CLIVE, Iowa — DeSantis said last night that the 2024 election will become consumed by Trump's legal battles if he becomes the Republican nominee.

“Donald Trump, if he’s the nominee, the whole election is going to be about legal issues, criminal trials, maybe criminal convictions by then, Jan. 6, all of that,” the Florida governor said. 

While toeing the line between differentiating himself from Trump without alienating the MAGA base, DeSantis added that just because Trump has been mistreated doesn’t mean he deserves to be elected president again.

“You can appreciate what Donald Trump did. You cannot like the people who are doing this to him, the DOJ and these prosecutors in New York and all this, 100%. It’s unfair. But it doesn’t mean it’s the right thing for the country to nominate him to be our candidate in 2024,” he said.

DeSantis also criticized Haley, telling the crowd, “If you put your foot in your mouth every other day, if you’re scared to take questions from the media or voters and all these other things, you are not going to be able to handle what’s coming for you in a general election.”