(Ken Silva, Headline USA) On the same day a federal grand jury indicted former President Donald Trump over his attempt to contest the 2020 election results, rival 2024 candidate Vivek Ramaswamy sued the Justice Department for records about its decision to pursue charges against Trump.
Ramaswamy’s lawsuit comes after the DOJ failed to respond to a Freedom of Information Act request his campaign, Vivek 2024, filed in June. The request sought records about the DOJ’s decision to target Trump with the Espionage Act for allegedly mishandling classified documents.
“My aim in bringing this lawsuit is to finally deliver accountability and transparency: What did Biden and his cronies tell [Attorney General Merrick] Garland and what did Garland and the deep-staters who put him in as Attorney General tell [special counsel] Jack Smith?” Ramaswamy reportedly said in a statement shared by his campaign.
Along with suing the DOJ for records about its decisions in the classified documents fiasco, Ramaswamy also said Tuesday that he’s filed another FOIA request for similar records in the DOJ’s 2020 election case against Trump.
Ramaswamy further criticized the DOJ’s targeting of Trump in an interview with Fox News host Laura Ingram on Monday evening.
“This sets an awful precedent in our country. They’re going full banana republic, full third-world on us,” he said.
“If you are going to indict a political opponent and a former president in the middle of an election, it better darn well not be based on an unprecedented, untested flimsy legal theory. That’s what we just witnessed.”
Ramaswamy added that he’s opposing the weaponization of the DOJ against Trump, even though it ostensibly benefits him as a presidential candidate.
“And I say this as someone who’s running against Trump. I’m polling third in the primary right now. It would be easier for me if Donald Trump were eliminated from competition. That is not how any of us should want to win because that is bad for this country,” he said.
“That’s why it’s important for those competing against Trump to take a strong stand against these politicized indictments.’
Ramaswamy’s full-throated defense of Trump stands in stark contrast with former Vice President Mike Pence and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.
Pence said that “anyone who puts himself over the Constitution should never be president,” while Christie said, “this disgrace falls the most on Donald Trump.”
Trump’s main rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, meanwhile, voiced opposition to the latest indictment—but did so in a much more lukewarm fashion than Ramaswamy.
“A D.C. jury would indict a ham sandwich and convict a ham sandwich if it was a Republican ham sandwich” — Gov. @RonDeSantis when asked by @HarrisFaulkner about Trump's third indictment and whether the case should move from D.C.
— TV News Now (@TVNewsNow) August 2, 2023
“A DC jury would indict a ham sandwich and convict a ham sandwich if it was a Republican ham sandwich,” DeSantis quipped.
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.
