‘Does Trump Have A Point?’ CNN Anchor Wolf Blitzer Asks If Criminal Charges ‘Help’ With GOP Voters

CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer asked if ex-President Donald Trump “has a point” that Special Counsel Jack Smith’s 37-count indictment helps him in the GOP primary.

Trump gave a speech Friday at the Mid-America Center in Council Bluffs, Iowa to a crowd of about 1,000 people, during which he again claimed the charges he faces are designed to hurt him at the opolls.

“Every time I get a subpoena, my polls go up, I get more and more subpoenas, report to a grand jury. He is killing Biden. He is killing them all,” Trump said.

On Friday’s edition of CNN’s The Situation Room, Blitzer asked his panel if Trump “has a point” about his party’s voters, and whether that could change:

BLITZER: Jeff Zeleny reporting from Iowa for us, thank you.

Let’s bring in our political experts for some more analysis right now. Maggie Haberman, does Trump have a point that his legal troubles, and they are enormous, actually boost him in this race? And will that change any time soon?

HABERMAN: Look, Wolf, we have seen that repeatedly now. He has been indicted twice, both times his poll numbers went up. Not enormously, but they did go up. And he got a fundraising boost, which was notable.

Now, he is facing the possibility of two more indictments. We will see whether that comes to pass and we will see whether it has the same affect. But there’s no reason to believe that it wouldn’t. He has had this hold on a certain segment of the Republican Party for some time. And as much as people try to compare this race to the 2016 race, he is starting out higher than he did there.

So, maybe something will change. It’s very possible that his voters will leave him. It’s possible that they will decide that they are interested in DeSantis, who is essentially pitching himself as Trump without the drama, but the drama doesn’t seem to be something that bothers those voters.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, good point.

Scott Jennings is with us as well. Scott, Trump is hitting Governor DeSantis for his position on ethanol. But, remember, Ted Cruz actually won the Iowa caucuses back in 2016 despite opposing ethanol. So, what do you make of the messaging from the former president?

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes. I think what I’m more interested is the fact that he just continues to pound DeSantis on that or anything else he can think of, because I think the campaign still views DeSantis as the only person who could even legitimately begin to put together enough voters to challenge him.

So, I’m not sure that that issue is going to be the definitive thing. To me, it’s just the continued drumbeat attacks on one guy. It’s DeSantis. They don’t seem to be worried about anyone else in the field.

BLITZER: Ashley Allison, how do you see it?

ASHLEY ALLISON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, Trump is being consistent in his attack on Ron DeSantis. He is the closest person to potentially contest him at this point. Some other folks in the Republican field could get closer, but Trump is taking him directly on.

Now, it does appear that DeSantis in recent ads is starting to be more directly attacking Trump. But until they come — some of that field in the Republican party consolidates, it just doesn’t seem like one is going to be able to find a direct path to overcome Trump.

I mean, I find it interesting, though, that Trump is saying that the reason why he is being indicted is because he is leading, when we know that the investigations were going on long before he actually announced he was running for president.

And so, luckily, our legal system is not operated on politics but people who are supporting Donald Trump don’t seem to have faith in our legal system right now, which is also super troubling.

Watch above via CNN’s The Situation Room.

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