Ramaswamy brushes off Trump campaign attacks

GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy brushed off recent attacks from former President Trump, saying he thinks they came from his advisers rather than the candidate himself. 

Ramaswamy said during an appearance on NewsNation’s “The Hill” on Monday, the day of the Iowa presidential caucuses, that the attacks likely are the result of a late “surge” that he has seen in the Hawkeye State with notable endorsements. 

“I think that his campaign advisers who I think probably are the ones that actually put that out or advised him to put it out, and I think that that was probably not the A-team that was working on that right there, is seeing a late surge for us in Iowa,” Ramaswamy said. “That’s the fact of the matter.” 

The conservative entrepreneur and presidential candidate pointed to recent endorsements he has received from the controversial former longtime Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) and an Iowa state lawmaker who switched their endorsement from Ron DeSantis to Ramaswamy. 

His comments come after the former president began to go after Ramaswamy after months of the two of them making relatively favorable remarks toward each other. 

Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Saturday that his supporters should not support Ramaswamy because he is “not MAGA” and backing him would be a waste of a vote. 

“Unfortunately, now all he does is disguise his support in the form of deceitful campaign tricks. Very sly, but a vote for Vivek is a vote for the ‘other side’ — don’t get duped by this. Vote for ‘TRUMP,’ don’t waste your vote!” he said.

Trump previously praised Ramaswamy for his performance in the first GOP debate and said he would be “very good” as a choice for vice president.

Ramaswamy said he is not attacking Trump and is not running against him but instead is running for the country. 

“I admire him. I think he was an excellent president, but I think I’m going to be leading the America First movement to the next level, reaching the next generation as we do it,” he said. 

He said he has not spoken to Trump in a while, but he is continuing to work for votes. 

“We have put in the work. We have not left anything on the table,” Ramaswamy said. 

Ramaswamy has been in fourth place in Iowa in the polling average from The Hill/Decision Desk HQ, behind Trump, DeSantis and Nikki Haley.