'I'm going to make you eat your words': Mexico's billion-dollar drugs lord THREATENS Donald Trump on Twitter account 'run by his son' and taunts the world after his dramatic escape from prison

  • Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman, head of powerful Sinaloa Cartel, is on the run
  • He fled a prison in Mexico City through an elaborate tunnel network 
  • El Chapo has now reportedly taken to Twitter to gloat about escape online 
  • Posted threats about Donald Trump who had criticised Guzman's escape   
  • Trump has called in the FBI to investigate the threats made against him  

Mexico's billion dollar drugs lord known as 'El Chapo' has gloated on Twitter about his escape from a maximum security jail by taunting authorities and threatening US-presidential hopeful Donald Trump. 

Joaquin Guzman, billionaire head of the powerful Sinaloa Cartel, made his jail break on Saturday morning and is on the run from Altiplano jail, 50 miles outside of Mexico City, security officials said.

His audacious escape saw him dash through the mile-long tunnel system, which led to a building under construction next to the prison - from where he collected clothes left for him by his conspirators.

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On the run: Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman, pictured in a mugshot last year, fled from his prison last night

On the run: Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman, pictured in a mugshot last year, fled from his prison last night

Baffled: Authorities look into the entrance to a secret tunnel through which Guzman is believed to had fled

Baffled: Authorities look into the entrance to a secret tunnel through which Guzman is believed to had fled

Guzman sends a tweet directly to Donald Trump telling him he will eat this words, following his escape from prison 

Guzman sends a tweet directly to Donald Trump telling him he will eat this words, following his escape from prison 

In a series of tweets, Guzman reportedly wrote: 'There's no jail for such a big midget' 

In a series of tweets, Guzman reportedly wrote: 'There's no jail for such a big midget' 

Donald Trump had previously said that Guzman embodies 'everything that is wrong with Mexico' and said he would 'kick his ass' 

Donald Trump had previously said that Guzman embodies 'everything that is wrong with Mexico' and said he would 'kick his ass' 

But following his escape he has took to Twitter and used it to hit back at Trump, who has said that the Guzman embodies 'everything that is wrong with Mexico' and added he would 'kick his ass'. 

On the account, administered by Guzman's son Ivan, the escapee reportedly wrote: 'If you keep p****** me off I'm going to make you eat your words you f****** blonde milk-s*****'. 

In Mexico, a milk-s****** is a homophobic slur. 

The property magnate is taking the threat seriously.

According to TMZ the billionaire has called in the FBI to investigate the source of the Twitter account which warned Trump he would be sorry he spoke out against Mexico.

He also took aim at the Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto saying: ''And you @EPN, don't call me a delinquent because I give people work unlike you you cowardly politician.'

The drugs lord's account became particularly active yesterday, when many believe it was Guzman himself sending messages of victory and threatening his enemies with gruesome death. 

He also posted: 'Never say never, this world keeps turning. In this life, he who risks nothing cannot win'.

He followed up with 'There's no jail for such a big midget' as El Chapo means midget in Spanish as Guzman measures only five foot six inches tall.

He followed up by saying 'Never say never, this world keeps turning' on an account thought to be administer by his son 

He followed up by saying 'Never say never, this world keeps turning' on an account thought to be administer by his son 

The account became particularly active yesterday, when many believe it was Guzman himself sending messages such as 'In this life, he who risks nothing cannot win'

The account became particularly active yesterday, when many believe it was Guzman himself sending messages such as 'In this life, he who risks nothing cannot win'

El Chapo's son Ivan previously hinted about his father's escape from prison earlier this month, tweeting 'Good things come to those who wait' 

El Chapo's son Ivan previously hinted about his father's escape from prison earlier this month, tweeting 'Good things come to those who wait' 

Ivan had earlier posted: 'I won’t lie, I have cried but I bring armed men and I promise that soon the General will be back

Ivan had earlier posted: 'I won't lie, I have cried but I bring armed men and I promise that soon the General will be back

He also started calling death threats on those who have supposedly betrayed him, including El Chabelo, the current incarcerated boss of Sinaloa's rival cartel the Zetas.

Guzman wrote: 'First to die is El Chabelo, for wanting to see me die in prison.'

He then hinted that the authorities had been complicit in the jailbreak by posting: 'The dog (slang for the Mexican government) dances for money, and I've bought it.' 

During his last escape, Guzman hired the help of the prison guards during his first successful escape from maximum security prison, in which he was hidden inside a laundry basket. 

The drugs lord made his latest escape on Saturday through a sophisticated tunnel contained air vents, electric lights, emergency oxygen tanks - and even a motorbike on rails to speed his escape, according to Mexico's National Security Commissioner Monte Alejandro Rubido.

Heavily concealed: The alleged end of the tunnel through which Mexican drug lord Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman could have escaped from the Altiplano prison

Heavily concealed: The alleged end of the tunnel through which Mexican drug lord Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman could have escaped from the Altiplano prison

Break for freedom: Guzman escaped from the maximum-security prison on Sunday. This was his second jail break in 14 years

Break for freedom: Guzman escaped from the maximum-security prison on Sunday. This was his second jail break in 14 years

The kingpin exited the tunnel where it ended at an abandoned property near the local town, Rubido told a news conference on Sunday.

The escape comes after Guzman's son, Ivan also hinted about his father's plans for a daring escape from online earlier this month. 

He put up a post on the social network saying 'good things come to those who wait'.

Earlier still, on May 8, the Sinaloa Cartel heir published an emotional pledge to his followers.

He posted: 'I won't lie, I have cried but I bring armed men and I promise that soon the General will be back'. 

