GOP 2024 Field Largely Continues to Defend Trump – But Not Mike Pence

Former President Donald Trump was indicted for a third time on Tuesday and again, most of his Republican primary rivals rushed to his defense, though his former running mate was a pointed exception.

The immediate reaction from many in the 2024 GOP field to the latest Trump indictment, this time tied to the former President’s alleged attempt to overturn the 2020 election, underscores the challenges faced by his opponents who are running against him but reluctant to alienate his supporters.

However, former Vice President Mike Pence — who is currently campaigning for the Republican presidential nomination — took sharp aim at Trump, calling Tuesday's indictment an "important reminder," adding, "anyone who puts himself over the Constitution should never be President of the United States."

"Our country is more important than one man. Our constitution is more important than any one man’s career," Pence said. "On January 6th, Former President Trump demanded that I choose between him and the Constitution. I chose the Constitution and I always will."

The indictment also acknowledges Pence, detailing his efforts to push back against Trump’s alleged efforts to overturn the election. Pence, according to the indictment, took “contemporaneous notes” regarding Trump’s “knowingly false claims of election fraud.”

Others in the field largely continued to back Trump. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was quick to suggest Trump would face an unfair trial in Washington, D.C., where he was indicted on Tuesday. Trump has been summoned to appear at the E. Barrett Prettyman U.S. Courthouse on Thursday afternoon to face four counts for his alleged role in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, including conspiracy to defraud the United States.

“While I’ve seen reports, I have not read the indictment. I do, though, believe we need to enact reforms so that Americans have the right to remove cases from Washington, D.C. to their home districts,” DeSantis said on social media. “Washington, D.C. is a ‘swamp’ and it is unfair to have to stand trial before a jury that is reflective of the swamp mentality.”

Republican Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina used the indictment to turn attention to the ongoing legal troubles of President Joe Biden's son, Hunter Biden, saying in a statement: "What we see today are two different tracks of justice. One for political opponents and another for the son of the current president."

"We're watching Biden's DOJ continue to hunt Republicans, while protecting Democrats," Scott added.

Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, another Republican candidate in the race, released a video suggesting that Trump is a victim of a “political persecution by prosecution” by the “Biden DOJ.” The allegations in the indictment “fall flat” because “Donald Trump was not responsible for what happened on Jan. 6,” Ramaswamy said, calling on his fellow primary candidates to condemn the new charges.

“I am running for U.S. president in that same Republican primary. It would be easier for me if Donald Trump were eliminated from the competition. That’s not how I want to win. This is not about politics to me,” Ramaswamy said. “We do not want to become a country where the party in power is able to use banana republic-like tactics to eliminate its political opponents. And I’m sad to say that’s exactly where we are.”

The former president was indicted in March for an alleged hush-money payment to a porn actress during his 2016 presidential campaign, and again in June as part of a classified documents case.

Trump claimed this latest indictment is “reminiscent of Nazi Germany in the 1930s, the former Soviet Union, and other authoritarian, dictatorial regimes.”

“These un-American witch hunts will fail and President Trump will be re-elected to the White House so he can save our Country from the abuse, incompetence, and corruption that is running through the veins of our Country at levels never seen before,” the Trump campaign said in a statement.

One of Trump’s most vocal critics in the GOP primary race, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, pinned the Jan. 6 blame directly on Trump.

"I have always said that Donald Trump is morally responsible for the attack on our democracy. Now, our system of justice will determine whether he is criminally responsible," Hutchinson said. Earlier in the day, Hutchinson urged supporters to donate to his campaign so he can “take the case” against Trump to the debate stage.

Trump has also used the indictments as fundraising opportunities – and a way to pay his ballooning legal bills. The former president saw fundraising spikes from his last two indictments and his Save America leadership PAC has spent $21.6 million on legal services in the first half of the year.