As former President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty to 37 federal counts related to his alleged mishandlingof classified documents , GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy promised Fox News Tuesday he wants to find out what's behind a "politicized indictment."
"I want to be really clear, it would be easier for me if President Trump were eliminated from competition in this race," Ramaswamy said on "The Story." "But I wanted to stand on the side of principle, to do what so many in the mainstream news media refuse to do, which is to actually be skeptical, get to the bottom of what as I see as a politicized indictment."
. Ramaswamy, one of Trump’s opponents in the bid for the GOP presidential nomination, defended the former president on the steps of the Miami courthouse where he appeared Tuesday. He announced that he sent a letter to every other campaign in the race, demanding they declare whether they too would pardon the former president. He also declared that he had filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request this week seeking communication records between the White House and the Justice Department regarding Trump’s second indictment.
RAMASWAMY PLEDGES TO PARDON TRUMP IF ELECTED, CHALLENGES OPPONENTS TO MAKE SAME VOW
The presidential hopeful noted further on "The Story." that a very specific set of troubling facts made him take this step.
"I did read that indictment, actually. I bring my legally trained eyes to this as well, there were a lot of selective omissions of both fact and law from that indictment," Ramaswamy warned. "Not one mention of the Presidential Records Act. Not one mention of the 2012 case, the leading federal case that interpreted the Presidential Records Act in the context of the Clinton sock drawer case, selective quotes from Trump on the 2016 campaign trail without once mentioning after the 2016 election, his commitment to not pursue Hillary, executive orders not binding on a president – that’s how the classification scheme is actually set."
He went on to criticize some of the chief figures involved.
"So the fact that Jack Smith knows this - he’s a smart man, I’m sure – and that didn’t show up in the indictment to me does reek of politicization," he said. "So that’s why I’m suspicious."
After noting his own campaign financed this FOIA request, Ramaswamy emphasized that in a historically unprecedented case where a former American president is being indicted, the public are owed "the maximum extent of transparency." He went on to suggest one way that both the Republican and Democratic leaders could turn this case into a unifying event, however.
GOP HOPEFUL RAMASWAMY SEEKS COMMUNICATIONS BETWEEN DOJ AND WHITE HOUSE OVER TRUMP INDICTMENT
"I also believe in hearing from the Republican candidates and the other Democratic contenders including R.F.K. and Marianne Williamson on where they stand on this," Ramaswamy said. "I was public today at that courthouse that I would pardon President Trump on January 20th 2025 based on what I see in that indictment, based on the bad precedent that this sets for the country. We need to unite the country."
He emphasized his point further that pardoning Trump would be an important step for healing the national divide.
"This is not a Democrat or Republican issue. Just like I don’t think Biden should hide, I don’t think the other GOP or Democratic candidates should hide from this either," he said. "It’s one of the things the U.S. President is empowered to do by the constitution, to pardon federal offenses. I’ve been clear about where I stand, and I think that can actually be unifying for the country, when competitors like me to Trump – and I would have done things very differently than Trump, by the way. But there’s a difference between a bad judgment and actually breaking the law - when us as competitors come out and say we’ll pardon him. Especially if Democrats did the same thing. I think that could actually take a meaningful leap towards unifying the country."
Ramaswamy said he expects responses from other candidates within the next 48 hours, and argued they owe it to American voters.
"We cannot hide under the rug, this is a major issue in the country right now. The use of federal police to arrest a lead opponent of the White House, of the president in power, that’s a big deal," he said. "I think if we’re in the middle of an election, the voters in the primary base of the Republican Party deserve to know where each of us as candidates stand. If you disagree with me, that’s fine, but lets at least be open about it. I think we need more transparency in both parties."
