Watch: House Republicans Grilled on Running Alongside Convicted Felon
How do Republicans in Congress feel about their presidential nominee being a convicted felon? Quite dismissive, according to interviews conducted by CNN’s Manu Raju.
On the network’s OutFront show Monday, Raju spoke to several House Republicans in districts that supported Joe Biden for president in 2020 about whether they had misgivings about Donald Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts during his hush-money trial, and how that would affect their electoral chances.
“My district is full of very smart people with a firm grasp on reality. They can smell bullshit,” said Representative John Duarte of California.
Some shot down the question outright.
“I have no issues in supporting Donald Trump for president of the United States,” said Representative Anthony Esposito, despite the fact that the New York 4th congressional district that he represents was won by Joe Biden by 14 points in 2020.
Representative Mike Garcia from California also blew off any possibly negative effects on him from Trump’s conviction.
“I think the American people saw what happened in New York,” Garcia said. “They saw two, what were typically misdemeanors, being elevated to 34 felonies.”
New York’s Representative Nick LaLota said his constituents saw “a tainted process.”
“A lot of my constituents were focused on the trial not being fair, the process not being fair. And they’re upset, and they’re angry,” LaLota said.
The question was too controversial for at least two members of Congress, though. Representatives Mike Lawler of New York and Tom Kean Jr. of New Jersey refused to speak to Raju, either out of fear of alienating constituents or getting on Trump’s bad side.
These reactions are not surprising. The entire Republican Party has effectively been taken over by Trump and his acolytes, so we’re likely to continue to see prominent members of the party either offering full-throated defenses of the convicted felon and presidential nominee Trump or trying to avoid critical journalists altogether. This is despite the fact that having taken over the Republican National Committee, Trump is keeping party funds for himself and refusing to help their reelection campaigns, no matter how close their races may be.
Watch part of the segment here:
A number of swing-district Republicans from Biden districts shrug off Trump’s felony conviction and say they back him still.
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) June 4, 2024
Q: Does having a convicted felon in a district like yours hurt Republicans?
John Duarte of CA: “My district is full of very smart people with a firm… pic.twitter.com/AHMr1IkoCM