'Can't be healthy': Republican warns these voters could kill Trump's 'fragile candidacy'
A former Republican governor Monday believes conservative attacks on the nation's judicial system after former President Donald Trump's criminal conviction will only lose them key allies and voters in swing states.
Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson made this argument to Anderson Cooper on CNN Monday night, days after a New York City jury found Trump guilty of falsifying business records to cover up hush money paid ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
"The Republican party right now, they're in a bind," Hutchinson said. "Their answer to it is to say...the charges and the convictions are not legitimate — that's a hard case to make.
"The American public, even though they might see the start of that case in New York as partisan, they have confidence in what the jury determined."
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Hutchinson also slammed conservatives such as Republican National Committee co-chair, and daughter-in-law to the presumptive Republican nominee, Lara Trump, who slammed Maryland GOP Senate hopeful Larry Hogan over his assertion that the verdict should be respected.
"Larry Hogan is necessary for the Republicans to win the majority of the United States Senate," Hutchinson argued. "We need Larry Hogan. Donald Trump, if he's elected president, will need Larry Hogan in the Senate, and so it's very shortsighted to attack him."
Hutchinson cast doubt on the claim that Trump's conviction was bringing him new voters and only strengthening the position of his presidential campaign ahead of the November election.
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"You've got to look at the six key swing states, and how is this going to impact independent voters," Hutchinson said. "Over the long term, [it] can't be healthy for Donald Trump. To me, he's demonstrating that he has a fragile candidacy with these felony convictions."