Inconspicuous: Pictured is the interior of the home through which Guzman fled. Clothes and a phone charger could be seen inside

Inconspicuous: Pictured is the interior of the home through which Guzman fled. Clothes and a phone charger could be seen inside

Escape gear? This box of clothes was also pictured at the half-constructed property

Escape gear? This box of clothes was also pictured at the half-constructed property

Crime scene tape is placed around another hole near the house he is thought to have escaped into

Crime scene tape is placed around another hole near the house he is thought to have escaped into

Federal police check a house at the end of the tunnel through which he could have escaped

Federal police check a house at the end of the tunnel through which he could have escaped

This picture shows how close the house (left) is to the Altiplano maximum security prison in Almoloya (right)

This picture shows how close the house (left) is to the Altiplano maximum security prison in Almoloya (right)

Officers search huge construction pipes on the large building site next to the prison on Sunday

Officers search huge construction pipes on the large building site next to the prison on Sunday

Bedding can be seen in one of the pipes being inspected by police. It is not known who put the blankets there

Bedding can be seen in one of the pipes being inspected by police. It is not known who put the blankets there

Local media have now began questioning how no-one saw 3,250 tonnes of earth that was removed to construct a tunnel a mile long, 80 centimetres wide, and 1.7 metres tall. 2,652 cubic metres of earth would have to be removed, enough to fill 379 dump trucks.

The prison staff are equipped with radar and electronic depth testing equipment which they are required to use regularly specifically in order to check for things like tunnels but nothing was ever reported.

Guzman, who had bribed his way out of prison during an escape in 2001, was seen on video entering his shower area at 8:52 p.m. on Saturday, the National Security Commission (CNS) said.

The Sinaloa cartel has a long history of tunnel building, particularly along the US border where they were used to smuggle narcotics into America, and in his home state of Sinaloa, where subterranean structures still hide weapons.

The cartel has an engineering division, less notorious than the organisation's armed factions, but equally vital in their ongoing operations.

Five days before his capture El Chapo fled from a military operation aimed at his capture through a tunnel in his mansion connected to the city's storm drains.

Mexico's National Security Commissioner Monte Alejandro Rubido at the press conference today

Mexico's National Security Commissioner Monte Alejandro Rubido at the press conference today

The tunnel was located below a bathtub, which raised itself vertically by the flick of a switch, revealing escape tunnels.

The same device was found in seven of the 19 separate houses belonging to El Chapo which the government seized following his capture.

Wanted by U.S. prosecutors and once featured in the Forbes list of billionaires, Guzman was gone by the time guards entered his cell in Altiplano prison in central Mexico, the CNS said.

'This is going to be a massive black eye for Pena Nieto's administration,' said Mike Vigil, former head of global operations for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

'I don't think they took into account the cunning of Chapo Guzman and the unlimited resources he has. If Chapo Guzman is able to make it back to the mountainous terrain that he knows so well in the state of Sinaloa ... he may never be captured again.'

Beneath a 50-cm by 50-cm hole in the cell's shower area, guards found a ladder descending some 32 feet into the tunnel, which was about 5.6 feet high and 28-31 inches wide.

Prison workers were quickly detained over the escape.

Rubido said 18 officials from the penitentiary were being interrogated at the unit specializing in organized crime at the Attorney General's office.

Outside the Altiplano lockup, and at the deserted property where Guzman surfaced, security forces barred reporters, while guards arrived for the day shift and encountered a prison in lockdown, wondering whether to stay or go home.

After the launch of a massive manhunt for Guzman, Mexican President Pena Nieto ordered an investigation into whether public officials had helped the capo escape.

'There's no doubt this is an affront to the Mexican state, but I have confidence that the institutions ... can recapture this criminal,' he said in a statement from Paris 

According to Vice, Guzman enjoyed special privileges inside the prison - including private audiences with his visitors - while other inmates had a tougher time.

At a press conference today, Mr Rubido said said that Guzman used an elaborate escape hatch built allegedly without the detection of authorities.

'Along the tunnel, they found construction tools, oxygen tanks, containers with fuel and plastic tubes among other things. The passage came out at a construction site.' 

He did not comment on why authorities had apparently failed to notice a long tunnel being built under the prison. 

Notorious: Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman, pictured after his last arrest in 2014,  has escaped from a maximum security prison in Mexico. The drugs kingspin is head of the powerful Sinaloa Cartel

Notorious: Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman, pictured after his last arrest in 2014, has escaped from a maximum security prison in Mexico. The drugs kingspin is head of the powerful Sinaloa Cartel

Massive search: A convoy of federal police guard a prison van travelling through Mexico City on Sunday. It is believed to hold some of the 18 prison officials who have been taken in for questioning

Massive search: A convoy of federal police guard a prison van travelling through Mexico City on Sunday. It is believed to hold some of the 18 prison officials who have been taken in for questioning

Rubido added that 18 workers from various parts of the Altiplano penitentiary had been taken in for interrogation.

A convoy of federal police was seen guarding a prison truck believed to taking the staff from the jail - which is 56 miles west of Mexico City - to the Attorney General's office in the capital.

Flights were suspended at Toluca airport near the penitentiary in the State of Mexico, and civil aviation hangars were being searched. 

Federal police officers stand guard outside the prison. The huge construction site next to it can be seen

Federal police officers stand guard outside the prison. The huge construction site next to it can be seen

Armed: Policemen outside the jail in central Mexico on Sunday. A huge manhunt is under way

Armed: Policemen outside the jail in central Mexico on Sunday. A huge manhunt is under way

Guzman - whose nickname El Chapo ('The Shorty') is a reference to his height of 5ft 6ins - runs a drug empire that stretches across North America and into Europe and Australia. 

