Former US President Donald Trump, who has pledged to run for president again if convicted and sentenced in one of the cases engulfing his comeback bid, shared a stage with his Republican rivals for the first time on Friday in Iowa.
Trump’s appearance at the party’s Lincoln Dinner fundraiser came as he faced new charges over his handling of classified government documents — and a possible fresh indictment over his alleged efforts to overturn the result of the 2020 election.
The Lincoln Dinner format of 10 minutes for each candidate kept the fireworks to a minimum, but the frontrunner did not hold back in telling the audience what he thought of his main opponent, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
“I wouldn’t take a chance on that one,” Trump said after offering a barrage of poll data suggesting he would easily defeat incumbent President Joe Biden while DeSantis would lose against the veteran Democrat.
Trump provided a rapid-fire summary of his achievements while in office, from appointing three conservative-leaning Supreme Court justices to withdrawing US troops from Afghanistan, and only briefly alluded to his legal woes.
“If I weren’t running, I would have nobody coming after me,” the 77-year-old said.
DeSantis, for his part, delivered his usual stump speech and did not seize the opportunity to criticize Trump.
“The time for excuses is over. We must get the job done. I will get the job done,” he told attendees in Des Moines.
Earlier in the day, Trump used a radio interview to insist that his legal problems would not derail his presidential campaign.
When asked by radio host John Fredericks if being sentenced would put an end to his 2024 campaign, Trump responded, “Not at all.” There’s nothing in the Constitution to say that it could.”
“And even the radical left crazies are saying not at all, that wouldn’t stop (me) — and it wouldn’t stop me, either,” he added. “These people are sick. What they are doing is absolutely horrible.”
The twice-impeached former president was first indicted in the classified documents case last month, accused of endangering national security by holding onto top secret nuclear and defense information after leaving the White House.
The Justice Department added charges Thursday to its more than three dozen counts against Trump, who was found by a jury in a civil trial in May to have raped a writer in Manhattan in the 1990s.
WITH AFP