Gov. Doug Burgum (R-ND) seemingly had little to say about his main opponent in the 2024 presidential election, former President Donald Trump.
The governor appeared on ABC’s This Week Sunday, only to be at the receiving-end of questions by host Geoge Stephanopoulos, as Burgum avoided the topic of Trump, or any of the three indictments against the former head of state.
Stephanopoulos asked Burgum about Trump’s latest indictment, as well as a follow-up question asking whether Trump was right to try to overturn the election results in 2020. Burgum declined to answer the first question, but affirmed that he believed “that [President] Joe Biden won the election,” while also stating that, “there were irregularities in terms of how the election went.”
Then, Burgum was asked about two of his fellow 2024 opponents in a question about whether the former president was correct in his push to then-Vice President Mike Pence to not certify the election results. Burgum pointed to the “15 minutes of legal debate” from the previous segment rather than directly answer the question.
“But what I know is that I’m running against Joe Biden and that’s what we’re going to be talking about,” Burgum said. “There are people on the ground that are not watching these Sunday programs that are saying, you know, why is the — why is the [Department of Justice] defending Hunter Biden and why are they attacking President Trump? It does seem political to people.”
The two-term governor reminded viewers that his expertise is in business.
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“I’m not a lawyer. I’m an entrepreneur, and I’m someone who leads and operates businesses. It’s something — I care about the people of this country, and you’re asking me, you know, basically a legal question,” Burgum said. “We’re focused on the future. There are just so many people that want to weigh in on this topic around the clock.”
Burgum has qualified for the first GOP primary debate slated for Aug. 23. Requirements included polling at a minimum of 1% and receiving 40,000 individual donations. He is facing-off against twelve other Republican candidates, including an incumbent president, in the race for the 2024 GOP nomination.