White House called Hutchinson to apologize for DNC remarks

White House chief of staff Jeff Zients called former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson on Wednesday morning to apologize after the Democratic National Committee released a snarky statement to mark the end of the Republican’s presidential bid.

Hutchinson, who ran a campaign designed to take on and criticize Donald Trump, dropped out of the race after a sixth-place in the Iowa caucuses this week.

The Democratic National Committee initially responded by calling his withdrawal “a shock to those of us who could’ve sworn he had already dropped out.” The statement drew immediate backlash from people who said it was a gratuitous attempt to humiliate Hutchinson.

Zients’ call to Hutchinson effectively marked a repudiation of the DNC — and a particularly swift clean-up job by the White House.

The chief of staff’s damage-control effort reflects the central importance of anti-Trump Republicans in the 2024 campaign.

The Biden reelection operation has identified those Republicans as a core constituency. Though Hutchinson is a conservative, his firm rejection of the former president has set him apart from the vast majority of Republicans. The former governor has said he will not vote for Trump if Trump is convicted in one of his current federal or state trials.

White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre, when asked about the exchange during Wednesday’s press briefing, said President Joe Biden has a “deep respect” for the governor and “admires the race he ran.”

“The president knows him to be a man of principle who cares about our country and has a strong record of public service,” Jean-Pierre said. “This morning, the chief of staff here, Jeff Zients, called the governor to convey this and apologized for the statement that did not represent the president’s views.”

In an interview later in the day on CNN, Hutchinson said he was "grateful" that Zients reached out to him.

"He took his time away and he apologized," he said. "It meant a lot to me and to me that reflects the good parts of American politics. You fight hard, but at the end of the day you want to make sure you treat each other with respect. I appreciated the call."

Trump saw a decisive win in Iowa earlier this week, as Hutchinson and other anti-Trump Republicans have struggled to break through in a Republican Party that remains under the former president’s strong hold.

Biden, 81, and Hutchinson, 73, have crossed paths before in their long careers. In the 1980s, Hutchinson was selected to serve as a U.S. attorney by President Ronald Reagan and his nomination was cleared by the Senate Judiciary Committee, of which Biden was then the ranking Democratic member. The Senate confirmed Hutchinson by unanimous consent.

In 2001, Biden voted to confirm Hutchinson as drug enforcement administrator in the George W. Bush administration.

The DNC statement drew scorn from Trump critics in both parties. Rep. Brendan Boyle, the Philadelphia Democrat who is close to the White House, posted on X, formerly Twitter, that he was “deeply disappointed” in the party committee.

“While Gov Hutchinson is a conservative and holds many views with which I disagree, I have admired the way he has courageously spoken out against Donald Trump,” Boyle said.