Former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson was loudly booed on Saturday after he told a Republican summit that there is “significant likelihood” that former President Donald Trump will be found guilty of a felony next year.
The former president has been facing a wave of legal scrutiny at both the state and federal levels by being indicted in four separate cases: two brought by Department of Justice (DOJ) special counsel Jack Smith, one by the Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, and another by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis in Georgia. Trump has denied wrongdoing in all cases while claiming that all of his legal woes are part of an orchestrated “witch hunt” by his political enemies as he runs for president again in 2024.
While speaking at the Florida Freedom Summit, an event featuring presidential candidates like Hutchinson, the former governor cited his own experience as a prosecutor to predict the outcome of Trump’s legal troubles.
“As someone who has been in the courtroom for over 25 years as a federal prosecutor and also in defending some of the most serious federal criminal cases, I can say that there is a significant likelihood that Donald Trump will be found guilty by a jury on a felony offense next year,” Hutchinson said, which the crowd responded by erupting in a series of boos.
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Hutchinson continued to state that such an outcome will make it harder for Republicans down the ticket to win their races if Trump, who is the current GOP frontrunner, wins the 2024 nomination.
“That may or may not happen. Before you vote in March, and it might not make any difference to you, but it will make a difference for our chances to attract independent voters in November. It will make a difference for those down-ticket races for Congress and Senate, and it will weaken the GOP for decades to come. As a party, we must support the rule of law, we cannot win as a country without integrity in the White House,” Hutchinson added.
Shortly after Hutchinson’s remarks, former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie was also loudly booed as soon as he took the stage and throughout his remarks as he also seemingly addressed the Republican divide.
“The problem is, you want to shout down any voice that says anything different than what you want to hear. You can continue to do it, and believe me—believe me, it doesn’t bother me one bit,” Christie said, who is also running for president.
The Republican fired back at the boos by saying, “You can yell and boo about it as much as you like, but it doesn’t change the truth. And the truth is coming.”
Christie added: “And all of you need to understand: America needs better than what we’ve had. And it never makes America a better place, whether it’s on a college campus in an Ivy League or whether it’s in an auditorium in Orlando, for us to be booing and shouting down opinions we don’t agree with.”
This comes after House Republicans continued to remain divided in the midst of voting on a new House speaker after the ousting of Kevin McCarthy on October 3 and Representative Jim Jordan’s subsequent failed bid for speakership after three rounds of voting. Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, was finally chosen as the new House speaker late last month.
Newsweek has reached out to Trump and Hutchinson’s campaign via email for further comment.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.