Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said Sunday that he would not commit to prosecuting President Biden’s family if he were elected president, saying his focus would be on growing the economy and ending the war in Ukraine.
In an interview on Fox News’s “Sunday Morning Futures,” Ramaswamy sharply attacked recent reporting quoting him saying he would be “open” to pardoning Hunter Biden, saying it was taken out of context and a product of “opposition research.” He reiterated his pledge to pardon former President Trump, “peaceful” Jan. 6 protesters, and others — for the purpose of moving on as a country.
“Let me fast-forward to Jan. 21, 2025, my second day in office, after we have issued those pardons, after we have set into motion shutting down the FBI, not just reforming it, actually restoring the integrity of our government,” Ramaswamy said.
“The question is: Is the next thing that I then want to do, after we have set our nation forward, is it to then focus my agenda on persecuting Joe Biden or his family? My answer to that question is no,” Ramaswamy said. “I’m going to be focused on stimulating the economy, ending the war in Ukraine, declaring independence from China. That is how we win as one nation.”
“So, no, I’m not going to be guided by vengeance and grievance. I’m going to be guided by integrity. But the first step to getting there is, there can be no reconciliation without truth,” Ramaswamy said, reiterating his support for an impeachment inquiry and of the ongoing House investigations.
Ramaswamy, who emerged as a political outsider who frequently appeared on conservative media, has slowly been inching in the GOP 2024 primary polls.
The most recent Morning Consult poll puts Ramaswamy in third place, at 8 percent, among potential GOP primary voters. He follows Trump at 59 percent and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis at 16 percent.