Audience Greets Trump Critics With Boos At Start Of First GOP Presidential Debate

The audience at the first 2024 Republican presidential primary debate on Wednesday booed former Republican Govs. Chris Christie of New Jersey and Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas when they were introduced by Fox News host Bret Baier.

Christie and Hutchinson have both criticized former President Donald Trump over his legal issues. Christie previously denied that the Department of Justice (DOJ) was weaponized against Republicans during a June CNN Town Hall, and said that he would retain FBI Director Christopher Wray.

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“If he wanted to stay, I would keep him and I would hold him to the same standard I just talked about,” Christie said about Wray during the event.

Christie previously was booed after he criticized Trump during a Faith and Freedom Coalition event in June. Christie, a critic of the former president, said Trump “let us down” and ripped him for being “unwilling to take responsibility.”

Hutchinson has called on Trump to drop out of the race following his indictments. He also blasted Trump after the civil verdict in a case brought by writer E. Jean Carroll.

“The jury verdict should be treated with seriousness and is another example of the indefensible behavior of Donald Trump,” Hutchinson said in a May 9 statement to the Daily Caller News Foundation.

“I credit Asa Hutchinson for being one of the few Republicans with a backbone in this, because this is the GOP frontrunner running for president, found guilty of liable for sexual assault and defamation,” “The View” co-host Alyssah Farah Griffin, a former official in the Trump administration, said on May 10. “We have a moral obligation as a party to walk away from this.”

Christie and Hutchinson drew very little support in the RealClearPolitics average of polls from Aug. 10 to Aug. 21. Christie has 3% support, Hutchinson has 0.8% support.