Indictment ignored and Trump barely mentioned as GOP candidates pitch Iowa voters to challenge him

By Agencies
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Few even mentioned his name, and the new federal indictment he faces was completely ignored, as Republican candidates for president tried in Iowa Sunday to present themselves as Donald Trump alternatives.

Over the course of two hours, seven GOP hopefuls took their turn on stage in front of about 800 party activists in the leadoff caucus state, all invited to speak at Iowa Rep. Ashley Hinson’s fundraising barbecue at a Cedar Rapids racetrack.

But in their pitches to challenge Trump for the 2024 nomination, it was as if his indictment Tuesday on federal charges accusing him of working to overturn the 2020 election results had never happened, even from the candidate who has suggested the former president quit the race.

Instead, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who has been a vocal Trump critic, touched only on the related Republican outrage with the Department of Justice, which many conservative activists allege has been politically biased in its investigation of Trump.

The former president is also facing federal charges filed in June accusing him of improperly keeping sensitive documents in his Florida home and obstructing efforts to recover them.