Potential vice president contender and North Dakota Governor, Doug Burgum, seems to brush-off questions that could portray former president Donald Trump in a bad light, including his recent remarks comparing the Biden administration to the “Gestapo.”
In an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper, the Republican governor weighed-in on Trump’s stance as a presumptive presidential nominee, after attending the Republican National Committee meeting at Mar-a-Lago Saturday night.
“Are you comfortable with the presumptive Republican presidential nominee comparing the Biden administration to the Gestapo?” Tapper asked.
Burgum, first dodging the question by praising Trump for delivering a 90-minute speech san teleprompter while remaining "upbeat," eventually landed at, “If the election was held today, Trump would be winning.”
“In relative to the reference you’re discussing, I mean, this was a short comment deep into the thing that wasn’t really central to what he was talking about,” he said. “I understand, and I think Americans understand. A majority of Americans feel like the trial that he is in right now was politically motivated.”
Burgum furthered that he understands why someone in Trump’s position, who is being “unfairly treated,” would be “frustrated” that they were being kept off the campaign trail.
When Tapper asked him to explain how “a public trial with witnesses, a jury, and a defense counsel” is like the Nazi Secret Police, the governor repeated his belief that the former president wasn’t referring to his trial when he made that comment.
“I mean, I’m a business guy. This is a business filing case. If it was anybody other than a presidential candidate, this would be a misdemeanor. How it got turned into 34 felonies . . . they haven’t even convinced anybody there was a crime,” the governor said.
He added that if it were a crime, it would be a Federal Election Commission crime that would be pursued by the federal courts, not by a county DA in New York.
He went on to claim that the outcome of this trial doesn’t affect Americans, instead, what affects them is “Joe Biden’s policies” and the “insidious” inflation tax that has “come like a thief in the night.” He added that voters are looking at the policies, not the people, saying, “They were better off under President Trump’s policies.”
Watch here:
Potential Trump VP contender @DougBurgum brushes off Donald Trump’s remark comparing the Biden administration to the "Gestapo" in an interview with @jaketapper. pic.twitter.com/0NBNnZeC64
— State of the Union (@CNNSOTU) May 5, 2024
