A judge has ordered businessman Vivek Ramaswamy to disclose the specifics of his alleged robocalling of voters within a three-day timeframe.
Ramaswamy, on Wednesday, took urgent action by submitting a request for an emergency stay in an Ohio federal court. He contends that he has not been granted sufficient time to challenge the order.
According to his lawyer, Brodi J. Conover, Ramaswamy may face contempt of court proceedings if he fails to provide the robodialing information by Friday.
Ramaswamy, who ran as a Republican candidate in the 2024 presidential election, is facing a lawsuit from a man in New Hampshire. The man alleges that the unsolicited calls to his cell phone, also known as robocalls, are in violation of the law.
Newsweek reached out to Conover on Thursday through email to seek their comment. Additionally, Ramaswamy’s office was also contacted via email for their comment.
Conover filed a request with a federal court on Wednesday to halt the enforcement of the magistrate court’s order from the previous day. The order had directed Conover to disclose the identity of the dialer provider(s) to the Plaintiff within three days of its issuance.
Ramaswamy allegedly used the “dialer,” an automated dialing company, to reach out to Republican voters in different states, as mentioned in the court order.
Ramaswamy, a pharmaceutical entrepreneur, ultimately decided to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race and lend his support to Donald Trump.
The plaintiffs were given a deadline of Friday, April 5th by the Ohio magistrate judge to disclose the identity of the dialing company and provide additional information.
According to Wednesday’s federal court filing, Conover stated that Mr. Ramaswamy aims to expedite the process of bringing the matter before the Court, while also acknowledging the Magistrate Judge’s directive to provide the dialer provider’s identity by Friday.
In his filing, Conover argues that without the stay, Mr. Ramaswamy is faced with a difficult decision. He wants to raise an objection to the Magistrate Judge’s Order, which requires him to disclose the dialer provider by Friday. However, if the stay is not granted, he will have no choice but to comply with the Order and identify the dialer provider by Friday. Failure to do so could result in him being held in contempt of the Order.
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a Hobson’s choice is a situation where one is forced to choose between two or more equally undesirable options.
According to Conover, the information regarding campaign call logs and lists can be considered as “arguably First Amendment-protected political speech.”
Conover expresses his dissatisfaction by stating that Mr. Ramaswamy only recently entered the case, submitting a motion to dismiss for lack of standing, failure to join the correct party, and failure to state a claim, just two days ago.
Ramaswamy or his campaign team allegedly made use of pre-recorded calls featuring the entrepreneur’s voice to reach out to potential voters on their mobile phones. However, they did so without seeking prior consent from the recipients, as claimed in the lawsuit.
People were invited through robocalls to participate in a “teleforum town hall.” They were instructed to stay on the line or press one on their phone’s keypads to be connected to the event. Once connected, Ramaswamy would then appear on the call to advocate for votes.
Thomas Grant, a resident of New Hampshire, claimed that he had received numerous calls during Ramaswamy’s campaign. According to Grant, these calls were made without his prior consent and were sent out in large numbers.
Grant is currently accusing Ramaswamy or his team of violating the Pre-recorded No Consent Class and is seeking up to $1,500 in damages for each violation.
Between July and October 2023, Grant revealed that he had received a minimum of eight robocalls on his personal cell phone.
The calls began with a friendly voice stating that they represented Ramaswamy’s campaign. They informed the recipient about an ongoing telephone town hall event and encouraged them to stay on the line. The purpose of the call was to provide a unique opportunity for individuals to connect with Vivek and ask any questions they may have.
During a call on August 8, 2023, Grant remained on the line as the call switched to Ramaswamy expressing, “We don’t rely on communist China for our modern way of life anymore. In January of 2033, I will tell you that we no longer apologize for success. We no longer…” before Grant abruptly ended the call.
The lawsuit also includes grievances from individuals who received these calls and shared their experiences on 800Notes, a website dedicated to reverse phone number lookup and where users can report suspicious calls they receive.
