Trump's vice presidential contenders show their support — and loyalty — in court

With his hush money trial still in full swing, former President Donald Trump’s vice presidential prospects have turned the lower Manhattan courthouse into a proving ground.

Several of the most frequently mentioned contenders to join Trump’s ticket have started to show up at 100 Centre St. in support of Trump. The trial has practically become a de facto campaign stop in recent weeks, as the former president and his allies — many wearing signature Trump red ties — have capitalized on breaks in the court’s proceedings to address the press, often deriding the legal thinking and the prosecutors behind the charges and attacking President Joe Biden.

Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, the first serious vice presidential contender to visit the trial, described Trump on Monday as “in great spirits despite the circumstances,” echoing many of the president’s criticisms of the trial.

“I think this trial is absolutely ridiculous. I think it’s a sham prosecution,” Vance told reporters outside the courthouse in an impromptu press conference, going on to attack Judge Juan Merchan and members of his family — a topic that is off-limits to Trump himself, due to a court-imposed gag order against the defendant.

Inside the courtroom, Vance posted his observations from the trial on X.

“I saw a media report a few days ago that Trump looked like he was falling asleep or bored or something. The obvious narrative they’re trying to sell is ‘yeah Biden is mentally unfit but this other guy is bad too,’” Vance wrote after describing the courtroom as “dingy.”

“I’m 39 years old and I’ve been here for 26 minutes and I’m about to fall asleep,” Vance added.

Trump arrived at court Tuesday with yet more potential running mates in tow. Trump was flanked by North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida and former GOP presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy, among others, as he delivered remarks before entering the courtroom.

Hours later, in their own press conference in a park outside the courthouse, the trio of VP hopefuls painted a similar picture to the one Vance illustrated the day before: staunch defense of their party leader, punctuated by claims that the trial unfolding inside is a form of election interference.

“The American people have already acquitted Donald Trump,” Burgum said, citing Trump’s lead over Biden in recent battleground-state polls.

“The sooner that this scam trial can be concluded, the sooner that the president can get back to getting out campaigning and talking to the American people about the issues that matter to them,” he continued.

Ramaswamy, in his own remarks, compared the trial to a “Kafka novel” and said the “prosecution’s main strategy appears to be to bore the jurors into submission.”

As Trump spends the majority of his weeks inside the courtroom and his legal fees pile up, siphoning money from his political operation, fundraising has also proven a key vice-presidential test for those seeking to curry favor with Trump.

Several potential running mates will attend a big-dollar fundraiser alongside the former president on Manhattan’s Upper East Side after court on Tuesday. And many of the people on Trump’s vice presidential long-list flexed their relationships with donors earlier this month at the Republican National Committee’s spring retreat in Palm Beach, Florida.

Trump’s timeline for selecting his 2024 ticket-mate still remains mostly unclear. As of early May, Trump’s team had yet to move past the early stages of vetting prospective vice presidents, according to multiple sources familiar with the process.

Trump himself often punts on the exact timing of an announcement, including as recently as last week, when he said that he may not broadcast his final pick until the Republican convention in mid-July.

“I don’t think I’ll be announcing before the convention,” Trump said in an interview with Miami’s Telemundo 51.

“I think we’ll be doing it around that time,” he added.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com