His latest escape comes just 16 months after he was captured following more than a decade on the run. He currently faces federal drug trafficking indictments in the U.S. 

 
 
 This represents without a doubt an affront to the Mexican state. But I also have confidence in the institutions of the Mexican state ... that they have the strength and determination to recapture this criminal
 
 
Mexican president Enrique Pena Nieto 

After Guzman was arrested on Feb. 22, 2014, the U.S. said it would file an extradition request, though it's not clear if that happened.

His escape is a major embarrassment to the administration of Mexico's president Enrique Pena Nieto, which had received plaudits for its aggressive approach to top drug lords. Since the government took office in late 2012, authorities have captured or killed six of them, including Guzman.

Pena Nieto, speaking in France where he is making an official visit, said of the escape: 'This represents without a doubt an affront to the Mexican state.

'But I also have confidence in the institutions of the Mexican state ... that they have the strength and determination to recapture this criminal.'

U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said in a statement Sunday: 'The U.S. government stands ready to work with our Mexican partners to provide any assistance that may help support his swift recapture.' 

Mexico's president Enrique Pena Nieto, who is in France, addressed reporters on Sunday afternoon

Mexico's president Enrique Pena Nieto, who is in France, addressed reporters on Sunday afternoon

Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump, who is mired in controversy following his recent comments that Mexican immigrants are 'drug traffickers and rapists', tried to make political capital from the escape with a contentious tweet. 

'Mexico's biggest drug lord escapes from jail. Unbelievable corruption and USA is paying the price. I told you so!' he wrote on Twitter.

Trump has previously riled Mexicans by calling illegal immigrants from the country racists and thieves, whom the government was 'pushing' across the southern border on purpose because they are 'cunning' and American leaders are 'dumb'.

At a speech yesterday in Phoenix, Arizona, he unveiled an outlandish plan to fine Mexican authorities $100,000 for every immigrants who crosses the border without proper documentation. 

He has made his anti-Mexican rhetoric a mainstay of his run for president.

Last escape:  Guzman was listed as 'public enemy number one' after he fled from a prison in 2001. This poster lists his height as 5ft 8in, although he is believed to be 5ft 6in, hence his nickname 'The Shorty'

Last escape:  Guzman was listed as 'public enemy number one' after he fled from a prison in 2001. This poster lists his height as 5ft 8in, although he is believed to be 5ft 6in, hence his nickname 'The Shorty'

Guzman is listed among the 'World's Most Powerful People' by Forbes magazine, which ranked him above the presidents of France and Venezuela

Guzman is listed among the 'World's Most Powerful People' by Forbes magazine, which ranked him above the presidents of France and Venezuela

Guzman's cartel, Sinaloa, has been heavily involved in the bloody drug war that has torn through parts of Mexico for the last decade, taking an estimated 100,000 lives. It is believed to control most of the major crossing points for drugs at the US border with Mexico. 

If he is not captured immediately, Guzman will likely be back in full command and control of the Sinaloa cartel in 48 hours, said Michael S. Vigil, a retired U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration chief of international operations.

 
 
 We may never find him again. All the accolades that Mexico has received in their counterdrug efforts will be erased by this one event
 
 
Michael S. Vigil, retired U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration official

'We may never find him again,' he added. 'All the accolades that Mexico has received in their counterdrug efforts will be erased by this one event.'  

During Guzman's previous years as a fugitive, he transformed himself from a lowly middleman into arguably the most powerful drug trafficker in the world - and he was placed on the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's most-wanted list.

His fortune is estimated at more than $1billion, according to Forbes magazine - which listed him among the 'World's Most Powerful People' and ranked him above the presidents of France and Venezuela. 

Guzman was caught by authorities for the first time in Guatemala in 1993, then he was extradited and sentenced to 20 years in prison in Mexico for murder and drug trafficking. 

He escaped from another maximum security prison, Puente Grande in western Jalisco state, in 2001 with the help of prison guards. 

He hid in a laundry cart to make his getaway, but there are several theories as to how he got out.  

Policemen search for the drug lord outside Altiplano prison in Almoloya de Juarez on Sunday

Policemen search for the drug lord outside Altiplano prison in Almoloya de Juarez on Sunday

Sprawling: The Altiplano Federal Penitentiary in Almoloya de Juarez on the outskirts of Mexico City

Sprawling: The Altiplano Federal Penitentiary in Almoloya de Juarez on the outskirts of Mexico City

Public security forces search a construction site right next to the barbed wire of the prison on Saturday night

Public security forces search a construction site right next to the barbed wire of the prison on Saturday night

Soldiers set up checkpoints and searched vehicles on the highway between Mexico City and Toluca

Soldiers set up checkpoints and searched vehicles on the highway between Mexico City and Toluca

A policeman inspects a public bus being driven outside Altiplano Federal Penitentiary last night

A policeman inspects a public bus being driven outside Altiplano Federal Penitentiary last night

Guzman is known for his ability to pay off local residents and even authorities, who tipped him off to security operations launched for his capture. 

 
 

THE BEAUTY QUEEN WIFE AND MOTHER TO HIS TWIN DAUGHTERS

Emma Coronel, Guzman's wife and mother to his twin daughters

Emma Coronel, Guzman's wife and mother to his twin daughters

Emma Coronel is either Guzman's third or fourth wife and they were married in 2011 when she was just 18-years-old. She caught his eye after winning the Miss Coffee and Guava beauty contest.

Coronel, who is the daughter of one of Guzman's top deputies, Ines Coronel Barreas, was last seen re-entering Mexico in August 2011.

The then 22-year-old had just given birth to Guzman's twin daughters at Antelope Valley Hospital in Lancaster, north of Los Angeles, California.

