Ramaswamy Shocks CNN Panel
Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said Sunday that he would issue a pardon to former President Donald Trump if he is elected President.
The statement came on Sunday when Ramaswamy appeared on CNN’s “State of the Union,” hosted by Kasie Hunt. The topic of discussion was the recent obstruction of justice charges brought against Trump by federal prosecutors. The indictment claimed that Trump learned that the Department of Justice wanted to subpoena security footage from Mar-a-Lago and then instructed an aide to tell his IT Director to delete the footage.
When asked about the indictments and whether or not Trump should be pardoned, Ramaswamy responded with, “The standard I use as our next president is what moves our country forward? What is the right thing for the United States of America? I would pardon him. I intend to be our next president, and yes, I do believe I will move us forward. I believe one of the right ways to do that is pardon the former president of the United States from what is clearly a politicized persecution.”
Hunt then asked if destroying evidence was considered a process crime, to which Ramaswamy replied, “I think it is by definition a process crime. Nobody left, right, any legal scholar will agree with me on that statement. that is by definition a process crime. A crime that would not have existed but for the existence of an investigation.”
Ramaswamy stated that pardoning Trump would help move the country forward and that “convicting somebody of a process crime when there was no actual underlying crime” is not part of the general norm in the Justice Department.
Though Ramaswamy believes that a pardon is necessary, others hold differing opinions on the matter. Some, including House impeachment manager Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), say that Trump should not be pardoned and should instead face the consequences of his actions.
It is unclear how Ramaswamy’s statement will play into his campaign for president, but his stance on the issue is sure to be a topic of discussion in the upcoming months as Ramaswamy continues to reach out to the American people.