Pence and other GOP hopefuls begin criticizing Trump over 'very serious allegations'

Some of Donald Trump's 2024 Republican rivals for president have begun to acknowledge that the Justice Department charges against him are “serious” and that his alleged lax handling of classified information represented a safety risk for U.S. troops.

Here’s a rundown:

Mike Pence

In a Tuesday interview with the Wall Street Journal editorial board, former Vice President Mike Pence addressed the felony charges against Trump, who was arraigned in Miami that same day.

“Having read the indictment, these are very serious allegations," Pence said. "And I can’t defend what is alleged. But the president is entitled to his day in court, he’s entitled to bring a defense, and I want to reserve judgment until he has the opportunity to respond.”

Pence also specified why he thought the 37 criminal counts outlined in the indictment should not be dismissed by Republican critics of the Justice Department.

“Even the inadvertent release of that kind of information could compromise our national security and the safety of our armed forces,” he said. “And, frankly, having two members of our immediate family serving in the armed forces of the United States, I will never diminish the importance of protecting our nation’s secrets.”

Nikki Haley

Those sentiments were echoed in the recent response of another Republican looking to become president: former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.

“If this indictment is true, if what it says is actually the case, President Trump was incredibly reckless with our national security,” Haley, a former U.N. ambassador, said during a Monday interview with Fox News. “This puts all of our military members in danger.”

Tim Scott

While taking pains at a Monday campaign rally to portray President Biden's Justice Department as "targeting and hunting Republicans," Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina also made clear that the indictment against Trump represented a “serious case with serious allegations,” according to the Post and Courier newspaper.

Chris Christie

Perhaps Trump's most outspoken critic in the GOP presidential field, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, said the conduct outlined in the indictment was “inexcusable.”

“Everybody, whether you like Donald Trump or you don’t like Donald Trump, this conduct is inexcusable, in my opinion, for somebody who wants to be president of the United States,” Christie said Monday during a CNN town hall event. “He’s saying, 'I’m more important than the country.' And he is now going to put this country through this when we didn’t have to go through it.”

Ron DeSantis

While Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has largely focused on the injustice of the indictment, which he described as an example of “the weaponization of federal law enforcement," he also took the opportunity on Friday to criticize Trump while invoking his own military service.

“As a naval officer, if I would have taken classified [documents] to my apartment, I would have been court-martialed in a New York minute,” DeSantis said during a speech at the North Carolina Republican convention.

Asa Hutchinson

In a statement issued last week, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson said Trump should "end his campaign" based on the latest criminal indictment made against him.

“These are serious allegations that are relevant in this campaign and should not be dismissed lightly,” he said in an interview on Saturday with CNN.

On Wednesday, Hutchinson went even further.

“I’m not going to vote for him if he’s a convicted felon,” he told Politico. “If he’s convicted of espionage, I’m not going to vote for him.”