Because Coronel is both an American and Mexican citizen - she is allowed to travel freely between the two countries.

Guzman was caught with an unidentified woman when he was captured following his first escape, but his young wife was unaccounted for.

He was finally tracked down to a modest beachside high-rise in the Pacific Coast resort city of Mazatlan in February 2014, where he had been hiding with his beauty-queen wife and twin daughters.

Emma Coronel, who was born in California, is a U.S. citizen, which means she has the right to live in the United States. Her father was also a drug lord who died in a shoot-out with the Mexican army.

She was sent to California to give birth so that her daughters would be U.S. citizens too. Federal agents wanted to stop her, but had no formal charges to file so had to let her go free. 

Before security forces captured him, they went on a several-day chase through Culiacan, the capital of his home Sinaloa state, for which the cartel is named. 

They found houses with steel-enforced doors and elaborate tunnels - where Guzman had apparently been staying - that allowed him to escape through the sewer system.

Earlier this year, the then Mexican Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karam said that sending Guzman to the US, where he is wanted, would save Mexico a lot of money, but keeping him there was a question of national sovereignty.

Murillo Karam dismissed concerns that Guzman would escape a second time. That risk 'does not exist', he said. Murillo Karam has since been replaced by Arely Gomez.

Mexican president Pena Nieto is currently in France for a state visit. He is expected to make a statement later today.

It is believed he will not be cutting short his trip, but his Interior Secretary Miguel Angel Osorio Chong - the Cabinet's head of security - will return to Mexico from France.

In 1993, gunmen linked to the Tijuana-based Arrellano Felix cartel attempted to assassinate Guzman at the Guadalajara airport but instead killed Roman Catholic Cardinal Juan Jesus Posadas Ocampo - leading to outrage among Mexicans. 

Guzman was rumored to have once entered a restaurant in Culiacan, the capital of Sinaloa state, where his henchmen confiscated every patron's cellphone so their boss could eat without fear of an ambush. 

He was also reported to have staged an elaborate public wedding in 2007 to an 18-year-old bride, which was attended by officials and local police.

Federal police say they raided the town that day but got there just a few hours too late.

Guzman was known to move around frequently, using private aircraft, bulletproof SUVs and even all-terrain vehicles.

Old playbook: When Guzman was last caught he was also using tunnels to evade capture - such as the one pictured above
Fearless: Guzman was operating practically in the open not long before his last capture

Old playbook: When Guzman was last caught he was also using tunnels to evade capture - such as those pictured above

Going underground: Pioctured is A interconnected tunnel in a Culiacan drainage system which Guzman used to hide

Going underground: Pioctured is A interconnected tunnel in a Culiacan drainage system which Guzman used to hide

His location was part of Mexican folklore, with rumors circulating of him being everywhere from Guatemala to almost every corner of Mexico, especially its 'Golden Triangle', a mountainous, marijuana-growing region straddling the northern states of Sinaloa, Durango and Chihuahua.

An archbishop in northern Durango state said in April 2009 that Guzman lived in a town nearby. Days later, investigators found the bodies of two slain army lieutenants with the note: 'Neither the government nor priests can handle El Chapo.'

Reactions in the U.S. to Guzman's escape ranged from disbelief to outrage, with some observers saying it dramatically illustrated the need for captured cartel kingpins to be promptly extradited to the U.S.

A former administrator of the Drug Enforcement Agency said: 'It is a shock that the most dangerous cartel leader in the world has escaped. He ought to have been housed in an American prison.'

Washington's official response was diplomatic, as Attorney General Loretta Lynch said in a statement Sunday that the U.S. shared 'Mexico's concern regarding the escape' and stood by to help in the manhunt.

But one Mexico expert said American officials likely expressed more frustration behind the scenes.

'I think this will add to the distrust many U.S. agencies feel - even if that's not publicly voiced,' said David Shirk, San Diego-based fellow for the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

At least some observers said they weren't surprised by Guzman's escape given Mexican prisons' reputation, including Gal Pissetzky, a defense attorney who has represented suspected drug trafficker in U.S. courts nationwide.

'I'm surprised he stayed locked up in there as long as he did,' Pissetzky said.

Last time: Pictured are Mexican security forces bundling Guzman into a helicopter after his capture in February 2014. Authorities said there was no chance he would escape again

Last time: Pictured are Mexican security forces bundling Guzman into a helicopter after his capture in February 2014. Authorities said there was no chance he would escape again

Wanted: Guzman is facing charges in the U.S., but Mexico was adamant that it would keep him in the country rather than handing him over

Wanted: Guzman is facing charges in the U.S., but Mexico was adamant that it would keep him in the country rather than handing him over

The Chicago Crime Commission, an influential crime-fighting group in Illinois, said Sunday that the prison break meant Guzman will regain his title as Public Enemy No. 1 in Chicago, where his Sinaloa cartel has long dominated the cocaine and heroin trade.

When the group attached the Public Enemy label to Guzman a year before his capture, it was the first time it had been used since it was applied in 1930 to Prohibition-era gangster Al Capone. The Chicago Crime Commission planned to formally restore the title to Guzman this week, said John Pastuovic, a spokesman for the non-governmental body.

Several U.S. attorneys' offices have indicted Guzman on trafficking charges, including in Chicago, where several Guzman lieutenants were successfully extradited, prosecuted and imprisoned. The U.S. had said after Guzman's 2014 capture that it would file an extradition request, though it's unclear if that already happened.

