If Trump is arrested, protests should be peaceful, say GOP contenders

“The violence that happened on January 6, the violence that happened in cities across this country in the summer of 2020, was a disgrace. The American people will not tolerate it and those who engage in this kind of violence should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law,” he said.

New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu echoed Pence’s call on Sunday.

“Listen, if someone calls for protests, you always want to make sure they’re peaceful,” Sununu said during an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “In the long history, in recent history in America, people are always out there protesting what they see as a wrongful arrest or wrongful charge. But you want to make sure it’s peaceful. We don’t want history to repeat itself too negatively.

The former vice president declined to comment on whether Trump’s call for protests on social media was irresponsible, instead calling Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s investigation politicized.

“It looks like a politically charged lawsuit here,” Pence said, later adding that he supports congressional efforts, led by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, to investigate Trump’s potential lawsuits.

“No one is above the law. But no one is under the law either,” Pence said. “And the American people are troubled after four years of our administration, seeing the politicization of the Justice Department, I strongly support congressional efforts to investigate the role politics plays in our justice system today.”

Sununu, who is considered a potential 2024 presidential candidate like Pence, also criticized the Trump investigation, calling it a “political circus.”

“There are much more pressing issues of the day. It’s just a shame that it made headlines,” Sununu said.

Although criminal charges appear imminent in the case over Trump’s handling of a silent payment made during his 2016 presidential campaign, there is no clear basis for the former president’s claim that he expects to be arrested on Tuesday.