Vivek Ramaswamy lectures CNN host on 'basic journalistic obligations' in testy exchange over Trump indictment
Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy accused the media of 'bidding' for President Biden by ignoring questions surrounding his involvement in the Trump indictment.
Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy took the media to task for its coverage of Donald Trump’s indictment during a CNN appearance Sunday, accusing mainstream outlets of downplaying questions over President Biden's purported role in the DOJ's case against his political rival.
Ramaswamy dismissed the indictment against Trump as "deeply politicized" in an interview on CNN’s "State of the Union" after host Dana Bash pressed him on Trump's judgment in his handling of classified documents, which resulted in a federal criminal indictment last week.
"If Trump’s judgment was bad, President Biden’s judgment is worse for actually bringing a prosecution," Ramaswamy told Bash.
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Ramaswamy lectured CNN host Dana Bash in an interview on ‘State of the Union’ Sunday. (Screenshot: CNN's 'State of the Union')
The interview took a turn when Ramaswamy, who vowed as president to pardon Trump if he is convicted, turned the tables on the CNN host – accusing her and others in the media of protecting Biden by ignoring questions pertaining to his involvement and purported weaponization of the Department of Justice in the case against his 2024 political opponent.
"This is selective prosecution," he said. "It reeks of politicization which is why I want to go back to the top question the media actually should be asking. What did Biden tell Garland? What did Garland tell Jack Smith? That is what you need to get to the bottom of."
When the CNN host argued there is "absolutely no evidence" pointing to Biden's involvement in the case against Trump, Ramaswamy interjected, "The Department of Justice reports in to the President of the United States… which is why I think the media needs to get to the bottom of this."
"With due respect, I think it is shameful that I, as a competitor to President Trump in this race, have to ask questions that the media isn’t asking," he continued. "The job of the political media if it has one job is to hold the U.S. government accountable. Instead, we’re doing the bidding. You’re seeing the media do the bidding of the U.S. government. Get to the bottom of what Biden told Garland and what Garland told Jack Smith. If it were the other foot, you would not take face value. Get to the bottom of it. Let’s actually restore journalism in this country. That is what is actually missing, is getting to the truth."
Bash insisted that the media are "absolutely asking these questions," asserting that "we know how to be good journalists because we do it every single day."
Moments earlier, Ramaswamy said he is "deeply skeptical of everything in that indictment," and has "no faith whatsoever in those vague allegations" surrounding Trump's handling of classified documents. Ramaswamy said Trump would have demonstrated "very bad judgment" if the allegations were proven to be true, but his actions still may not constitute a crime.
The entrepreneur competing against Trump for the GOP nomination also called the country a "federal administrative police state" during the heated CNN interview.
"That's exactly what's at work here. You have a federal administrative state. The police arm of that state is for the first time in U.S. history, not only indicting a former president, but indicting currently a lead candidate against the U.S. president. That is not the stuff of the United States of America. That is the stuff of banana republics," he said.
Former President Donald Trump was indicted on 37 federal counts, including willful retention of national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice and false statements. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
Trump was indicted on 37 federal counts, including willful retention of national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice and false statements in Special Counsel Jack Smith's investigation into the classified records.
The former president maintains he did nothing wrong and said he would be pleading not guilty to the charges in court.
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"I did absolutely nothing wrong," he told Fox News Digital, citing the Presidential Records Act, which he said "makes me totally innocent."
The White House said Friday that President Biden found out that Trump had been indicted through news reports "like everybody else."
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