Search goes on: Mexican soldiers check a coach at a tollbooth of Mexico-Toluca highway, in Mexico City

Search goes on: Mexican soldiers check a coach at a tollbooth of Mexico-Toluca highway, in Mexico City

Wild terrain: View of the Altiplano maximum security prison in Almoloya, west of Mexico City

Wild terrain: View of the Altiplano maximum security prison in Almoloya, west of Mexico City

For its part, Mexico's government at the time denied the need to extradite Guzman even as many expressed fears he would inevitably escape. He had escaped before, in 2001, while serving a 20-year sentence in another maximum-security prison in Mexico.

That air of self-confidence among Mexican authorities will be harder to maintain if and when Mexico recaptures Guzman or nabs some other cartel leader, Shirk said.

'The calls for extradition (to the U.S.) will be more intense' in the wake of Guzman's escape, he said. 'It'll be more difficult for the Mexican government to say, 'No, no. We have this under control.'' 

 

THE 2016 FIELD: WHO'S IN AND WHO'S THINKING IT OVER

A whopping 20 people from America's two major political parties have declared themselves candidates in the 2016 presidential election.

The field includes two women, an African-American and two Latinos. All but one in that group – Hillary Clinton – are Republicans. 

A few Democrats are still assessing their chances. And although the GOP field is deeper than ever, at least two more contenders could still join the race.

REPUBLICANS IN THE RACE  

Jeb Bush       Former Florida governor

Age: 62

Religion: Catholic

Base: Moderates 

Résumé: Former Florida governor and secretary of state. Former co-chair of the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy.

Education: B.A. University of Texas at Austin.

Family: Married to Columba Bush (1974), with three adult children. Noelle Bush has made news with her struggle with drug addiction, and related arrests. George P. Bush was elected Texas land commissioner in 2014. Jeb's father George H.W. Bush was the 41st Presdient of the United States, and his brother George W. Bush was number 43.

Claim to fame: CJeb was an immensely popular governor with strong economic and jobs credentials. He is also one of just two GOP candidates who is fluent in Spanish.

Achilles heel: Bush has angered conservatives with hsi permissive positions on illegal immigration (saying some border-crossing is 'an act of love) and common-core education standards. His last name could also be a liability with voters who fear establishing a family dynasty in the White House. 


Chris Christie        New Jersey governor

Age: 52

Religion: Catholic

Base: Establishment-minded conservatives

Résumé: Governor of New Jersey. Former U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey. Former Morris County freeholder and lobbyist.

Governor of New Jersey. Former U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey. Former Morris County freeholder. Former statehouse lobbyist.

Education: B.A. University of Delaware, Newark, J.D. Seton Hall University.

Family: Married to Mary Pat Foster (1986) with four children.

Claim to fame: Pugnacious and unapologetic, Christie once told a heckler to 'sit down and shut up' and brings a brash style to everything he does. That includes the post-9/11 criminal prosecutions of terror suspects that made his reputation as a hard-charger.

Achilles heel: Christie is often accused of embracing an ego-driven and needlessly abrasive style. His administration continues to operate under a 'Bridgegate' cloud: At least two aides have been indicted in an alleged scheme to shut down lanes leading to the George Washington Bridge as political retribution for a mayor who refused to endorse the governor's re-election.

 

Carly Fiorina         Former CEO

Age: 60

Religion:      Episcopalian 

Base: Conservatives

                Résumé: Former CEO of Hewett-Packard. Former group president of Lucent Technologies. Onetime U.S. Senate candidate in California.

Education: B.A. Stanford University. UCLA School of Law (did not finish). M.B.A. University of Maryland. M.Sci. Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Family: Married to Frank Fiorina (1985), with one adult step-daughter and another who is deceased. She has two step-grandchildren. Divorced from Todd Bartlem (1977-1984).

Claim to fame: Fiorina was the first woman to lead a Fortune 20 company, something that could provide ammunition against the Democratic Party's drive to make Hillary Clinton the first female president. She is also the only woman in the 2016 GOP field, making her the one Republican who can't be accused of sexism.

Achilles heel: Fiorina's unceremonious firing by HP's board has led to questions about her management and leadership styles. And her only political experience has been a failed Senate bid in 2010 against Barbara Boxer.


Mike Huckabee     Former Arkansas governor

Age: 59

Religion: Southern Baptist 

Base: Evangelicals

Résumé: Former governor and lieutenant governor of Arkansas. Former Fox News Channel host. Ordained minister and author.

Education: B.A. Ouachita Baptist University. Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (did not finish). 

Family: Married to Janet Huckabee (1974), with three adult children. Mrs. Huckabee is a survivor of spinal cancer.

Claim to fame: 'Huck' is a political veteran and has run for president before, winning the Iowa Caucuses in 2008 and finishing second for the GOP nomination behind John McCain. He's known as an affable Christian and succeeded in building a huge following on his weekend television program, in which he frequently sat in on the electric bass with country & western groups and other 'wholesome' musican entertainers.

Achilles heel: Huckabee may have a problem with female voters. He complained in 2014 about Obamacare's mandatory contraception coverage, saying Democrats want women to 'believe that they are helpless without Uncle Sugar.' He earned more scorn for hawking herbal supplements in infomercials as a diabetes cure, something he has yet to disavow despite disagreement from medical experts.


George Pataki      Former New York governor 

Age: 69 

ReligionCatholic

BaseCentrists              

Résumé: Former governor of New York. Former New York state senator and state assemblyman. Former mayor of Peekskill, NY.

Education: B.A. Yale University. J.D. Columbia Law School.

Family: Married to Libby Rowland (1973), with four adult children.

Claim to fame: Pataki was just the third Republican governor in New York's history, winning an improbable victory over three-term incumbent Mario Cuomo in 1994. He was known for being a rare tax-cutter in Albany and was also the sitting governor when the 9/11 terror attacks rocked New York CIty in 2001.

