Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said that he’d pardon former president Donald Trump in all federal cases and that he’d like to team up with the former president to dismantle the deep state.
Mr. Ramaswamy made the remarks in an Aug. 15 interview on Fox News with host Neil Cavuto, who asked the presidential hopeful why he has called the indictments against Mr. Trump “political persecutions.”
He replied by saying that the latest Georgia indictment brings the total number to four—all in the middle of election season with the first Republican primary debate just days away.
“I think it sets an awful precedent in our country for the ruling party, the party in power, to use police force to indict its political opponents in the middle of an election,” he said.
‘I Would Pardon Donald Trump’
While Mr. Ramasway said it would clearly be “a lot easier” for him to win if Mr. Trump were to be eliminated from competition, that’s not the kind of victory he wants.
“The way we win elections in this country, at least the way it should be, is that we convince the voters of this country of our vision, and what we stand for, and that’s why I’ve said that I would pardon—at least for the federal crimes—I would pardon Donald Trump to help move this nation forward,” Mr. Ramaswamy said.
He continued by saying that these “politicized indictments” of Mr. Trump have distracted voters from the fundamental issue, namely “explaining why Bidenomics is actually a farce.”
Mr. Ramaswamy, a successful businessman, pointed to ongoing labor crunch that has businesses struggling to find qualified workers and high inflation, which he believes has become entrenched.
“These prosecutions [of Mr. Trump] are wrong,” Mr. Ramaswamy insisted, prompting the host, Mr. Cavuto, to push back and suggest that of the total of 91 criminal charges against the former president, surely some are legitimate.
Mr. Ramaswamy rejected this argument, warning of a shift in the political culture of the nation that rejects the “innocent until proven guilty” premise and assumes some wrongdoing just because of the sheer number of charges.
By Tom Ozimek
