any direct mention of the recent verdict against his former 2016 presidential campaign chairman Paul Manafort or his longtime personal attorney Michael Cohen’s plea deal with federal prosecutors.
Cohen pleaded guilty to eight criminal counts Tuesday evening. The counts range from tax fraud to falsified bank accounts to campaign finance violations. While Cohen did not directly name the president Tuesday when he pleaded guilty of campaign finance violations, he suggested he committed those offenses at Trump’s request.
Manafort was found guilty Tuesday of eight of the 18 charges Mueller has brought against him. The former Trump campaign chairman was found guilty of five counts of tax fraud, one count of failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts and other charges.
[Related: Trump’s ‘bad week’: Manafort found guilty, Cohen enters plea deal]
Incumbent Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., has a steady lead against Morrisey. Polls had Manchin’s lead over Morrisey upwards of 13 percentage points in late May, but those numbers have edged down slightly. Manchin holds roughly a 7-point lead over Morrisey.
The president took 67.9 percent of the vote in West Virginia in 2016, compared to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s 26.2 percent.
Acknowledging that he is maneuvering in a very pro-Trump state, Manchin has embraced the president on a number of occasions. The same day Trump hosted a rally for Morrisey, Manchin announced his full backing of the president’s Affordable Clean Energy plan.
The president is committed to continuing his campaign efforts, like his stop in West Virginia Tuesday. Trump is promising an aggressive campaign schedule through the November midterm elections.
Trump announced plans Tuesday afternoon to visit North Dakota, South Dakota, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, Kentucky, and Tennessee to help Republicans in the midterm elections. The president will spend at least 40 days on the road between Aug. 1 and Election Day. Trump is also weighing the possibility of headlining fundraisers in D.C.
