Fla. governor rues Trump indictments

Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said the indictments of former President Donald Trump have “distorted” the Republican presidential race, suggesting the criminal charges have contributed to Trump’s domination of the field as well as to DeSantis’s slide in the polls.

“I would say if I could have one thing change, I wish Trump hadn’t been indicted on any of this stuff,” DeSantis told the Christian Broadcasting Network in an interview broadcast Thursday.

DeSantis argued since “Alvin Bragg on,” Trump has been dominating the race as Republican voters rallied around him in response to what they see as unjust prosecutions. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg indicted Trump in April on charges of falsifying business records connected to an investigation into hush money payments to the adult-film actress Stormy Daniels.

The former president has been indicted three times since then: by special counsel Jack Smith in cases related to the retention of classified documents and to Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election result, as well as a separate case in Georgia related to attempts to reverse election results there.

“I’ve criticized the cases. I think, you know, someone like a Bragg would not have brought that case if it was anyone other than Donald Trump,” DeSantis said.

“Someone like that’s distorting justice, which is bad, but I also think it distorted the primary.”

Trump has been leading the shrinking pack of GOP presidential contenders since the race began, but in the early stages of the contest, DeSantis appeared to be within striking distance of the former president.