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Washington
Donald Trump’s top adviser has ruled out Vivek Ramaswamy as the ex-US president’s running mate after the Republican frontrunner publicly criticised the Indian-American presidential candidate ahead of the Iowa caucus.
The Iowa caucuses, which begin on Monday, formally kick off the beginning of the long process by which the Republicans and Democrats choose their nominees for the presidential election on November 5.
Trump’s top adviser, Jason Miller, told the New York Post that voters could “probably” rule out 38-year-old biotech entrepreneur Ramaswamy as the ex-president’s running mate.
“Pretty safe to say it won’t be Vivek,” Miller was quoted as saying in the report. On Saturday, Trump, 77, lashed out at Ramaswamy, who is most closely aligned with him in the race for the Republican nomination, accusing him of “deceitful campaign tricks.’
The former president’s criticism stemmed from shirts that Ramaswamy’s campaign is handing out that say ‘Save Trump, Vote Vivek’ on them. Ramaswamy posted a photo with a group of young men wearing them after his event in Rock Rapids, Iowa, on Saturday.
“Vivek started his campaign as a great supporter, ‘the best President in generations,’ etc. Unfortunately, now all he does is disguise his support in the form of deceitful campaign tricks,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Saturday.
Trump and his campaign were also annoyed over an interview Ramaswamy gave to NBC News and The Des Moines Register earlier this month. During the interview, Ramaswamy repeatedly described Trump as “wounded.”
Ramaswamy said, “They don’t have on me what they have on him,” stressing that he is better positioned to implement Trump’s agenda, CNN reported. Trump’s team insisted they had not seen anything in the polls to indicate Ramaswamy was gaining on Trump in Iowa and this response was based on Ramaswamy’s recent comments and posts.
