Former Gov. Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas announced on Sunday that he will run for president in the 2024 election. Hutchinson, 72, revealed that he would run for the office in an interview with ABC’s “This Week”, with a formal announcement to come later in April. Hutchinson said: “I have made a decision, and my decision is I’m going to run for president of the United States. The reason is, I’ve traveled the country for six months, I hear people talk about the leadership of our country. I’m convinced that people want leaders that appeal to the best of America, and not simply appeal to our worst instincts.”

Hutchinson said the current political landscape in the United States “one of the most unpredictable political environments” he has seen in his lifetime, adding, “So my message of experience, of consistent conservatism and hope for our future in solving problems that face Americans, I think that that resonates.”

Hutchinson is adding his name to the growing list of Republican candidates going head-to-head with former President Donald Trump for the GOP nomination. Hutchinson said in his interview with This Week that Trump’s indictment in New York “adds to the unpredictability” and he believes the former president should drop out of the race: “The office is more important than any individual person … And so for the sake of the office of the presidency, I do think that’s too much of a sideshow and distraction and he needs to be able to concentrate on his due process and there is a presumption of innocence.”

The former governor also clarified that he considers himself a member of the “non-Trump lane” rather than the “anti-Trump lane,” saying that he urged Republicans to “let the system work” as Trump defends himself from criminal prosecution.

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