Just last week, former Vice President Mike Pence said he hoped federal prosecutors would not bring charges against former President Donald Trump. On Wednesday, a day after Trump was arraigned on dozens of felony counts related to classified documents, Pence described the allegations as “a very serious matter." “I cannot defend what is alleged,” Pence, who is now challenging Trump for the Republican presidential nomination, said on CNBC. The former vice president's evolving message highlights the high-stakes dilemma for Trump's Republican rivals, who are struggling to find a clear and consistent strategy to take on the frontrunner as Trump’s unprecedented legal troubles threaten to dominate all other issues in the 2024 presidential contest. Some Republican leaders this week have demonstrated a newfound willingness to criticize Trump over the seriousness of the allegations, which include mishandling government secrets that as commander in chief he was entrusted to protect. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a former naval officer and Trump's top rival for the nomination, said that “if I would have taken classified (documents) to my apartment, I would have been court-martialed in a New York minute.” But that was just a brief mention in a weekend speech at a North Carolina GOP gathering, during which he focused his censure on the Justice Department and the Biden administration. It's been much the same for other challengers. Even the most aggressive have layered their criticism of Trump with attacks against the Justice Department — for bringing charges against him — that make it difficult at times to determine exactly where they stand on the former president. And that’s precisely the point, given Trump’s continued popularity among GOP voters and his rivals' desire to dent his lead without alienating his base. Indeed, most of Trump's competitors are making a risky bet — for now — that the weight of his extraordinary baggage will eventually sink his reelection bid. They believe it will take time. Trump's Republican opponents privately concede that the former president’s considerable political strength is likely to grow stronger, at least in the short term, as GOP voters, key officials and conservative media leaders rally around him. For example, Pastor Robert Jeffress, of the First Baptist megachurch in Dallas, initially declined to endorse Trump's 2024 bid but declared Tuesday night that the GOP's presidential primary was all but over. “I thought there would be almost a civil war in the Republican Party for the nomination, but that quickly turned into an unconditional surrender,” said Jeffress, who mingled at Trump's post-indictment gathering at Bedminster, New Jersey. "People absolutely love this president, and I believe his base is going to turn out.” The Republican establishment has tried and failed to reject Trump and his divisive politics for much of the last decade. But this time the GOP faces the very real possibility that a man who has been indicted twice and charged with dozens of felonies could become the party’s standard-bearer in 2024. Fighting that outcome, which once seemed all but inevitable, a powerful conservative voice is being raised in the fight for the first time. The Koch network’s political arm, Americans for Prosperity, has begun running online ads across Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina — the first three states on the GOP’s presidential primary calendar — focusing on questions about Trump’s electability in next fall’s general election against Biden. The new ads make no mention of his legal troubles. “Trump did a lot of good things as president," one of the ads says. “But this time, he can’t win.” Americans for Prosperity CEO Emily Seidel said her organization has talked to thousands of voters in key states to determine the most effective arguments to undermine Trump’s political strength. “Based on the data we’re collecting, more than two-thirds of people who say they’re supporting Trump are also receptive to arguments that he is a weak candidate, his focus on 2020 is a liability, and his lack of appeal with independent voters is a problem,” Seidel said. "That tells us that many Republicans are ready to move on — they just need to see another candidate step up and show they can lead and win.” So far, Trump's rivals are still trying to find their footing as the former president commands a big lead in early Republican primary polls. And as they test evolving messages on the campaign trail and in media appearances, none of top-tier competitors are running paid advertisements seizing on Trump's legal troubles. Republican presidential contender Nikki Haley, the former ambassador to the United Nations in the Trump administration, told Fox News on Monday that Trump was incredibly “reckless with our national security” if the allegations in the indictment are true. On Tuesday, she repeated the pointed criticism, but also said she’d be inclined to pardon Trump if he’s convicted. “I think it would be terrible for the country to have a former president in prison for years because of a documents case,” Haley said on the Clay Travis and Buck Sexton radio show. Others have made defending Trump a central message in their early campaigns. Speaking outside the Miami courthouse on Tuesday, White House hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy announced that his campaign had sent a letter to other 2024 candidates challenging them to join his pledge to pardon Trump on their first day in office. “I respectfully request that you join me in this commitment or else publicly explain why you will not," it read. Trump, meanwhile, is trying to take advantage of the media storm. After his appearance in federal court in Miami, he made a stop at the city's famed Versailles Restaurant in Little Havana, with news cameras in tow. He then headed home to his Bedminster summer residence, where aides had assembled hundreds of supporters, club members and reporters for a post-arraignment speech. Trump was welcomed like a general returning home from battle. Insisting he was innocent of all charges, the former president vowed that, as president, he would appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Biden and his family. As for the indictment and charges? “This is called election interference and yet another attempt to rig and steal a presidential election,” Trump said. As they reckon with the fact that Trump faces years behind bars, as well as the logistical complications of balancing court appearances with campaign rallies, Trump's political advisers have stressed what they see as the political benefits. They believe the wall-to-wall coverage of his legal woes makes it difficult for his competitors to be heard, a point that other campaigns acknowledged privately. “From a campaign standpoint, I mean, what did the other candidates do today? Do we know?” asked Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung. “There’s no oxygen for the other candidates." Those