Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) is said to be rising to the top of the list of contenders for former President Donald Trump’s vice presidential running mate.
While the lawmaker was not included in a report earlier in the week about those the Trump campaign asked for information as part of the vetting process for the search for Trump’s VP pick, The Washington Post later reported that he was one of the top candidates asked to submit their documents.
A source close to Trump told The Daily Wire that Cotton “stands out among the other candidates as a battle tested, serious minded lawmaker with exceptional fundraising skills.”
“He’s a fighter that would round out the ticket in a way that is most likely to secure a victory in November,” the source added.
Cotton seems to possess a top quality Trump seeks in people around him, as a report from The Times said that the Republican presidential candidate has praised Cotton behind closed doors as “a reliable and effective communicator in cable news interviews.”
The Arkansas senator’s Ivy League education and his military service are also appealing to Trump.
The news that Cotton is on Trump’s list of top considerations for vice president comes after Cotton passionately defended him during an NBC News interview on June 2, in which he spoke against the prosecution Trump faces and he touted his stellar record as president.
Blasting Trump’s conviction in his hush money trial in Manhattan, Cotton said, “I disagree with the jury’s verdict here. A jury can only act within the constraints that a judge puts on it, and this case was rigged from the very beginning. You had Alvin Bragg, who campaigned on getting Donald Trump. You had the judge, who’s a literal Biden donor, and at every turn he ruled in favor of the prosecution. But as Donald Trump said, the real verdict is going to come on Election Day, and it’s going to come from the American people.”
The real verdict will be decided on November 5th—when the American people will elect Donald Trump because of Joe Biden’s failed policies that have made America weaker. pic.twitter.com/avbQDxWM7o
— Tom Cotton (@SenTomCotton) June 2, 2024
Insisting that Trump is “an innocent man who did nothing wrong,” the lawmaker added, “The reason why you have this weaponization of the legal system is because Joe Biden can’t defend his weak, failed record, and that they – the American people see through it and they remember that Donald Trump brought peace and prosperity to this country.”