Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy mentioned Sunday that he would have licensed the outcomes of the 2020 presidential election and that then-Vice President Mike Pence missed a “historic alternative” to provoke modifications on Jan 6, 2021.
With Donald Trump absent on the first GOP presidential debate Wednesday, Ramaswamy, an entrepreneur who has carefully aligned himself with the previous president, took middle stage. He launched and obtained probably the most assaults through the debate, seizing on the chance to rise from relative obscurity to a notable contender.
Requested by NBC Information’ Chuck Todd in an interview on “Meet the Press” if Pence had completed the best factor on Jan. 6 by certifying the outcomes of the election, Ramaswamy mentioned: “I might have completed it very in another way. I believe that there was a historic alternative that he missed, to reunite this nation in that window.
“What I might have mentioned is: This can be a second for a real nationwide consensus the place there’s two components of what is required for a functioning democracy in America,” he mentioned. “One is safe elections, and the second is a peaceable switch of energy. When these issues come into battle, that’s a chance for heroism.”
Ramaswamy mentioned if he had been in Pence’s place, he would have pushed “reforms” by means of Congress earlier than he licensed the election.
“Right here’s what I might have mentioned: ‘We want single-day voting on Election Day, we want paper ballots and we want government- issued ID matching the voter file.’ And if we obtain that, then we’ve got achieved victory and we shouldn’t have any additional grievance about election integrity. I might have pushed it by means of the Senate,” he mentioned.
“In my capability as president of the Senate, I might have led by means of that degree of reform, then on that situation licensed the election outcomes, served it as much as the president — President Trump — then to signal that into legislation. And on January seventh, declared the re-election marketing campaign pursuant to a free and honest election,” he mentioned. “I believe that was a missed alternative.”
David James, press secretary for Pence’s marketing campaign, criticized Ramaswamy’s remarks look on “Meet the Press.”
“Vivek’s assertion at this time on January sixth is each surprising and regarding in its lack of know-how of how our system of presidency works,” James wrote. “In a single breathe [sic] he joins Nancy Pelosi and radical progressives in eager to nationalize our election system, and in one other he claims that the Vice President has unilateral authority to resolve when to certify elections.”
Pence’s marketing campaign additionally pointed NBC Information to an e-mail it despatched to subscribers following Ramaswamy’s remarks.
“Ramaswamy has flipped and flopped across the difficulty of January 6. His most up-to-date feedback are maybe his most egregious, together with on this morning’s version of Meet The Press on NBC,” Pence’s marketing campaign mentioned in a press release. “On August 4, 2023, he refused to say he would have licensed the outcomes of the 2020 election on January 6, 2021. But at Wednesday’s GOP Debate, he raised his hand in help of what Mike Pence did in following the Structure, regardless of his feedback on MTP at this time.”
In response, Ramaswamy’s marketing campaign identified that he didn’t elevate his hand in help of Pence. In the course of the debate, a number of GOP candidates had been requested in the event that they believed Pence did the best factor on Jan. 6. Sen. Tim Scott, former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum had been amongst those that mentioned he did. Ramaswamy was not requested the query.
Earlier this month, Ramaswamy reportedly sidestepped when requested by Politico if he would have licensed the election outcomes as Pence did following Joe Biden’s 2020 win and amid Trump’s refusal to concede.
“I might have by no means let it get to that time,” Ramaswamy mentioned, in accordance with Politico. “I might have by no means put myself — or been a part of an administration, if I used to be in a severe place of management — to ever have allowed us to have gotten to that doorstep.”
Later in his interview on “Meet the Press,” Ramaswamy was requested why he thinks he will be an efficient chief as somebody who has much less expertise than Trump.
“I wish to construct on the muse that Trump laid, frankly, I’ll invite him as an adviser and a mentor,” the candidate mentioned. “I don’t wish to relearn the identical classes. I wish to decide up the place he left off in taking up the executive state.”
He had already beforehand indicated that he’d need Trump as an adviser, nevertheless it was the primary time he reiterated that want for the reason that former president was booked on prices that he conspired to overturn the outcomes of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia. Within the first of his 4 indictments this yr, Trump had his mug shot taken on Thursday evening earlier than he was launched on a $200,000 bond.
Ramaswamy, 38, had additionally mentioned throughout a city corridor in Newton, Iowa, Friday that he would really like Elon Musk, the proprietor of X, previously referred to as Twitter, to be an adviser in his administration ought to he be elected.
“I’ve loved attending to know higher Elon Musk just lately, I count on him to be an fascinating adviser of mine as a result of he laid off 75% of the staff at Twitter,” he mentioned.
