GOP lawmaker warns Trump could try to steal 2024 election
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Ohio Rep. Anthony Gonzalez told CNN's "State of the Union" in an interview that aired Sunday that former President Trump may try to steal the 2024 election if he decides to run and loses.
Why it matters: The Republican lawmaker warned that Trump's second attempt may be more dangerous, since he'll have had time to examine why he failed to overturn the 2020 election, and to calibrate a better strategy the second time around.
What he's saying: "It looks to me — and I think any objective observer would come to this conclusion — that he has evaluated what went wrong on Jan. 6, why is it that he wasn't able to steal the election, who stood in his way," Gonzalez said.
- "Every single American institution is just run by people. ... He's going systematically through the country and trying to remove those people and install people who are going to do exactly what he wants him to do, who believe the big lie, who will go along with anything he says."
The bottom line: "The cold, hard truth is Donald Trump led us into a ditch on Jan. 6," Gonzalez said. "The former president lied to us."
- "If he's the nominee again in '24, I will do everything I personally can to make sure he doesn't win."
Of note: Earlier this year, the Ohio Republican Party censured Gonzalez for voting to impeach Trump in January. He was one of 10 House Republicans who voted for impeachment.
- In September, Gonzalez announced he is retiring and not seeking re-election in 2022.