Achilles heel: While Pataki's liberal-leaning social agenda plays well in the Empire State, it won't win him any fans among the GOP's conservative base. He supports abortion rights and gay rights, and has advocated strongly in favor of government intervention to stop global warming, which right-wingers believe is overblown as a global threat.


Rand Paul      Kentucky senator

Age: 52

Religion: Presbyterian 

Base: Libertarians 

                  Résumé: US senator. Board-certified ophthalmologist. Former congressional campaign manager for his father Ron Paul.

Education: Baylor University (did not finish). M.D. Duke University School of Medicine.

Family: Married to Kelley Ashby (1990), with three sons. His father is a former Texas congressman who ran for president three times but never got close to grabbing the brass ring.

Claim to fame: Paul embraces positions that are at odds with most in the GOP, including an anti-interventionist foreign policy, reduced military spending, criminal drug sentencing reform for African-Americans and strict limits on government electronic surveillance – including a clampdown on the National Security Agency.

Achilles heel: Paul's politics are aligned with those of his father, whom mainstream GOPers saw as kooky. Both Pauls have advocated for a brand of libertarianism that forces government to stop domestic surveillance programs and limits foreign military interventions.


Rick Santorum     Former Penn. senator

Age: 57

Religion: Catholic

Base: Evangelicals 

 

Résumé: Former US senator and former member of the House of Representatives from Pennsylvania. Former lobbyist who represented World Wrestling Entertainment.

Education: B.A. Penn State University. M.B.A. University of Pittsburgh. J.D. Penn State University Dickinson School of Law.

Family: Married to Karen Santorum (1990), with seven living children. One baby was stillborn in 1996. Another, named Isabella, is a special needs child with a genetic disorder.

Claim to fame: Santorum won the 2012 Republican Iowa Caucuses by a nose. He won by visiting all of Iowa's 99 states in a pickup truck belonging to his state campaign director, a consultant who now worls for Donald Trump.

Achilles heel: As a young lobbyist, Santorum persuaded the federal government to exempt pro wrestling from regulations governing the use of anabolic steroids. And the stridently conservative politician has attracted strong opposition from gay rights groups. One gay columnist held a contest to redefine his name, buying the 'santorum.com' domain to advertise the winning entry – which is too vulgar to print.


Scott Walker     Wisconsin governor

Age: 47

Religion: Christian (nondenominational)

Base: Conservative activists  

Résumé: Governor of Wisconsin. Former Milwaukee County Executive. Former member of the Wisconsin State Assembly.

Education: Marquette University (did not finish)

Family: Married to Tonette Tarantino (1993), with two children. One of Mrs. Walker's cousins is openly lesbian and was married in 2014, with the Walkers attending the reception.

Claim to fame: Walker built his national fame on the twin planks of turning his state's past budget shortfalls into surpluses and beating back a labor-union-led drive to force him out of office through a recall election. Both results have broad appeal in the GOP.

Achilles heel: Wisconsin has suffered from a shaky economy during Walker's tenure, which makes him look weak compared with other governors who presided over more robust job-creation numbers. He promised to create 250,000 private sector jobs but delivered less than 60 per cent of them. Also, he led an effort in the state legislature to enact $800 million in tax cuts – putting the Badger State back on the road to government deficits.

Ben Carson       Retired Physician

Age: 63

Religion:              Seventh-day Adventist

Base: Evangelicals

            Résumé: Famous pediatric neurosurgeon, youngest person to head a major Johns Hopkins Hospital division. Founder of the Carson Scholars Fund, which awards scholarships to children of good character.

Education: B.A. Yale University. M.D. University of Michigan Medical School.

Family: Married to Candy Carson (1975), with three adult sons. The Carsons live in Maryland with Ben's elderly mother Sonya, who was a seminal influence on his life and development. 

Claim to fame: Carson spoke at a National Prayer Breakfast in 2013, railing against political correctness and condemned Obamacare – with President Obama sitting just a few feet away.

Achilles heel: Carson is inflexibly conservative, opposing gay marriage and once saying gay attachments formed in prison provided evidence that sexual orientation is a choice.


Ted Cruz            Texas senator

Age: 44

Religion:         Southern Baptist

Base: Tea partiers

                    Résumé: U.S. senator. Former Texas solicitor general. Former U.S. Supreme Court clerk. Former associate deputy attorney general under President George W. Bush.

Education: B.A. Princeton University. J.D. Harvard Law School.

Family: Married to Heidi Nelson Cruz (2001), with two young daughters. His father is a preacher and he has two half-sisters.

Claim to fame: Cruz spoke on the Senate floor for more than 21 hours in September 2013 to protest the inclusion of funding for Obamacare in a federal budget bill. (The bill moved forward as written.) He has called for the complete repeal of the medical insurance overhaul law, and also for a dismantling of the Internal Revenue Service. Cruz is also outspoken about border security.

Achilles heel: Cruz's father Rafael, a Texas preacher, is a tea party firebrand who has said gay marriage is a government conspiracy and called President Barack Obama a Marxist who should 'go back to Kenya.' Cruz himself also has a reputation as a take-no-prisoners Christian evangelical, which might play well in South Carolina but won't win him points in the other early primary states and couls cost him momentum if he should be the GOP's presidential nominee.

 

Lindsey Graham  South Carolina senator

Age: 59

Religion:        Southern Baptist

Base: Otherwise moderate war hawks 

Résumé: U.S. senator. Retired Air Force Reserves colonel. Former congressman. Former South Carolina state representative.

Education: B.A. University of South Carolina. J.D. University of South Carolina Law School.

