Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) said Sunday that it is a "great question" on how President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump are neck-and-neck with each other in the polls ahead of the 2024 presidential election, despite Trump being indicted for a third time over the past week.
Trump and Biden were tied in a general election face-off for polling data released over the past week, with both candidates receiving 43% support. On Thursday, Trump appeared in court after being indicted on four new charges related to the Jan. 6 riot on Capitol Hill in 2021 and his alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
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"Well, it's a great question," said Raskin when asked about Trump and Biden being tied. "I wish Lincoln were around to pose it to him because it’s his political party that they dragged into the mud here. I mean, that was a pro-freedom, anti-slavery, anti-no nothing pro-immigration party, and now it’s become a cult of authoritarian personality. And even the Republicans running against Trump dare not challenge the clear betrayals of his Constitutional oath."
Raskin specifically discussed Trump's actions in between the 2020 presidential election and the Jan. 6 Capitol protest, during which Trump knew "exactly what he was doing." The Maryland Democrat stated that the former president had to have known that "60 federal and state courts rejected every argument about electoral fraud and corruption" that the Trump administration brought forward following the 2020 election.
"You might believe that your bank owes you some money; you don’t have the right to go rob the bank," said Raskin.
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The four counts that Trump faces in his latest indictment include conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights. After pleading not guilty at his arraignment on Thursday, Trump described his indictment as "persecution of a political opponent."
In a poll released last month, a combined 69% of Republican voters think that Trump is the strongest nominee to compete with Biden in the 2024 presidential election. This number was divided between 45% who voted “definitely strongest” and 24% who chose “probably strongest.”