Former Vice President Mike Pence, now a 2024 GOP presidential candidate, refused to say Sunday whether he’d pardon former President Donald Trump, suggesting that the question presumed his former boss’ guilt.
He took a jab at primary opponents by saying anyone vowing to pardon the former president is speaking prematurely.
“Let me say first and foremost, I don’t know why some of my competitors in the Republican primary presume the president will be found guilty,” Mr. Pence said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
“All we know is what the president has been accused of in the indictment. We don’t know what his defense is. We don’t know if this will even go to trial. It could be subject to a motion to dismiss. We don’t know what the verdict will be,” he said.
Mr. Trump has been charged with 37 federal crimes related to keeping classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort after leaving office and obstructing efforts to have them returned.
White House hopefuls like Vivek Ramaswamy and Nikki Haley have said they’d pardon Mr. Trump if he were found guilty, though a trial is unlikely to conclude before the election.
“I just think this whole matter is incredibly divisive for the country,” Mr. Pence said. “I just think at the end of the day, it is saddening to me that we are now in this moment.”
Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, also a GOP presidential candidate, warned Republicans in an appearance on ABC’s “This Week” to “back off” accusations the Justice Department has been “weaponized.”
He said that although had made some “bad decisions” on such matters as former first lady Hillary Clinton, such rhetoric will “undermine the greatest justice system and criminal justice system and rule of law in the world today, this side of heaven.“
Meanwhile, minor cracks started to emerge among some Capitol Hill Republicans over Mr. Trump’s purported crimes.
A top House Republican broke from his GOP colleagues by saying the charges against Mr. Trump are serious.
Rep. Mike Turner of Ohio, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, labeled the allegations “of grave concern,” even as his fellow House Republicans say the case is a politicization of the Justice Department.
Mr. Turner also said he has “grave concern” about classified documents found among President Biden’s personal possessions from his time as vice president.
“I can tell you from having looked at both of those documents, I have grave concerns about both of those types of documents being out in an unsecured place,” Mr. Turner said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
“Both of them included details of national security issues that should not have been outside of a controlled environment,” said Mr. Turner, who has received briefings on the contents of the documents held by both men.
He said the burden is on the federal government to prove Mr. Trump is guilty of the 37 charges against him for willful retention of classified materials and obstruction of justice.
“I’m certainly not going to defend the behavior that is listed in that complaint, but they’re going to have to prove it,” Mr. Turner said. “It’s a legal process that’s going to have to go forward.”
• Ramsey Touchberry can be reached at rtouchberry@washingtontimes.com.
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