Trump indictment reaction from rivals range from offer of legal assistance to call to drop out of race

Vivek Ramaswamy did not wait for the late night breaking news on former President Trump's fourth indictment to weigh in.

Hours before prosecutors in Fulton County, Georgia, indicted Trump on 13 counts related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in the crucial southeastern battleground state, the multimillionaire biotech entrepreneur, best-selling author and culture wars crusader took to social media to blast the charges.

Ahead of an indictment that accused the former president of "knowingly and willfully join[ing] a conspiracy" with a large group including some of his former top aides "to change the outcome of the election," Ramaswamy argued that the charges against the commanding front-runner in the 2024 GOP nomination race were "another disastrous Trump indictment."

FIRST ON FOX: TRUMP REACTS TO HIS FOURTH CRIMINAL INDICTMENT

Ramaswamy, who has vocally blasted the previous indictments against Trump, claimed that "it's downright pathetic that Fulton County publicly posted the indictment on its website even before the grand jury had finished convening. Since the four prosecutions against Trump are using novel & untested legal theories, it’s fair game for him to do the same in defense: immediately file a motion to dismiss for a constitutional due process violation for publicly issuing an indictment before the grand jury had actually signed one. He should make a strong argument on these grounds & it would send a powerful message to the ever-expansive prosecutorial police state."

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Ramaswamy – noting once again that he is running against Trump for the GOP presidential nomination – offered legal assistance to his rival.

"As someone who’s running for President against Trump, I’d volunteer to write the amicus brief to the court myself: prosecutors should not be deciding U.S. presidential elections, and if they’re so overzealous that they commit constitutional violations, then the cases should be thrown out & they should be held accountable," Ramasawamy argued.

WHAT'S IN THE TRUMP INDICTMENT IN GEORGIA

It was a very different reaction from another Trump rival for the Republican presidential nomination - former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson.

The former federal prosecutor, who later served in congress and in then-President George W. Bush's administration, reiterated his calls for Trump to drop out of the race.

"Over a year ago, I said that Donald Trump’s actions disqualified him from ever serving as President again. Those words are more true today than ever before," Hutchinson, a vocal Trump critic, wrote on social media soon after word of the indictment broke.

Former CIA spy and former Texas Rep. Will Hurd, another long-shot for the GOP presidential nomination, joined Hutchinson Tuesday morning in criticizing Trump.

"Another day, another indictment, and another example of how the former president's baggage will hand Joe Biden reelection if Trump is the Republican nominee. This is further evidence that Trump knew he lost the 2020 election and was ready to do anything it took to cling to power. He will use this latest indictment as another opportunity to manipulate Americans into paying his legal bills," Hurd, another vocal GOP critic of Trump, argued in a statement.

GRAND JURY RETURNS INDICTMENTS IN TRUMP-GEORGIA CASE: LIVE UPDATES

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie weighed in Tuesday morning on "Fox & Friends" and said he was "uncomfortable" with the Fulton County district attorney retreading election interference charges special counsel Jack Smith covered in his federal indictment of Trump.

"I think this was unnecessary as to Donald Trump," said Christie, a former U.S. attorney. "Now, remember, as to the other defendants Jack Smith chose not to charge them. So I would have less of a problem with this if she decided, okay, I'm not going to charge Donald Trump here because he's been charged essentially this conduct by Jack Smith. But Giuliani and Meadows and others have not been charged at the federal level. That would be a more defensible indictment. 

Christie suggested Willis was motivated by her "ego," however he acknowledged that Trump does have some exposure in this matter. 

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"Donald Trump had three counts of the vote here in Georgia. He had the original count. He had a machine recount, and then he had a hand recount. All those things were given at his request — the last two in particular. He also was able to contest these things in court in Georgia and did not win. All that stuff, I'd say, is absolutely legal and within his right to do," he said. 

"Where this starts to be problematic for him is the electors and the pressure that was being put on folks after all these counts happened. And that's where I think his exposure is in the federal case. And that's where his exposure would be here."