前总统唐纳德·特朗普的政治盟友已经开始参加他在纽约州封口费的犯罪活动，其中许多人可能正在与他争夺未来的职位试验随着选举进入第四周，突显出特朗普在必须出庭后如何试图将纽约作为其竞选活动的落脚点。
据特朗普的发言人说，周二，特朗普的前共和党挑战者、现在的坚定支持者维维克·拉马斯瓦米预计将与他一起出庭。周一，共和党参议员万斯(J.D. Vance)和图布维尔(Tommy Tuberville)、纽约州共和党众议员马略塔基斯(Nicole Malliotakis)以及阿拉巴马州的史蒂夫·马歇尔(Steve Marshall)和爱荷华州的布伦纳·伯德(Brenna Bird)出席了会议。佛罗里达州共和党参议员里克·斯科特上周与特朗普一起前往法院。
那些与特朗普一起出现的人强调了这位前总统正在实施的禁言令，该令阻止他谈论潜在的证人、陪审员、检察官或法院工作人员及其家人。
特朗普已经被发现10次违反了禁言令，现在，法官胡安·马尔默威胁说，如果特朗普再次违反禁言令，他可能会被判处监禁，出庭的议员们已经开始为他进行攻击。
星期一，万斯被视为特朗普副总统候选人的特朗普试图抹黑特朗普的前经纪人迈克尔·科恩，谁在周一作证.
“这家伙是一个被定罪的重罪犯，”万斯在曼哈顿法院外谈到科恩时说。“任何通情达理、明智的人都会相信迈克尔·科恩说的任何话吗?“
“总统被阻止说的事情是一个耻辱，那就是参与这次起诉的每一个人实际上都是民主党的政治特工，”他继续说道。
这些政客的声明已经开始呼应特朗普此前的声明和谈话要点。这位前总统此前分享了多篇攻击Merchan法官女儿的文章，她是民主党客户的数字广告顾问，之后检察官要求并获得了一项扩大的禁言令，将家庭成员包括在内。
在特朗普筛选一大堆潜在候选人时，这些露面也是一种忠诚的表现购票人他在4月份表示，短期内没有选择副总统候选人的计划。
特朗普在接受采访时说:“嗯，我不着急，我们会在大会前后的某个时候这样做，但我们共和党有很多优秀的人。”四月份对美国广播公司下属机构WPVI的采访当被问及潜在的副总统候选人时。
由于特朗普仍被困在法庭上，代理人一直能够利用他们在纽约的访问在新闻媒体上露面，重申他的政治和法律信息。同时，这也给了他们一个机会来证明自己是一个可能的竞选伙伴。
副总统候选人也与特朗普一起出现在他离开法庭期间举行的有限竞选活动中。他们还是许多筹款活动的特邀嘉宾。
过去的这个周末，特朗普在新泽西州的维尔德伍德集会时，与北达科他州共和党州长道格·伯根(Doug Burgum)调侃了“一些事情”，后者随后支持了特朗普去年年底中止了自己的总统竞选。博古姆也是周末的演讲嘉宾。
特朗普说:“他靠技术赚钱，但他可能比我认识的任何人都更了解能源，所以做好准备吧。”“好的，准备一下。但道格·伯根表现得令人难以置信。”
在过去几周的筹款电子邮件中，特朗普竞选团队一直在询问他的支持者他们希望看到谁成为他的竞选伙伴，同时通过他们对谁会是竞选伙伴的好奇筹集小额捐款-尽管这位前总统本人一再表示，他不打算在今年夏天共和党全国代表大会之前宣布竞选伙伴。
现在，在未来几周内，他的一系列副总统候选人也将与他一起参加竞选筹款活动，因为他在远离审判的时间里寻求富有的捐赠者。
周二，共和党参议员蒂姆·斯科特和马尔科·卢比奥以及共和党参议员戈夫。来自南达科他州的伯格姆和克里斯蒂·诺姆将与特朗普一起参加在曼哈顿举行的一场高额筹款活动，该活动由亿万富翁金融家霍华德·鲁特尼克主办。
其他主要的共和党捐助者和筹款人也在共同主持，包括前特朗普大使布坎公爵和伍迪·约翰逊、塞里尔和查尔斯·库什纳、亿万富翁约翰·保尔森和WABC老板约翰·卡西马蒂迪斯。前者上个月主持了棕榈滩筹款活动，特朗普在那里筹集了500亿美元。据报道，后者因虚假的选举声明取消了鲁迪·朱利安尼的电台节目。
周三，在审判结束后的休息日，万斯将再次加入特朗普的行列，这一次是在俄亥俄州辛辛那提市的一次午餐筹款活动上。当天晚些时候，特朗普将飞往肯塔基州列克星敦参加由乔·克拉夫特和前大使凯利·克拉夫特主持的另一场筹款晚宴。
周四，特朗普被要求在法庭度过一天，但在5月17日周五——他休假一天参加儿子巴伦·特朗普的毕业典礼——特朗普计划在明尼苏达州为该州共和党的林肯里根晚宴筹集资金。
筹款活动是在特朗普多次公开抱怨对他的审判阻止他前往战场州之际举行的。然而，特朗普已经花了失效的;用过已废的他休庭的大部分时间都在参加闭门会议，自审判开始以来只举行了三次竞选集会——其中两次是在同一天举行的。
Trump allies, potential VP contenders flock to Manhattan courthouse
Political allies of former President Donald Trump, many of whom are possibly jockeying for future positions with him, have begun to attend his New York hush money criminaltrialas it enters its fourth week, highlighting how Trump has attempted to make New York his campaign stomping grounds in the wake of his required court attendance.
