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One of Donald Trump‘s rivals for the 2024 Republican nomination has backed the former president over charges for illegally retaining classified documents, while another called on him to drop out of the race.
Vivek Ramaswamy, who announced his candidacy for president in February, slammed the federal charges against Trump that are expected to be filed next week in federal court in Miami, saying it demonstrated ‘two tiers of justice’.
‘I never thought we’d see the day when the U.S. President deputizes the DOJ to arrest his lead rival in the middle of an election,’ Ramaswamy said in a statement after the news broke if the impending legal challenge.
‘Obama shamefully tried to deputize the FBI to infiltrate Trump’s 2016 campaign, but they’re leaving nothing to chance this time around: the federal police state is outright arresting Trump,’ he said.
Ramaswamy said that while he would have a better chance of winning the 2024 Republican nomination were Trump not in the mix, but he said he stands ‘stand for principles over politics,’ adding: ‘I commit to pardon Trump promptly on January 20, 2025 and to restore the rule of law in our country.’
However, Trump did not receive the backing from all of his Republican rivals. Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson – another long-shot hopeful – called on the ex-president to drop out of the race, slamming his ‘willful disregard for the Constitution’.
Vivek Ramaswamy, who announced his candidacy for president in February, slammed the federal charges against Trump that are expected to be filed next week in federal court in Miami, saying it demonstrated ‘two tiers of justice’
![However, Trump did not receive the backing from all of his rivals. Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson (pictured) - another long-shot hopeful - called on the ex-president to drop out of the race, slamming his 'willful [sic] disregard for the Constitution'.](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/06/09/08/71946297-12176979-image-a-2_1686296713149.jpg)
However, Trump did not receive the backing from all of his rivals. Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson (pictured) – another long-shot hopeful – called on the ex-president to drop out of the race, slamming his ‘willful [sic] disregard for the Constitution’.
‘Donald Trump’s actions – from his willful [sic] disregard for the Constitution to his disrespect for the rule of law – should not define our nation or the Republican Party,’ Hutchinson said in a statement on Thursday.
‘This is a sad day for our country. While Donald Trump is entitled to the presumption of innocence, the ongoing criminal proceedings will be a major distraction. This reaffirms the need for Donald Trump to respect the office and end his campaign.’
Trump faces seven criminal counts related to his treatment of sensitive government materials he took with him when he left the White House in January 2021, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Investigators seized roughly 13,000 documents from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, nearly a year ago. One hundred were marked as classified, even though one of Trump’s lawyers had previously said all records with classified markings had been returned to the government.
According to a report, Trump could face 100 years behind bars if he is convicted of all seven charges related to mishandling of classified information.
The 76-year-old on Thursday said he had been told he was being indicted in relation to espionage – the first former president to face federal charges in U.S. history.
ABC News reported that Trump faces four separate counts each carrying a potential prison time of 20 years.
These four charges, it says, are: conspiracy to obstruct justice; withholding a document or record; corruptly concealing a document or record; and concealing a document in a federal investigation.
One count carries a 10 year sentence: willful retention of national defense information. And the final two counts have a maximum of five years each: scheme to conceal, and false statements and representations.
Trump’s indictment remains under seal, but his decision to publicize it means feds could unseal it as early as Friday, ahead of next Tuesday’s court appearance in Miami.
The news was met with outrage among the Republican party, with even his 2024 rival, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, declaring that the ‘weaponization of federal law enforcement represents a mortal threat to a free society.’
DeSantis stopped short of saying whether he’d pardon his rival if Trump was convicted, despite calls for the Florida governor to commit to doing so.
Trump himself – who was in Bedminster, New Jersey when the charging news broke – condemned the indictment in a clip which The New York Times said was pre-recorded, saying it was political persecution, and said: ‘I am innocent.’
He will appear in court in Miami on Tuesday at 3pm, where the charges will be put to him. Trump denies all allegations he faces.
Like DeSantis, Ramaswamy accused the Biden administration of weaponizing federal law enforcement.
‘This is an affront to every citizen: we cannot devolve into a banana republic where the party in power uses police force to arrest its political opponents. It’s hypocritical for the DOJ to selectively prosecute Trump but not Biden,’ he said.
Former president Donald Trump (pictured) faces a new legal challenge – this time from the government he used to lead – with charges for illegally retaining classified documents and other crimes expected to be filed next week in federal court in Miami
‘There are also serious legal questions about the President’s power to declassify documents and the potential illegality of the over-classification of federal documents in the first place. That’s for the courts to decide, but we the people decide who governs this nation.’
He continued: ‘It would be much easier for me to win this election if Trump weren’t in the race, but I stand for principles over politics. I commit to pardon Trump promptly on January 20, 2025 and to restore the rule of law in our country.
‘We can’t have two tiers of justice: one for Trump on government document retention, another for Biden. One for Assange, another for Manning. One for BLM/Antifa, another for peaceful protesters on Jan 6.’
Jan 6. is referring to Trump’s supporters violently storming the U.S. Capitol building in January 2021 in an attempt to keep him in power by preventing a joint session of Congress from counting the electoral college votes to formalize Biden’s victory.
Five people died either shortly before, during or after the insurrection attempt, and 138 police officers were injured in the riots.
Trump has been accused of trying to forcefully overturn the election by the House select committee investigating the incident.
