Donald Trump, the first former president ever criminally indicted, should not run for the White House again or even testify at his own trial, some fellow Republicans said Sunday.
Trump reportedly faces more than 30 charges in the indictment brought by a Manhattan grand jury last week related to hush money paid to porn actress Stormy Daniels on the eve of the 2016 election.
He is expected to surrender in Manhattan on Tuesday.
“It’s a sad day for America that we have a former president that’s indicted,” said former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson said while announcing his own bid for the Republican presidential nomination on ABC’s “This Week.”
He called for Trump to drop out of the presidential race, calling Trump’s criminal case “too much of a sideshow and distraction.”
“We don’t want the next 18 months to be focused simply on Donald Trump and his legal issues,” Hutchinson said. “And Donald Trump says a lot of things and they don’t always appeal to the best of America.”
Describing himself as an evangelical, he added: “The evangelical community understands that we need to have a leader that can distance themselves from some of the bad instincts that drive Mr. Trump.”
Former Attorney General Bill Barr also took aim at Trump’s behavior, suggesting he should not testify in his case because “he lacks all self-control.”
“Generally, I think it’s a bad idea to go on the stand and I think it’s a particularly bad idea for Trump because he lacks all self-control,” Barr said on “Fox News Sunday.”
“It’d be very difficult to prepare him and keep him testifying in a prudent fashion,” said Barr, who served as attorney general in the Trump administration. He broke with Trump over the former president’s claims that the 2020 election was stolen.
Barr did say he thinks the case brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is a “political” prosecution that is “pursuing a person rather than pursuing a real crime.”
Trump fumed on his social media site when the charges became known that the case is “Political Persecution and Election Interference” and that “this Witch-Hunt will backfire massively on Joe Biden.”
Another former ally of Trump, Chris Christie, shot down what he called the “bravado” of Trump’s response to the indictment.
“He’s going to face a criminal trial in Manhattan. He’s not going to be able to avoid that. You can’t make that a good day,” said the former governor of New Jersey, who is weighing a White House bid himself.
“I’m pretty certain there has been a lot of heavy talk from the Trump camp,” he said, also on ABC’s “This Week.” “Yeah, and it’s ridiculous.”
Christie ran unsuccessfully for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination.
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