Ramaswamy calls potential Trump Jan. 6 indictment ‘a bad idea’

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy called a potential indictment against former President Trump over his alleged role in the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 a “bad idea,” in an interview Tuesday.

Ramaswamy maintained, however, that Trump exercised “bad judgment” on Jan. 6 and said voters should hold the former president accountable at the ballot box.

“I think he should be held accountable at the ballot box, not at the behest of a federal administrative police state,” Ramaswamy said on NewsNation, when asked whether Trump should be held accountable for the day’s events. “I think it is a bad idea for this country to make a pattern out of using police power to indict a lead political opponent in the middle of an election.”

Ramaswamy, a billionaire tech entrepreneur, has attacked the administration for investigating Trump, but still backed his earlier criticism of Trump’s judgment on Jan. 6.

“There’s a lot that led to the buildup that boiled over on January 6. And so while I think Trump made bad judgments – and I would have made very different judgments, had I been in that office – that is different from saying that he should be held criminally liable for what happened,” Ramaswamy said. 

“And I think it sets an awful precedent in our country, if this indictment does indeed come through,” he added.

His remarks come after Trump announced he received a target letter in connection to a criminal probe into his attempts to hold onto power after the 2020 election. Some have said the letter suggests an indictment against Trump may be imminent. 

“I want to win this race by convincing the voters, the people of this country, that I’m the right choice. And I think it will set a disastrous national precedent, if we’re actually recharacterizing what was really a bad judgment as something that was illegal, for the purpose of achieving a political end,” Ramaswamy said.