‘You Know You’re Committing A Crime!’ GOP Candidate Skins Trump Alive On CNN Over New Charges He Tried to Destroy Evidence

Republican presidential candidate Will Hurd pulled no punches in criticizing ex-President Donald Trump over new obstruction charges in a blistering CNN appearance.

News broke Thursday afternoon that Special Counsel Jack Smith has filed three additional charges against Trump: one additional count of unlawful retention of National Defense Information and two new obstruction counts based on allegations that Trump and co-defendants Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira attempted to delete surveillance video footage at The Mar-a-Lago Club in the summer of 2022.

While other Republican candidates have deferred or even defended Trump, Hurd went right for the jugular on Thursday night’s edition of CNN Primetime, telling anchor Abby Phillip his actions show consciousness of guilt and slamming anyone who stands with the ex-president:

PHILLIP: And joining me now is one of Donald Trump’s 2024 Republican rivals, former Texas Congressman Will Hurd.

We played that mashup really to illustrate how much this has been a part of the public life, and now to see, in this indictment, pretty clear evidence, allegations here that Trump was the one who directed his aides to try to delete surveillance footage, to delete the server, so that federal investigators would not see what was on them.

REP. WILL HURD: I mean, I have never been indicted. I am not a lawyer.

But if you are deleting evidence, it’s because you know you’re committing a crime! And anybody who supports this, anybody who defends this is complicit in endangering America, endangering the men and women who are putting themselves in harm’s way every single day and every single night in order for us to enjoy these freedoms.

And let me be clear about this. Donald Trump is not running for president to make America great again. Donald Trump is not running for president to defend our interests overseas. Donald Trump’s not even running to represent the people that voted for him in 2016 and in 2020.

Donald Trump is running for president in order for him to stay out of jail. These are serious crimes. These are serious accusations. Donald Trump is a national security risk, and he needs to be beaten in a primary, so we can be done with him once and for all.

And I hope I can be on that debate stage in order to have these conversations, but I need everybody’s help. I need folks to go to HurdforAmerica.com and help me do that.

PHILLIP: So many of your colleagues who are also running in the 2024 race are running against Trump and say they still support — they would support him if he were the nominee.

Do you think that, given the conduct that is in this indictment, that he should be in the Oval Office again if he is elected?

HURD: Of course, he shouldn’t be in the Oval Office.

This is just more example of how he doesn’t care about people. Look at these two aides that he’s just tossed away and made him do their dirty work. And the fact that anybody else thinks that this guy is fit for office is disappointing to me.

Watch above via CNN Primetime.

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