Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) defended former President Donald Trump‘s comments about his indictments helping him win over black voters in comments made on Friday night.
While addressing the Black Conservative Federation, Trump said that some people have claimed that black people like him “because they have been hurt so badly and discriminated against, and they actually viewed me as being discriminated against.”
Donalds backed Trump’s comments on NBC News’s Meet the Press on Sunday, saying that Trump’s indictments are similar to what “black people had to deal with” regarding the justice system.
“Let’s be very clear; our economy is a mess, our border is completely unsecured, these things are causes of major concerns for black voters — like it is for every voter in our country,” Donalds said. “But then when you layer on the fact that, yes, this is political persecution from the Department of Justice and from radical [District Attorneys] throughout our country. This is something similar that black people had to deal with, with the justice system themselves.”
“And so their look if it is real simple: Well, dang, if the government’s going after him with foolishness, he can’t be that bad, especially considering the fact that Joe Biden is terrible at his job,”
The Florida congressman, who has been discussed as a potential running mate for Trump in November, dismissed Cedric Richmond’s, co-chair for President Joe Biden’s campaign, comment saying the former president was “racist” and argued that Richmond was trying to use “racial politics.”
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“Like I said at the top, the No. 1 reason why minority voters in our country want to support Donald Trump is because he did the job of president. He did a great job as president,” Donalds said.
Trump has been criminally indicted in four separate cases, ranging from alleged mishandling of classified documents to attempts to overturn the 2020 election. His first criminal trial in the Manhattan hush money case is scheduled to begin next month.