On Tuesday, Trump's former Republican challenger and now a staunch supporter Vivek Ramaswamy is expected to attend court with him, according to his spokesperson. His appearance follows attendance from Republican Sens. J.D. Vance and Tommy Tuberville, New York GOP Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, and Republican state attorneys general -- Steve Marshall of Alabama and Brenna Bird of Iowa -- on Monday. Florida GOP Sen. Rick Scott traveled with Trump to court last week.
Those who have appeared with Trump have highlighted the gag order the former president is under, which prevents him from speaking about potential witnesses, jurors, prosecutors or court staff and their families.
Trump has already been found to have violated the gag order 10 times, and now as Judge Juan Merchan threatens Trump with a potential jail sentence should he violate the order again, the lawmakers attending court have begun to make the attacks for him.
On Monday,Vance, who is seen as a contender to be Trump's vice president, attempted to discredit Michael Cohen, Trump's former fixer,who testified on Monday.
"This guy is a convicted felon," Vance said about Cohen outside the Manhattan courthouse. "Does any reasonable, sensible person believe anything that Michael Cohen says?"
"The thing that the president is prevented from saying, which is a disgrace, is that every single person involved in this prosecution is practically a Democratic political operative," he continued.
The statements from the politicians have begun to echo Trump's previous statements and talking points. The former president previously shared multiple articles attacking Judge Merchan's daughter, who is a digital advertising consultant with Democratic clients, before prosecutors asked, and were granted, an expanded gag order to include family members.
The appearances have also been a show of loyalty as Trump wades through a large list of potentialticketmateswith no plans of choosing a vice presidential candidate anytime soon, he said in April.
"Well, I'm not in a rush and we'll do it sometime around the convention, but we have a lot of great people in the Republican Party," Trump said inan interview with ABC affiliate WPVI in April, when asked about a potential vice presidential candidate.
The surrogates have been able to use their New York visits to make news media appearances to reiterate Trump's political and legal messages as he remains stuck in court. At the same time, it gives them a chance to prove themselves as a possible running mate.
Vice presidential hopefuls have also appeared alongside Trump at the limited campaign events he has held during his days off from court. They have also been special guests at numerous fundraisers.
This past weekend as he rallied in Wildwood, New Jersey, Trump teased "something" with North Dakota GOP Gov. Doug Burgum, who endorsed Trump aftersuspending his own presidential bid late last year. Burgum was also a guest speaker over the weekend.
"He made his money in technology, but he probably knows more about energy than anybody I know, so get ready for something," Trump said. "OK, just get ready. But Doug Burgum has been incredible."
In fundraising emails over the last few weeks, the Trump campaign has been asking his supporters who they want to see as his running mate, at the same time fundraising small-dollar donations off their curiosity over who it would be -- even as the former president himself has repeatedly said he doesn't plan to make his announcement until closer to the Republican National Convention this summer.
Now, in the coming weeks, a slew of his vice presidential hopefuls are also joining him at campaign fundraisers as he courts wealthy donors during his time away from the trial.
On Tuesday, Republican Sens. Tim Scott and Marco Rubio, and GOP Govs. Burgum and Kristi Noem of South Dakota are set to join Trump at a high-dollar fundraiser in Manhattan, hosted by billionaire financier Howard Lutnick.
Other major Republican donors and fundraisers are cohosting, include former Trump ambassadors Duke Buchan and Woody Johnson, Seryl and Charles Kushner, billionaire John Paulson, who had hosted the Palm Beach fundraiser last month where Trump raised $50 billion, and John Catsimatidis, the WABC owner who reportedly canceled Rudy Giuliani's radio show over false election claims.
On Wednesday, on his day off from the trial, Vance will join Trump again, this time at a luncheon fundraiser in Cincinnati, Ohio. Then later that day, Trump is flying out to Lexington, Kentucky, for another dinner fundraiser, hosted by Joe Craft and former Ambassador Kelly Craft.
On Thursday, Trump is required to spend the day in court, but on Friday, May 17 -- the day he got a day off from court to attend his son Barron Trump's graduation -- Trump is scheduled to headline a fundraiser in Minnesota for the state Republican Party's Lincoln Reagan Dinner.
The fundraisers come as Trump has publicly complained multiple times that his trial is preventing him from traveling to battleground states. However, Trump has spentspentmost of his off-days from court attending closed-door meetings, only holding three campaign rallies since his trial started -- two of which came on the same day.
