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Ramaswamy calls Georgia indictments against Trump ‘politicized persecutions’ 

Vivek Ramaswamy, Co-Founder Strive Asset Management, and Republican candidate for President

Vivek Ramaswamy, candidate for President, speaks during the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Md., on Friday, March 3, 2023. (Greg Nash)

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy reacted Monday to news that former President Trump was indicted by a grand jury in Fulton County, Ga., calling it a politicized persecution. 

“These are politicized persecutions through prosecution,” Ramaswamy told Leland Vittert during a NewsNation town hall. 

“It would be a lot easier for me if Donald Trump were not in this primary, but that is not how I want to win this election,” he said. 

Ramaswamy’s comments came just as the Georgia grand jury returned 10 indictments from Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’s investigation into alleged efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn the 2020 presidential elections in Georgia. 

This is the fourth legal case in four months in which the former president has been indicted. Ramaswamy and much of the GOP presidential primary field have said Trump is the victim of a Justice Department biased against him. Earlier this month, Ramaswamy announced he was suing the Justice Department and filing a new Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) records request for more details about the recent indictments of Trump in the Jan. 6 investigation into the former president. 

While Trump remains firmly in first place in the primary, Ramaswamy has seen an uptick in the polls and increased interest among donors and the media. The Real Clear Politics polling average shows Trump in first place at 54.5 percent support, while Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is in second place at 14.8 percent. Ramaswamy is in third place at 6.3 percent. 

NewsNation and The Hill are both owned by Nexstar Media Group.