Senior Republicans rush to defend Trump… and Mike Pence is in the lead

Written by Reem Abdel Hamid

Sunday, March 19, 2023 10:46 AM

Many Republicans in the United States rushed to defend former President Donald Trump, and some of his potential opponents in the 2024 US presidential race, after he said that Trump was preparing for the possibility of charges and his arrest.

Former Vice President Mike Pence, Trump’s potential rival in the Republican race, said that the idea of ​​indicting a former US president is very disturbing to me, as it is to tens of millions of Americans, during his visit to Iowa, one of the early voting states in the Republican primary race.

Technology investor Vivek Ramaswamy, who also announced his presidential bid, said he did not want to live in a country where the party in power is able to use police force to arrest political opposition.

The Associated Press said the backlash highlights the political risks potential opponents of Trump take to convince voters it’s time to move on from Trump’s tenure, but they must live with the fact that he remains the most popular figure in the party.

The agency stated that the multiple investigations that Trump is still facing, and his post on social media regarding the investigation, the Manhattan District Attorney that led to announcing support for him, are still very unacceptable among his supporters, and that criticizing Trump severely risks alienating his loyal base.

Trump received a similar boost last summer after the FBI searched his Mar-a-Lago residence as part of an investigation into his handling of classified documents. It turns out that the inspection was one of the factors that helped collect donations.

Also among Trump’s defenders is House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who said a possible indictment of Trump would be an outrageous abuse of power by a radical district attorney who has allowed violent criminals to run free while seeking political revenge against Trump.