SE Illinois News

U.S. House of Representatives candidate for the 12th District Darren Bailey highlighted a recent dinner with former president Donald Trump.

Bailey expressed his determination to challenge the Washington elites and insiders and work towards a brighter future for the country.

“It was great to speak with President Trump again tonight at the Iowa State Lincoln Dinner,” Bailey said in a Facebook post. “I can’t wait to fight with him to take on the elites and insiders in Washington and turn our country around. We need bold and courageous leadership. Families are hurting and our children’s future is at stake. It’s time to take our country back.” 

Bailey, who was the GOP’s gubernatorial nominee in 2022 and served as a state senator before that, is challenging GOP incumbent Mike Bost in the March 2024 primary, SE Illinois News previously reported.

Meanwhile, Trump has been subjected to a cavalcade of criminal inquiries. Trump is facing a series of criminal charges, making him the first current or former US president to do so, according to CNN. The charges include both federal and state indictments, with additional counts recently added by Special Counsel Jack Smith, accusing Trump of attempts to delete surveillance video footage at his Mar-a-Lago resort in 2022. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges and denies any wrongdoing.

The indictments of Trump stand in stark contrast to how Democrat operatives have been handled under the Biden administration, most notably second son Hunter Biden whose federal criminal charges for tax evasion on millions in payments from questionable sources such as Chinese Communist Party members working in the intelligence community. However, last week Hunter Biden's "sweetheart" plea deal on tax and gun charges began to collapse, leading to a plea of not guilty, after a line of questioning by U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika, a Trump appointee, according to New York Post.  

The plea fell apart over concerns about potential future charges, such as unregistered foreign agent work and the decoupling of misdemeanor tax charges from the felony charge of possessing a weapon while addicted to crack cocaine. The judge expressed skepticism of the original deal and gave both sides 30 days to resubmit a revised agreement with clearer language. Trump is the biggest challenger to President Joe Biden who has used his administration to censor opponents online, including those discussing his son’s foreign business dealings of which he is alleged to have benefited financially as well.  

Biden is entrenched in D.C. politics having served as U.S. Senator to Delaware from 1972 until 2009 when he became Vice President.

Biden’s tenure in the U.S. Senate is the 19th longest in the country’s history.