Ramaswamy Says Trump’s Indictments Are Making America A ‘Banana Republic’

Republican presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy stated Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” that former President Donald Trump’s indictments were turning the United States into a “banana republic.”

“This Week” anchor George Stephanopoulos said, “Your hand shot up pretty fast at the debate when you were asked whether you would vote for Donald Trump in the general election, even if he was a convicted felon. Can you just explain why you would vote for a convicted felon for president?”

Ramaswamy said, “If the Constitution permits somebody to run, and that’s the person that people of this country want to elect, then that’s the way our system works, and I stand by it.”

Stephanopoulos said, “Why do you think it’s okay for a convicted felon to be president?”

Ramaswamy said, “So look. I think that many of these prosecutions against Donald Trump are outright, downright politicized persecutions through prosecution that set an awful precedent for our country. I do not want to see us become a banana republic where the administrative police state uses police force to eliminate opponents from competition. That is not the way it works. I will pick who I believe the best next president should be.”

As the far left’s blatant election intereference continues, a federal judge’s decision to set a March 4, 2024, trial date in former President Donald Trump’s 2020 election case could run the risk of breaching his due process rights, legal experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

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On Monday, U.S. District Judge for the District of Columbia Tanya Chutkan, an Obama appointee, set the trial for the day before Super Tuesday — a decision Trump decried in a Truth Social post that evening as “election interference,” and he promised to appeal.

While legal experts said the date likely could not be appealed, they told the DCNF it puts the defense in a tough spot and may even interfere with the former president’s due process rights.

Prosecutors initially requested a Jan. 2, 2024, trial date, while Trump’s legal team wanted to hold off until April 2026, claiming an earlier date would not permit them time to sufficiently prepare.

John Malcolm, vice president of the Heritage Foundation’s Institute for Constitutional Government and previous deputy assistant attorney general in the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division, emphasized the “millions of pages” of discovery material the legal team must review and consult with Trump about before the trial.

“This is all happening, as the judge well knows, while Trump is running for president, facing three other indictments … and several civil lawsuits,” he told the DCNF.

“Donald Trump, like every other defendant in a criminal case, is entitled to due process and effective assistance of counsel, which includes having an adequate amount of time and opportunity to review the evidence and consult with his attorneys in a meaningful fashion.”

The date is not generally appealable prior to the trial, Malcolm said, adding, “If he is convicted, one of the issues he could raise on appeal is that he was deprived of his right to due process and effective assistance of counsel because of the amount of discovery involved and the expedited trial schedule.

During Monday’s hearing, Trump’s lawyers made a similar argument.

“Mr. Trump is entitled to a defense that is reasonably prepared; it would be a miscarriage of justice if [he doesn’t] get that kind of defense,” Trump attorney John Lauro said, pointing to the 12.8 million documents prosecutors said they turned over, according to The Hill.

John Shu, an attorney and legal commentator who served in the George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush administrations, told the DCNF the date may violate Trump’s rights, but would probably not be successfully appealed.

“While it is possible that the current March 4, 2024, trial date in former President Trump’s D.C. case impinges on his due process rights, it is unlikely that it creates an issue that would be successfully appealed, in and of itself, should he be convicted,” Shu said.

“Generally speaking, district court judges have enormous discretion over their trial calendars and discovery disputes.”

However, Shu told the DCNF there were still various “questions of law” that could postpone the trial date, though not as far back as April 2026, when Trump’s attorneys requested.

Shu also noted the millions of discovery files Trump’s team was handed by prosecutors. “Even if some of them are duplicative, it is still a colossal amount of documents for any defense team, let alone a small one, to properly review and analyze,” he said.

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