Vivek Ramaswamy had three words to share on the third anniversary of the Jan. 6 Insurrection. He tweeted, “Happy Entrapment Day.” Unfortunately for Ramaswamy, a few people on Twitter had evidence that three years ago he had distinctly different feelings about the attack on the Capitol.
Policy expert Ed Tarnowski was quick to remind Ramaswamy of an interview he gave on Jan. 27, 2021. Tarnowski tweeted in response, quoting Ramaswamy.
The now presidential candidate said in full, “This might be controversial to say, but I think that when I saw the disgrace that unfolded at the footsteps of the Capitol on Jan. 6, I cried. I was in tears when I watched on television that day.
The entrepreneur spent most of Saturday tweeting a series of “truths” to support his Jan. 6 claims. He kicked off a series of several tweets when he first wrote, “TRUTH #1: The real cause of Jan 6 was systematic & pervasive censorship and wrongdoing in the lead-up to the 2020 Presidential election — Covid, lockdowns, Antifa riots, Hunter Biden laptop, and irregularities in election conduct.”
Elon Musk joined the conversation after Ramaswamy tweeted his second truth, “Capitol police fired rubber bullets & stun grenades into a peaceful crowd, yet later willingly allowed members of that crowd to enter the U.S. Capitol building — only to be later tracked down, arrested, and imprisoned.”
Musk replied, “Doesn’t make sense.”
Ramaswamy continued, “TRUTH #3: Fmr Capitol Police Chief @ChiefSund requested National Guard support twice before Jan 6 – and was denied both times. Sund was begging for assistance for over 70 minutes before Nancy Pelosi’s Sergeant-at-Arms finally approved Sund’s request for support. (Little-known fact: New Jersey state police arrived to assist before the D.C. National Guard.)”
Later in the series, Ramaswamy added, “TRUTH #6: Ray Epps, who was caught *on camera* telling people to go into the Capitol building, was placed on the FBI ‘Most Wanted’ list immediately after Jan 6, but then suddenly removed. Three years later, the U.S. government slapped Epps with a single ‘disorderly conduct’ charge (0-6 months in jail).”
For his ninth truth, Ramaswamy wrote, “TRUTH #9: Pipe bombs were placed near the DNC & RNC headquarters on January 5, 2021, with many irregularities including Kamala Harris showing up at the DNC headquarters on the morning of Jan 6 – without Secret Service or any other law enforcement spotting the pipe bombs, only for both pipe bombs to be found later on Jan 6.”
He continued, “Yet strangely the government still hasn’t said a *peep* about the perpetrator – despite available surveillance footage of the pipe bomber (which has not been fully released). A CBS reporter recently exposed the DOJ’s notable silence on this investigation. What really happened?”
The presidential candidate and author has made several dubious claims about the events of Jan. 6 in recent weeks. During a CNN town hall in Iowa on Dec. 13, Ramaswamy said the Insurrection was “an inside job” and the events of the day were the result of “government entrapment.”
Ramaswamy told the audience, “If you had told me three years ago…in any way that January 6 was an inside job, the subject of government entrapment, I would have told you that was crazy talk, fringe conspiracy-theory nonsense. I can tell you now, having gone somewhat deep in this, it’s not.”
This isn’t the only apparent bid Ramaswamy has made for Trump’s base. In August, he told Chuck Todd that had he been vice president instead of Mike Pence, “I would have done it very differently. I think that there was a historic opportunity that he missed to reunite this country in that window.”
Ramaswamy added, “In my capacity as president of the Senate, I would have led through that level of reform, then, on that condition, certified the election results, served it up to President Trump then, to sign that into law, and on January 7th, declared the reelection campaign pursuant to a free and fair election. I think that was a missed opportunity.”
It’s not clear that Ramaswamy’s new stance on Jan. 6 has helped his campaign. Polling data from RealClearPolitics has him pulling in 4.3% of the Republican vote, ahead of Chris Christie but far behind Donald Trump in particular, as well as behind Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis. He’s ranked even lower in early primary state New Hampshire.
