Washington: Indian-American presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy has pledged to withdraw his name from the Colorado primary ballot unless former President Donald Trump is reinstated.
Ramaswamy’s move comes after Colorado Supreme Court on Tuesday barred Trump from running in the state’s presidential primary, ruling he had engaged in “insurrection” on January 6, 2021.
Coming out strongly in support of his Republican presidential rival, Ramaswamy said in a post on X: “This is what an actual attack on democracy looks like: in an un-American, unconstitutional, and unprecedented decision, a cabal of Democrat judges are barring Trump from the ballot in Colorado.
“I pledge to*withdraw from the Colorado GOP primary unless Trump is also allowed to be on the state’s ballot.”
In addition, the 38-year-old entrepreneur also urged his fellow Republican presidential aspirants — Ron DeSantis, Chris Christie, and Nikki Haley — to do the same “immediately”.
He added that their failure in doing so would mean “they are tacitly endorsing this illegal maneuver which will have disastrous consequences for our country”.
The apex court cited Trump’s role in the January 6 attack when a mob of supporters invaded the US Congress — at his urging and direction — to prevent lawmakers from certifying Joe Biden as the next President.
The ruling came under Amendment 14 of the US constitution that bars people engaging in insurrection from running for President.
“Having tried every trick in the book to eliminate President Trump from running in this election, the bipartisan Establishment is now deploying a new tactic to bar him from ever holding office again: the 14th Amendment,” Ramaswamy said.
A Trump campaign spokesperson said that an appeal would be filed on Tuesday night.
According to Fox News, disqualification lawsuits relating to Trump’s appearance on the ballot are pending in 13 states, including Texas, Nevada and Wisconsin.
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