A crowd of Iowa Republicans booed GOP presidential candidate Will Hurd on Friday when he suggested former president Donald Trump is only running for the White House “to stay out of prison.”
“One of the things we need in our elected leaders: To tell the truth, even if it’s not popular,” Hurd said at the Iowa GOP’s Lincoln Dinner.
“Donald Trump is not running for president to make America great again. Donald Trump is not even running to represent the people that voted for him in 2016 and in 2020, Donald Trump is running for president to stay out of prison,” the former Texas congressman said to boos from attendees.
“I know, the truth is hard,” Hurd told the crowd. “But if we elect Donald Trump we are willingly giving Joe Biden four more years in the White House.”
.@WillHurd in Iowa: "Donald Trump is not running for president to make America great again…Donald Trump is running to stay out of prison…Listen, I know the truth is hard, but if we elect Donald Trump, we are willingly giving Joe Biden four more years in the White House." pic.twitter.com/wZvx9FBEIa
— CSPAN (@cspan) July 29, 2023
When Hurd concluded his speech soon after, he exited the stage to both boos and applause.
Hurd made similar comments during an appearance on CNN one day earlier, shortly after the Justice Department filed a superseding indictment in the classified documents case against Trump.
The revised indictment alleges Trump and two aides attempted to delete surveillance footage at Mar-a-Lago in an effort to obstruct the DOJ’s investigation into his handling of classified documents.
The superseding indictment adds several additional charges against Trump: attempting to “alter, destroy, mutilate, or conceal evidence”; inducing someone else to do so; and an additional count under the Espionage Act in connection with a classified national security document he allegedly showed to visitors at his golf club in Bedminster, N.J.
Trump is accused of working with aides Carlos De Oliveira and Walt Nauta to try to delete the surveillance footage. De Oliveira was named as a defendant in the case for the first time on Thursday. He was added to the obstruction conspiracy charged in the original indictment.
Meanwhile, Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie was similarly booed at an event last month after he criticized former president Donald Trump.
“Why am I running for president of the United States? I’m running because [Trump’s] let us down. He has let us down because he’s unwilling — he’s unwilling to take responsibility for any of the mistakes that were made,” Christie said during the Faith and Freedom Coalition’s Road to Majority conference in Washington, D.C.
Christie pointed out that he became the first presidential candidate to back Trump in 2016 and went on to serve as chairman of his transition team.
The crowd booed and shouted as Christie continued with his remarks.
“You can boo all you want,” Christie told the attendees.
“Our faith teaches us that people have to take responsibility for what they do. People have to stand up and take accountability for what they do, and I cannot stand by,” Christie added to both boos and applause from the crowd.