GOP presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy repeated his pledge to withdraw from the ballot in states that remove former President Trump, and reemphasized his call for other Republican candidates to do the same.
In an interview on “NewsNation Prime” on Monday, Ramaswamy told host Natasha Zouves his goal was to “nullify” Maine and Colorado — the two states that have so far removed Trump from their ballots — by boycotting their elections.
“Yeah, look, it wasn’t in protest. I’m actually a very practical person. I think that it was deeply unconstitutional and wrong for one individual secretary of state, without any trial or procedure or anything else, just to decide and wake up one day Donald Trump’s not on the ballot. That’s wrong,” Ramaswamy said.
Maine and Colorado have disqualified Trump from running for office based on their interpretation of how the 14th Amendment’s insurrection clause applies to Trump’s actions around the storming of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Vivek Ramaswamy is interviewed in the spin room following the NewsNation Republican Primary Debate at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa on Wednesday, December 6, 2023. (Greg Nash)
In Maine, Secretary of State Shenna Bellows made the determination, though she paused it, pending an appeal.
Colorado’s Supreme Court — which Ramaswamy referred to as “a cabal of judges” — reached a similar conclusion, though the state Republican Party has appealed the decision, and the Trump campaign has vowed to do so as well.
“If they’re going to behave in that unconstitutional way, the Republican candidates can actually stop this form of election interference. So I said I would remove my name from those ballots, and I called on the other Republicans in the race to do the same thing,” Ramaswamy said.
“Now, the others have been sidestepping the issue, have been radio silent on it. But if every Republican removes themselves, that nullifies Maine and it nullifies Colorado, if they remove a candidate unconstitutionally from that ballot.”
The constitutionality of the removals has not yet been determined, as the United States Supreme Court has never ruled on the application of the insurrection clause.
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That clause bans from office anyone who “having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.”
Trump’s detractors say his actions Jan. 6 fit that definition; his defenders say the events of that day do not amount to “insurrection or rebellion.”
Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Ramaswamy’s fellow non-Trump GOP presidential candidates, have all denounced efforts to block Trump from participating in elections, but they have not heeded Ramaswamy’s call to pull their own names from ballots.
“If they remove Trump’s name, my name is off too and I call on Ron DeSantis, and Nikki Haley and Chris Christie to do the same thing. Their words are cheap. Action speaks louder than words,” Ramaswamy said.
“Now, their unwillingness to do that, I think reveals that they’re actually complicit in part, in what’s happening, even if indirectly. I think it’s unconstitutional and we need to stand on principle, so my position is clear.”