L - Vivek Ramaswamy R - Letitia James (Getty Images)
Reports circulated this week that New York officials are on the verge of seizing Trump properties if he doesn’t meet the bond deadline on Monday, something his legal team has said is a "practical impossibility", and Ramaswamy said while he questions the accuracy of those reports, it would be a "sad" and "unjust" development.
"I mean it's just jarring to think that this is a country where you just trace back the origin of this prosecution, you have a prosecutor who ran on the explicit promise of going after one man, regardless of the crime then actually effectively concocts a crime out of nowhere, torturing a statute that lawyers on the left and right agree was never intended for this kind of case," Ramaswamy said.
"Abusing a consumer protection law to instead charge a case where the counterparties weren't ordinary consumers, but sophisticated financial institutions, and moreover, sophisticated financial institutions that were not harmed that made money from those interactions to find a nearly half $1 billion judgment against an individual, and then use that as a lever in the middle of an election to effectively exercise a form of political and financial leverage over that individual, is shocking that this has happened in the United States of America."
TRUMP HAVING TROUBLE SECURING MASSIVE $454M APPEAL BOND IN NEW YORK CIVIL CASE
New York Attorney General Letitia James speaks during a news conference (AP Photo/Brittainy Newman, File)
"This is an excessive fine, especially against the prosecutorial context of it's not just an excessive fine issued by a jury in an otherwise impartial prosecution, it's the product of a remarkably precise witch hunt against one man that then is topped off by what is obviously an excessive fine in a case where there was literally no victim for the alleged crime and I think that that is going to be, if that's an avenue that's pursued on appeal, I think it's going to be a very promising one for the Supreme Court to affirm."
The 8th Amendment to the United States Constitution states, "excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted."
Ramaswamy posted on X on Thursday that he believes a disbarment could possibly be in store for New York Attorney General Letitia James as a result of her legal pursuit of the former president.
"Not just because of this one case, because of a pattern of behavior demonstrating that her own political beliefs are affecting the legal judgments that she makes as a prosecutor that has impact on the lives of everyday citizens and so I think that type of continued reckless disregard for the law, I do think, is grounds for disbarment," Ramaswamy said, while acknowledging it’s "very difficult" to "prosecute a prosecutor for a crime."
LOOMING LEGAL PENALTIES RAISE QUESTIONS ABOUT DONALD TRUMP'S FINANCES
US entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy (R) endorses Republican presidential candidate former US President Donald Trump during a campaign event at the Atkinson Resort and Country Club in Atkinson, New Hampshire, on January 16, 2024. (TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images)
Ramaswamy told Fox News Digital that theories that used to be dismissed as "conspiracies" just a few years ago are now "blunt realities" and reiterated his belief that a significant amount of American voters will take issue with the prosecution against Trump.
"The reality is I think it's going to sadly, that Donald Trump has to go through this, it's sad, but it will have the effect of opening the eyes of many other Americans who otherwise would have thought, hey, that's just something that would never happen to me to now realize that if this is the theory they're going to use to extort nearly half $1 billion from one man, if they could do it to Trump they could do it to anybody," Ramaswamy said.
"I think the everyday Americans and business people and entrepreneurs opening their eyes to that is going to have a seismic impact on the election this year. It's a shame that Donald Trump has to go through this. It's really sad. It's unjust."
Ramaswamy told Fox News Digital that the New York ruling ultimately hurts America’s standing on the world stage.
THE US LEGAL SYSTEM IS 'DEVOLVING' AMID TRUMP LAWFARE: JONATHAN TURLEY
New York State Attorney General Letitia James speaks during a news conference at her office in New York. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File) (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)
"People are opening their eyes to the reality to say that we don't want to become some banana republic," Ramaswamy said. "We can't point to other countries and ride a high horse of our civic superiority as a constitutional republic. If we're behaving worse than many of the other countries that we supposedly set an example for and I think if there's a silver lining in all of this, I think this could then become a turning point to revive the ideals of our country, to revive the ideals of the American Revolution and that's at least something positive that comes out of these disastrous events then I'm hopeful that can at least be a revival on the other side of it."
"That will make us stronger but it is saddening that people like Trump have to go through this. If there's good that comes of it for the country, for waking up people to the realities of this weaponization and to say hell no to it at the ballot box this November then I think that at least there could be some good that comes out on the other side."
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Fox News Digital reached out to the office of Attorney General James for comment but did not receive a response.
A source familiar with the situation told Fox News Digital this week that Trump's legal team plans "to exhaust all options" to secure the bond needed for appeal before Monday's deadline.
"The Trump team is continuing to look at every conceivable option," the source said, adding that they are "hoping for the best, but preparing for the worst."
Andrew Mark Miller is a reporter at Fox News. Find him on Twitter @andymarkmiller and email tips to AndrewMark.Miller@Fox.com.
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