Vivek Ramaswamy Reacts To Charges Against New Hampshire Man For Alleged Death Threats

Forbes Breaking News

Vivek Ramaswamy speaks to reporters in Nashua, New Hampshire, after a man was arrested for alleged death threats.

Transcript

00:00 I'm with the local CBS station. I'm just holding a few other microphones.

00:02 Okay, got it. That's great. Who do I look?

00:04 Uh, at me, if you don't mind.

00:05 Which is?

00:06 Christina. Nice to meet you.

00:08 So, um, I'm sure you've heard there was a threat on your life.

00:12 A man was arrested, um, allegedly wanted to hurt you at this enforcement event this morning.

00:16 Just what's your reaction to that?

00:18 I mean, my reaction was, uh, first, I think we don't have all of the facts,

00:22 but based on what we know, I'm grateful to law enforcement for responding as rapidly

00:27 and as, as effectively as they did.

00:32 I'm also grateful to my team and even many retired New Hampshire police officers

00:39 and New Hampshire police officers and local PD, and some of whom,

00:43 one is a retired New Hampshire officer who helps us on his spare time when we're in town.

00:48 He's in the room right now.

00:50 I'm grateful to the team that keeps us safe, and I pray for the safety of every American,

00:56 including everybody who's in this process.

00:58 I think that, you know, we certainly live in a challenging time,

01:02 and I hope that everyone is safe, and it's my job as a leader

01:08 to hopefully set a good example for this country.

01:10 Have you had other experiences like this on the trail so far?

01:13 I think that I'm grateful for the team that's around us,

01:16 and they've been doing a great job in making sure that I'm kept safe,

01:20 and I think we have, between retired police officers and ex-military and otherwise,

01:25 I feel very secure in the position we're in,

01:30 and I'm immensely grateful to the team that keeps me safe

01:33 and hopefully all of the other candidates safe through this process as well.

01:37 What influence is security?

01:40 I'm going to tell you exactly what I just said,

01:43 which is I'm grateful to the team that we have in place,

01:47 and I'm grateful to the men and women who have made sacrifices to keep myself safe

01:52 and other candidates in this process safe.

01:54 The local PD in New Hampshire has been excellent in each of our visits here,

01:58 including in this visit, including handling this incident.

02:01 Retired police chiefs and others who have been immensely helpful to us,

02:06 and so I'm confident that we have a solid security team in place,

02:11 and more importantly, I pray for the safety of every American.

02:15 I'm running to lead this country for a reason,

02:17 and I want to lead us to a place where Americans don't have to worry

02:21 and look over their shoulders for fear of what's happening in cities across this country.

02:26 You've spoken before for closing the FBI, including that incident,

02:30 but of course we now know that the FBI was involved in this,

02:34 so it's right that you mentioned it, it's right about that event.

02:36 Does that make you rethink that stance at all?

02:38 Actually, to the contrary, if you listen carefully to what I've said in every instance

02:41 where we go into any more than a talking point about this,

02:44 I said the 15,000 frontline agents are doing immensely important work

02:49 and that these are good people, but we need to reorganize them to the U.S. Marshals,

02:54 to the DEA, to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network,

02:58 where they have greater specialization and are able to really carry out their tasks

03:02 without a lot of the bureaucratic overblow.

03:05 So to be precise about that, I've responded at every step of the way,

03:08 and I've met over the course of the last several years many line-level officers

03:13 who are doing outstanding work and making sacrifices for this country,

03:17 and the 15,000 line-level officers, I've said we're keeping them,

03:20 but we're going to reorganize it in a way that allows them to better perform their duties,

03:24 and I'm immensely grateful to the people, including the local law enforcement,

03:28 who I don't want to have forgotten in this, who actually did an outstanding job,

03:32 and I'm grateful to the people on the front lines who work hard every day

03:36 to make sure that people like me and other Americans are kept safe,

03:40 so I'm grateful for that.

03:41 As a quick follow-up, when did you find out about this?

03:43 I'm going to, for the sake of respecting the law enforcement's investigation

03:49 and the fact as they're unfolding, I'm not going to go into the details of this,

03:53 and I'm going to leave it out of respect to the law enforcement and leave it to them.

03:57 What I will say is that we feel very secure in the position that we're in,

04:02 and that I am grateful to the team that's around me and the robust team effort

04:07 that it takes to keep people like myself and the other presidential candidates safe,

04:11 so I'm grateful to them for that, and we feel very secure with the full team

04:15 that we have around us.

04:16 That's what I'll say.

04:17 We do know--

04:18 Last Friday in Iowa, you spoke a little bit about your safety and your family.

04:22 I was asked about it.

04:23 Asked about it, excuse me.

04:25 Have you been able to speak to your family today after everything has unfolded

04:29 is what they said.

04:30 I spoke to Urva, and our kids are too young to understand what's going on,

04:35 and so I intend to keep it that way.

04:38 We're going to talk to our kids about this one.

04:41 Urva and I had a conversation, and she understands that we're in this for a purpose.

04:47 We understand that it comes with all kinds of risks.

04:52 She's a hero for what she does every day.

04:54 She saves and improves lives on a daily basis.

04:57 I mean, she's somebody who came three weeks out of pregnancy,

05:02 out of our first son being born.

05:04 I haven't told this story much on the campaign trail,

05:06 but she went to the front lines to treat patients who she knew she was going to get sick.

