Group of donors later tonight. kristen, trump has been defiant, obviously, about this indictment and interviews on social media. what are you learning about what he s going to say tonight? reporter: well, anderson, that stop that we saw is just the beginning of what will be him attempting to paint this and play this out in the court of public opinion rather than in an actual courthouse. this is straight from the trump playbook, and we expect to hear trump say the exact same things we have been hearing for the last several weeks, and particularly over this weekend. he s going to call it election interference, saying that it is a witch hunt, that this is all political, that this is all because he is running for president in 2024, and he s going to be saying it to a sympathetic crowd. this area is going to be filled with supporters, the bedminster club patrons as well as as you noted, those high dollar donors that are going to be behind me here. tommy tuberville, the senator is going to be here as well as mike lin lindell, a real who s who of maga world, some of his most staunch supporters, and that s something he has started to do
Several days that this had really become the trump show. florida governor ron desantis was not here. former vice president mike pence also not here. they have notably skipped the event. instead it was a who s who of maga world, cleeding speakers like don jr. and matt gaetz who supported trump in 2024. but it also showed the deepening divide in the republican party and just how ugly this primary is expected to get. all right, thank you so much for that. let s turn now to southern california and the weather there. i mean, some residents in the mountains are still buried under several feet of snow after a severe winter storm lashed the region this week. you can see what it says, help us there in the snow. wow. incredible pictures. many are getting more and more frustrated as they are running out of food, medicine and gas as roads remain closed.
Already started to take on desantis. of course, desantis himself has not entered the presidential race but he is seen as trump s most formidable opponent should he decide to do so. and it was very clear here as we were walking around cpac for several days that had had become the trump show. florida governor ron desantis was not clear. former vice president mike pence also not here. they notably skipped the event. instead, it was a who s who of maga world, including a number of speakers like don jr. and matt gaetz when supported trump in 2024. but it did also show the deepening divide in the republican party and just how ugly this primary is expected to get. thank you for that. joining me now to discuss is daniel strauss, senior political correspondent for the new republic. good morning, daniel. thank you for getting up early for us. what are your big takeaways especially from last night in this speech from the former
Us. it sounds like a full house there. what can you tell us about those speeches and what could be expected from trump today? reporter: well, certainly, it is actually smaller than previous years, however we are seeing a very trump centered crowd and we expect to hear from the former president today, him making his pitch to be the president in 2024, the republican nominee, and we expect the crowd to be much more enthusiastic than we have seen for nikki haley and for mike pompeo. now, the reason for that is that cpac used to be the premiere gathering space for conservatives, and it is a place that you could not miss if you wanted to run for president. now, it seems a lot more like a who s who of maga world. it is clearly the trump show here. and several of those potential 2024 republican hopefuls ended up skipping this event all together. that includes florida governor ron desantis. former vice president mike pence. as well as south carolina senator tim scott. now, it did not stop all of the enthusiasm for trump, it did not
What do you think we re going to hear from the former president in this address? reporter: well, jim, what we re going to hear from him is pitching himself for 2024 but it s going to be to a really enthusiastic crowd. he s not going to go after governor ron desantis by name. he ll contrast his policies when it comes to social security and medicare. however, i do want you to know, this event has become maga country. everyone here is incredibly trump focused. even the branding seems to be all about maga and all about trump. that being said, that means that trump is probably going to feed off of the audience here. it is a very receptive audience. we are getting warnings from advisers that we re not exactly sure if he s going to end up riffing or not because this is the fact it s such a receptive audience. this has really become a who s
Were there. yeah. that s right, don. this event has become a who s who of maga world. we have seen the popular movie stars and the maga wing of congress we saw representative matt gaetz, marjorie taylor-greene and, of course, trump himself is speaking on saturday. but notably missing. almost all of the major 2024 republican hopefuls, including florida governor ron desantis who had several people disappointed. dueling cattle calls for 2024 republican hopefuls. outside washington welcome to cpac, everyone. the conservative political action conference. for years a launching pad for aspiring presidential candidates. now largely the trump show. we have to secure this border. if you don t like him, then you don t like me. with the former president headlining the three day