Republican candidate Will Hurd said Sunday he expected to get booed at the Iowa Republicans’ Lincoln Dinner on Friday night, when he asserted that former President Trump was only running for the White House again “to stay out of prison.”
“One of the things we need in our elected leaders: to tell the truth, even if it’s not popular,” Hurd said Friday. “Donald Trump is not running for president to make American great again. Donald Trump is not even running to represent the people that voted for him in 2016 and in 2020. Donald Trump is running for president to stay out of prison.”
In an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Hurd said the reaction was “as expected” but noted there were some in the audience who remained quiet and a few who clapped as well, which he said came as a welcome surprise to him.
“Of course, it was as expected. I knew there were going to be people that didn’t like it, but what I didn’t expect was there were a lot of people that actually clapped, and then there were more people that just sat there politely and probably understand and knew what I was saying was the truth,” Hurd told NBC’s Chuck Todd when asked about getting booed at the dinner.
Hurd’s remarks Friday came just after a superseding indictment charged Trump with three additional crimes in the probe into his mishandling of classified documents. Special counsel Jack Smith and his office accused Trump of working with employees to try to delete surveillance footage after learning they would be subpoenaed.
“My goal was not to go in there and talk to the people that have been frustrated when they’re told that the person that they respect has been lying to them,” Hurd said. “I was there to talk to the people that believe in personal responsibility, that believe character matters, that believe service matters, that believe that the United States has a role in the world and it’s important to us back here at home.”
“Those were the people that I was going to speak to, and also to prove to the rest of the field that we’re running for an election, and if you’re afraid to talk about Donald Trump or talk about his baggage, then you’re not ready to be president of the United States,” he added.
Hurd launched his long-shot bid as one of the few candidates willing to go after Trump directly, as many of his fellow contenders seek to sidestep the issue, despite Trump’s massive lead in hypothetical GOP 2024 primary polls.