Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal is hitting at Donald Trump, saying that “throwing Christians in jail” won’t “make America great again.”
In a series of tweets Friday morning, the 2016 White House hopeful invoked the controversy over a Kentucky clerk jailed for refusing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis was held in contempt of court and jailed on Thursday after refusing to issue the licenses to gay couples, claiming it would violate her religious beliefs. Deputy clerks in her office began issuing licenses on Friday morning.
{mosads}Jindal’s tweets came after Trump, the front-runner for the GOP nomination, expressed sympathy for Davis, but said the county should issue marriage licenses.
“The decision came down from the Supreme Court … so I’m a believer in both sides of the picture,” Trump said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
“I hate to see her being put in jail, I understand what they’re doing,” the real estate magnate said, when pressed. “You have to go with it. The decision has been made, and that is the law of the land.”
Several Republican presidential candidates blasted a decision to put Davis in federal custody Thursday.
The issue has divided the GOP field, with Sens. Rand Paul (Ky.), Ted Cruz (Texas) and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee strongly supporting Davis, while other candidates have sought a balance.
Jindal, who is vying for the support of evangelical voters, is near the bottom of the 17-person GOP field.