Ramaswamy clarifies misquote on 9/11, interview transcript shared by reporter.
A Controversial Interview with Republican Presidential Candidate Vivek Ramaswamy
A journalist who recently interviewed Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy posted the audio and transcript of the interview after Ramaswamy claimed he was misquoted for making controversial comments about the Sept. 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? I have no reason to think it was anything other than zero,” Ramaswamy told the Atlantic in what critics took as the 2024 candidate spreading conspiracy theories about 9/11.
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But when CNN host Kaitlan Collins questioned Ramaswamy on Monday night about his comments, he said the Atlantic was “playing the same game as CNN” and the quote of him was “wrong.”
“What I said is on Jan. 6, I do believe that there were many federal agents in the field, and we deserve to know who they are,” he continued. “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 then slammed John Hendrickson for not sharing the audio of the interview with him.
“I asked that reporter to send the recording because it was on the record. He refused to do it,” he said. “But we had a free-flowing conversation. The truth is there are lies the government has told about 9/11. But it’s not the ones that somebody put in my mouth.”
Hendrickson hit back on Tuesday afternoon when he posted the full transcript and audio of his interview with Ramaswamy.
“Our discussions were often challenging, but they were always respectful,” Hendrickson wrote about his Ramaswamy interviews. “With Ramaswamy’s permission, and in keeping with standard journalistic practice, I recorded all of our interviews.”
In the audio and transcript, Ramaswamy is asked, “When you talk about all the things, we can handle the truth about X, you know, and you list off a bunch of stuff — one of them that you said last night is: ‘We can handle the truth about Jan. 6.’ What is the truth about Jan. 6 that you’re referring to?”
To which Ramaswamy does answer with the quote that Collins read aloud during her interview that Ramaswamy said was wrong before discussing the Jan. 6 commission. ”I think it is legitimate to say, ‘How many police, how many federal agents were on the planes that hit the twin towers?’ Like, I think we want — maybe the answer is zero, probably is zero for all I know, right?” he said. ”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 Jan. 6 commission, absolutely, those should be questions that we should get to the bottom of. And there can’t be hush-hush, separate. It shouldn’t be outside the commission, leaked to some media personality the hours of footage,” Ramaswamy continued. ”No, this is transparent. These are the doors that were open. Here are the people that opened the doors, to whom? Here are the people who were armed. Here are the people who were unarmed.”
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Hendrickson said he stands by his reporting. “The quote is correct,” he wrote.
Ramaswamy, though, continued to defend his controversial remarks during his CNN interview. “I don’t believe the government has told us the truth,” he said. “Again, 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.”
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