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Vivek Ramaswamy reveals his ‘ideal’ VP pick: ‘That’s the mold you want’

Vivek Ramaswamy reveals his ‘ideal’ VP pick: ‘That’s the mold you want’

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy revealed during a campaign stop Friday that his “ideal” pick for vice president would be someone like Elon Musk.  “I’m looking for people who are executives,” Ramaswamy said after a voter in Corydon, Iowa, asked if he would be able to find enough cabinet picks who agree “with you that won’t cut your legs off.”  “Not in the pool of Washington, D.C.,” the 38-year-old presidential candidate answered. “If you’re looking outside the pool, there’s 300 million mostly good people in this country … So, a lot of them are going to be outsiders. I mean, an ideal vice president would be someone like an Elon Musk. Now, he wasn’t born in the country, so he can’t, you know, but that’s the mold.”  Musk would be unable to run for the vice presidency or presidency because he isn’t a natural-born citizen of the U.S. Musk was born in South Africa.  RAMASWAMY DEFENDS TRUMP, BLASTS CO COURT’S DECISION TO REMOVE HIM FROM BALLOT: ‘BLATANT ELECTION INTERFERENCE’ Ramaswamy has previously said he would consider Musk as an adviser in the White House.  Earlier at Friday’s town hall, Ramaswamy said he had learned from former President Trump that it’s important to surround oneself with some outsiders in the White House.  “It helps to have somebody who has complete and total disregard for the norms of Washington, D.C.,” he said. “Let’s take a jackhammer to it. It’s all fake. Most of it’s made up.” RAMASWAMY VOWS TO WITHDRAW FROM COLORADO PRIMARY BALLOT UNLESS TRUMP IS ON IT, CALLS ON GOP OPPONENTS TO JOIN At the end of October, Ramaswamy revealed that Musk, who is the CEO of Telsa, SpaceX and owns X, formerly Twitter, had attended one of his fundraisers in Northern California.  “He showed up late at night and we had a conversation,” he confirmed to Reuters at the time.” Ramaswamy added, “He and I are increasingly alone in this world as being free speech absolutists and that I think is different from a lot of people in both parties. I think that’s something he and I see eye to eye on.”  CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Ramaswamy’s stop in Corydon was one of several campaign stops in Iowa on Friday, including Chariton and Indianola. 

California Democrat secretary of state to allow Trump on GOP presidential primary ballot: ‘I must be better’

California Democrat secretary of state to allow Trump on GOP presidential primary ballot: ‘I must be better’

California Secretary of State Shirley Weber will include former President Trump on her state’s primary ballot despite pressure to remove the Republican presidential frontrunner. Weber argued that while she finds the former president’s actions “abhorrent and disturbing and an attack on democracy,” she feels obligated to follow the rule of law and allow Trump on her state’s primary ballot. “But at the same time, if I believe in this democracy that is there, I have to basically continue to abide by the rule of law, and for me not to do that, then I am no better than Trump,” Weber told The Los Angeles Times on Friday.  “And I must be better than Trump,” the Secretary of State said. MAINE GOP STATE LAWMAKER MOVES TO IMPEACH STATE SECRETARY OVER TRUMP BALLOT REMOVAL Weber also admitted that her office worked for months with other state and local officials to figure out if there were legal grounds to remove Trump from the state’s primary ballot. Following the deliberation, Weber said that, in the interview with the Los Angeles Times, it was determined that the state constitution does not give her authority to remove Trump from the ballot. Her decision to “follow the rule of law” came after Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis sent her a letter on Dec. 20 imploring her to “explore every legal option to remove former President Donald Trump from California’s 2024 presidential primary ballot.”  In a follow-up letter to Kounalakis, Weber said she must place the “sanctity” of democratic elections above “partisan politics.” “As California’s chief elections officer, I am the steward of free and fair elections and the democratic process,” Weber wrote. “I must place the sanctity of these elections above partisan politics.” COLORADO TO INCLUDE TRUMP ON 2024 BALLOT AS STATE GOP APPEALS TO SUPREME COURT Weber hit back at Kounalakis, saying that her team had used “every means possible” to investigate the legality of removing Trump from the state’s primary ballot. “I’m not sure why the lieutenant governor says, ‘Use every means possible,’ because we have been doing that,” Weber said. “I haven’t shared that information with her, because she hasn’t asked me.” Gov. Gavin Newsom agreed with Weber’s sentiments, saying last week that, “we defeat candidates at the polls.” “There is no doubt that Donald Trump is a threat to our liberties and even to our democracy,” Newsom said in a statement. “But in California, we defeat candidates at the polls.” “Everything else is a political distraction,” Newsom said. On Tuesday, Trump is expected to appeal the ballot decisions issued in recent days in Colorado and Maine, Fox News has confirmed. The move follows Maine Democratic Secretary of State Shenna Bellows’ decision to remove Trump from the state’s presidential primary ballot, citing the insurrection clause of the Constitution. A divided Colorado Supreme Court ruled last week that Trump is ineligible to run for the presidency under the Constitution’s insurrection clause, arguing that his actions fueled the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by right-wing protesters aiming to disrupt congressional certification of President Biden’s 2020 election victory. Colorado’s Republican Party appealed the ruling Tuesday, thus pausing the court’s decision and putting Trump back on the ballot. The U.S. Supreme Court is likely to make the final decision.