Republican presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy is defending his comments about the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
On Monday night, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins noted it was reported Ramaswamy asked if federal agents were on the planes that hit the Twin Towers. She asked him to explain his comment.
“This is really — it’s funny. I mean The Atlantic is playing the same game as CNN — it’s funny,” the candidate responded.
He went on, “What I said is on Jan. 6, I do believe that there were many agents in the field, and we deserve to know who they are. On 9/11, what I’ve said is that the government lied. And this is incontrovertible evidence, Kaitlan, the government lied about Saudi Arabia’s involvement.”
Ramaswamy referred to a 2016 FBI document released in 2021 that linked Saudi nationals to the 9/11 hijackers.
Watch the video below:
Pressed on his 9/11 comments, Vivek Ramaswamy’s response: pic.twitter.com/hVEglgb5t3
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) August 22, 2023
Collins then asked if he was misquoted in The Atlantic’s article.
“Are you telling me the quote is wrong? Because it says, how many federal agents were on the planes,” she said.
Ramaswamy responded, “I am actually… I asked that reporter to send the recording because it was on the record. He refused to do it.”
Collins brought up his earlier comment when he declined to rule out the idea the 9/11 terrorist attacks were an “inside job.” She argued, “It looks like you’re floating conspiracy theories with this defense of, ‘I’m just asking questions.'”
After a little bit of cross-talk, the host pressed Ramaswamy on whether he believed 9/11 was an inside job, to which he responded, “Of course not.”
However, he argued the U.S. government lied about the involvement of Saudi nationals.
“There’s a difference in asking questions about Saudi Arabia’s involvement… and then pushing this idea — your comment about who was on the plane,” Collins countered.
Ramaswamy shot back, “I am guilty as charged that I do not follow the establishment, Super PAC, donor-approved script on these questions. But I am speaking truth grounded in fact at every step of the way.”
“And that’s what’s really elicited something of an anaphylactic reaction of the kind we saw in 2016 against a different candidate,” he insisted.
