Ramaswamy spars with CNN’s Collins over quote suggesting 9/11 conspiracy

GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy argued with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins over an interview published in The Atlantic where he appeared to float a conspiracy about the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Collins pressed Ramaswamy on a quote he gave to The Atlantic for an article published Monday in which he seemed to question whether federal agents were involved in the 9/11 attacks that left nearly 3,000 people dead nearly 22 years ago. The White House hopeful attempted to walk back his comments, telling Collins that the article misquoted him.

“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,” Ramaswamy said on CNN’s “The Source.” “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.”

“Again, I asked that reporter to send a recording because it was on the record. He refused to do it, but we had a free flowing conversation,” he told Collins when she pressed him further on the quotes. “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. It’s the one that I articulated, which is that Saudi Arabia, absolutely their intelligence was involved in 9/11.”

Collins was referring to a statement Ramaswamy made to The Atlantic in which he reportedly said, “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.”

Collins then suggested that Ramaswamy was using his platform to spout unproven claims about the attacks, saying that it feels like he is “towing the line when it comes to conspiracy theories.”

“I think people look at those comments, they look at what you said in The Atlantic — what you say you were misquoted. They look at comments that you’ve made about the Federal Reserve adding zeros to media companies bank accounts, and I mean, it looks like you’re floating conspiracy theories with this defense of ‘I’m just asking questions,’” she said.

He said that he stands by his words when Collins quoted him, but that he has a “problem” with “somebody else quoting me, putting words in my mouth.”

When reached for comment, Ramaswamy’s campaign said that the businessman was referring to the Jan. 6 attacks, not the 9/11 attacks.

“Vivek was referring to Jan. 6, not 9/11, as we have clarified with the Atlantic. It was a very free-flowing conversation, so we are not blaming the reporter, but the real question Vivek has is about undercover federal agents on Jan. 6, 2021, not 9/11,” his campaign spokesperson told The Hill.

Anna Bross, a spokesperson for The Atlantic, told The Hill that the quote was accurate. The outlet also published the unedited audio of the interview.

Updated: 1:00 p.m.