Outgoing GOP lawmaker issues dark warning about what to expect from Trump in 2024

In a new CNN documentary, "Trumping Democracy: An American Coup," to be broadcast Friday night, retiring Rep. Anthony Gonzalez (R-OH) said he fully believes Donald Trump would try and steal the 2024 presidential election if he comes up short again.

The Ohio lawmaker who was one of ten Republicans in the House to vote for the former president's impeachment -- which in turn led to a furious Trump lashing out and him and calling for him to be primaried -- said it is to beyond the realm of possibilities for Trump to succeed where he failed in 2020, but no one should believe the one-termer will take it laying down if he loses again.

In his interview with CNN where he committed to fighting against Trump without being restrained by a party that appears to be going all-in for the former president, Gonzalez explained, "January 6 was an unconstitutional attempt led by the President of the United States to overturn an American election and reinstall himself in power illegitimately. That's fallen nation territory, that's third world country territory. My family left Cuba to avoid that fate. I will not let it happen here."

As for 2024, he added, "I think it's all pushing towards one of two outcomes: He either wins legitimately, which he may do, or if he loses again, you just try to steal it."

"In the moments of truth, you need the right people to pass the most difficult tests. We had just enough people on January 6 pass the test. We have to make sure we have equal number of people to continue to pass the test going forward.," he continued. "It looks to me that he has evaluated what went wrong on January 6: Why is it that he wasn't able to steal the election? Who stood in his way?"

"And he's going methodically state by state at races from, you know, state Senate races all the way down to county commissioner races trying to get the people who -- the Republicans, the RINOs, in his words -- who stopped this, who stopped him from stealing the election," he warned.