Several tenors of the Republican Party have openly criticized Donald Trump, accused of having endangered the security of the United States by keeping confidential documents after the end of his term in the White House.
Indefensible, not above the law … Several tenors of the American Republican Party, including candidates for the presidential election of 2024, criticized former President Donald Trump on Sunday, after his historic federal indictment in Miami this week.
“I cannot defend” what he is accused of, declared on the NBC channel Mike Pence, candidate for the Republican primary for 2024 against Donald Trump, of whom he was the vice-president.
“I think he should give up”
Donald Trump appeared in federal court in Miami on Tuesday, a first for a former president, for keeping top secret documents after leaving the White House and refusing to return them.
He pleaded not guilty, paving the way for a potentially very damaging trial for his campaign for the 2024 US presidential election.
“I think he should give up” the race for the White House, even declared the former governor of Arkansas and Republican primary candidate Asa Hutchinson on ABC, considering the allegations “serious and disqualifying”.
Mark Esper, who was Donald Trump’s defense minister, judged that “if the accusations are true, that they contain information about the security of our nation (…) it could be very harmful to the nation” , he said on CNN. “Nobody is above the law”, he added, deeming these revelations “troubling”.
These remarks contrast with those of many Republicans in Congress who have either defended Trump or refused to criticize him.
But some Republican presidential candidates find themselves in a delicate position, anxious to show their difference from Donald Trump, while avoiding alienating his loyal base. Mike Pence thus underlined that the former president “deserved” his summons to court, while refusing to speak on the case “until he (Donald Trump, editor’s note) had the opportunity to take his case to court.”
Source: BFM TV
