Florida Governor Ron DeSantis assured that he will support Donald Trump if he becomes the presidential candidate of the Republican Party. However, DeSantis stressed that if the former president is convicted of a crime, he should not be nominated by the party.
In an interview for MSNBC, DeSantis spoke this Thursday about his willingness to support Trump as the Republican candidate for the 2024 elections. The governor explained that to participate in the presidential debates, he signed a commitment to support the eventual GOP candidate. Although the former president refused to sign said agreement, the governor asserted that he would fulfill his promise, regardless of the candidate that results.
However, DeSantis emphasized that he does not consider it appropriate for the former president to be nominated by the party if he is found guilty of any of the multiple charges he faces.
"It would be fatal in a general election. I don't think the party should nominate [him] in that situation," he said, highlighting that Republican voters "will understand" as the vote gets closer.
It should be noted that Trump faces a total of 91 charges in four different criminal cases. One is for alleged falsification of business records related to secret payments made to buy silence in the middle of the 2016 elections.
The former president also faces several crimes related to alleged electoral interference in 2020—other charges for alleged attempts to overturn Georgia's election results and for classified documents found at Mar-a-Lago.
It is relevant to mention that Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges and has expressed his willingness to appear as a witness to defend his innocence if necessary. However, he has also stated that he does not believe that his cases will go to trial and that he will do everything possible to prevent them from moving forward.
The favorite in the polls
According to polls from Morning Consulting and the University of Texas, the former president leads with a 49-point advantage over DeSantis, who is his closest competitor. The other candidates do not reach double digits in the polls.
