Republican presidential candidates gear up for final week before Iowa caucuses

Trump tonight called the U.S. economy "fragile" and said he hopes it craters before the next presidential inauguration.

"We have an economy that’s so fragile, and the only reason it’s running now is it’s running off the fumes of what we did," Trump said during a sit-down interview with Lou Dobbs.

"And when there’s a crash, I hope it’s going to be during this next 12 months, because I don’t want to be Herbert Hoover," he added.

Trump frequently claims on the campaign trail that if Biden is re-elected the U.S. would experience an economic crash rivaling the Great Depression.

With just one week until the Iowa caucuses, GOP candidates are targeting former President Donald Trump, the front-runner in the polls for the Republican nomination.

Here’s everything you need to know about how next week’s Iowa Republican caucuses work:

 When do the caucuses take place?

On Monday, Jan. 15, starting at 8 p.m. ET (7 p.m. local).

Who gets to participate?

Trump suggested that if he is re-elected, he would have Biden indicted. His comments came a day before an appeals court hears arguments on his claim that presidential immunity protects him from prosecution for his role in the Jan. 6 attack.

In a post to his Truth Social platform today, Trump said he plans to attend oral arguments on his presidential immunity claim before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit tomorrow, and claimed that it was his obligation as president to find voter fraud.

“Of course I was entitled, as President of the United States and Commander in Chief, to Immunity. I wasn’t campaigning, the Election was long over,” he wrote. “I was looking for voter fraud, and finding it, which is my obligation to do, and otherwise running running our Country.”

Read the full story here.

DES MOINES, Iowa — Iowa GOP Chair Jeff Kaufmann said that while he has no indication from the national party that the state is at risk of losing their first-in-the-nation status, Democrats’ decision to change their election calendar puts the Republican caucuses under more scrutiny.

“My job is also to have my eye on 2028 and especially now since the Democrats have royally screwed everything up,” Kaufmann told state Republican leaders at the party’s annual breakfast to kick off the year’s legislative session.

Following the event, Kaufmann told NBC News that there is no current risk for the Republicans to lose their cherished status but “it didn’t help what the Democrats did.”

Kaufmann also told reporters that he will be hosting Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel in Iowa for the caucuses and plans to bring her and other national GOP officials to watch the voting unfold next Monday night at a local precinct.

Lindsey Pipia contributed.

The New Hampshire attorney general’s office today sent a cease-and-desist order to the Democratic National Committee after the national party demanded state Democrats “educate the public” that their upcoming presidential primary is “meaningless.”

In its letter to the DNC, the New Hampshire attorney general’s office declared that demand to be illegal voter suppression and warned the DNC to stop trashing their primary or risk “further enforcement action.”

“Telling any person qualified to register to vote or vote in New Hampshire that the January 23, 2024, New Hampshire democratic Presidential Primary Election is ‘meaningless’... constitutes an attempt to prevent or deter New Hampshire voters from participating [in the primary]... in violation of RSA 659:40, III,” Assistant Attorney General Brendan O’Donnell wrote in the order to the DNC, citing a portion of the state’s voting rights law.

“This matter remains open, and this Office reserves the right to take further enforcement action based on the actions described in this letter and any other actions that violate State election laws,” O’Donnell concludes.

The DNC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Read the full story here.

Ramaswamy and DeSantis brushed off concerns that freezing temperatures on Iowa caucus night could depress turnout.

Ramaswamy said following a campaign event in Sioux City on Monday that he thought the weather could "work to our advantage" because the people backing him "are not tepid supporters."

DeSantis expressed similar sentiments, telling reporters during a virtual press conference that he would "grin and bear it" in the cold weather and that his supporters are "very passionate folks."

DES MOINES, Iowa — Iowa Republican Party Chair Jeff Kaufmann shrugged off concerns that the frigid weather forecast will significantly affect next week’s caucuses, telling reporters it would take a “major, major ice storm” to derail the voting process.

“I don’t think cold keeps people away,” Kaufmann said, joking that he thinks “it’s kind of cool” that out-of-state reporters will experience sub-zero temperatures while in town to cover the candidates.

Early forecasts for Jan. 15 show dangerously low temperatures with biting windchill. Despite the forecast, Kaufmann said the party has no contingency plans, adding that the caucuses are “like a football game that’s going to go on no matter what.”

Lindsey Pipia contributed.

CLEVELAND — Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, has endorsed Bernie Moreno in his state’s combative Republican Senate primary, signaling consolidation of support around Trump’s preferred candidate in one of the biggest races of 2024.

Jordan, a Trump loyalist and a leading figure on the political right in Ohio, announced his support for Moreno in a statement first shared with NBC News.

“Bernie is a true America First conservative, and will make us proud in the U.S. Senate,” Jordan said. “Our country needs common sense conservative fighters now more than ever. Bernie is a political outsider who has lived the American Dream. His perspective, his grit and his conservative values will serve Ohio well in the U.S. Senate.”

Read the full story here.