Vivek Ramaswamy Tackles Jan 6, Border Crisis and Abortion: Key Takeaways From CNN Town Hall

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy (L) speaks at a CNN Town Hall at Grand View University in Des Moines, Iowa, on Dec. 13, 2023, in a still from video. CNN/Screenshot via The Epoch Times

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy took part in a CNN town hall on Dec. 13 at Grand View University in Des Moines, Iowa, less than five weeks before the state’s caucuses in January.

The 38-year-old tech entrepreneur used his appearance to discuss a wide array of topics covering everything from the ongoing border crisis, COVID-19 and vaccines, and the Jan. 6 breach of the U.S. Capitol to abortion issues.

The political newcomer kicked off his appearance by attempting to differentiate himself from former President Donald Trump when asked by an audience member why voters should choose him over the 77-year-old leading GOP candidate.

“I believe it’s going to take an outsider with sharp elbows at times to come and take on the federal bureaucracy to shut down the agencies that need to be shut down,” Mr. Ramaswamy told the audience, adding that the country needs a president, “who has a deep first personal understanding of the law and the Constitution.”

President Trump, who has often been praised by Mr. Ramaswamy, is currently facing a number of legal battles, including charges of conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 election and conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding.

Mr. Ramaswamy, however, doubled down on his previous comments that the Jan. 6 breach of the U.S. Capitol was an “inside job.”

He told the town hall audience that Americans “have to acknowledge that we have a government that has lied to us systematically for the last several years,” particularly when it comes to the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic and the authenticity of Hunter Biden’s laptop and that there were “federal law enforcement agents in the field,” on the day of the Capitol breach.

“We don’t know how many,” Mr. Ramaswamy said, at which point CNN’s Abby Phillip, who moderated the forum, interrupted the GOP presidential candidate to state that there is “no evidence that there were federal agents in the crowd.”

Mr. Ramaswamy, however, suggested that he had seen “multiple informants suggesting that they were.”

Officials ‘Suppressed Footage’ of Jan. 6

He did not provide further information or details regarding the alleged informants but said that officials had “suppressed footage” of the breach and that new footage shows law enforcement “rolling out the red carpet” allowing people inside the Capitol.

Mr. Ramaswamy was again interrupted by host Ms. Phillip, who accused him of “cherry-picking examples,” to which he responded that it was, in fact, the government that was engaging in such behavior.

Later, the tech entrepreneur turned the discussion to abortion rights, stating that he believes the Supreme Court should overturn the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) approval of the abortion pill mifepristone.

Mr. Ramaswamy argued the FDA exceeded its authority in approving the pill in 2000.

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy speaks at a CNN Town Hall at Grand View University in Des Moines, Iowa, on Dec. 13, 2023, in a still from video. CNN/Screenshot via The Epoch Times

The Supreme Court agreed on Dec. 13 to hear the Biden administration’s defense of regulatory moves related to the drug, potentially impacting its availability.

“It’s my opinion… that the FDA exceeded its statutory authority in using an emergency approval to approve something that doesn’t fit Congress’s criteria for what actually counts as an emergency approval,” Mr. Ramaswamy said.

He added that the approval of mifepristone is a “symptom” of  “what’s going on in the administrative state.”

Mr. Ramaswamy further stated that the mifepristone abortion pill should be removed from the market until it goes through the same process that other drugs go through when they have not been granted emergency approval.

“I believe that the Supreme Court should put the FDA back in its place,” he said.

A patient prepares to take the first of two combination pills, mifepristone, for a medication abortion during a visit to a clinic in Kansas City, Kansas, on Oct. 12, 2022. Charlie Riedel/AP Photo

‘Bureaucrats in Three-letter Agencies Pulling the Strings’

“The people who we elect to run the government, they’re not even the ones who run the government right now. It’s the bureaucrats in those three-letter agencies that are pulling the strings today,” he said.

If he were to make it into office in 2024, Mr. Ramaswamy vowed to “shut down that fourth branch of government” and rescind “unconstitutional” federal regulations that were not passed by Congress.

Elsewhere, the businessman reiterated previous comments that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is the biggest threat facing the United States today and vowed to end its alliance with Russia if he wins the 2024 elections.

The Republican White House candidate, who has himself conducted business in China and also studied there while an exchange student at Harvard University, said he wants to avoid World War III and would end the war in Ukraine on terms that advance American interests.

Mr. Ramaswamy said he would reach an agreement with Russian President Vladimir Putin to bar Ukraine’s entry to NATO in return for Russia exiting its military alliance with China. He would, however, grant some concessions to Russia in Ukraine, although he stressed this would still allow the latter to come out with its sovereignty intact.”

“I don’t think [the war is] advancing our interests,” he said. “We’re spending $200 billion of our taxpayer money that would be better used to defend our border. Even worse, I believe it’s increasing the risk of World War III. It’s driving Russia further into China’s hands,” he said.

Illegal immigrants who passed through a gap in the U.S. border wall await processing by Border Patrol agents in Jacumba, Calif., on Dec. 7, 2023. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

Ramaswamy on Immigration Crisis

He also discussed the ongoing immigration crisis and suggested ending birthright citizenship for the children of undocumented immigrants, effective from January 2025.

Mr. Ramaswamy also touted using local law enforcement to detain and deport illegal immigrants, noting a provision in the law—Section 287(g) to the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA)—that he said allows an ICE agent to allow local law enforcement to serve warrants.

The provision authorizes U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to “delegate to state and local law enforcement officers the authority to perform specified immigration officer functions under the agency’s direction and oversight.”

“We can get that done. Again, all it takes is a president with a spine. If I swear an oath to the Constitution, I intend to keep it. That’s how I’m going to lead this country. I think that’s how we solve not only the border crisis but the abandonment of the rule of law in this country. That’s how I expect to lead,” the businessman said.

Mr. Ramaswamy concluded his roughly one-hour-long town hall by explaining how he would lead the country with authenticity and a presidential demeanor while also touching upon comments made about him by his competitors, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley and Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.

Ms. Haley had branded her competitor “scum“ during a  Nov. 8 event in Miami, while Mr. Christie has called him “the most obnoxious blowhard in America” during the fourth Republican presidential primary debate in Alabama.

During Wednesday’s town hall, Mr. Ramaswamy acknowledged he has been called “dumb, scum, and worse” during this campaign but vowed to always fight back.

“Am I going to tell my kids to go to school and be a bully? No, I’m not,” he said. “But I’m going to tell them if somebody bullies you or hits you, you’re going to hit it back 10 times harder. And that’s the way I’m going to lead this country.”

President Joe Biden’s campaign called Mr. Ramaswamy’s CNN town hall in Iowa on Wednesday an “exercise in bombastic rhetoric,” sharing a statement from Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), who debated Mr. Ramaswamy at a November event in Manchester, New Hampshire.

“Vivek’s podcast of a campaign would be funny if it weren’t so deeply dangerous to our democracy. His town hall tonight was an exercise in bombastic rhetoric, offering zero solutions to the real issues that Americans demand action on,” the statement read.

Multiple national polls show President Trump is still the leading Presidential candidate among Republicans, with Mr. Ramaswamy trailing behind in fourth place.