Republican presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy is once again floating conspiracy theories around the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
The Atlantic’s John Hendrickson interviewed the entrepreneur and asked him about the truth surrounding Jan. 6.
“I don’t know, but we can handle it,” Ramaswamy responded. “Whatever it is, we can handle it. Government agents. How many government agents were in the field? Right?”
He then pivoted to the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
“I think it is legitimate to say how many police, how many federal agents, were on the planes that hit the Twin Towers. Maybe the answer is zero. It probably is zero for all I know, right?” Ramaswamy insisted.
He added, “I have no reason to think it was anything other than zero. But if we’re doing a comprehensive assessment of what happened on 9/11, we have a 9/11 commission, absolutely that should be an answer the public knows the answer to. Well, if we’re doing a January 6 commission, absolutely, those should be questions that we should get to the bottom of.”
Many potential voters will likely be intrigued when they hear Vivek Ramaswamy speak his truths at this week's GOP presidential debate, writes @JohnGHendy. The outsider candidate says he wants a revolution. To get there, he’d gut the federal government. https://t.co/Xyz8KEqReE
— The Atlantic (@TheAtlantic) August 21, 2023
When Hendrickson asked him about the comparison of 9/11 to Jan. 6, Ramaswamy said, “Oh yeah, I don’t think they belong in the same conversation… I think it’s a ridiculous comparison. But I brought it up only because it was invoked as a basis for the January 6 commission.”
Hendrickson wrote, “But is he actually confused about who was behind the 9/11 attacks? It was hard to get a straight answer from him. ‘I mean, I would take the truth about 9/11,’ he said. ‘I am not questioning what we—this is not something I’m staking anything out on. But I want the truth about 9/11.’ Some truths, it seems, can be proudly affirmed; others are more elusive.”
This report comes just weeks after Ramaswamy was blasted for comments he made about 9/11 during an interview with The Blaze.
When asked if he thought the terrorist attacks were an “inside job,” he responded, “I don’t believe the government has told us the truth.”
“I’m driven by evidence and data. What I’ve seen in the last several years is we have to be skeptical of what the government does tell us. I haven’t seen evidence to the contrary, but do I believe everything the government has told us about it? Absolutely not,” Ramaswamy added.
Ramaswamy later tried to clarify his comments in a post on X, formerly Twitter, as he wrote, “Do I believe our government has been completely forthright about 9/11? No.”
“Al-Qaeda clearly planned and executed the attacks, but we have never fully addressed who knew what in the Saudi government about it. We *can* handle the TRUTH,” he added.
Unfortunately, these comments are being made by someone who is seen as a rising candidate in the 2024 Republican presidential primary field. An Emerson College poll released last week found him tied with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) for second place.
Perhaps Ramaswamy thinks all press attention is good. But there is nothing honorable or edgy or interesting about floating conspiracy theories about the worst terrorist attack in our nation’s history.
It is not funny. It is not cute. And it is not OK to play the, “I’m just asking questions… maybe” card with the destruction and horror of that day. If he has an actual reason to ask such questions, he should stand by them.
But the fact he plays coy when pressed on it seems to signal he does not really think it is a worthwhile question, and rather he is just trying to be edgy. It is shameful behavior for someone running for the highest office in the country.
