Former Arkansas Governor, Asa Hutchinson, ran on an anti-Trump presidential campaign before dropping out of the race earlier this week.
In an interview with Boston Public Radio, ahead of the New Hampshire primaries, he explained what motivated his presidential run against Trump.
"I was very concerned about the direction of the Republican Party and that we're going to lose in 2024 if we go down this path of Donald Trump trying to win again, a race that he's lost before," he said.
During the first primary debate, Hutchinson was the only candidate to not confirm if he would support the former president as the GOP nominee.
He's says he's against a second Trump presidency for two reasons.
"Leadership has made the decision we're better off with Trump with all of his flaws than not. I think that's short-sighted and wrong," he said. "The second reason is that you've had these charges starting with New York that the public had no confidence in. They look political, and that strengthened Donald Trump."
Hutchinson was referring to a verdict out of New York last May that found Trump liable of sexual abuse against columnist E. Jean Carroll in 1996. Currently, Trump is in the midst of a defamation trial in New York for statements he made in 2022 regarding Carroll.
In addition, Trump has four pending cases, including one for federal election interference and another for holding classified documents in his Mar-a-Lago resort; all four come with a slew of felony charges.
With the 2024 Republican National Convention happening in July, after three of the scheduled trials for the cases — spare a Georgia election interference case — convictions could be possible before the convention.
Hutchinson believes Trump's "loyalists are going to stand behind him" but hopes the RNC would "move another direction" if Trump is found guilty.
"That's why I've been sounding the alarm," he said.
Hutchinson hasn't officially endorsed a GOP candidate yet, but is looking to Nikki Haley to succeed in the New Hampshire primary.
"I would love to see Nikki Haley prevail and do well in New Hampshire," he said.
