Answers from top Republican candidates about the multiple indictments against former President Donald Trump on Wednesday night demonstrated that the GOP field is as divided by Trump as much of America.
Most of the candidates pledged to support Trump - who polls show is leading the field - even if he’s convicted of crimes. Others said they would not support the former president. Still others said focusing on the 2020 election is a sure-fire way to lose the 2024 election.
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.
“Someone’s got to stop normalizing this conduct,” said former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who said he would not support Trump. “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.
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.”
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