President Joe Biden apologized to former GOP presidential candidate Asa Hutchinson following an announcement by the Democratic National Committee that appeared to mock the previous Arkansas governor’s long-shot marketing campaign, the White House mentioned Wednesday.
Hutchinson, one in all former President Donald Trump’s hardest critics within the GOP main, dropped out of the race a day after the Iowa caucuses, the place he completed sixth and received solely 0.2% of the vote.
The former governor’s marketing campaign didn’t get traction, and he solely certified for the primary Republican main debate in August.
“My message of being a principled Republican with experience and telling the truth about the current front-runner did not sell in Iowa,” he mentioned Tuesday as he dropped out of the competition.
The DNC poked enjoyable on the governor’s announcement.
“This news comes as a shock to those of us who could’ve sworn he had already dropped out,” DNC nationwide press secretary Sarafina Chitika mentioned.
While press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre didn’t get into whether or not the White House spoke to the DNC following their resolution to situation that assertion, she mentioned Biden’s chief of employees Jeff Zients referred to as Hutchinson to apologize on behalf of Biden, including that these phrases “did not represent the president’s views.”
Jean-Pierre instructed reporters, “President Biden has deep respect for Governor Hutchinson and admires the race that he ran. The president knows him to be a man of principles who cares about our country and has a strong record of public service.”
Hutchinson, who labored carefully with Biden as governor in preventing the COVID-19 pandemic, mentioned he accepted the president’s apology.
“The call from the White House was not necessary but still appreciated,” he wrote on X, previously Twitter. “We can disagree without demonizing.”
Trump comfortably received the Iowa caucuses Monday evening, securing 51% of the vote and solidifying his standing because the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis got here a distant second, carefully adopted by former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley.
Hutchinson was one of many few candidates to rule out supporting Trump because the nominee if he was a convicted felon. Many of his fellow Republicans act as if Trump is the one candidate nonetheless within the race.
