CNN’s Chris Wallace asked Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel if she would be okay with her party “nominating a convicted felon” amid escalating legal troubles for 2024 GOP frontrunner Donald Trump.
“Let me ask you a question. Do you have a problem with the Republican Party nominating someone to be federally indicted?” Wallace asked the GOP official on this week’s episode of “Who’s Talking To Chris Wallace.”
McDaniel said it’s up to voters to decide.
“I think the presumption of innocence applies,” she said. “And I think there are a lot of Republicans who are very concerned. At the end of the day, Chris, it’s not my fault. It’s up to the voters.”
Wallace further asked, “Do you have a problem with the Republican Party nominating a convicted felon?”
McDaniel dismissed the question as “hypothetical” before turning to whataboutism.
“We’re not even close to that. So I don’t think we’re even there,” she said.
“I think a lot of people are very concerned,” she added. “Especially Republicans, I hear that every day. Why is there one side of justice for Hillary Clinton, another for Donald Trump, another for Hunter Biden?”
Trump was charged last month with 37 offenses related to his handling of classified documents after leaving office. Prosecutors allege the former president mishandled confidential national security information, knowingly violated the law and obstructed investigations.
Charges are also brought against him in a separate case. Manhattan prosecutors in April charged him with 34 felonies over an alleged plan to cover up an affair by paying hush money in the days leading up to the 2016 presidential election.
Hillary Clinton, his Democratic competitor in that race, was investigated by the FBI for handling classified information on a private e-mail server while she was secretary of state.
She has not been charged. The Justice Department found that her office acted “extremely negligently” but said she did not act with criminal intent.
During the 2016 campaign, Trump said Clinton had “no right” to run, claiming that if she won the election while investigations are ongoing, it would “start an unprecedented constitutional crisis that would paralyze the work of our administration.”
President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, who is not an elected official, agreed last month to plead guilty to tax evasion after a lengthy investigation into his business affairs.
You can watch the excerpt from Who’s Talking To Chris Wallace. via Mediaite.