President Donald Trump’s attempt to rescue Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS) from a medical-debt scandal has left some of his own advisers grimacing, according to a new report.
A longtime Trump adviser and another Republican close to the president told Zeteo’s “First Draft” newsletter that they were unhappy with Trump’s defense, saying his “viral, antisemitic-slur-prone” remark only spread the debt controversy further, both in Kansas and nationally.
The 80-year-old president defended Marshall earlier this month against a bombshell New York Times exposé by complaining at a rally that the senator’s opponents “made it like: Oh, he was some kind of a Shylock-type guy,” a reference to the moneylender in Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice” that has long been considered an antisemitic stereotype.
Trump also falsely claimed that Marshall had been required “by law” to “go after those people.”
The Times reported last month that patients sued by Marshall, an OB-GYN, “were routinely charged 18 percent interest” and that “some had bank accounts garnished.” The headline read: “A Doctor Sued 700 Patients for Debts; 81 Were Arrested. Now He’s a Senator.”
The story has dogged Marshall in his unexpectedly tight race against Democrat Adam Hamilton, a pastor. When Vice President JD Vance rallied for Marshall in Olathe last month, a protester managed to shout “He sued his patients!” before being removed.
Marshall’s troubles haven’t stopped there. He faces allegations that he actually lives in Florida, and on Wednesday, independent journalist Judd Legum reported that Marshall bought stock in an obscure pharmaceutical company just before it won FDA approval to begin a Phase 1 clinical trial.
Trump carried Kansas by 16 points in 2024, and the state hasn’t elected a Democratic senator since 1932. Polling averages now show a dead heat. Party operatives on both sides expect Marshall to narrowly hold on, but Republicans are fuming about what it has cost them.
“They’re bleeding us in Kansas,” a GOP lawmaker told Zeteo.
Republicans complained that the “rescue mission” has drained money, time and top-tier resources from swing states that could decide the Senate majority. A Trump White House official called it “inexcusable” that Kansas was ever in play.
Several sources said they’re ready to at least partly blame Marshall if the party suffers a “bloodbath” on Tuesday, whether he wins or not. Many Capitol Hill conservatives already resented him, and earlier reporting described colleagues who see him as “lazy, stubborn, and not a team player.”
Marshall’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.