Republican National Committee Co-Chair Lara Trump rebuked Larry Hogan, the moderate GOP candidate for U.S. Senate in Maryland, for saying Americans should accept the verdict in former President Trump’s criminal trial, regardless of the outcome.
“I think that anyone who does not speak out in the face of something that should never have seen the light of day again, a trial that would never have been brought against anyone other than Donald Trump, does not deserve anyone’s respect. ,” Lara Trump, the former president’s daughter-in-law, said in an interview with CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday when asked about Hogan.
“He doesn’t deserve the respect of anyone in the Republican Party right now and, frankly, anyone in America, if that’s how you feel. It’s very disturbing to hear that,” added Lara Trump, about Hogan.
Trump was found guilty Thursday on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to cover up a scheme to protect potentially damaging information from the American public ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
Hogan, moments before Thursday’s guilty verdict was announced, he wrote on social platform X, “Regardless of the outcome, I ask all Americans to respect the verdict and the legal process.”
“At this dangerously divided moment in our history, all leaders – regardless of party – must not add fuel to the fire with more toxic partisanship. We must reaffirm what made this nation great: the rule of law,” added the former governor of Maryland.
Trump adviser Chris LaCivita immediately responded: “You just ended your campaign.”
Hogan – who faces Democratic candidate Angela Alsobrooks in the November general election to represent the blue state of Maryland in the US Senate – struck a markedly different tone from the sentiment expressed by the vast majority of the Republican Party. Many took aim at the trial and claimed it was politically motivated.
Lara Trump on Sunday repeatedly dodged questions about whether the RNC would continue to support Hogan’s bid for the Senate seat after he made the comment.
Pressed on whether the RNC would use its resources to help Hogan or whether Republicans are willing to give up the Senate seat in Maryland to Democrats, Lara Trump said several times that “I will get back to you about all the monetary details.”
“What I will say is that, of course, we want to win as a party, but this is a shame. And I think he should have thought long and hard before saying that publicly,” she said.
The Hill reached out to Hogan’s campaign for a response.
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