New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu (R) on Sunday said Donald Trump’s federal indictment over his handling of classified documents was “self-inflicted,” and he expects “some kind of guilty verdict” against the former president.
Trump is facing 37 felony charges, including conspiracy to obstruct justice, willful retention of national defense information and making false statements. He’s accused of taking top-secret documents after he left the White House and blocking government efforts to recover them. Trump, who has denied wrongdoing, is set to appear in a Miami courtroom on Tuesday.
“He had every chance in the world to hand all those files and documents back,” Sununu told CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “He did just the opposite. He bragged about keeping them. So this is very self-inflicted.”
The Republican governor, who recently ruled himself out of the 2024 presidential contest, said Trump shouldn’t be the party’s nominee and called on the other GOP candidates to acknowledge the severity of the charges. Trump has been citing his indictment in fundraising appeals and remains the 2024 GOP front-runner.
“This is serious,” Sununu said. “If even half of this stuff is true, he’s in real trouble. And it is self-inflicted. And I just see too many of the candidates trying to walk around it.”
For now, most of the GOP presidential hopefuls, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), have criticized the Justice Department without denouncing Trump. Vivek Ramaswamy has pledged to pardon Trump.
DeSantis decried the “weaponization” of government agencies and said there was no single “standard of justice in the country.”
Only two candidates, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and ex-Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, have forcefully defended the DOJ’s case against Trump.
“Is this the type of conduct that we want from someone who wants to be president of the United States?” Christie asked.
Sununu told CBS’ John Dickerson he didn’t think the charges were politically motivated and said all politicians should recognize the unprecedented nature of the indictment.
“Everyone has to be very straightforward and transparent about it and acknowledge the realities of the severity of these accusations,” Sununu said.
This will likely “come down to some type of guilty verdict on the president, at least on some of these charges,” he added.
Former Attorney General Bill Barr echoed Sununu, telling “Fox News Sunday” Trump is in real trouble if the espionage allegations in the indictment are true.
“I do think we have to wait and see what the defense says, and what proves to be true. But I do think that … if even half of it is true, then he’s toast,” Barr said.