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Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has so far not stated that he would pardon Donald Trump if the former president is found guilty in the classified documents case, a decision other 2024 Republican hopefuls have suggested they would take.
DeSantis, long thought to be Trump's biggest challenger in the 2024 GOP presidential primary, has given no indication that he would pardon Trump should he be convicted under Special Counsel Jack Smith's investigation, in which the former president has pleaded not guilty to 37 offenses, including 31 counts of willful retention of classified documents in violation of the Espionage Act.
For his part, DeSantis has spoken out against the apparent "weaponization" of federal law enforcement under President Joe Biden's administration just prior to the indictment against Trump being unsealed.
In comparison, 2024 hopefuls entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, and talk show host Larry Elder have said they would pardon Trump over the classified documents case if they were elected president.
Speaking at a press conference in Miami, Florida, on the same day Trump appeared at a courthouse for his arraignment, Ramaswamy urged all presidential hopefuls—including Independents and Democrats—to pardon Trump on the first day they enter office in 2025.
"It would be a lot easier for me as a Republican candidate in this race if Donald Trump were not in it, but I don't want to win this election, unlike others, by eliminating our competition by a federal administrative police state arresting my opponents," Ramaswamy said.
Haley, who recently said if the allegations in the Trump indictment are true that his actions had been "reckless," later told the Clay Travis and Buck Sexton podcast that she would be "inclined" to pardon the former president.
"It would be terrible for the country to have a former president in prison for years because of a documents case," Haley said. "So I would be inclined in favor of a pardon."
Speaking to Scripps News on Tuesday, Elder also said that if he is elected president he is "very likely" to pardon Trump if convicted.
DeSantis is not the only GOP 2024 hopeful not to say whether they would pardon Trump.
Former Vice President Mike Pence, whose relationship with Trump fell apart in the wake of the January 6 attack, did not give a definitive answer when asked about potentially pardoning Trump during a CNN town hall in Iowa.
"I don't want to speak about hypotheticals," Pence said. "I'm not sure I'm going to be elected president of the United States," he added, prompting laughter from the crowd.
Pence did state that he has "no interest or no intention of pardoning" those who were involved in the Capitol riot, which Trump previously indicated he would do if elected president again.
"They need to be answerable to the law," Pence added.
U.S. Senator Tim Scott also declined to say if he would pardon Trump during a recent campaign stop in South Carolina, saying he "won't get into hypotheticals", while stressing the importance of the principle that defendants are innocent until proven guilty.
Elsewhere, former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson criticized Ramaswamy for making a vow to pardon Trump as part of his 2024 campaign strategy.
"It is simply wrong for a candidate to use the pardon power in the United States of the president in order to curry votes, and in order to get an applause line is just wrong," Hutchinson told CNN.
"That really undermines the rule of law in our country that I've served my lifetime supporting, and it's offensive to me that anyone will be holding out a pardon under these circumstances."
DeSantis' office has been contacted for comment via email.
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