New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu (R) said former President Trump’s recent remark about using the National Guard or the military on Election Day “should give everyone pause.”
Trump, in an interview last week, suggested using the National Guard or military to fight against what he called possible disorder from “the enemy from within,” which he said includes “radical-left lunatics.”
On Sunday, ABC News’s Martha Raddatz pressed Sununu about the comments on “This Week.”
Raddatz said that while the New Hampshire governor claims “that’s all hyperbole,” she also said “those things have real consequences.”
“There are people who have been threatened at [the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)] and elsewhere over comments that the president and JD Vance have made. Does that give you pause ever, as you still continue to support Donald Trump?” she asked.
Sununu initially agreed: “Again, I think it should give everyone pause. Nobody likes that … type of stuff and that type of hyperbole.”
He then pushed back: “But, let’s look, he was president for four years. Did he go after his political enemies? Did he weaponize the Department of Justice and go after Hillary Clinton?” And he finished by saying, “Of course he didn’t do that,” and he explained Trump “is a fighter.”
Sununu has historically been a critic of the former president and originally endorsed former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley in the 2024 GOP presidential primary, but he is now backing Trump. In April, he said he is in support of Trump in spite of the fact that he thinks the former president “contributed” to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riots.
The Hill has reached out to the Trump campaign for comment.