ELECTIONS
Trump hits back at GOP candidate who said he’s
running to ‘stay out of jail’
The remark drew loud boos from the crowd.
By ANDREW
ZHANG
07/29/2023
03:35 PM EDT
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/07/29/trump-im-not-running-to-stay-out-of-jail-00108880
Donald
Trump said it’s “wrong” to suggest he’s running for the presidency to stay out
of prison — and signaled Saturday that he’s prepared to punch down at any of
his rivals who suggest he’s doing so.
During the
Lincoln Dinner on Friday evening — a key Republican event in the lead up to the
first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses — Will Hurd and Asa Hutchinson took aim at
the former president for his legal troubles, echoing the line that putting a
candidate facing multiple criminal charges at the top of GOP ticket spelled
electoral disaster.
Hurd told
the Trump-loving Iowa crowd that the former president was not running to
improve America or represent people, but to stay out of prison. The remark,
delivered toward the end of his address, drew loud boos from the crowd that
continued as he walked off stage.
In
trademark Trump fashion, the former president responded Saturday with
blistering personal attacks on his foes and pushing back hard on the idea that
he is running to counter his legal battles.
“In Iowa last
night I noticed that a little known, failed former Congressman, Will Hurd, is
ridiculously running for President,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, his social
media platform. “He got SERIOUSLY booed off the stage when he said I was
running “to stay out of jail.” Wrong, if I wasn’t running, or running and doing
badly (like him & Christie!), with no chance to win, these prosecutions
would never have been brought or happened!”
Four
criminal cases are playing out against Trump, including two that have yielded
indictments. In New York state, he has been accused of falsifying records in
connection to paying hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels, and federal
prosecutors have charged him with treating classified national security
documents carelessly.
“If I
weren’t running, I would have nobody coming after me,” Trump said at the Iowa
dinner. “Or if I was losing by a lot, I would have nobody coming after me.”
On
Saturday, Trump posted a copy of a friendly letter between him and former
President Richard Nixon, who President Gerald Ford eventually pardoned from
crimes he may have committed during the Watergate scandal.
Many of his
GOP opponents are still treading a fine line regarding a potential Trump
pardon. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has repeatedly indicated that he would pardon
a convicted Trump if he won the presidency, noting in a Friday interview that
he would not be “good for the country to have an almost 80-year-old former
president go to prison.” Mike Pence, Trump’s former vice president, has been
noncommittal in response to Trump’s indictment regarding classified documents
and the ongoing investigation around Jan. 6.
On the
trail in Iowa Saturday, DeSantis said, “If the election becomes a referendum on
what document was left by the toilet at Mar-a-Lago, we are not going to
win,”according to ABC News. “We got to focus on what the people are looking for
in terms of their futures and I just think in 2024, we won’t, we can’t have
distractions,” he added.
Former New
Jersey governor Chris Christie, a prominent Trump critic, hasn’t minced words
on the former president’s legal battles. He has insisted that Trump’s
indictments have arisen come from his conduct. He skipped the Iowa event to
focus on his campaign efforts in New Hampshire.
Hutchinson,
who launched his presidential run on the principle that Trump could not win
another term, described the former president’s legal troubles in his speech as
a harbinger for the country’s future.
“You will
be voting in Iowa, while multiple criminal cases are pending against Donald
Trump. Iowa has an opportunity to say: ‘we as a party, we need a new direction
for America and for the GOP,’” Hutchinson said at the dinner.
Trump
responded to Hutchinson Saturday with another personal attack.
“Don’t weak
people like ‘Aida’ … know or understand that the Prosecution of Donald Trump is
an Election Interference Hoax, just like Russia, Russia, Russia, or the Fake
Dossier, and that he is playing right into Marxists hands, when I am leading
the [Republicans] by 50 Points and leading Biden BIG,” Trump wrote on Truth.
Later
Saturday, Trump posted: “WHY DIDN’T THE CORRUPT MARXIST PROSECUTORS BRING THESE
RADICAL & UNJUSTIFIED CHARGES AGAINST ME 2.5 YEARS AGO, LONG BEFORE MY
PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN HAD BEGUN. ... THIS IS ELECTION INTERFERENCE &
PROSECUTORIAL MISCONDUCT!”
Sem comentários:
Enviar um comentário