2024 GOP candidates Haley, Hutchinson split on discussing Trump pardon during presidential campaign

GOP presidential candidates Nikki Haley and Asa Hutchinson disagree when it comes to talking about possibly pardoning former President Donald Trump.

Haley, the former U.N. ambassador and South Carolina governor, and Hutchinson, the former governor of Arkansas, each appeared on CBS’ ‘Face the Nation,’ where they were asked about pardoning Trump should the former president be convicted on charges related to the handling of classified documents.

‘I think that one of the things we have to look at is not what’s in the best interest of the president, but what’s in the best interest of the country,’ Haley said. ‘We have to move forward.’

‘We can’t keep living with indictments and court cases and vengeance of the past,’ Haley continued. ‘We’ve got to start going forward. American people are not talking about these indictments.’

In a separate interview on the same program, Hutchinson remarked that there shouldn’t be any discussion about pardons during a presidential election.

‘You don’t put pardons out there to garner votes. That is premature,’ said the former governor, who has previously called on Trump to drop out of the race. ‘I think that anybody who discusses pardons during a presidential campaign is not serving our system of justice well, and it’s inappropriate.’

In the latest turn in the classified documents case against Trump, new criminal charges unsealed Thursday allege the former president sought to delete Mar-a-Lago surveillance footage to obstruct the Justice Department’s investigation into his handling of classified documents.

Trump on Sunday insisted that security tapes at his Mar-a-Lago club and residence in Florida were not deleted, and in fact were handed over to Special Counsel Jack Smith. 

‘Mar-a-Lago security tapes were not deleted,’ Trump wrote on TRUTH Social. ‘They were voluntarily handed over to the thugs, headed up by deranged Jack Smith. We did not even go to court to stop them from getting these tapes. I never told anybody to delete them. Prosecutorial fiction & misconduct! Election interference!’ 

‘Same as the Russia, Russia, Russia HOAX. They knowingly accuse you of a fake crime, a crime that they actually make up, you fight these false charges hard, and they try and get you on ‘obstruction.’ We are dealing with sick and evil people!’ he added in a second post. 

Fox News’ Danielle Wallace contributed to this report.

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