GOP Candidate Booed for Saying Trump's 'Running to Stay Out of Prison'

Presidential candidate Will Hurd was booed at a Republican event in Iowa after telling the crowd that former President Donald Trump was running in 2024 "to stay out of prison."

Hurd, a former GOP congressman from Texas, made the contentious remarks at the Iowa Republican Party's Lincoln Dinner on Friday. He spoke alongside a field of 13 other presidential candidates, including Trump. Each candidate was given a strict 10-minute time limit to speak. Hurd delivered his speech less than an hour before the former president closed the event.

Trump faces 40 federal felony counts related to his post-presidency retention of classified documents and 34 felony counts in New York, accused of falsifying business records, with speculation mounting that the former president is likely to soon face more charges. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges and frequently claims that his legal troubles are part of a political "witch hunt."

Herd, who isn't even registering on most polls of the 2024 GOP field, may have won some much-needed media attention and name recognition with his remarks about the former president on Friday. However, his comments were decidedly unpopular among the Republicans at the event, drawing loud boos and no discernible applause or cheers.

"One of the things we need in our elected leaders is for them to tell the truth, even if it's unpopular," Herd said. "Donald Trump is not running for president to make America great again. Donald Trump is not running for president to represent the people that voted for him in 2016 and 2020."

"Donald Trump is running to stay out of prison," he continued, prompting the crowd to launch into a chorus of boos.

Hurd then held his hand up and gestured to the crowd while saying: "I know, I know, I know—listen, I know the truth is hard. But if we elect Donald Trump, we are willingly giving Joe Biden four more years in the White House. And America can't handle that."

"God bless you and God bless America," he added before walking off stage, with some in the crowd still jeering.

Trump did not address Hurd or his remarks after he took the stage—ironically, at the exact moment that the lyrics of the Brooks & Dunn song, Only in America, which was blaring at the event, proclaimed: "One could end up going to prison, one just might be president."

Reached for comment on Hurd's speech, Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung told Newsweek, "Will who?"

When Hurd announced his candidacy last month on a platform of transforming the Republican Party into "the party that talks about the future and not the past," Trump spokesperson Karoline Leavitt dismissed him as a "Never-Trumper" in comments to the conservative outlet The Daily Caller.

"Let's be honest, Never-Trumper Will Hurd wouldn't even consider getting in this race if Ron DeSantis' campaign wasn't in total free fall," said Leavitt. "Hurd's entry means nothing for President Trump's standing, but means everything for Ron DeSantis, further underscoring how far Ron's star has fallen."