Speaking to Fox News’ Shannon Bream days after the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, Vivek Ramaswamy appeared harshly critical of former President Donald Trump, claiming to have broken down in tears while watching footage of Trump supporters fighting U.S. Capitol Police.
“This might be controversial to say but I think that when I saw the disgrace that unfolded at the footsteps of the Capitol on January 6, I cried,” Ramaswamy told Bream. “I was in tears when I watched on television that day.”
In the three years since, the biotech entrepreneur has restyled himself as a MAGA disciple, running against Trump in the 2024 Republican presidential primaries but offering little but glowing praise for the 45th president.
Ramaswamy has increasingly embraced views popular with elements of the right, ingratiating himself with Trump. On Jan. 6, Ramaswamy tweeted “Happy Entrapment Day,” a nod to the fallacious theory that the attack was an “inside job.”
One user responded to Ramaswamy by sharing his appearance with Bream.
Mediaite has more on Ramaswamy’s evolving views of the rioters who interrupted the certification of the 2020 election results:
Ramaswamy made similar comments about the attack before he ran for the Republican nomination for president. In his 2022 book Nation of Victims, Ramaswamy tore into Trump for his attempts to overturn the 2020 election and the consequences of those attempts on Jan. 6.
“It was a dark day for democracy,” Ramaswamy wrote. “The loser of the last election refused to concede the race, claimed the election was stolen, raised hundreds of millions of dollars from loyal supporters, and is running for executive office again.”
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