Former President Donald Trump’s potential indictment by the federal grand jury investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot and the events leading up to it is putting Republican presidential candidates on the spot again about the insurrection.

Trump said last week he received a letter from special counsel Jack Smith identifying him as a target in the investigation. If the former president is charged, it would be his third indictment since late March and his second by Smith’s team. 

With Trump, who is running for president again in 2024, still very popular among Republican voters, many GOP White House hopefuls have often found themselves walking a tightrope in trying to differentiate themselves from Trump while not harshly criticizing him.

That has proven to be the case, too, since Trump revealed the target letter and as candidates face fresh questions about their Jan. 6 views.

On CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday, former Vice President Mike Pence, whom was among those rushed out of the House chambers on Jan. 6 as rioters nearby chanted for him to be executed, said Trump’s words at a rally near the White House just before the attack on the Capitol were “reckless,” but added, “I’m not yet convinced they were criminal.”

“President Trump was wrong on that day, and he's still wrong in asserting that I had the right to overturn the election,” Pence said, asserting that it’s unclear what the former president’s intent was when he addressed the crowd.

Last week, Pence told NewsNation he hoped the Justice Department would not pursue more charges against Trump. 

“My hope is that the judgment about the president’s actions on Jan. 6 would be left to the American people,” he said.

Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy told “Fox News Sunday” that Trump showed “bad judgment” on Jan. 6, but that’s “not the same thing as a crime.”

“When we conflate the two, that sets a dangerous precedent for this country,” Ramaswamy said.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis had a similar take during a news conference last week. He said Trump should have “come out more forcefully” to stop the rioting, “but to try to criminalize that, that’s a different issue entirely.”

“And I think that we want to be in a situation where you don’t have one side just constantly trying to put the other side in jail,” DeSantis said. “And that’s, unfortunately, what we’re seeing now.”

Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., told WMUR-TV in Manchester, New Hampshire, that he holds “the folks who broke into the Capitol with ill will in their hearts … responsible for their action,” but, “I don't hold the former president, who didn't show up at the Capitol, as responsible.”

Some candidates, however, have been more critical of Trump.

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who entered the race vowing to confront Trump, tweeted last week he wanted to see an indictment before commenting on it, but added, “That said, let me be clear: his conduct on January 6th proves he doesn't care about our country and our Constitution.”

Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson also said last week that Trump’s actions on Jan. 6 “should disqualify him from ever being President again.” Hutchinson did not say whether he believes the former president should face criminal charges. 

“While Donald Trump would like the American people to believe that he is the victim in this situation, the truth is that the real victims of January 6th were our democracy, our rule of law, and those Capitol Police officers who worked valiantly to protect our Capitol,” Hutchinson said. “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.”

Likewise, Nikki Haley, former ambassador to the United Nations, said the Trump investigations are a “distraction” that will loom over the Republican primary. Haley, who worked in the Trump administration, also did not weigh in on the former president potentially facing a third indictment.

“The rest of this primary election is going to be in reference to Trump, is going to be about lawsuits, is going to be about legal fees, it’s going to be about judges, and it’s going to continue to be a further and further distraction,” Haley told Fox News last week. “And that is why I am running. It’s because we need a new generational leader. We can’t keep dealing with this drama. We can’t keep dealing with the negativity.”

The candidates’ answers have tended to focus on whether Trump should be indicted for his actions related to the Jan. 6 riot alone. But Smith’s investigation also is looking into the former president’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election while he falsely claiming there was widespread voter fraud. Those efforts included pressuring Pence to block certification of Biden’s victory and allegedly planning to have some states use slates of so-called fake electors. 

The former president also faces state charges in New York of falsifying business records related to hush-money payments made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels as well as federal charges of retaining national defense documents after his presidency and obstructing the government’s efforts to recover them. He has pleaded not guilty in both cases.

Trump, who continues to falsely claim the 2020 election was stolen, has painted the investigations as politically motivated attempts to derail his 2024 presidential campaign.

In a post on his Truth Social platform Sunday night, Trump accused Smith and Attorney General Merrick Garland of prosecutorial misconduct and election interference. 

“Do you think that A.G. Garland, and Deranged Jack Smith, understand that we are in the middle of a major political campaign for President of the United States?” Trump wrote. “Have they looked at recent poll numbers? Why didn’t they bring these ridiculous charges years before - Why did they wait to bring them NOW.”