Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis revealed his campaign has been hurt the most by former President Donald Trump’s indictments.
Trump is facing 91 charges handed to him after he announced his 2024 presidential candidacy. Despite being handed four separate indictments, the former president has remained the frontrunner in the 2024 Republican primary.
“I would say, if I would have one thing changed, I wish Trump hadn’t been indicted on any of this stuff. I mean, honestly, I think from Alvin Bragg on, I’ve criticized the cases, I think someone like Bragg would not have brought that case if it was anyone other than Donald Trump, and so someone like that is distorting justice, which is bad. But I also think it distorted the primary, and I think those have been the main issues that have happened,” DeSantis told CBN News’ David Brody.
He added the charges “sucked out a lot of oxygen” from the primary. He predicted that Democrats and the media likely have a drawn-out plan to attack Trump on these charges if he is nominated. (RELATED: DeSantis Calls On Trump To Step Up Onto Primary Debate Stage)
“I think the Democrats have a plan on this, I think the media has a plan on this and I think if it gets to the point six months from now where Trump is the presumptive nominee, and he’s having to go through all this, they have a plan for how they’re gonna ride this out,” the Florida governor continued.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg charged Trump with 34 counts for allegedly falsifying business records to pay hush money to former porn actress Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election. Daniels allegedly received $130,000 from Trump’s lawyer to remain silent about an alleged extramarital affair between her and Trump.
Special Counsel Jack Smith charged Trump in two separate indictments for allegedly storing classified documents at Mar-a-Lago and for allegedly engaging in conspiracies to overthrow the 2020 presidential election results. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis indicted the former president and 18 others for allegedly attempting to overturn the election results in Georgia.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to all 91 charges and has denied any wrongdoing.
Trump is leading the primary polls with 62% support, and DeSantis is in second with about 12% support, according to FiveThirtyEight.