Republicans, even his direct opponents, are still loyal to Donald Trump – despite his mounting legal troubles.
Hours before Trump was scheduled to be arraigned Republican presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy held a press conference at the Wilkie D. Ferguson Jr. U.S. Courthouse in Miami, Florida. While speaking to a growing crowd outside the courthouse Ramaswamy said if he is elected president, he will pardon Trump for his federal charges.
The Ohio businessman and tech mogul challenged his Republican counterparts to make the same pledge to pardon the former President if elected to the Oval Office.
“The use of police force by a sitting U.S. President against his chief political rival in the midst of a presidential election sets a dangerous precedent in our country,” Ramaswamy said in a press release.
“No one is above the law: the U.S. President shouldn’t be able to use the federal police to arrest his opponents,” he continued.
“No one should be below the law either, yet there are now two standards of justice depending on your political viewpoints,” Ramaswamy added. “That’s the single greatest threat to our constitutional republic today.”
“If President Trump is prosecuted in a manner that effectively prevents him from running, this will permanently damage public trust in our electoral process and our justice system,” the letter reads.
“Whoever among us is elected, our job of reuniting the nation will become daunting – if not impossible,” Ramaswamy wrote.
Trump is set to be arraigned Tuesday after a federal grand jury indicted him last week on 37 charges related to his retention of sensitive documents.
In addition to pledging to pardon Trump, Ramaswamy also filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request this week seeking communication between the White House and the Justice Department concerning the second indictment of Trump.
Ramaswamy said he filed the request “to demand *exactly* what the White House Communicated to [Attorney General] Merrick Garland & [Special Counsel] Jack Smith about the unprecedented indictment of a former U.S. President & Biden’s disfavored opponent in this election.”
Other Republican candidates have yet to respond to Ramaswamy’s challenge.
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