If Trump is GOP nominee, 2024 race will be focused on his legal troubles: DeSantis

If former President Donald Trump is the Republican nominee in the 2024 election, the race will be overshadowed by the legal issues and other controversies he's facing, creating a potent advantage for Democrats, rival Ron Desantis argued on Sunday.

«He's focused a lot on things that concern him,» the Florida governor and 2024 primary candidate told ABC News «This Week» co-anchor Jonathan Karl just one day before voting starts with the Iowa caucuses.

«Obviously, the distractions of everything that's going along with all these legal issues has been a huge thing for him [Trump],» DeSantis said. «You're gonna have criminal trials, you're gonna have a lot of focus on things like Jan. 6 by the media, and I think that ends up focusing the election on things that are going to be advantageous for Democrats.»

«The notion that somehow all this stuff that's swirling around him is going to be a positive in a general election, that's just not true,» DeSantis said, warning of how the contest could be turned into «a referendum on Donald Trump.» (Trump denies all wrongdoing.)

«Whereas if I'm the nominee… I think it will be a crisp opportunity for a crisp victory for Republicans,» DeSantis said.

With the Iowa caucuses one day away — officially starting the 2024 Republican primary race on Monday in brutally cold winter weather — DeSantis is making his closing argument for why conservative voters should turn to him over Trump, who has remained the clear front-runner in state and national polling.

«I've delivered on 100% of my promises. Donald Trump, obviously, didn't build the wall, didn't drain the swamp and didn't reduce the debt,» DeSantis told Karl. «I've also taken on and beaten the Democrats and the left. And in reality, Donald Trump, as