Ex-Trump spokeswoman McEnany praises Ramaswamy as ‘authentic’ ahead of GOP debate

Former White House press secretary turned Fox News host Kayleigh McEnany lauded GOP primary hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy on Wednesday morning ahead of the first GOP primary debate.

“He’s smart, he’s authentic and he is the o-word: outsider,” McEnany said during an appearance on “Fox and Friends,” the network’s flagship morning talk show. “But we have seen hit piece after hit piece over the last several days — that’s not by accident. That’s likely planted by his enemies.”

Ramaswamy, an entrepreneur who is polling third in GOP primary surveys behind former President Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, has engaged in a media blitz in recent weeks, garnering negative headlines for his controversial claims about the Sept. 11, 2001, and Jan. 6, 2021, attacks.

In an interview with BlazeTV earlier this month, Ramaswamy said regarding 9/11, “I don’t believe the government has told us the truth.”

And in an interview with The Atlantic published Monday, he said: “I think it is legitimate to say, ‘How many police, how many federal agents were on the planes that hit the Twin Towers?’”

Ramaswamy has said his 9/11 comments were taken out of context and blasted what he says is the “liberal media” for trying to drag his campaign down.

The GOP hopeful will be standing to DeSantis’s right on the debate stage, Fox News announced Tuesday, and is expected to face and engage in a number of attacks during the debate on the network.

Trump has opted not to attend Wednesday’s event, citing his large lead over the rest of the field in my GOP primary polls.

Earlier this summer, Trump attacked McEnany, one of his former top aides, after she noted polling favorable to DeSantis during an appearance on Fox News; the former president has routinely criticized the network and said its recent coverage of him was another factor in his decision to skip the first debate.