EXCLUSIVE: Trump critic Will Hurd says he ‘fully expected’ to be jeered at dinner in Iowa and told crowd ex-president is running to ‘stay out of jail’ – while mocking other 2024 hopefuls for being ‘kiss his ass’

Republican presidential nominee former Rep. Will Hurd said on Saturday that he “fully expected” to be booed and yelled at when he told a ballroom full of Iowa Republicans that former President Donald Trump is running for president to “stay out of jail.”

Announced his presidential run late last month, Hurd, 45, was one of 13 candidates to appear at the Republican Party of Iowa’s Lincoln Dinner in Des Moines on Friday night.

The ex-Texas representative distinguished himself by being the only candidate to be laughed at, telling the irate audience that the “truth” about Trump was “hard” before he left the stage, a minute and a half before his 10-minute time slot was up used to be.

“If you’re running for the Republican nominee, and you’re afraid of fighting Donald Trump, and you’re more interested in kissing his ass, you’re not prepared to be the leader of the free world,” he said. Hurd. DailyMail.com in an interview Saturday aboard a flight between Des Moines and DC

Hurd said he was miffed that the other GOP hopefuls — outside of him, former Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson and former New Jersey governor Chris Christie — have handled the ex-president’s legal drama with velvet gloves.

Hurd was happy to comment on the latest twist, Special Counsel Jack Smith’s replacement indictment alleging that Trump had surveillance footage erased at Mar-a-Lago.

“Well, look, I’ve never been charged and I’m not a lawyer. But if you’re trying to hide and destroy evidence, it’s a sign that you know what you’re doing is wrong,” Hurd said.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis told DailyMail.com on Friday, “I’m not a legal commentator,” when pressed why he wouldn’t confront Trump about his latest legal woes.

“And why they’re afraid to bring it up, why they’re afraid to participate in a real ideas competition, I don’t know the answer,” Hurd said Saturday. “But guess what, the American people need a chief executive who will be honest, who will tell it like it is, even if the truth is uncomfortable.”

One of those truths, according to Hurd, is that Trump will cost the Republican Party the general election if he is the nominee again.

Hurd said there was real potential to increase the size of the GOP by adding independents and conservative Democrats — those who dislike some of President Joe Biden’s progressive policies.

Former President Donald Trump received the most positive reception at Friday night’s Lincoln Dinner, which attracted 13 Republican presidential candidates who were allowed to speak for just 10 minutes

“The reality is that the Republican Party has an opportunity to have not just two years of conservative leadership,” he said, referring to the current GOP majority in the House. “We could have eight, twelve, sixteen if we put forward the right candidate. Independents and Democrats are fed up with the direction the… Democratic Party is going.”

“But with those voters, all these indictments, the fact that there are more indictments just keeps them where they are,” he said.

As for Trump’s MAGA base, Hurd believed some of those voters could also be persuaded.

“I do believe and I’ve seen this in polls and in the field, people who like Donald Trump and have voted for him twice recognize that this baggage – and it seems like there’s additional baggage every month – are opportunities in the generally harmful. election,” said Hurd.

However, most polls still show Trump a big lead.

The polling average of Real Clear Politics has the ex-president 34 points ahead of the next best candidate, who remains DeSantis.

Just five weeks into his presidential bid, Hurd has not even made it into the RCP average.

At Friday’s Lincoln Dinner, Trump received by far the best reception, with audiences giving him multiple standing ovations and sustained applause.

Hurd told the 1,200 Republicans gathered at the Iowa Events Center that “Donald Trump is not running for president to make America great again.”

Donald Trump is not running for president to represent the people who voted for him in 2016 and 2020. Donald Trump is running to stay out of jail,” he said.

That line got the loudest boos.

“We totally expected that,” he said. “But what I really didn’t expect was the number of people who actually applauded when I spoke the truth to power.”

Applause rang out all over the ballroom.

“We are still 24 weeks away from an election,” the former congressman also noted.

The Iowa primary is scheduled for January 15.

‘And this is the point. What I’ve always learned in difficult elections: everything gets tighter the closer you get to an election,” he said.

And so I just think the more this information gets out, it looks like (Trump’s) lawyers are going to testify against him. It looks like former senior staffers will testify against him – and we’ll see what evidence emerges,” he said.

“But at the end of the day we will be done with Donald Trump once and for all, we have to beat him in the primaries. And that’s what I’m looking forward to doing,” said Hurd.