‘I Don’t Want to Tell You Now’: Trump Dodges When Asked How He Will Vote on Florida’s Abortion Referendum

Sarah RumpfAug 8th, 2024, 4:13 pm
 

Former President Donald Trump dodged when a reporter asked him how he intended to vote on the constitutional amendment protecting abortion rights that will be on Florida’s ballot in November.

Trump made the comments at a presser Thursday held at his residence at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, that featured him making a surprise announcement about debates, offering apocalyptic warnings, furious reactions to questions about his campaign schedule, false attacks on his opponents’ views on abortion, claims that Jan. 6 was a “peaceful transfer of power,” fuming about questions on crowd sizes, and a doubling down of his criticism of Vice President Kamala Harris’ racial background — false smears that his running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-OH), has supported.

Near the end of the presser, a reporter asked Trump about how he planned to vote on the abortion ballot initiative, which would amend Florida’s Constitution to restrict lawmakers from banning abortions before viability. The Florida Supreme Court issued a ruling in April allowing the measure to be on the November ballots.

“No law shall prohibit, penalize, delay, or restrict abortion before viability or when necessary to protect the patient’s health, as determined by the patient’s healthcare provider,” the proposed amendment states, which was put forward by abortion rights advocates in response to a 15-week, and then 6-week ban, that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) signed into law.

“How are you planning to vote on Florida’s abortion referendum?” a reporter asked the former president.

“On what?” he asked and she repeated the question.

“Well, I’m going to announce that — I’m going to actually have a press conference on that at some point in the near future,” he replied. “So I don’t want to tell you now. But Florida does have a vote coming up on that and I think probably the vote will go in a little more liberal way than people thought. But I’ll be announcing that at the appropriate time.”

Florida law requires at least 60 percent approval for constitutional amendments. Both the abortion referendum and another one regarding the recreational use of marijuana have been polling above that threshold.

Watch the clip above via CNN.

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Sarah Rumpf - Contributing Editor

Sarah Rumpf joined Mediaite in 2020 and is a Contributing Editor focusing on politics, law, and the media. A native Floridian, Sarah attended the University of Florida, graduating with a double major in Political Science and German, and earned her Juris Doctor, cum laude, from the UF College of Law. Sarah's writing has been featured at National Review, The Daily Beast, Reason, Law & Crime, Independent Journal Review, Texas Monthly, The Capitolist, Breitbart Texas, Townhall, RedState, The Orlando Sentinel, and the Austin-American Statesman, and her political commentary has led to appearances on the BBC, MSNBC, NewsNation, Fox 35 Orlando, Fox 7 Austin, The Young Turks, The Dean Obeidallah Show, and other television, radio, and podcast programs across the globe.