Trump vows to 'never' drop out of 2024 presidential race even if convicted

Former President Donald Trump says he will "never" drop out of the 2024 presidential election even if he is convicted on any of the criminal charges that have been brought against him in multiple probes. 

"I’ll never leave," Trump told Politico on Saturday. "Look, if I would have left, I would have left prior to the original race in 2016. That was a rough one. In theory that was not doable."

Trump's comments come after he was indicted last week on 37 federal felony counts related to allegations he retained classified documents, violated the Espionage Act and obstructed justice. 

The former president was also indicted in a Manhattan court on 34 counts in April related to allegations that he falsified business records in connection his alleged role in a hush money scheme involving adult film actress Stormy Daniels and former Playboy playmate Karen McDougal before the 2016 election.

Trump has said he is not guilty on all charges.

When asked whether he would pardon himself should he win the 2024 presidential election, Trump told the D.C.-based outlet: "I don’t think I’ll ever have to. I didn’t do anything wrong."

He also acknowledged that the indictment is an unwelcome development even as his fundraising and poll numbers skyrocketed following the first indictment.

"Nobody wants to be indicted,” Trump said. "I don’t care that my poll numbers went up by a lot. I don’t want to be indicted. I’ve never been indicted. I went through my whole life, now I get indicted every two months. It’s been political."

Madeleine Hubbard is an international correspondent for Just the News. Follow her on Twitter or Instagram.