CNN "State of the Union" interviews for 2023 races: on Crime

Asa Hutchinson: Promise to pardon Trump undermines the rule of law

HUTCHINSON: It's just wrong, and it shouldn't happen that way. If you start down that path, it is unending. That really undermines the rule of law in our country that I have served my lifetime supporting. And it's offensive to me that anyone would be holding out a pardon under these circumstances.

Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump should not be convicted of a process crime

RAMASWAMY: I think that our general norm in our Justice Department is, you should not convict somebody of a process crime when there was no actual underlying crime.

Q: So, you think destroying evidence is a process crime?

RAMASWAMY: I think it is, by definition, a process crime. Nobody left, right -- any legal scholar will agree with me on that statement. That is, by definition, a process crime, a crime that would not have existed but for the existence of an investigation. I absolutely think the right answer for the country is to put the grievances of the past behind us, to pardon President Trump, so that we can move forward as one nation, rather than marching to a national divorce.