A vocally anti-Trump Republican presidential candidate drew a long round of boos from the audience and calls from one lawmaker on Capitol Hill to “drop out” from the race after claiming that former President Donald Trump would likely be found guilty on felony charges.
Republican presidential hopeful Asa Hutchinson, a long-time critic of President Trump, told the Florida Freedom Summit in Kissimmee, Florida, that he believes there’s a “significant likelihood” that President Trump will be found guilty of a felony offense next year and that this will be proof of America’s justice system “at work.”
The remark from the former Arkansas governor and erstwhile prosecutor elicited a prolonged outcry of audience boos.
“Next March not only brings us March Madness, it will also—we will witness our justice system at work and on trial in federal and state courtrooms,” Mr. Hutchinson said, teeing up his prediction for a Trump guilty verdict.
“As someone who has been in the courtroom for over 25 years as a federal prosecutor and also in defending some of the most serious criminal cases, I can say that there is a significant likelihood that Donald Trump will be found guilty by a jury on a felony offense next year,” he said.
President Trump, who is the front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, faces a total of 91 felony counts, to which he has pleaded not guilty while claiming they’re all part of a political hack job to hamstring his White House run.
Audience Erupts With Boos
As Mr. Hutchinson was concluding his prediction that President Trump would be found guilty on at least one of the 91 felony counts he faces, the audience erupted in boos.The jeers lasted for about a minute, partly drowning Mr. Hutchinson as he continued to press the point and try to persuade the audience that they should join him in opposing a second Trump term.
“That may or may not happen when you vote in March and it might not make any difference to you but it will make a difference for our chances to attract independent voters in November,” Mr. Hutchinson said—though the crowd seemed to be having none of it as it continued to heckle.
“It will make a difference for those down-ticket races for Congress and Senate and it will weaken the GOP for decades to come,” Mr. Hutchinson continued to disapproving audience groans.
“As a party, we must support the rule of law,” Mr. Hutchinson continued. “We cannot win as a country without integrity in the White House. And while some will ignore the destructive behavior of the former president, I assure you we ignore it at our own peril.”
‘Drop Out’
While Mr. Hutchinson didn’t address the audience boos, he took to X to post the clip and captioned it with the remark: “Proud of Florida Republicans for listening. The future of the GOP is at stake in 2024.”Besides sparking a negative audience reaction, Mr. Hutchinson’s remarks also drew a critical take from some lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
“The weaponized government and courts MUST be dismantled and fools who refuse to do it are part of it,” she added, hinting at her opposition to the view expressed by Mr. Hutchinson that a Trump guilty verdict represents the American justice system “at work.”
Ms. Greene, like other supporters of President Trump, have accused the Justice Department of having been weaponized by the former president’s political rivals in order to pursue politically motivated prosecutions to undermine his chances at retaking the White House in 2024.
‘He Did Nothing Wrong’
On the second day of the trial, President Trump made a social media post that included a photo of the presiding judge’s principal law clerk, angering New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron.While President Trump’s post was deleted within an hour, it resulted in a formal gag order prohibiting all parties from making any public statements about Judge Engoron’s staff.
Weeks later, the judge was alerted to the fact that although the post had been deleted almost immediately from social media, a copy of the post was left archived on one of President Trump’s campaign websites for 17 days after the order.
So the judge fined President Trump $5,000 and warned of more severe penalties, including possible “imprisonment” if he continued to violate the order.
Meanwhile, Alina Habba, the former president’s attorney, said jail time is “not even something we think about” as the trial against her client in New York headed into its fifth week.
“Listen, he’s protected by Secret Service, No. 1. No. 2, he did nothing wrong,” Ms. Habba told Newsmax. “So, when people go to jail it’s because they’ve done something wrong. Do we have crooked situations in and out of court? Absolutely. Could they try? Probably. But it won’t work because there is still [a] trial process. There is still facts, and unfortunately they’re not going to win on the facts.”
Ms. Habba said the prosecutions are “all political” and that President Trump hasn’t committed any criminal acts or civil wrongs.
“I’m not worried about him, he’s not worried, and the American public shouldn’t be worried.”
