Republican presidential candidate Tim Scott says the latest indictment against former President Trump is unwarranted.
“We see the legal system being weaponized against political opponents. That is unAmerican and unacceptable,” Scott told reporters in Iowa today. “At the end of the day, we need a better system than that and I, frankly, hope to be the president of the United States where we have the opportunity to restore confidence and integrity in all of our Departments of Justice.”
Scott campaigned at the Iowa State Fair today, starting with a “Fair Side Chat” with Governor Kim Reynolds. The two began by touting Iowa’s new state-funded accounts to cover the costs of private school.
“Governor, one of the things that people miss in the school choice conversation: I believe in public schools. I also believe in competition,” Scott said. “And so I want competition to improve our public schools.”
Scott, a U.S. senator from South Carolina, said as president, he’d focus on making the U-S energy indepedent, creating high-paying high tech manufacturing jobs and focusing on innovations that will cure cancer in 10 years. “We will have the strongest economy, the strongest health care system if we focus on the private sector and not the government,” Scott said.
Scott later joined Senator Joni Ernst on a walk through the fairgrounds and a stop at the Iowa Pork Tent to flip chops on the grill. It’s become a rite of passage for presidential candidates.
Asa Hutchinson was the first presidential candidate of the day to arrive at the fair. He told reporters the indictments against former President Trump address fundamental issues of our democracy.
“He’s morally accountable,” Hutchinson said. “The question now is whether he’s criminally accountable.”
Hutchinson, a former Arkansas governor who’s also a former federal prosecutor, suggested there will be another lawsuit filed at some point. That one would challenge whether Trump violated the 14th Amendment by participating in an insurrection and therefore is disqualified from being president.
“That’s going to happen, which will be another point of litigation,” Hutchinson said, “and so the voters in Iowa are going to have to decide who our nominee is going to be with a question as to whether they are qualified.”
Hutchinson told reporters the federal indictments against Trump related to classified materials and his actions on January 6th are the most serious pending cases. Hutchinson says there’s overlap with last night’s indictment in Georgia and states generally defer to a federal prosecution.
“I said over a year ago that Donald Trump should withdraw from the race because of what he is facing and if you put our country first, then that’s exactly what you would do,” Hutchinson said, “and that case is made stronger with every indictment and case that is brought against him.”
Hutchinson said the response to the indictments highlights a troubling divide in the country, as half of Americans consider Trump a victim and the other half say he should have been prosecuted long ago.