GOP longshot calls on hopefuls to speak out against potential Trump indictment

Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, Tim Scott and several other potential presidential hopefuls have not yet weighed-in on the bombshell news that Donald Trump could be indicted by the Manhattan District Attorney this week.

Longshot presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy had some stern words Saturday for the field of Republicans, claiming their silence could be ‘the beginning of the end.’

If an indictment is levied in the case involving Trump’s hush money payment to porn star Stormey Daniels, it would be the first against the former president – and could open a floodgate for other cases against him.

Neither Senator Scott nor former Gov. Haley, a Trump-era Ambassador to the United Nations, opted to answer DailyMail.com questions regarding the indictment at the Palmetto Family Council’s Vision ’24 National Conservative Forum in North Charleston, South Carolina on Saturday.

Florida Gov. DeSantis’ team did not respond to DailyMail.com’s request for comment on the indictment.

Presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy called on his fellow candidates – potential an announced – to denounce the possible impending indictment against Donald Trump 

Presidential candidate Nikki Haley (left) and Sen. Tim Scott (right), who is weighing a bid, both did not respond to DailyMail.com when asked about the indictment at the Palmetto Family Council’s Vision ’24 National Conservative Forum in North Charleston, South Carolina on Saturday

‘Today was an important day in the country,’ Ramaswamy said during a brief press conference following his own remarks at the forum.

‘The reason I’m doing this is because the rest of the Republican field, I think, has been deafeningly silent about an important issue in the country today,’ he added of the news that an indictment could be looming.

‘What I’m about to say has nothing to do with Donald Trump and everything to do with the integrity of an election and the integrity of a self-governing democracy,’ the biotech multimillionaire added. ‘So I don’t care whether you root for Trump or whether you don’t, if you root for the integrity of our constitutional republic then you need to be on the side of being really clear.’

Ramaswamy has been extremely vocal in denouncing the prospect of an indictment against Trump, claiming that there would be no case if it weren’t for the face that the Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is severely anti-Trump.

He claimed during his press conference in Charleston on Saturday that he is a ‘politically empowered prosecutor’ looking to ‘eliminate the opposition of a ruling party using arrest power.’

Ramaswamy immediately responded to news of the impending indictment on Saturday morning with a tweet.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ team did not respond to a DailyMail.com request for comment on the indictment of Trump 

Former Vice President Mike Pence, also a potential 2024 hopeful, also responded by telling Breitbart News radio that the move, though not yet carried out, ‘reeks of the kind of political prosecution that we endured back in the days of the Russia hoax.’

Othersie, the rest of the field of the already announced and potential candidates were silent on the matter.

‘This morning we learned that it is likely that the New York Manhattan District Attorney is likely to indict a former President of the United States, who is running for office,’ Ramaswamy said, making it clear that while he is in a presidential primary against Trump, his thoughts on the indictment are not politically motivated.

‘It is a sad day in America,’ he said. ‘It is a dark day in America if you have the ruling party in this country using police power to arrest its political opposition.’

‘That would be the beginning of the end as we know.’