GOP Senator says he would ‘take a hard look’ at another Donald Trump run

Outgoing Republican U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger said in a video Wednesday that he will decline the chance to make a bid for U.S. Senate or Illinois governor to focus on the fight against former President Donald Trump’s influence over the GOP.

“This time last year I hoped victory would come in a matter of months. Now I see it will take years,” the six-term lawmaker from Channahon said on the eve of the one-year anniversary of the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

“That’s why I’m transitioning from serving just one corner of Illinois into fighting this new nationwide mission full time,” he said.

Senator Mike Rounds has echoed similar sentiments. Rounds said on Sunday that despite him saying previously that he would support the next Republican candidate, he would take a “hard look” at supporting former President Trump if he ran again in 2024.

ABC “This Week” host George Stephanopoulos asked Rounds, who has shot back at GOP assertions that the 2020 presidential election was fraudulent, if he could support Trump if he ran for office again. “I will take a hard look at it,” said Rounds.

“Personally, what I have told people is, is I’m going to support the Republican nominee to be president. I’m not sure that the eventual nominee has even shown up yet,” he said. “There’s still – we’re two years to go, where we’re going to focus on the next election cycle. It’s critical that we take back the House. It’s critical that we take back the United States Senate.”

Rounds said that he would leave it to the courts to decide whether Trump can run for office again.

“I think this is an issue which the courts can decide. And, most certainly, if there’s evidence there, this is going to be up to the Justice Department to bring it forward and to move with it. But, once again, every single person has protections under that system. The former president has protections under that system as well,” Rounds told Stephanopoulos.

“But this is something that should be decided in the courts. And I don’t think it’s something that we should be legislating on right now,” he added.