Republican presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy said Sunday that Donald Trump's "bad judgment" during the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot is "not the same thing as a crime," as a potential third indictment looms for the former president.
Ramaswamy, a venture capitalist who has been one of the most vocal supporters of the former president while also competing against him in the GOP presidential primary, has been critical of the former president's actions on the day of the riot, saying, "I would have made different judgments than Donald Trump made."
GOP SENATORS WORK TO BLOCK BIDEN'S PLANS — LITERALLY
"That is why I am running in this race for the presidency, the same race that he’s in, because I would have made different — and I believe better — judgments for the country. But a bad judgment is not the same thing as a crime. And when we conflate the two, that sets a dangerous precedent for this country,” Ramaswamy told Shannon Bream on Fox News Sunday.
After Trump learned in late May that he would be indicted on federal charges for alleged mishandling of classified documents, Ramaswamy declared he would pardon Trump if he were elected president. That stands in contrast to other candidates, such as former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who has said the former president was responsible for the riot since November 2020, when Trump blamed his loss on claims of election fraud.
Just last week, Trump said he received another target letter, teeing up a potential third indictment of the former president this year, this time over his alleged attempts to subvert the 2020 presidential election.
Ramaswamy said that the potential indictment against Trump in the Jan. 6-related case is a "bad idea."
“I don’t want to see us become some banana republic, where the party in power uses police force to arrest its political opponents,” Ramaswamy said.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Trump has remained far in the lead of a crowded GOP primary field, with a recent Fox News Business poll showing the former president leading in Iowa at 46% and a July 18 Morning Consult poll showing him with a 35-point lead over his main rival Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Ramaswamy was polling with 8% approval among likely GOP primary voters, according to the July 18 poll.