As news broke Tuesday morning that former President Donald J. Trump was prone to be indicted in a 3rd prison case, the response from his rivals within the 2024 Republican major was notably muted.

Mr. Trump nonetheless had defenders — together with his high competitor in polls, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida — who forged him as a sufferer of “politicization” of the Justice Department. But the tenor was subtly completely different. Some candidates appeared visibly uninterested in having to repeatedly reply to Mr. Trump’s authorized troubles on the expense of speaking about anything, and a few didn’t say something in any respect.

Nikki Haley, who served as United Nations ambassador beneath Mr. Trump and is now working in opposition to him, sounded exasperated when requested on Fox News concerning the investigation into his efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his position within the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol. She referred to as it a “distraction” from necessary points like overseas coverage, border safety and the nationwide debt.

“The rest of this primary election is going to be in reference to Trump: it’s going to be about lawsuits; it’s going to be about legal fees; it’s going to be about judges; and it’s just going to continue to be a further and further distraction,” Ms. Haley stated. “And that’s why I am running, is because we need a new generational leader. We can’t keep dealing with this drama.”

She notably didn’t repeat what she said when Mr. Trump was indicted final month for his retention of labeled paperwork: that the fees have been proof of “prosecutorial overreach, double standards and vendetta politics.”

Mr. DeSantis, for his half, stated that any indictment can be a part of “an attempt to criminalize politics and to try to criminalize differences,” whereas additionally saying that Mr. Trump ought to have “come out more forcefully” to cease his supporters from storming the Capitol on Jan. 6.

In different corners, silence reigned. The campaigns of Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, Mayor Francis Suarez of Miami and Gov. Doug Burgum of North Dakota didn’t reply to requests for remark. And a spokesman for former Vice President Mike Pence — who, by certifying the election outcomes on Jan. 6, made an enemy of his former boss — stated that Mr. Pence had nothing to say Tuesday morning.

But, in a nod to the political inescapability of Mr. Trump’s authorized troubles, the spokesman, Devin O’Malley, added that Mr. Pence can be making tv appearances later within the day and would most likely be requested about it then.

The restraint was not common.

A candidate who has been one in every of Mr. Trump’s most forceful defenders, the entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, went thus far final month as to urge every 2024 contender to pledge to pardon him if elected. On Tuesday, he initially took a much less fiery tack, saying he “would have made very different judgments than President Trump did, but a bad judgment is not a crime.” But not lengthy after, he issued a conspiratorial assertion, suggesting with out proof that the potential indictment was a part of a plot to disqualify Mr. Trump from workplace under the 14th Amendment.

“It is un-American for the ruling party to use police power to arrest its chief political rivals,” Mr. Ramaswamy stated. He added that he had filed a Freedom of Information Act request searching for proof for his perception that President Biden ordered the Justice Department and the particular counsel to indict Mr. Trump. He ended the assertion by selling an upcoming marketing campaign occasion.

Three different low-polling candidates who, in contrast to Mr. Ramaswamy, have sought out the anti- Trump lane of the first area reacted predictably.

Former Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey said on Twitter that he wouldn’t touch upon the potential authorized case till an indictment was launched, however that Mr. Trump’s actions on Jan. 6 proved “he doesn’t care about our country & our Constitution.” And former Gov. Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas reiterated his name for Mr. Trump to droop his marketing campaign.

“I have said from the beginning that Donald Trump’s actions on Jan. 6 should disqualify him from ever being president again,” Mr. Hutchinson said in a statement. He added, “Anyone who truly loves this country and is willing to put the country over themselves would suspend their campaign for president of the United States immediately.”

The third candidate, former Representative Will Hurd of Texas, was scathing: “Losing to Joe Biden was so humiliating to Donald Trump that he was willing to let people die for his lies about a stolen election,” he stated in a press release. He added, “Trump’s inaction then, and now being a target in the investigation, proves he’s not fit for office.”