Republican presidential candidates Wednesday were divided over Donald Trump as the former president faces prosecution for trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
Most of the candidates pledged to support Trump - who polls show is leading the field - even if he’s convicted of crimes. Others criticized the former president. Still others said focusing on the 2020 election is a sure-fire way to lose the 2024 election.
The candidates’ answers demonstrated that the Republican field is as divided by Trump as much of America.
“Someone’s got to stop normalizing this conduct,” said former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie,. “Whether you believe that the criminal charges are right or wrong, the conduct is beneath the office of the president of the United States.”
Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy attacked the Justice Department for bringing charges and pledged to pardon Trump if he is elected president.
“We’re skating on thin ice, and we cannot set a precedent where the party in power uses the police force to indict its opponents,” Ramaswamy said.
The candidates’ comments came a week after a Fulton County grand jury charged Trump and 18 other defendants with allegedly participating in an illegal scheme to overturn the 2020 presidential election. This week defendants have been surrendering at the Fulton County Jail, and Trump is expected to do the same on Thursday. Fox News aired footage of the jail during the debate.
The Fulton County indictment is one of four criminal cases brought this year against Trump on various charges. The former president has blasted the charges as politically motivated.
Many Republicans in Georgia and across the country have echoed that refrain, and on Wednesday some of the party’s presidential candidates joined in.
South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott said Vice President Mike Pence did the right thing when he refused Trump’s plea to overturn Democrat Joe Biden’s victory in Congress on Jan. 6, 2021.
“But we should be asking ourselves a bigger question about the weaponization of the Department of Justice,” Scott said.
But other candidates criticized Trump. Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson said he would not support Trump. And Pence said he upheld his oath of office rather than give in to Trump.
“He asked me to put him over the Constitution,” Pence said. “I chose the Constitution, and I always will.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis criticized the Justice Department, but he said the entire discussion was a loser for Republicans.
“Republicans, we’ve go to look forward,” DeSantis said. “And we’ve got to make sure we’re bringing the message that can win.”
Former South Carolina Nikki Haley agreed Pence did the right thing.
“When it comes to whether President Trump should serve or not, I trust the American people,” Haley said. “Let them vote. Let them decide.”
About the Author
