Who is Vivek Ramaswamy? What to know about the youngest major Republican candidate in history
“This is our moment to start running to something, to our vision of what it means to be an American today,” Vivek Ramaswamy says.
He’s addressing the first TV debate of the 2024 presidential election.
The 38-year-old business investor is the youngest major Republican candidate in history – and he has no political experience.
He thinks Trump is “the best president of the 21st century” and – if he wins – has vowed to pardon him if he is convicted of federal crimes.
His “anti-woke” agenda focuses on recapturing the American dream from a country “lost” to “reverse racism”, “climatism”, “Covidism” and “gender ideology”.
Let’s take a closer look at who he is…
What matters to him?
Ramaswamy is a political novice. He considered running to be a senator in his native Ohio in 2022 but decided against it.
He announced his candidacy for the 2024 Republican nomination in February on Tucker Carlson Tonight. The right-wing, anti-immigrant, Trump-supporting commentator had his regular Fox News show cancelled in April with little explanation.
Although he is an avid Trump supporter himself, having appeared outside the courthouse for two of the three cases lodged against the former president so far, Ramaswamy has set about presenting himself as his successor.
He says he is prepared to go further than Mr Trump on several issues.
Outside the courthouse in Florida when Donald Trump was arraigned
Instead of just building a wall along the US-Mexico border, for example, he said he would station soldiers at half-mile intervals along it.
He has promised to abolish the FBI, redeploying staff to what he believes are more effective agencies such as the US Marshals Service, so they can focus on issues like child sex trafficking.
In a huge departure from Western sentiment on Ukraine, he has said he would support a deal allowing Russia to retain what territory it has.
The Republican hopeful is soon to release a “comprehensive foreign policy vision” on Russia, China, Taiwan, India and other parts of Asia.
He has also drawn controversy for some of his comments, such as suggesting that federal agents may have been on planes involved in the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
What has he said?
Ramaswamy has published two books – Woke Inc and Nation of Victims: Identity Politics, the Death of Merit, and the Path Back to Excellence.
In them he compares the “woke left” to “psychological slavery”, claiming that like a “new secular religion” it “says your gender, race and sexual orientation determines who you are and what you can achieve in life”.
“America is a systemically racist nation. That if you’re black you’re inherently disadvantaged. That if you’re white you’re inherently privileged,” he adds.
By contrast, he says America has become a place “full of victims” where “faith, patriotism and hard work have disappeared”.
His campaign, he says will mean “a new movement to create a new American dream”.
When he launched it on Instagram, he said: “We’ve celebrated our ‘diversity’ so much that we forgot all the ways we’re really the same as Americans, bound by ideals that united a divided, headstrong group of people 250 years ago.
“I believe deep in my bones those ideals still exist. I’m running for president to revive them.”
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What is his story and what is his net worth?
Ramaswamy was born in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1985.
His parents are from Kerala, southern India. His father worked as an engineer and patent lawyer and his mother as a geriatric psychiatrist.
Although the family are Hindu, he attended Catholic school and credits his conservative Christian piano teacher there with informing many of his social views.
Having achieved top grades he studied biology at Harvard before attending Yale Law School.
While he was still studying he co-founded StudentBusinesses.com that connected entrepreneurs to professional resources on the internet.
After graduating in 2007 he co-founded a similar venture called Campus Venture Network to help university students start their own businesses.
Ramaswamy with Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds in August
During the early years of career he worked in hedge funds, largely within biotech.
In 2014 he set up his own firm Roivant Sciences with the main aim of buying up drug patents that have been abandoned by the pharmaceutical industry.
A year later he pulled off one of the biggest IPOs (initial public offering) in the sector’s history when he listed shares of its subsidiary company Axovant, which had previously bought the patent to an Alzheimer’s drug from GlaxoSmithKline.
Despite having earned $315m (£248m) from the IPO – eventually the drug failed testing – an experience he has since said was “humiliating”.
He stepped down as chief executive of Roivant in 2021, remaining chairman until this year but still retaining a 7% share in the company.
Last year he co-founded a new investment firm, Strive Asset Management.
It has been popular with right-wing backers and prides itself on being opposed to environment, societal and corporate governance (ESG). The system, increasingly adopted by top firms, encourages them to make responsible investment decisions for good causes.
