🎙️ Voice is AI-generated. Inconsistencies may occur.
The Republican Party may be willing to lose the next general election rather than speak out against Donald Trump amid several possible indictments, according to a former attorney.
Jennifer Rubin is an author who also works as an opinion columnist for The Washington Post. She made the remarks while speaking on lawyer Harry Litman's Talking Feds podcast about the former president's potential looming indictment in New York.
Trump faces becoming the first U.S. president to be arrested. This is in connection to an investigation into hush money paid to adult film star Stormy Daniels, which prosecutors allege amounted to a campaign violation. Trump denies all the allegations, and has frequently hit out at Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and his investigation.
Speaking on Talking Feds, Rubin said it is significant that Trump was still able to drum up Republican support, even as he faces being charged in New York. The former president is also facing possible charges in Georgia over Fulton County D.A. Fani Willis' investigation into attempts to overturn the 2020 Election. And then there is the Department of Justice federal probe into the January 6 attack at the Capitol in 2021.
"This should panic Republicans who have any sense of reality," Rubin said. "Are they going to nominate a guy who was indicted for trying to overthrow the government, for trying to retain and obstruct justice? The Republican Party may be crazy, but I do not think the American people by any stretch of the imagination would re-elect Donald Trump, and that has serious consequences for the Republican Party.
"Are they prepared to go down with the ship? Maybe they are. Maybe they figure it's easier for them to simply get wiped out during the election, let Donald Trump lose and then pick up the pieces later," Rubin added.
"But if they have any hope of holding on to their House majority, any hope if you're taking the White House, any hope of retaking the Senate, they have a huge problem because as things stand right now, Donald Trump is not being pushed out of the way.
"They can't find anyone who has the nerve or the spine to stand up to this guy. So, given the fact there are no grown-up adults who have any nerve or any spine, this is what they're going to go into in 2024? I guess," Rubin said.
Last weekend, Trump made an uncorroborated claim that he would be arrested on Tuesday, March 21, under Bragg's probe. In response, a number of Republican figures, including former vice president and potential 2024 GOP candidate Mike Pence, spoke out against the investigation.
Even Florida Governor Ron DeSantis eventually attacked Bragg last Monday after a weekend of silence amid reports of an upcoming indictment. DeSantis is considered the frontrunner behind Trump for the 2024 Republican nomination and could stand to benefit most if Trump's campaign is derailed by an arrest.
Polls also suggest that Republican voters are not turned off by the prospect of Trump facing criminal charges.
According to a March Harvard CAPS/Harris Poll conducted after Trump said he would be arrested in New York, the former president's lead over DeSantis in a hypothetical GOP presidential primary increased.
The survey found that Trump is still the overwhelming favourite to clinch the GOP nomination in 2024 at 50 percent, up four points from February. DeSantis is way behind in second on 24 percent.
Newsweek has emailed Trump's office for comment.
About the writer
Ewan Palmer is a Newsweek News Reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on US politics, and Florida ... Read more