Only two of the eight 2024 presidential candidates kept their hands down when asked if they would support former President Donald Trump if he is convicted in one or more of his four criminal cases.
When asked by Fox News moderators who would support Trump as the GOP presidential candidate, Vivek Ramaswamy confidently put his hand up, followed by former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, Gov. Doug Burgum (R-ND), and Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC).
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After looking around, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) put his hand up, followed by former Vice President Mike Pence. Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie appeared to put his hand up, later clarifying that he was shaking his finger.
"Here's the bottom line: Someone's got to stop normalizing this conduct," Christie said. "Whether or not you believe that the criminal charges are right or wrong the conduct is beneath the office of President of the United States."
Ramaswamy hit back at Christie, saying that Christie blasting Trump would be a lot more credible if Christie's campaign was "not based on vengeance and grievance against, blindly bashing Donald Trump without an iota of vision for this country."
Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson was the only person to keep their hand fully down.
Hutchinson continued to say that Trump was "morally disqualified" from becoming president again.
"Obviously, I'm not going to support somebody who's been convicted of a serious felony, or who is disqualified under our Constitution," Hutchinson said. "That's consistent with RNC rules, and I hope everybody would agree with that."
Scott, Christie, DeSantis, and Haley all agreed that Pence did the right thing on Jan. 6, 2021, by certifying the 2020 election.
"Mike did the right thing, I got no beef with him," DeSantis said.
The Florida governor argued that the focus should not be on the actions Trump took in 2021 — instead, he said the focus should be on Jan. 20, 2025, "when the next president is going to take off."
"So Republicans, we've got to look forward and we've got to make sure that we're bringing the message that can win," DeSantis said.
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Haley said that it is time for a "new generational leader."
"We have to look at the fact that three quarters of Americans don't want a rematch between Trump and Biden," Haley said. "And we have to face the fact that Trump is the most disliked politician in America. We can't win a general election that way."