Both Ramaswamy and Hutchinson are trailing behind Trump and DeSantis in the early polls of the race for the Republican nomination.
As of June 8, poll analysis website FiveThirtyEight said Ramaswamy was polling at around 3.5 percent, with Hutchinson at the bottom of the pack with just 0.7 percent.
Trump, meanwhile, is leading with 53.8 percent, while DeSantis is on 21.3 percent.
Hutchinson has been a staunch critic of Trump’s approach and apparent disregard for democracy, with his latest statement making his feelings very clear.
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In his statement, he said the news that Trump had been indicted for a second time means that ‘our country finds itself in a position that weakens our democracy.’
Trump has already been indicted once this year, in New York, for his alleged role in facilitating a hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels.
Despite this, he still remains the favorite to win the Republican nomination.
Trump’s lawyer, Jim Trusty, told CNN on Thursday that all seven charges ‘break out from an Espionage Act charge’. Jack Smith, the special counsel who is overseeing the investigation, has not commented.
Despite the pre-recorded clip, CBS News claimed that Trump was not expecting to be indicted, and that he was upset with his inner circle for telling him there was only a low risk of charges over the classified documents incident.
The former president is said to have complained that there was ‘too much happy talk for too long’ from those closest to him over the prospect of criminal action.
He was indicted in Manhattan in April on state charges of making hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels – those state charges, too, were historic.
The investigation into Trump’s handling of classified documents is being overseen by a special counsel, Jack Smith (pictured), who was appointed by the Attorney General Merrick Garland in November
But the classified information charges are federal and significantly more serious, and carry hefty prison sentences.
Prosecutors have investigated the transfer of presidential files to his Mar-a-Lago Florida estate since last year.
The probe exploded into the headlines in August when the FBI searched Trump’s Florida home, recovering 11,000 documents, including about 100 that were marked as classified.
For his part, Trump has repeatedly insisted he did nothing wrong and that he is the victim of a federal witch hunt.
At times the controversy has even boosted his standing in the polls and allowed him to raise money from supporters who see a ‘deep state’ plot to take him out of the 2024 race.
‘The corrupt Biden Administration has informed my attorneys that I have been Indicted, seemingly over the Boxes Hoax, even though Joe Biden has 1850 Boxes at the University of Delaware, additional Boxes in Chinatown, D.C., with even more Boxes at the University of Pennsylvania, and documents strewn all over his garage floor where he parks his Corvette, and which is ‘secured’ by only a garage door that is paper thin, and open much of the time,’ Trump wrote on Truth Social Thursday night.
‘I have been summoned to appear at the Federal Courthouse in Miami on Tuesday, at 3 PM. I never thought it possible that such a thing could happen to a former President of the United States, who received far more votes than any sitting President in the History of our Country, and is currently leading, by far, all Candidates, both Democrat and Republican, in Polls of the 2024 Presidential Election. I AM AN INNOCENT MAN!’
Later Thursday night, he put out a video.
‘Very sadly we’re a nation in decline and yet they go after a very popular president,’ Trump said.
‘I’m an innocent man, I did nothing wrong,’ he continued, vowing to ‘fight this out.’
In an interview with Fox News Digital, Trump also said he would ‘of course’ plead not guilty.
Security is already being increased around the courthouse in Miami ahead of his appearance before a judge, scheduled for 3pm on Tuesday.
Trump on Tuesday will be arraigned at this federal courthouse in Miami. News crews are pictured on Thursday staking out their positions
The investigation into Trump’s handling of classified documents is being overseen by a special counsel, Jack Smith, who was appointed by the Attorney General Merrick Garland in November.
DeSantis, who is second place in polls across the country, stopped short of saying he would pardon Trump if he won the 2024 race, and the former president was convicted.
But he condemned the decision to press charges.
‘We have for years witnessed an uneven application of the law depending upon political affiliation,’ he said.
‘Why so zealous in pursuing Trump yet so passive about Hillary or Hunter? The DeSantis administration will bring accountability to the DOJ, excise political bias and end weaponization once and for all.’
DeSantis and Trump have been trading barbs as the 2024 Republican campaign for president heats up. But DeSantis dropped his guard to criticize the move.
He joined Republican members of Congress in ripping the double standards of justice and claimed the timing of the indictment was convenient given new allegations that President Biden received a $5 million bribe from a Burisma executive when he was Vice President.
DeSantis supporters have said that Trump should drop out of the White House race to the Florida governor can pardon him if he wins in 2024. Trump currently holds a considerable lead over DeSantis in the polls.
‘Today is indeed a dark day for the United States of America,’ said House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. ‘It is unconscionable for a President to indict the leading candidate opposing him. Joe Biden kept classified documents for decades.
Ron DeSantis has run to the defense of his 2024 Republican rival Donald Trump to attack the Department of Justice and ask why it isn’t going after Hillary Clinton or Hunter Biden
‘I, and every American who believes in the rule of law, stand with President Trump against this grave injustice. House Republicans will hold this brazen weaponization of power accountable.’
Josh Hawley, a senator for Missouri, tweeted: ‘If the people in power can jail their political opponents at will, we don’t have a republic.’
And Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa, a senior Judiciary Committee member, wrote on Twitter: ‘DOJ indicts former President / candidate Trump SAME DAY DOJ/FBI restricts access to unnecessarily redacted Biden allegations.
‘And they wonder why ppl think there r two standards for justice.’
Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk
