Today, the Manhattan Grand Jury voted to indict Donald Trump. Leading up to this news, his fellow 2024 candidates were unable to answer the easiest question of all time: Should Trump drop out of the race if he’s indicted?
While the answer is clearly “yes,” you wouldn’t know that from listening to the GOP presidential field. Despite being “tough on crime,” Republicans running for president in 2024 seem to have a lot of trouble standing up to a potential criminal.
Here’s what they’ve been saying:
Ron DeSantis:
At a press conference on March 20th, DeSantis went after the team investigating Trump to discredit the investigation and repeated an antisemitic trope about the Manhattan District Attorney: “The Manhattan District Attorney is a Soros-funded prosecutor. And so, he, like other Soros-funded prosecutors, they weaponize their office to impose a political agenda on society at the expense of the rule of law and public safety.”
Tim Scott:
According to reporting from the Washington Post, Tim Scott has remained absolutely silent about Trump’s current legal situation: “Some quickly defended Trump. Some quickly defended Trump. Others — like Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) — have notably stayed quiet.”
Nikki Haley:
Haley attempted to discredit the investigation, telling Fox News, “from everything I’ve seen from this New York District Attorney is that this would be something he’d be doing for political points.”
Mike Pence:
Pence decided to discredit the investigation by saying he was merely “taken aback” that the DA was considering an indictment at all on ABC This Week.
“I’m taken aback at the idea, indicting a former president of the United States,” said Mike Pence “At a time where there’s a crime wave in New York City, the fact that the Manhattan DA thinks that indicting President Trump is his top priority, I think tells you everything you need to know about the radical left in this country. […] It just feels like a politically charged prosecution here.”
Chris Sununu:
On CNN’s State of the Union, Sununu dismissed a potential indictment saying: “There’s a question the ‘why’ they’re doing it. Something seven years ago. It’s not a nothing, but it’s moving money and how he claimed money moved between him and his lawyer. You know, there are other issues that really take precedent.”
The only potential 2024 candidate to say that Trump should not run if he is indicted is former Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who is currently polling at 0%.
To learn more about Trump’s legal woes, visit American Bridge’s running page on Trump Research Book, our publicly available source aimed at holding Trump accountable.
Published: Mar 30, 2023 | Last Modified: Mar 31, 2023