US Republican Candidates Criticize Trump for Evidence Tampering... "Extremely Brazen Behavior"

Former U.S. President Donald Trump has been indicted on charges of ordering the destruction of evidence related to the leak of classified documents, sparking a wave of criticism from Republican presidential primary candidates and within the Republican Party. With the U.S. presidential election just over a year and three months away, other candidates are intensifying their attacks on former President Trump.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump [Image source=Yonhap News]

Chris Christie, former governor of New Jersey and a Republican primary candidate, appeared on CNN on the 30th (local time) and criticized Trump’s evidence destruction charges, saying, "It’s very brazen. He’s acting like an inexperienced 'Corleone'." Vito Corleone is the protagonist of the mafia-themed movie The Godfather, and Christie was likening Trump’s actions to those of a mafia crime organization.

Nikki Haley, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and a Republican primary candidate, commented on CBS about Trump’s evidence destruction charges, saying, "It’s the same way Hillary Clinton deleted her emails when she was a presidential candidate," emphasizing, "It doesn’t matter whether it’s the Republican or Democratic Party. Whether it’s Hillary or Trump, it’s not important. If there’s nothing to hide, you shouldn’t delete it."

Hillary Clinton, a former Democratic presidential candidate, faced investigation in the past for storing work-related emails on a private server, which became a controversy.

Chris Sununu, governor of New Hampshire, appeared on ABC and, when asked whether he would support a third-party candidate if Trump became the Republican presidential nominee, avoided answering directly and said, "The Republican candidate will not be Trump. America does not want Trump or Biden."

On the other hand, among the Republican primary candidates, only entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy reaffirmed his support for pardoning former President Trump.

He told CNN, "My standard as the next president is to move our country forward," adding, "One of the right ways to do that is clearly to pardon Trump from this politically motivated prosecution."

Meanwhile, on the 27th, the U.S. federal prosecutors filed additional charges against former President Trump for ordering the destruction of evidence. According to the prosecutors, after federal investigators visited Trump’s estate in June to retrieve classified documents, Trump instructed his staff to delete internal CCTV footage.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.