Trump Criticizes Republicans On Abortion: ‘You’re Not Going to Win On This Issue’

Former President Donald Trump criticized fellow Republicans for being too restrictive on abortion and claimed that he would negotiate a compromise between the two parties on abortion if re-elected president in an interview with NBC's "Meet the Press."

“I watch some of them without the exceptions, et cetera, et cetera,” Trump said. “Other than certain parts of the country, you can’t — you’re not going to win on this issue. But you will win on this issue when you come up with the right number of weeks.”

Trump singled out Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, his top rival for the GOP nomination, saying that the six-week abortion ban that DeSantis signed is a "terrible thing" and "great mistake."

Trump declined to answer whether abortion legislation should be left up to the states or the federal government and did not specify the number of weeks he would be in favor of.

“I don’t think you should be able to have an abortion well into a pregnancy,” Trump said. 

The former president claimed he would help people on both sides of the issue reach an agreement.

“We’re going to agree to a number of weeks or months or however you want to define it,” Trump said. “Both sides are going to come together and both sides — both sides, and this is a big statement — both sides will come together. And for the first time in 52 years, you’ll have an issue that we can put behind us.”

The former president has long been murky on his position towards abortion. As many states implement restrictive abortion legislation following the overturn of Roe v. Wade, the president has not said whether he would sign a federal abortion ban and avoided the subject altogether.