A conservative event in Georgia, bringing together nearly all of the most prominent Republican 2024 presidential candidates — with the notable exception of former president Donald Trump — won't be asking its guests about Trump's indictments. In fact, he won't ask them about the GOP front-runner at all.
Conservative radio host Erick Erickson introduced his annual event, The Gathering, on Friday morning, telling the over 1,000 attendees, "One of my chief frustrations — and it's what I'm kind of encountering actually from a couple of reporters who are mad at me for saying I'm not going to do this — is the former president isn't going to be here."
TRUMP'S 'MOST DANGEROUS CASE IN GEORGIA COULD ALSO BE THE LONGEST DELAYED
"I don't want to ask the candidates all day and tomorrow about him," he continued. "And that seems to be the conversation in the media."
On Monday evening, Trump was indicted on 13 counts, including violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO, in attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election in Georgia. He was one of 19 individuals indicted in the case in Georgia. This is the fourth case that Trump has been indicted in, each coming this summer during primary campaign season.
Since Trump remains the front-runner of the GOP primary race, boasting double-digit leads over all opponents, candidates have been expected to comment on his mounting legal issues.
According to Erickson, he knows exactly how each candidate will respond to questions on Trump and his indictments. Instead, "I want to ask them about policy questions," he said.
"The No. 1 question in the from the crowd is military preparedness. Lots of questions about finances in the economy and what to do with the banks," he explained.
"I don't know the answer to those questions for many of the candidates because all the media asks them about is 'What do you think about the indictments?'" he claimed.
"Isn't it amazing what you can learn when you ask the candidates about the candidates' policies instead of asking about other people?" Erickson remarked after interviewing Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC).
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However, this didn't apply to Gov. Brian Kemp (R-GA), who isn't a candidate. He didn't comment specifically on the recent Georgia grand jury indictment, noting that he may be a witness in the case going forward.
But Kemp did predict that none of the cases Trump has been indicted in will go to trial before the 2024 presidential election. He claimed that Democrats are using the indictments to distract Republicans from beating President Joe Biden.