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Rick Santorum |
Former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) is throwing his support behind controversial presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
"I'm 100 percent," Santorum said Tuesday during an interview on Fox News's "On The Record," when asked if he was supporting or endorsing Trump. "That's endorse."
Santorum, who backed Marco Rubio after dropping out of the race himself in February, said he spoke with Trump more than a week ago and he said the businessman asked for his support.
The former Senator indicated a top reason for endorsing Trump is the vacant Supreme Court seat. Santorum said he made a couple suggestions for Trump's list of potential nominees.
"The most important issue is preserving the Constitution of this country and a liberal Supreme Court will destroy it," Santorum said.
Santorum echoed that sentiment in an email to supporters on Tuesday night distributed through his Patriot Voices email list, in which he discussed attending Justice Antonin Scalia's funeral in February.
"Over the past several weeks, I’ve had numerous conversations with senior members of the Trump Campaign, including a long heart-to-heart with Donald Trump," Santorum wrote, saying he was "incredibly encouraged" when Trump included some of his suggestions in a list of potential nominees.
"I am committed to working with Donald and his Administration to ensure that conservative priorities are advanced – not simply judicial nominees, but nominees to key administration positions," Santorum wrote.
"We know who Hillary Clinton will appoint," he wrote in his email that had the subject line "Never Hillary," predicting under the Democrat, "We will become a European-style secular, socialist republic."
Santorum conceded that the 2016 race, in his view, is more about personalities than policy.
"I think the American public has made up their mind about Hillary Clinton. I think Donald Trump still has an opportunity to cast the right lot and win this election," Santorum said.