Two GOP senators won’t commit to explicit Trump endorsement

Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), in Sunday interviews, would not say whether they would endorse former President Trump’s bid for the White House.

Rounds, in an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union,” avoided explicitly endorsing former President Trump but did commit to supporting the eventual nominee – who, at this point, is presumed to be Trump.

“Well, what I have said is Tim Scott was my first choice. I thought he’d make a great president. Tim Scott has since endorsed the former president. What I said is, I will support the Republican nominee,” Rounds said.

“It becomes a binary choice. Either you want to continue with economic policies that we’ve got today, or you move back into a position where we actually don’t have the world on fire and where our economy is moving forward,” he continued.

When CNN’s Dana Bash pressed whether he is explicitly endorsing the former president, Rounds said, “I’m endorsing the Republican nominee for the presidency. And if that’s Mr. Trump, then that’s the best choice of the two choices that we’ve got.”

Cassidy, on the other hand, would not say whether he would vote for Trump. Cassidy is one of seven Republican senators who voted to convict Trump in the impeachment trial following the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

“At this point, all I will say is that I plan to vote for a Republican for the presidency of the United States,” Cassidy said in an interview on NBC News’s “Meet the Press” when asked about a potential endorsement.

Cassidy repeated this sentiment when pressed two more times.

“The answer I’m going to give, and the answer I’ve given consistently whenever asked on this on Meet the Press, is that I plan to vote for a Republican for the presidency of the United States,” Cassidy said, before repeating this sentiment once more when asked.