Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, a hedge fund manager who took a stand against left wing environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) scores assigned to major corporations, has promised to pardon 45th President Donald Trump and other victims of “politically motivated prosecutions” if elected in 2024.
Ramaswamy made the campaign promise in a lengthy message on Twitter, lambasting what many conservatives see as a “hypocritical” double standard from the Department of Justice, and ultimately committed “to pardon Trump promptly on January 20, 2025 and to restore the rule of law in our country.”
The promise came after Trump was indicted by Joe Biden’s Department of Justice on claims he mishandled documents he declassified before leaving office in 2021.
We can’t have two tiers of justice: one for Trump, another for Biden. One for Assange, another for Manning. One for BLM/Antifa, another for peaceful protesters on Jan 6.
I never thought we’d see the day when the U.S. President deputizes the DOJ to arrest his lead rival in the…
— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) June 9, 2023
The candidate uploaded a video reiterating his message and expressing disgust for Joe Biden’s government.
“I never thought we’d see the day when the party in power, a U.S. president, has a Department of Justice under him that arrests his lead rival during an election, in the middle of an election. Yet here we are,” Ramaswamy began. “We have two standards of justice, one for BLM rioters and Antifa, another one for peaceful January 6 protesters. One for Chelsea Manning, another for Julian Assange. Guess what? Now you have one for Joe Biden, who violates the same laws about document retention and classified documents, and then one for President Trump.”
“The point today is that We the People decide who actually governs in this country, not some administrative police state. And I’m sorry, we do not live in some banana republic where the party in power gets to use its power to arrest political opponents.”
Ramaswamy noted that his path to the nomination “would be easier” if Trump saw his support collapse due to indictments or were prevented from running, but declared it the matter “is not about politics to me, this is about principle.”
We will restore the rule of law in America. pic.twitter.com/fg89i2L8cv
— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) June 9, 2023
“I stand on the side of principle, and I’m committing to say that if I am elected as your next president, on January 20th, 2025, I will pardon not just President Trump, but every victim of these politically motivated prosecutions,” Ramaswamy promised. “Believe me, there have been others too. We will restore rule of law in this country again.”
Ramaswamy has struggled to differentiate his campaign from the other declared Republican candidates and currently polls at 3.5% support according to FiveThirtyEight’s aggregate of national polling data. However, social media posts seem to suggest Ramaswamy is differentiating himself from other candidates by aligning himself with Trump.
