Republican New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, during a Sunday interview with ABC News, defended his stance backing former President Donald Trump after previously opposing him while campaigning for former presidential candidate Nikki Haley.
Sununu appeared on “This Week” to discuss his support of Trump in spite of previous statements against the former president’s candidacy. Host George Stephanopoulos grilled the governor over previously stating Trump should drop out of the 2024 presidential race if he is convicted of any of the charges brought against him.
As Sununu began to state it’s an issue he and Haley warned about, Stephanopoulos interjected to press him to answer the intent of the questions. (RELATED: Trump Narrowly Leads Biden In Latest Poll As Margin Slims)
“Well, look, in a primary — we fought hard in the primary and got behind Nikki. This is the chaos that Nikki Haley, I, [and] others warned about was going to follow Trump. It’s just a complete distraction. I’d rather have Republicans on the campaign trail talking about real issues than having to talk about this stuff. It’s a complete distraction,” Sununu stated.
“It doesn’t mean he’s going to lose and doesn’t people people aren’t going to support the Republican ticket because right now it looks like they are. But that’s the distraction we’re all trying to avoid. We want —”
“I’m asking you a different question. I’m asking you a different question because you said in the past he should drop out if he’s convicted in the classified documents case. Do you still believe that?” Stephanopoulos pressed.
“No, no, no, no. He’s going to drop out after being the nominee? Of course not — that’s not to be expected at all. All of these cases, by the way, the average American — it’s all conflated, right? We watch this stuff. We watch the details. The average American sees it more as reality TV. I’m not saying there’s not real issues to bear there — of course there are — but there’s clearly politics to bear in some of these cases. That is undeniable. The average American thinks it’s more reality TV and prosecution of him at this point,” Sununu stated.
“At the end of the day, they want that culture change of the party. If we have to have Trump as the standard bearer — and the voters decided that’s what they wanted — not what I wanted— but what the Republican voters wanted. If he’s going to be the standard bearer, we’ll take it if we have to — that’s how badly America wants a culture change.”
Sununu announced his support of the presumptive GOP presidential nominee on March 8, following Haley’s withdrawal from the race after losing nearly all of Super Tuesday’s 15 states to Trump. During Haley’s campaign, however, Sununu consistently called out Trump over his indictments and stance on the validity of the 2020 election results.
“So just to sum up, you would support him for president even if he was convicted in classified documents. You would support him for president, even though you believe he contributed to an insurrection. You support him for president even though you believe he’s lying about the last election. You would support him for president, even if he’s convicted in the Manhattan case. I just want to say, the answer to that is yes, correct?”
“Yeah, me and 51% of America,” Sununu responded.
Former President Trump won his state primaries by large margins. New general elections polls, however, show a slim margin between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, as the two are expected to face off again in November.
A recent poll conducted by New York Times/Siena College showed that out of 1,059 registered voters questioned, 43% responded they would support Trump, while 42% responded they would support Biden.