Vivek Ramaswamy during the Republican presidential debate on Wednesday accused the U.S. government of hiding the full truth about the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks and of orchestrating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
The 38-year-old pharma executive also embraced the controversial "Great Replacement Theory," which has been endorsed by white supremacists, including the teenage gunman who shot up a supermarket in a largely black neighborhood last May.
"Why am I the only person on the stage at least who can say that January 6 now does look like it was an inside job? That the government lied to us for 20 years about Saudi Arabia's involvement in 9/11?" said Ramaswamy.
Ramaswamy's comments were the candidate's latest foray into fringe positions and conspiracy theories. He has suggested that federal agents might have been involved in the Sept. 11 attacks, before walking the claim back. He also stood by his New Hampshire campaign chairman after the chairman expressed doubts that a plane actually hit the Pentagon on Sept. 11.
During the debate, Ramaswamy also argued that the "Great Replacement Theory is not some grand right-wing conspiracy theory, but a basic statement of the Democratic Party's platform."
The theory, which is promoted by many white nationalists, claims that a cabal of elites—often purported to be Jews—is orchestrating a plan to replace white people with non-white immigrants.