‘You Think Destroying Evidence Is A Process Crime?’ CNN Anchor Taken Aback As Republican Candidate Downplays Bombshell Trump Charge

CNN anchor Kasie Hunt was taken aback when Vivek Ramaswamy referred to destroying evidence of a crime as a mere “process crime” and stood by his promise to pardon ex-President Donald Trump if he’s elected.

News broke Thursday afternoon that Special Counsel Jack Smith has filed three additional charges against Trump: one additional count of unlawful retention of National Defense Information and two new obstruction counts based on allegations that Trump and co-defendants Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira attempted to delete surveillance video footage at The Mar-a-Lago Club in the summer of 2022.

On Sunday morning’s edition of CNN’s State of the Union, Hunt asked Ramaswamy if the new charges affect his pledge to pardon Trump. Spoiler alert — they have not:

HUNT: I know you have said repeatedly that you would pardon Trump in this documents case. But this is significant new information. So, given this new information, do you still, would you still pardon him if you were president?

RAMASWAMY: The standard I use, as our next president, is what moves our country forward. What is the right thing for the United States of America?

HUNT: Right. And would having a president like this move it forward?

RAMASWAMY: And, absolutely, the right answer is to move on, and I would pardon him.

I would — I intend to be our next president. And, yes, I do believe I will move us forward. And, yes, I think one of the right ways to do that is to pardon the former president of the United States from what is clearly a politicized prosecution.

And I will share a view with you, Kasie. This is not specific to Trump. This is part of my broader view on the justice system in our country. I think that our general norm in our Justice Department is, you should not convict somebody of a process crime when there was no actual underlying crime.

I think that’s a major problem, entrapment. Even look at the…

HUNT: So, you think destroying evidence is a process crime?

RAMASWAMY: I think it is, by definition, a process crime. Nobody left, right — any legal scholar will agree with me on that statement. That is, by definition, a process crime, a crime that would not have existed but for the existence of an investigation.

And if we look ourselves in the mirror over the last several years, even look at the acquittals in the Gretchen Whitmer case, the fact that two people were acquitted of entrapment, I think it is a bad habit that our FBI and DOJ have gotten into, intervening and creating crimes that would not have existed but for their action.

And I think, as it relates to moving forward as a country, I absolutely think the right answer for the country is to put the grievances of the past behind us, to pardon President Trump, so that we can move forward as one nation, rather than marching to a national divorce.

Watch above via CNN’s State of the Union.