Asa Hutchinson, former governor of Arkansas, declared his intention to run for president on Sunday. In Bentonville, Arkansas, later this month, Hutchinson will make an official statement, he added.
Hutchinson joins the GOP primary at a controversial time in the race, as current frontrunner former President Donald Trump is under investigation for paying porn star Stormy Daniels money during his 2016 presidential campaign.
“I’m going to exercise. ‘I believe I can be that kind of leader for the American people,’ Hutchinson said in an interview with Jonathan Karl on ABC’s ‘This Week.’ that I’ve traveled the country for six months, I hear people talking about the leadership of our country, and I’m convinced that people want leaders who appeal to the best of America, and not just our worst instincts “said Hutchinson.
Former federal prosecutor Hutchinson again called on Trump on Sunday to step down from the election, as he did on Friday.
Hutchinson replied, “Yes, he should,” when asked if Trump should drop out of the race. “Yet at the same time, we are aware that he will not. Moreover, there is no constitutional necessity.
Hutchinson said the former president should focus on his defense rather than making a second run for president because the indictment would turn into too much of a “show”.
“First of all, the position is more important than any person. As a result, I think it’s too much of a sideshow and distraction for the good of the office of the president, and he needs to be able to focus on its due process,” Hutchinson said, acknowledging that the former president should be treated as innocent until he is found guilty of the charges, which the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office has yet to announce. publicly.
Hutchinson entered what is expected to be a heated Republican primary. Along with Trump, conservative businessman Vivek Ramaswamy and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley have launched their own campaigns, while several others have indicated they are considering entering the race.
Hutchinson is the only actual or potential candidate so far to urge Trump to drop out of the race. Others have denounced the investigation as being conducted as a partisan attack by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who presented the case to the grand jury. Former Vice President Mike Pence called the indictment “an atrocity,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis called the action “un-American,” and Haley said the case was more about the ” revenge” than justice.
Hutchinson also criticized the situation. From what I’ve seen from New York, I don’t like the idea of the charges, he remarked on Sunday. Nevertheless, due process must be followed and we must respect both the presidency and our criminal justice system.