US presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy calls for GOP support against Trump’s likely indictment

Raising questions over the GOPs "deafening" silence, presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy is calling out for Republicans' support againstDonald Trump's possible indictment in a probe by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

Indian-American Ramaswamy, on Saturday, called on Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley "to join him by 9 AM tomorrow (Sunday) in calling on Bragg to abandon the political persecution of the 45th president of the US".

"This is about principle, not a person. This is about our country, not one man. The silence from the rest of the GOP field is deafening," he said. "That is not the America I know. That is not America my parents came to. That is not the America our founding fathers set in motion 250 years ago. That is the stuff of aBanana Republic."

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Ramaswamysaid it is not about Trump being his competition in the race to become the next US president, but more about the integrity of the elections and the integrity of the self-governing democracy.

He asserted that it does not matter whether anyone roots for Trump or not, but must speak up if they are rooting for the constitutional republic.Ramaswamy said a politically empowered prosecutor cannot eliminate the opposition of the ruling party, Trump, by using arrest, and called it a sad and dark day in America.

Vivek Ramaswamy mostly speaks on the Mexican drug cartel menace in America, special treatment for SVB, targeting woke culture and overcoming climate change as part of the promises since he threw his hat in the ring by declaring that he will be running for the president's office in 2024.

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However, on Saturday, Ramaswamy saved the day by lending support to Trump and calling his possible indictment a "national disaster".

"It is un-American for the ruling party to use police power to arrest its political rivals. If a Republican prosecutor in 2004 had used a campaign finance technicality to arrest then-candidate John Kerry while Bush and Cheney were in power, liberals would have cried foul – and rightly so. Principles go beyond partisanship," he wrote on social media.

"This will mark a dark moment in American history and will undermine public trust in our electoral system itself. I call on the Manhattan District Attorney to reconsider this action and to put aside partisan politics in service of preserving our constitutional republic," he added.

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Former US president Donald Trump claimed on Saturday that he was expecting to get "arrested" on Tuesday next week. He also called on his supporters to start protests against his potential indictment.

Citing a "leak" from the Manhattan district attorney's office, Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, "Leading Republican candidate & former President of the United States of America will be arrested on Tuesday of next week. Protest, take our nation back!"

The investigation is centred around $130,000 hush money paid weeks before the 2016 polls to stop Stormy Daniels from going public about an affair she says she had with Trump years ago.

(With inputs from agencies)

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