Now he claims to have widespread support from young voters and new donors. He says around 40% of his 700,000 financial backers have offered small contributions and are donating to a political candidate for the first time.
Forbes reported his net worth at $630m (£495m) and so far he has spent $15m (£11.8m) of it on his campaign.
How was his first debate?
James Matthews, Sky News’ US correspondent, gave his view after the businessman’s presidential debate debut…
If they didn’t know Vivek Ramaswamy before, they do now.
In the first Republican candidates’ debate, he brought a stage presence and ease of performance that carved himself a central role.
The business entrepreneur railed against the political establishment, Trump-style. He denigrated his debate rivals, Trump-style. And he took the headlines, Trump-style.
His was the punchy routine of the optimistic ‘let’s get rich’ guy landing amongst stage rivals furrowed over problems needing dealt with first.
He was the star-quality candidate the others had to shut down and that created a debate dynamic that, for Ramaswamy, delivered due prominence.
There will be time to work through his inexperience and politics behind the slogans.
What he got from a stage in Milwaukee was a recognition he didn’t have before – it can take a man a long way in American politics.
If it doesn’t take him as far as the front-runner, what then?
There was a lot of talk about the Republican debate being an audition to be Donald Trump’s running mate.
It’s a question for another day but, on debate day, he didn’t have a bigger mate on stage than Vivek Ramaswamy.
Virginia Giuffre, who accused Prince Andrew of sexual assault, has died aged 41.
In a statement to Sky’s US partner network NBC News on Friday, her family said she took her own life in the Perth suburb of Neergabby, Australia, where she had been living for several years.
“It is with utterly broken hearts that we announce that Virginia passed away last night at her farm in Western Australia,” her family said.
“She lost her life to suicide, after being a lifelong victim of sexual abuse and sex trafficking.
“Virginia was a fierce warrior in the fight against sexual abuse and sex trafficking. She was the light that lifted so many survivors.
“In the end, the toll of abuse is so heavy that it became unbearable for Virginia to handle its weight.”
Pic: AP
Police said emergency services received reports of an unresponsive woman at a property in Neergabby on Friday night.
“Police and St John Western Australia attended and provided emergency first aid. Sadly, the 41-year-old woman was declared deceased at the scene,” a police spokeswoman said.
“The death is being investigated by Major Crime detectives; early indication is the death is not suspicious.”
Sexual assault claims
Prince Andrew has denied all claims of wrongdoing. File pic: Reuters
Ms Giuffre sued the Duke of York for sexual abuse in August 2021, saying Andrew had sex with her when she was 17 and had been trafficked by his friend, the billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
The duke has repeatedly denied the claims, and he has not been charged with any criminal offences.
In March 2022, it was announced Ms Giuffre and Andrew had reached an out-of-court settlement – believed to include a “substantial donation to Ms Giuffre’s charity in support of victims’ rights”.
‘An incredible champion’
Sigrid McCawley, Ms Giuffre’s attorney, said in a statement that she “was much more than a client to me; she was a dear friend and an incredible champion for other victims”.
“Her courage pushed me to fight harder, and her strength was awe-inspiring,” she said. “The world has lost an amazing human being today.”
“Rest in peace, my sweet angel,” she added.
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
Dini von Mueffling, Ms Giuffre’s representative, also said that “Virginia was one of the most extraordinary human beings I have ever had the honour to know”.
“Deeply loving, wise, and funny, she was a beacon to other survivors and victims,” she added. “She adored her children and many animals.
“She was always more concerned with me than with herself. I will miss her beyond words.
“It was the privilege of a lifetime to represent her.”
Ms Giuffre said at the end of March she had four days to live after a car accident, posting on social media that “I’ve gone into kidney renal failure”. She was discharged from hospital eight days later.
Raised mainly in Florida, she said she was abused by a family friend early in life, which led to her living on the streets at times as a teenager.
She said that in 2000, she met Ghislaine Maxwell, a British socialite who was convicted in 2021 on federal sex trafficking and conspiracy charges and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein. Pic: US Department of Justice
Ms Giuffre said Maxwell then introduced her to Epstein and hired her as his masseuse, and said she was sex trafficked and sexually abused by him and associates around the world.
‘A survivor’
After meeting her husband in 2002, while taking massage training in Thailand at what she said was Epstein’s behest, she moved to Australia and had a family.
