Cheney goes after Ramaswamy ‘inside job’ remarks

Former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) slammed Vivek Ramaswamy over his claims during the fourth GOP presidential debate that the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol was an “inside job.”

“If what he means by ‘inside job’ is it was a sitting president of the United States who launched a coup against the government, that there were members of the House of Representatives who helped him … that absolutely is true,” she said Thursday on “CBS Mornings.”

She was asked to respond to Ramaswamy’s heated remarks during the debate Wednesday where he made a series of unproven claims about the Jan. 6 attack and the 2020 election.

“The real enemy is not Donald Trump. It’s not even Joe Biden. It is the deep state that at least Donald Trump attempted to take on,” Ramaswamy said Wednesday. “And if you want somebody who’s going to speak truth to power, then vote for somebody who’s going to speak the truth to you. Why am I the only person on the stage at least who can say that Jan. 6 now does look like it was an inside job?”

He went on to claim that the 2020 election “was indeed stolen by Big Tech” and the 2016 election “was stolen from [Trump] by the national security establishment.”

Cheney compared what Ramaswamy said to “Area 51 conspiracy theory garbage” in the interview Thursday. She said Ramaswamy is “the dream of the Chinese Community Party” and “of the Russian government.”

“What he is doing and saying and the extent to which he is just serving as a really destructive force is something that our adversaries I’m sure are pleased about,” she said.

Cheney, who served as the vice chair of the House select committee that investigated the Jan. 6 riot, made an appearance to discuss the GOP debate Wednesday night and her new book, “Oath and Honor: A Memoir and a Warning.” She has been on a media tour over the last week to promote the new book and has frequently criticized former President Trump and the Republican Party.

Wednesday’s debate in Tuscaloosa, Ala., was hosted by NewsNation. The cable news channel is owned by Nexstar Media Group, which also owns The Hill.

The Hill has reached out to Ramaswamy’s campaign for comment.