BYRON DONALDS: Said he would accept being VP pick for candidate facing a $464 million judgment and other unprecedented legal troubles that he is trying to push past the election. PHOTO COURTESY OFWIKIPEDIA

Miami, Fla. – Florida Republican U.S. Congressman Bryon Donalds is among a group of candidates to be former U.S. President Donald Trump’s running mate in a rematch with President Joe Biden in November.

Trump all but wrapped up the Republican nomination after Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley dropped out of the presidential race after the results of Super Tuesday.

During a town hall meeting last week, Trump, who is facing a pile of legal troubles, told Fox News that Donalds, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis are among his top picks for the vice-presidential nomination.

DeSantis was also a presidential candidate but dropped out of the race after dismal results in the Iowa Caucus.

Donalds said on the Will Cain Show he would accept being Trump’s pick for vice president as the GOP front runner is inching closer to wrapping up the nomination. “There’s a lot of people in our party, who frankly have asked if I’m going to be the VP and I keep saying, ‘Look, it’s not my call. That’s Donald Trump’s call and I’m going to support whatever he does.’ But could I do that job? Yeah, I could,” Donalds said.

Donalds said he’s up to the job to be the country’s second Black vice president pointing to his experience in Washington and the Florida Legislation.

Donalds said he agrees with Trump’s comments that Black voters may support him because he compares his indictments to the hurt and discrimination African Americans face each day.

“This is something similar that Black people have had to deal with the justice system themselves,” Donalds said. “Their look of it is real simple: Well dang, if the government is going after him with foolishness, he can’t be that bad, especially considering the fact that Joe Biden is terrible at his job.”

Donalds, who was born in Brooklyn, NY, was elected to Congress in 2020 by defeating Democratic nominee Ciny Banyai.

He garnered enough Republican votes to deny Kevin McCarthy the speakership in the fourth through 11th rounds of voting in the January 2023 U.S. of Representatives election. Donalds was a candidate in the third nomination for the October 2023 speaker election.

Donalds served in the Florida House of Representatives from 2016 to 2020, and after earning his degree in finance from Florida A&M University in 2002, he worked in the finance, insurance and banking industries.

According to reports, Donald was arrested for marijuana distribution in 1997 but the charges were dropped as part of a pre-trial diversion program.

In 2000, he pleaded no contest to a felony bribery charge as part of a scheme to defraud a bank.

After his primary victory over Nikki Haley in her home state, Trump released his list of candidates for vice president which includes Donalds, DeSantis, Abbott, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, who also dropped out of the 2024 presidential race, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noen, former U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, a Republican from Hawaii, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), former Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), former South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

"They’re all solid," Trump told Fox News during a town hall meeting.

But Trump’s legal troubles are clouding his rematch against Biden.

The U.S. Supreme Court will decide if Trump is immune from prosecution for his alleged role in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, and Trump lawyers asked a federal court to set a date for his classified documents trial after the presidential election.

In a civil case in Manhattan, a judgement of a total of $464 million was levied against Trump, two his former organizations and adult sons, who were found liable for fraudulent business activities.

A New York appeals court denied Trump’s request to delay payment of the judgement while his attorneys filed an appeal against the judgement which is pending.

Trump is also facing charges in his hush money criminal trial which is set to begin sometime this month, and the former president has fought efforts to keep him off the ballot in some states including Colorado, Illinois and Michigan.

On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Trump can stay on the ballot in Colorado and other states.