Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) called the indictment of former President Donald Trump a “very sad time for America” but vowed to “wait and see what comes out” before rushing to a judgment on the matter.
The centrist Democrat also cautioned that lawmakers should “come together” and “do our job” and not focus on the indictment, while speaking on NBC’s Meet the Press Sunday.
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“We must come together. American people want us to do our job. The more you talk about that, the more you make people pick a side — ‘Are they right or wrong?’ — you give more credence to basically, ‘Is it biased or not? Does the rule of law work for all of us?’ Let’s wait until what comes out next week. Let’s see the direction this goes. But the bottom line, it’s a very sad time in America,” Manchin said.
Manchin made a plea for centrism in politics, saying he is “going to do whatever I can to have a voice in that middle.”
“You can’t solve them from the extreme right and the extreme left. You can’t make people, make a — pick a side. ‘Which side are you on?’ ‘Well, I’ll choose the left or the right, or the D or the R because this one’s not as bad as that one.’ Neither of them are doing the job the way we should do it, but one’s not as bad as the other, so you pick a side. I think we can do better than that, and if we can change that dialogue and have a movement,” Manchin added.
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When further pressed about whether he will run for reelection to his Senate seat or run for president in 2024, he said he would make his decision “a little bit before” his filing deadline of Jan. 15, 2024.
If Manchin does elect to run for reelection in his Senate seat, he will face one of the toughest reelection races in the cycle. West Virginia voted for Trump by nearly 40% points, with the seat turning more Republican in the time since Manchin first won his Senate seat.
