Video News Clips: In Their Own Words

Vivek Ramaswamy Explains How He’d Shut Down The FBI Without Congressional Permission

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Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said Friday that a president already had the power to shut down agencies, including the FBI, without going through Congress.

Ramaswamy previously expressed support for shutting down the FBI following the release of a report by Special Counsel John Durham on the origins of the FBI investigation of allegations that former President Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign colluded with Russia. He also has vowed to pardon people convicted in what he called “politicized prosecutions,” including former President Donald Trump.

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“I’m coming in with a clear-sighted view, Glenn, of shutting down most of the administrative state,” Ramaswamy told talk show host Glenn Beck shortly after his interview with Tucker Carlson, a co-founder of the Daily Caller and Daily Caller News Foundation. “First of all, do it on strong legal authority, so I’m a unique combination. I don’t like to brag a lot, but I’m a CEO, but I’ve also studied the Constitution deeply and the Supreme Court right now shares my view of the Constitution.”

“The U.S. president already has statutory authority, the Presidential Reorganization Act of 1977, says you can shut down redundant agencies,” Ramaswamy explained to the former Fox News host. “Well, when I look at what the DEA does and what the U.S. Marshals do, there’s my legal justification for shutting down the FBI without asking Congress for permission or forgiveness.”

Ramaswamy also said that civil service law was being misread when it came to reducing the number of government employees.

“Civil service protections protect against the individual firings of employees for supposedly political reasons,” Ramaswamy told Beck. “They do not apply to mass layoffs, and mass layoffs are absolutely what I’m bringing to Washington, D.C.”