Family: Never married. Raised his sister Darline after their parents died while he was a college student and she was 13.

Claim to fame: Graham is a hawk's hawk, arguing consistently for greater intervention in the Middle East, once arguing in favor of pre-emptive military strikes against Iran. His influence was credited for pushing President George W. Bush to institute the 2007 military 'surge' in Iraq.

Achilles heel: Some of his critics have taken to call him 'Grahamnesty,' citing his participating in a 2013 'gang of eight' strategy to approve an Obama-favored immigration bill. He has also aroused the ire of conservative Republicans by supporting global warming legislation and voting for some of the president's judicial nominees.


Bobby Jindal     Louisiana governor

Age: 44

Religion: Catholic

Base: Social conservatives

                  Résumé: Governor of Louisiana. Former congressman. Former Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services for Planning and Evaluation. Former Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals.

Education: B. Sci. Brown University. M.Litt. New College at Oxford University

Family: Married to Supriya Jolly (1997), with three children, each of whom has an Indian first name and an American middle name. Bobby Jindal's given name is Piyush.

Claim to fame: Jindal's main source of national attention has been his strident opposition to federal-level 'Common Core' education standards, which included a federal lawsuit that a judge dismissed in late March. He is also outspoken on the religious-freedom issues involved in mainstreaming gay marriage into the lives of American Christians.

Achilles heel: JindaDuring his first term as governor, Jindal signed a science education law that requires schools to present alternatives to the theory of evolution, including religious creationism. Similarly, his staunch defense of businesses that want to steer clear of providing services to same-sex couples at their weddings will win points among evangelicals but alienate much of the electorate.


Rick Perry        Former Texas governor 

Age: 65 

Religion: Christian (nondenominational)

Base: Conservatives 

Résumé: Former Texas governor, lieutenant governor, agriculture commissioner and state representative.

Education: B.Sci. Texas A&M University

Family: Married to Anita Thigpen (1982) with two afult children. His father was a former Democratic county commissioner in Texas.

Claim to fame: Perry boasts that while he was governor between the end of 2007 and the end of 2014, the Texas economy created 1.4 million new jobs while the rest of the U.S. lost close to 400,000. A Perry-led Texas also had the nation's highest high school graduation rate among Hispanics and African-Americans.

Achilles heel: Perry has a tough hill to climb after his 2012 presidential campaign spectacularly imploded with a single word – 'Oops' – after he couldn't remember one of his own talking points during a nationally televised debate. He also faces an indictment for alleged abuse of power in a case that Republicans contend is politically motivated and meritless.


Marco Rubio         Florida senator

Age: 43

Religion:          Catholic

Base: Conservatives


Résumé: US senator, former speaker of the Florida House of Representatives, former city commissioner of West Miami

Education: B.A. University of Florida. J.D. University of Miami School of Law.

Family: Married to Jeanette Dousdebes (1998), with two sons and two daughters. Jeanette is a former Miami Dolphins cheerleader who posed for the squad’s first swimsuit calendar. 

Claim to fame: Rubio's personal story as the son of Cuban emigres is a powerful narrative, and helped him win his Senate seat in 2010 against a well-funded governor whom he initially trailed by 20 points.

Achilles heel: Rubio was part of a bipartisan 'gang of eight' senators who crafted an Obama-approved immigration reform bill in 2013 which never became law – a move that angered conservative Republicans. And he was criticized in 2011 for publicly telling a version of his parents' flight from Cuba that turned out to appear embellished.


Donald Trump     Real estate developer

Age: 69

Religion: Catholic

Base: Presbyterian   

 

Résumé: Chairman of The Trump Organization. Fixture on the Forbes 400 list of the world's richest people. Star of 'Celebrity Apprentice.'

Education: B.Sci. Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania

Family: Married to Melania Trump (2005). Divorced from Ivana Trump and Marla Maples. Five grown children. Trump's father Fred Trump amassed a $400 million fortune developing real estate.

Claim to fame: Trump's niche in the 2016 campaign stems from his celebrity as a reality-show host and his enormous wealth – $8.7 billion, according to Trump. Because he can sef-fund an entire presidential campaign, he is seen as less beholden to donors than other candidates.

Achilles heel: Trump is a political neophyte who has toyed with running for president and for governor of New York, but shied away from taking the plunge until now. His billions have the potential to alienate large swaths of the electorate. And his Republican rivals are already labeling him an ego-driven celebrity and an electoral sideshow because of his past enthusiasm for anti-Obama 'birtherism.' 

 

 

REPUBLICANS IN THE HUNT 

Jim Gilmore, former Virginia governor

Gilmore is no political neophyte, having been Virginia's governor and attorney general. He would also bring military credentials through his service as an Army intelligence agent. He is also a board member of the National Rifle Association and presdient of the Free Congress Foundation, a conservative think tank.

John Kasich, Ohio governor

Kasich is a popular governor in the battleground Buckeye State, but has little name-recognition elsewhere. He has accommodated liberals on some issues and could be seen as a more palatable version of Jeb Bush for Republicans who fear electing a family dynasty. 

DEMOCRATS IN THE RACE 

Lincoln Chafee  Former Rhode Island governor

Age: 62

Religion:  Episcopalian

Base: Centrists

Résumé: Former Rhode Island governor. Former U.S. senator. Former city councilman and mayor of Warwick, RI.

Education: B.A. Brown University. Graduate, Montana State University horseshoeing school.

Family: Chafee is married to Stephanie Chafee (1990) with three children. Like him, his father John Chafee was a Rhode Island governor and US senator, but also served as Secretary of the Navy. Lincoln was appointed to his Senate seat when his father died in office.

