Rep. Dan Crenshaw, a member of the conservative Republican Study Committee, said that the party has a “lot of good options” and he hopes “they all jump in” to the race. The Texas Republican added that he does not think Trump would be the automatic frontrunner if he decides to launch a third White House bid.

Senate Minority Whip John Thune told CNN that there will be “other attractive” Republican candidates in 2024 besides Trump, echoing comments earlier this week from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who predicted it will be a crowded field.

And Rep. Dusty Johnson, a South Dakota Republican and member of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus, said he thinks it would be healthy for the GOP to have a debate about who should be their next standard-bearer.

“I certainly hope we’ll have a crowded field so we can have a robust discussion,” Johnson told CNN. “Trump’s going to have a certain amount of built-in support. So yeah, he’s gonna be ahead in early polls. But I also know that these primaries hardly ever go as scripted.”…

As Crenshaw put it: it would “suck” to select a GOP nominee that winds up getting indicted, though he said he is making no predictions about the outcome of those investigations.