Former President Donald Trump is facing multiple current investigations, and an indictment, which some see as a vulnerability for him.
CNN’s Dana Bash pressed Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) on Sunday, “Wouldn’t Republicans be better off with a candidate who is not facing multiple criminal investigations?”
“You know, it’s interesting, I think that the multiple investigations and civil lawsuits that have been brought almost give this presidential candidate and former president credibility,” Buck responded.
He continued, “He keeps saying that the world is against him because he’s trying to make these changes.”
Watch the video below:
DANA BASH: Wouldn't Republicans be better off with a candidate who is not facing multiple criminal investigations?
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 4, 2023
KEN BUCK: You know, it's interesting — I think the multiple investigations and civil lawsuits that have been brought almost give Trump credibility pic.twitter.com/Ps5ruftuq1
Trump was indicted in connection to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s (D) investigation into hush money payments made before the 2016 election.
He is also facing investigations into his handling of classified documents, whether he played a role in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, and whether he tried to overturn the 2020 elections results in Georgia.
But so far, it appears the investigations are not hurting Trump among Republican primary voters.
As of Monday morning, FiveThirtyEight’s polling aggregator found the former president with a commanding lead over the Republican presidential primary field, receiving, 53.9% of the vote.
So among Republicans, the multiple investigations may be helping him.
But if a poll from April is any indicator, the investigations and possible future charges will not help him.
An ABC News/Ipsos poll found 48% of Americans said Trump should suspend his campaign after he was indicted.
Before his arraignment in that case, 43% of Americans said the same.
So those numbers did not go in the right direction for the former president.
Perhaps over the next year and a half, Trump will be able to convince independents that the investigations into him are just efforts to unfairly persecute him.
Yet even if the investigations are just witch hunts, they give Democrats a great talking point. And it seems hard to believe Republicans would not be in a better position if they did not have a candidate facing multiple criminal investigations and possibly multiple indictments.