Top Republican candidates divided over Trump’s indictment in 2020 election probe

By Reuters: Two of former US President Donald Trump’s high rivals for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination criticised the Justice Department on Tuesday (native time) for indicting him on costs of conspiring to overturn his 2020 election loss.

But Mike Pence, Trump’s former Vice President, a possible witness within the case and a Republican presidential candidate, known as the fees a reminder that “anyone who puts himself over the Constitution should never be President of the United States.”

A US District Court grand jury in Washington DC issued a 45-page indictment of Trump on Tuesday, charging him with conspiring to defraud the US by stopping Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s victory.

“As President, I will end the weaponisation of government, replace the FBI Director, and ensure a single standard of justice for all Americans,” Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who has constantly polled second to Trump within the race for the Republican nomination, mentioned on X, the social media platform previously known as Twitter.

DeSantis, in a written assertion, conceded that he had not learn the indictment however steered {that a} jury within the nation’s capital couldn’t be honest to Trump.

“Washington DC is a ‘swamp’ and it is unfair to have to stand trial before a jury that is reflective of the swamp mentality,” he mentioned.

Entrepreneur and fellow candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, who has gained floor in latest polls however stays effectively behind Trump and DeSantis, known as the indictment “un-American” and mentioned if elected he would pardon Trump.

“Donald Trump isn’t the cause of what happened on January 6. The real cause was the systematic and pervasive censorship of citizens in the year leading up to it. If you tell people they can’t speak, that’s when they scream,” Ramaswamy mentioned on X.

Trump’s rivals for the 2024 nomination have largely argued that he shouldn’t be charged over accusations he sought to undermine the election.

Trump’s most loyal supporters comprise a couple of third of the Republican voters, giving different candidates cause to be cautious about criticising him.