Republican presidential candidate and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson swiped at former President Trump on Monday for collaborating on and playing at his rallies a song recorded by the “J6 Prison Choir,” a group made up Capitol riot defendants.
“Justice for All,” which was released a month ago, features the former president reciting the Pledge of Allegiance after a chorus of his jailed supporters sing “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
The song hit No 1. on iTunes, and Trump used it to kick off his first official 2024 campaign rally in Waco, Texas.
“To me, he’s undermining our system of justice,” Hutchinson said. “He’s undermining actually what happened on Jan. 6 and minimizing it, and so I’m troubled by that,” he added to News Nation’s Elizabeth Vargas during the premier of “Elizabeth Vargas Reports” when asked about the incident.
“Obviously, he did it because it would create a stir, and he’s good at creating stirs,” Hutchinson said.
“I don’t think we should elevate Jan. 6. It was a serious challenge to our democracy. It was a blight against the United States, against the world,” he continued. “So it’s a dark moment — we need to move on and talk about the future and how we need to make sure our elections are filled with integrity, but also that we peacefully transfer power. That’s what our democracy is known for.”
Hutchinson announced on Sunday that he was running for president, becoming the fourth Republican to jump into the primary field, following Trump, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.
Hutchinson will likely face a tough road in the primary, which has been dominated by Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R ), who has yet to officially jump into the race. A Quinnipiac University survey released last week shows the former Arkansas governor registering at less than 1 percent in support from Republican voters. Trump, on the other hand, led the field with 47 percent support, while DeSantis followed at 33 percent.
Hutchinson has also fielded questions about Trump’s indictment by a Manhattan grand jury, saying that as a former prosecutor he would not have brought the case, but that the facts of the matter should be heard.
Other Republicans have been far less tolerant of the New York case, accusing District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D) of a political witch hunt.
Over the weekend DeSantis labeled Bragg “a menace to society.”
When asked about DeSantis’s comments, Hutchinson told Vargas that he’s “appealing to the worst instincts of America versus trying to sort through a difficult time in our country.”