She founded the sex trafficking victims’ advocacy charity SOAR in 2015, and is quoted on its website as saying: “I do this for victims everywhere.
“I am no longer the young and vulnerable girl who could be bullied. I am now a survivor, and nobody can ever take that away from me.”
:: Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK. In the US, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK.
Donald Trump has met Volodymyr Zelenskyy ahead of the Pope’s funeral, Vatican sources have told Sky News.
The US and Ukrainian presidents had a “very productive discussion”, according to a White House Official, and have also agreed to hold further talks after the service.
They are among world leaders, including Sir Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron, who are attending the funeral of Pope Francis.
Follow live updates: Zelenskyy among world leaders joining thousands of mourners
There was applause from some of those gathered in St Peter’s Square when the Ukrainian leader walked out.
The former British ambassador to Russia Sir Tony Brenton said the event presents diplomatic opportunities, including the “biggest possible meeting” between Mr Trump and Mr Zelenskyy.
Trump and Zelenskyy meet for first time since Oval Office row. Pic: Reuters
He told Sky News it could mark “an important step” in starting the peace process between Russia and Ukraine, and is their first face-to-face meeting after a very public row between the presidents at the White House in February.
The bilateral meeting comes after Mr Trump’s peace negotiator Steve Witkoff held talks with Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin.
They discussed “the possibility of resuming direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine”, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said.
Russia and Ukraine have not held direct talks since the early weeks of the war, which began in February 2022.
Mr Trump has claimed a deal to end the war is “very close” and has urged Mr Zelenskyy to “get it done” in a post on his Truth Social platform.
He has previously warned both sides his administration would walk away from its efforts to achieve a peace if the two sides do not agree a deal soon.
Meanwhile, the Polish Armed Forces said a Russian military helicopter violated its airspace over the Baltic Sea on Friday evening, in a post on X.
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US
Donald Trump says Russia and Ukraine are ‘very close to a deal’ – and says ‘two sides should now meet’
Donald Trump has said Russia and Ukraine are “very close to a deal” with “most of the major points agreed” – as he called for the two sides to meet.
Shortly after arriving in Rome for Pope Francis’s funeral, the US president said high-level officials should now meet to “finish [the deal] off”.
“A good day in talks and meetings with Russia and Ukraine,” Mr Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
“They are very close to a deal, and the two sides should now meet, at very high levels, to ‘finish it off’.
“Most of the major points are agreed to. Stop the bloodshed, NOW. We will be wherever is necessary to help facilitate the END to this cruel and senseless war!”
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Ukraine-Russia peace talks explained
Throughout the week, the US president has criticised both Ukraine and Russia for failing to agree to a peace deal.
On Wednesday, he accused Mr Zelenskyy of harming talks on Truth Social, saying “the man with ‘no cards to play’ should now, finally, GET IT DONE”.
A day later, after nine people were killed in Kyiv after a Russian missile and drone strike, Mr Trump said: “Vladimir, STOP! 5000 soldiers a week are dying. Let’s get the Peace Deal DONE!”
The president and other officials have also threatened to withdraw from negotiations if no progress is made toward a deal.
It comes after Mr Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff met Vladimir Putin in Moscow to discuss a US-brokered peace plan for Ukraine.
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Putin-Witkoff meeting
The talks allowed Russia and the United States to “further bring their positions closer together” on “a number of international issues”, a Kremlin aide said.
Speaking earlier on the flight to Italy, Mr Trump said he hadn’t been fully briefed on Mr Witkoff and Mr Putin’s meeting – but added it was a “pretty good meeting”.
Read more:
US and Russia talks moving in ‘right direction’, top diplomat says
A ‘barbaric’ 24 hours in a ‘horrendous’ war
Russia and Ukraine have not held direct talks since the early weeks of the war, which began in February 2022.
Ukraine has repeatedly said it would not accept a deal conceding land or handing over sovereignty to Russia.
However, Mr Trump said in an interview with TIME magazine that “Crimea will stay with Russia,” describing the region as a place where Moscow has “had their submarines” and “the people speak largely Russian”.
“Zelenskyy understands that, and everybody understands that it’s been with them for a long time,” he added. “It’s been with them long before Trump came along.”
When asked on Friday about Mr Trump’s comments, Mr Zelenskyy did not want to comment but repeated that recognising occupied Ukrainian territory as Russian is a red line.
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