Claim to fame: While Chafee was a Republican senator during the George W. Bush administration, he cast his party's only vote in 2002 against a resolution that authorized military action in Iraq. Hillary Clinton, also a senator then, voted in favor – giving him a point of comparison that he hopes to ride to victory.

Achilles heel: Chafee's lack of any significant party loyalty has turned allies into foes throughout his political career, and Democrats aren't sure he's entirely with them now. He was elected to the Senate as a Republican in 2000 but left the party and declared himself a political independent after losing a re-election bid in 2006. As an independent, he was elected governor in 2010. Now he's running for president as a Democrat.

 

Martin O'Malley    Former Maryland governor

Age: 52

Religion: Catholic

Base: Centrists 

                              Résumé: Former Maryland governor. Former city councilor and mayor of Baltimore, MD. Former Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia.

Education: B.A. Catholic University of America. J.D. University of Maryland.

Family: O'Malley is married to Katie Curran (1990) and they have four children. Curran is a district court judge in Baltimore. Her father is Maryland's attorney general. O'Malley's mother is a receptionists in the Capitol Hill office of Democratic Sen. Barbara Mikulski.

Claim to fame: O'Malley pushed for laws in Maryland legalizing same-sex marriage and giving illegal immigrants the right to pay reduced tuition rates at public universities. But he's best known for playing guitar and sung in a celtic band cammed 'O’Malley’s March.'

Achilles heel: O’Malley may struggle in the Democratic primary since he endorsed Hillary Clinton eight years ago. If he prevails, he will have to run far enough to her left to be an easy target for the GOP. He showed political weakness when his hand-picked successor lost the 2014 governor's race to a Republican. But most troubling is his link with Baltimore, whose 2016 race riots have made it a nuclear subject for politicians of all stripes.


Jim Webb    Former Virginia senator

Age: 69

Religion: Christian (nondenominational)

Base: War hawks and economic centrists

                              Résumé: Former U.S. senator from Virginia. Former U.S. Secretary of the Navy under Ronamd Reagan. Former Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs.

Education: B.A. US Naval Academy (transferred from the University of Southern California). J.D. Georgetown University.

Family: Married to Hong Le Webb (2005). Divorced from Jo Ann Krukar (1981-2004). Divorced from Barbara Samorajczyk (1968–1979). 

Claim to fame: Webb is the rare Democrat who can bring both robust defense credentials and a history of genuine bipartisanship to the race. He served in Republican president Ronald Reagan's defense directorate as Navy secretary, and earned both the Navy5r Star and the Purple Heart in combat. Webb is also seen as a quiet scholar who has written more than a half-dozen historical novels and a critically acclaimed history of Scots-Irish U.S. immigrants.

Achilles heel: Webb has a reputation as a bit of a quitter. He resigned his Navy secretary post over a budget-cut dispute just 10 months after taking the job, and he dec;lined to run for re-election to the U.S. Senate in 2006. He also attracted bad press for defending the use of the Confederate flag as a heritage symbol for American southerners. Amid a nationwide clamor to remove the flag from the South Carolina statehouse grounds, he wrote that Americans should 'respect the complicated history of the Civil War. ... Honorable Americans fought on both sides.'

 

Hillary Clinton Former sec. of state

Age: 67

Religion: United Methodist 

Base: Liberals 

                            Résumé: Former secretary of state. Former U.S. senator from New York. Former U.S. first lady. Former Arkansas first lady. Former law school faculty, University of Arkansas Fayetteville.

Education: B.A. Wellesley College. J.D. Yale Law School.

Family: Clinton's husband Bill (1975) was the 42nd President of the United States. Their daughter Chelsea is married to investment banker Marc Mezvinsky, whose mother was a 1990s one-term Pennsylvania congresswoman.

Claim to fame: Clinton was the first US first lady with a postgraduate degree and presaged Obamacare with a failed attempt at health care reform in the 1990s.

Achilles heel: A long series of financial and ethical scandals has dogged Clinton, including recent allegations that her husband and their family foundation benefited financially from decisions she made as secretary of state. Her performance surrounding the 2012 terror attack on a State Department facility in Benghazi, Libya, has been catnip for conservative Republicans. And her presdiential campaign has been marked by an unwillingness to engage journalists, instead meeting with hand-picked groups of voters.

 

Bernie Sanders*  Vermont senator

Age: 73

Religion: Judaism

Base: Far-left progressives

                              Résumé: U.S. senator. Former U.S. congressman. Former mayor of Burlington, VT.

Education: B.A. University of Chicago.

Family: Sanders is married to Jane O’Meara Sanders (1988), a former president of Burlington College. They have one child and three more from Mrs. Sanders' previous marriage. His brother Larry is a Green Party politician in the UK and formerly served on the Oxfordshire County Council.

Claim to fame: Sanders is an unusually blunt, and unapologetic pol, happily promoting progressivism without hedging. He is also the longest-serving 'independent' member of Congress – neither Democrat nor Republican.

Achilles heel: Sanders describes himself as a 'democratic socialist.' At a time of huge GOP electoral gains, his far-left ideas don't poll well. He favors open borders, single-payer universal health insurance, and greater government control over media ownership.

* Sanders is running as a Democrat but has no party affiliation in the Senate.


DEMOCRATS IN THE HUNT 

Joe Biden, U.S. vice president

Biden would be a natural candidate as the White House's sitting second-banana, but his reputation as a one-man gaffe factory will keep Democrats from taking him seriously.

Elizabeth Warren, Massachusetts senator

Warren is a populist liberal who could give Hillary Clinton headaches by challenging her from the left, but she has said she has no plans to run and is happy in the U.S. Senate.

 

 

 
 

 

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