other candidates are eager to highlight cracks in Trump's support, although for now, they appear to be modest. On Capitol Hill, a small but growing Republican minority of lawmakers have recently described the new federal charges against Trump as serious. “I would not feel comfortable with a convicted felon in the White House,” Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., told CNN. He pointed to Trump’s attacks against Hillary Clinton, who was accused of mishandling classified documents in her emails in 2016. “His words have set the standard.” Veteran Republican strategist Ari Fleischer warned that it would take time to understand the political impact of Trump's growing legal challenges. “A short-term rally around Trump now is not the true measure," Fleischer said. “The only test is a long-term test.” ___ Peoples reported from New York. Associated Press writer Ali Swenson in New York contributed to this report. Read More Ivanka and Jared split over attending Trump 2024 launch – follow live Why was Donald Trump impeached twice during his first term? 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“If you don’t improve I’m selling you.” A young Jess Carter is sat in the middle of a white-walled room at Chelsea’s training ground in Cobham, a tactics board behind her, a fleet of analysts and fitness staff, all armed with laptops, positioned on the outside, quietly looking in. Carter is chewing gum and looks bored, frustrated to have been hauled aside to hear the same old message. Facing her is Emma Hayes. “I want you to show every f***ing day that you give a f*** about yourself,” Hayes says. “It’s up to you to decide your future.” Four years later, it is clear what future Carter decided to choose. Now 26, the Chelsea defender is an established England international, having just played a key role in the Lionesses reaching the World Cup final this summer. When Carter first arrived at Chelsea, Hayes found a player who struggled to keep herself fit or follow a regimented diet. Chelsea’s fitness staff were exasperated and Carter’s confidence was on the floor: she did not think she was good enough to play for her country, but Hayes saw and believed in her potential and, crucially, how it could be brought out. What followed won’t be included on Hayes’s list of honours or medals when the manager leaves Chelsea at the end of the season. “Highly decorated” does not even begin to cover what Hayes has achieved at Chelsea, or the legacy she will leave behind following Saturday’s shock news that this season will be her last at Stamford Bridge and Kingsmeadow. Under Hayes, the days of triumph and glory Chelsea have celebrated since her appointment in 2012 have been unrivalled, stretched across an unprecedented decade of dominance. Yet if the dynasty Hayes built can be measured in titles, its foundations are in success stories like Carter’s – and the manager who set the environment where she could become the player she is today. “If you sleepwalk your way through life, you won’t survive,” Hayes goes on to say in the DAZN documentary One Team, One Dream. Certainly, it reveals some insights into the ruthless trophy-winning machine that has dominated women’s football in England over the last decade, claiming six Women’s Super Leagues, five Women’s FA Cups and two League Cups, and which in recent years has barely given anyone else a sniff. That could change now Hayes will be leaving the WSL, heading towards a position that is outside club football altogether. The 47-year-old is expected to take up the vacancy at the United States women’s national team, with the four-time World Cup winners yet to appoint a permanent successor to Vlatko Andonovski after their disastrous last-16 exit from this year’s tournament. Hayes is said to be US Soccer’s first choice for the job and reports in the US suggest she is set to be offered an equal salary to the men’s head coach Gregg Berhalter, at £1.3m per year. Given Hayes’s record in women’s football, such an offer from US Soccer should only be considered the minimum. The English manager is the outstanding club coach in the women’s game and the only area that Chelsea have fallen short in has been in their pursuit of a first Champions League title, after reaching the final in 2021 and the semi-finals last season. It would be fair to include this as a criticism, given how Hayes has been backed by Chelsea and the resources available to the club. After all, it was that support that led to Chelsea signing Sam Kerr, the striker who took Hayes’s side to another level and whose taste for the big moments came to mirror their own sense of inevitability. But in dominating the domestic scene, Hayes created a culture where the values of graft and grind were placed on a pedestal. Over the years, much of their trophy procession felt self-fulfilling. It came from the top, where Hayes reinforced the message and stamped out complacency at the start of every season, sustaining Chelsea’s superiority in a league that was so often decided by fine margins. If the history of team sports shows there are often natural, unavoidable drop-offs in performance and motivation following periods of success, there has been little hint of that at Chelsea in recent years. Which is what makes Hayes’s potential move to the USA so fascinating. “Arrogance” and “complacency” were the very words used to describe how the USA ceded their position as the dominant force in international women’s football, as illustrated by their disastrous defence of their World Cup title in Australia and New Zealand. Their performances up to and including that last-16 defeat to Sweden highlighted a squad that was long past its best, and a system where players had the power and were picked based on their reputations. Naturally, many of the issues that Hayes may inherit will lie below the surface and could take years to resolve, primarily in how the US has fallen behind Europe in the production of young talent. Hayes’s previous experience before arriving at Chelsea is set to be beneficial, given she started her coaching career in the US college system in the early 2000s and landed her first professional managerial position with the Chicago Red Stars in the National Women’s Soccer League. As Hayes will remain with Chelsea until the end of the season, which would surely be too late to be considered available to lead the US at the Paris Olympics next summer, there will be time to assess what is required ahead of what would be her primary goal of recapturing the World Cup in 2027. But it is in the dressing room where Hayes’s immediate targets and her strictest standards will be made clear – just like she told Carter all those years ago. “Get better or I’ll get someone else.” Perhaps the USA have not heard enough of that in recent years. Now a team in need of a reset will be charged with the ultimate cultural makeover. Before then, though, there are more trophies with Chelsea to win.

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