Donald Trump indicted: Vivek Ramaswamy calls on GOP candidates to sign pardon pledge
Naomi Lim
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MIAMI — 2024 Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is daring his GOP rivals to join him in pledging to pardon former President Donald Trump if he is convicted in his federal classified documents case.
“That is how we decide who governs this country, not by a federal administrative police state,” Ramaswamy told reporters Tuesday outside the Wilkie D. Ferguson Jr. U.S. Courthouse hours in downtown Miami before Trump’s arrest and arraignment.
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Ramaswamy addressed the public and answered questions, including whether he would drop out of the race, moments before police cleared part of the court precinct due to reports of a bomb threat. Security concerns escalated after Trump supporters, including 2022 Republican Arizona gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake, encouraged counterparts to protest the former president’s surrender and hearing. Lake told a crowd the previous day during a nearby event, “They can’t arrest us all,” “They can’t indict all of us.”
The Trump campaign appeared jittery that the former president would not have a complete complement of supporters with him Tuesday night during his post-hearing remarks and fundraiser at the Trump National Golf Club Bedminster in New Jersey. Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) told Politico on Tuesday he did not “know” whether he was attending or not.
Trump spent Monday night at Trump National Doral Miami with son Eric, co-defendant Walt Nauta, and attorneys, including Todd Blanche and Chris Kise, though he has been unable to retain Florida-based counsel. The former president spoke with hotel guests in the lobby, who cheered for him and asked for photographs, according to CNN. The Guardian reported he had dinner at BLT Prime.
“They’re all fake,” Trump told Americano Media earlier. “Under the Presidential Records Act, I’m allowed to do all those things. You’re allowed to keep the documents. You negotiate with the archives.”
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Trump faces 37 felony counts, including under the Espionage Act, according to special counsel Jack Smith‘s 49-page indictment after the case was considered by a Miami grand jury, making him the first former president to be charged with federal crimes.
Smith’s indictment alleges Trump mishandled classified documents after he departed the White House and resisted efforts to return them to the National Archives. The government alleges the former president retained 31 documents related to sensitive defense secrets, from nuclear programs to attack plans, shared them with people without clearances on at least two occasions, and was personally involved in the decision to withhold them. He additionally allegedly stored the documents in unsecured locations, including in his Mar-a-Lago Palm Beach resort and club’s ballroom and a nearby bathroom beside a toilet. The Espionage Act charges carry a sentence of up to 10 years each, obstructing justice up to 20 years, and making false statements five years.