05:11 This was in the early stage of the COVID pandemic.

05:14 Nobody knew what this virus was.

05:15 She's an airway surgeon.

05:16 That's her specialty.

05:17 So three weeks after our son Karthik was born--

05:19 she could have taken a six-month maternity leave--

05:20 three weeks back she was doing open airway surgery,

05:23 expectedly got sick, and I took care of our son during that period.

05:27 And I say that because she's somebody who understands more than most

05:31 that we all have to make a sacrifice to do what we believe we were put here to do,

05:36 and she's incredibly supportive of what we're doing.

05:39 She's also a smart person,

05:42 and I'd like to think that both of us have a good head on our shoulders

05:45 to know that we're going to--and have taken basic precautions.

05:48 I think that we are very well protected, even many of the people in this state

05:53 and even when we're traveling in Iowa and other places,

05:55 we're very well protected,

05:57 and I'm confident that both the teams on the ground as well as God.

06:03 God is what gives me my ultimate protection and sense of purpose.

06:06 My faith is what brought us to this journey,

06:08 and I'm not going to let go of that faith through this journey.

06:11 So thank you. I appreciate it.

06:13 We know that the complaint also detailed threats against another candidate.

06:18 We don't have any more information about that, but it was also made last week.

06:23 What do you think--two threats against two candidates made last week--

06:27 what do you think that says about the state of this race here?

06:31 Look, I'm not going to go into the details.

06:34 As I said about the specifics, I'm going to be respectful of law enforcement

06:37 to let them carry out their investigation without my comments getting in the way of that.

06:41 Look, I mean, I think that it's not good

06:48 when you have people threatening mass violence in this country,

06:54 and I do think that we have to, as leaders, step up and do our part

06:59 to address some of the root causes here,

07:02 and I've talked about that extensively on the campaign trail.

07:06 I think we've got to get to the root cause of a lot of the ailment in our country,

07:10 and I'm going to do my part to continue to stick to why we're in this race

07:15 and realize our purpose.

07:17 I'm going to just maybe take--

07:20 if people have questions on a different topic, I'm going to take it.

07:23 I'm happy to address a few things off air if that's necessary,

07:27 but I want to be respectful of law enforcement as this plays out.

07:30 [unintelligible]

07:32 A system founded on the rule of law, and we've been imperfect in other parts of our national history

07:36 where it was certain of those factors that didn't ensure equal justice under the law,

07:40 but today I think the greatest version of injustice or multiple standards under the law

07:44 depend on your own political beliefs,

07:47 and I do not think that your political beliefs should affect the way you're charged.

07:50 I think they have for the last several years, and that's going to end on my watch.

07:54 That's what I would say. Thank you.

07:56 Last one.

07:57 Chris Christie at the debate made comments after the debate about your back and forth

08:03 with Nikki Haley being somewhat about gender and having kind of a gendered undertone.

08:08 What is your response to that?

08:10 My response to that, it is sick when the Republican Party tries to become the party of identity politics

08:15 trying to emulate Kamala Harris like she's some hero.

08:18 I was talking about my wife earlier.

08:20 I married the strongest woman I know in my life,

08:22 and I stand for every American, man or woman, achieving not only the maximum of their potential,

08:27 but I think it is sexist to use identity politics to try to shield someone else from criticism.

08:33 I think that that is--and I've seen several women writing about this after the debate as well

08:38 who have found it offensive, the idea that somebody tries to use their gender,

08:43 and Nikki Haley purposefully trying to play that card as a way to immunize herself from criticism.

08:49 I think the Democratic--it's bad enough when the Democratic Party does it.

08:52 It's even worse when Republicans try to play the same game.

08:56 My view is if Donald Trump were going to get criticized or ask questions for releasing his tax returns,

09:03 then Nikki Haley should answer the same questions.

09:05 I think that she needs to release 20 years of her tax returns, as I've done,

09:09 ironically as she was calling on Donald Trump to do in 2016.

09:13 She joined the Democrat call to call on Donald Trump to release his tax returns

09:17 and then has the gall not to publish her own.

09:19 And she also owes it to the American people to list the clients of Allied Defense LLC.

09:25 Who are the clients of your military contractor?

09:28 If you're somebody who is clamoring for war, supporting the war in Ukraine and otherwise,

09:33 you owe it to the American people to at least disclose that client list.

09:37 That non-transparency is an abysmal indictment of the state of our politics,

09:43 the state of the Republican Party.

09:45 And blowing woke smoke, even if it's in the form of gendered commentary by her,

09:51 that doesn't deflect--it's not going to work with me, certainly, to deflect accountability

09:55 that we would bring to--as she was trying to do to Donald Trump,

09:58 well now what goes around comes around,

10:00 and playing the gender card should not be something that immunizes you

10:04 from answering those basic questions.

10:06 And so I call on her to do what I've done, call on her to do what she called on Trump to do,

10:09 release her own tax returns, and release the client list of her military contractor

10:14 so that the public knows whether her family stands to make money,

10:17 as the Biden family has, from wars in Ukraine and elsewhere.

10:21 She owes it to the American people to do that,

10:23 and no amount of gender card playing is going to deflect that level of scrutiny.

10:26 All right, thanks, guys.

10:28 I think we're maybe the next stop.

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