Trump investigation puts GOP rivals on the spot over Jan. 6

The Justice Department’s investigation into former President Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election and in connection to the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol is twisting his Republican primary competitors in knots trying to both defend him and denounce what happened that day.

Speculation about an impending indictment of Trump over his actions surrounding Jan. 6 have thrust the day’s events — when hundreds of rioters violently stormed the Capitol to try and halt the certification of the 2020 election results — back into the spotlight.

The issue of Jan. 6 has been a thorny one for Republicans running for president, and few are eager to talk about the violence of that day. Some candidates have tied themselves into rhetorical knots, careful not to seem either overly sympathetic to rioters or overly critical of Trump, who remains broadly popular in the party.

“I think there are some candidates that haven’t really had to clearly articulate what they think about January 6,” said Republican strategist Rob Stutzman. “Some of them are rising in the polls, like Sen. [Tim] Scott, and they’re going to have to answer more clearly sooner or later.”

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is running in second behind Trump in most polls, initially said after learning Trump was a target of the Justice Department (DOJ) investigation that the former president could have spoken out more forcefully on Jan. 6, while also arguing Trump should not be charged over his conduct that day.

In a more recent interview with actor Russell Brand, DeSantis said he did not consider the events of Jan. 6 to be an insurrection, instead suggesting it was a protest that devolved into a riot.

Former Vice President Mike Pence, who in his 2024 campaign launch argued Trump’s actions on Jan. 6 were disqualifying for another White House term, told NewsNation that the former president’s words were “reckless,” but that he did not believe it rose to the level of being criminal. Pence himself was in harm’s way that day while presiding over Congress’s counting of Electoral College votes in his capacity as vice president.

Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), who was also at the Capitol that day, went further in a recent candidate town hall, saying he did not hold Trump responsible for putting him in danger during the riot.

“I hold the folks who broke into the Capitol with ill will in their hearts, destroying property, responsible for their actions,” Scott said. “I don’t hold the former president, who didn’t show up at the Capitol & threaten my life, as responsible.”

Scott’s comments drew a rebuke from former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R), who has been deeply critical of Trump’s conduct and character but has said he would withhold judgment about any potential charges until seeing an indictment.

“I’m disappointed in Tim that he would be sitting out there saying ‘It’s really not the president’s responsibility,’” Christie said on “Face The Nation” on Sunday. “The president invited them. The president lied to them and told them the election was stolen.”

The varying degrees of defending Trump while denouncing the rioters is yet another example of candidates having to tread carefully around Trump and his legal troubles, which have galvanized his base this year and also hindered some of his primary competitors. 

“It hasn’t hurt Trump the way that most people would imagine it should have hurt Trump. But it has impacted the dynamic of the Republican primary race,” former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) told MSNBC about a potential third indictment involving Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

“Look, the fact that nobody else can get any traction or attention is because all we’re talking about is Donald Trump’s legal troubles,” he added.

Trump, meanwhile, has not shied away from the events of Jan. 6 during his own campaign for another term in the White House. 

The former president during a CNN town hall event in May said many of those present during the Jan. 6 riots “were there with love in their heart,” and Trump has on multiple occasions indicated he’d be willing to pardon those convicted over their actions during the attack on the Capitol. In recent weeks, Trump hosted a fundraiser for Jan. 6 rioters at his Bedminster, N.J., property.

As recently as Wednesday, Trump posted on Truth Social multiple times about his belief that the 2020 election was “rigged,” and he has questioned why he should be punished for casting doubt on the results.

But some Republican strategists are less certain that charges and a detailed indictment against Trump for his conduct after the 2020 election will be beneficial to the former president in the long-term.

A Quinnipiac University poll conducted nearly two years after the riots at the Capitol found more than 60 percent of Americans believed Trump bore a lot or some responsibility for the events on Jan. 6.

“There’s no upside. I don’t think Trump has an insurmountable lead, it’s so damn early and there’s so many things on Trump’s radar screen that can get in his way. If you had a choice you wouldn’t want to be indicted in three different jurisdictions,” said Sean Walsh, who worked as a press staffer in the George H.W. Bush White House.

“I think it will come front-and-center, and there’s no way around it that it won’t be corrosive for Trump,” Walsh added.