Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is vowing to clean house by gutting several prominent federal agencies if elected in 2024.
"The Department of Education, the FBI, the ATF, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the IRS, the Department of Commerce. Many of these should not exist," Ramaswamy told Fox News Digital in an interview on Wednesday before adding "the CDC" to the list.
"I'm going to be the president of government shut down, as in literally shutting down the administrative state that sits under the executive branch," he said. "That will be a big part of my domestic policy legacy because that will also stimulate our economy. The regulatory state is the wet blanket on businesses across this country. So not only will we restore our three branch constitutional republic, we will also restore four plus percent GDP growth in this country. That's two wins."
Ramaswamy spoke at the libertarian FreedomFest conference in Memphis, where he offered a bold declaration that by the end of his second term in January 2033, "we will have reduced the federal employee headcount by over 75%" by uprooting the "unconstitutional fourth branch of government."
Ahead of his speech, he specifically elaborated about his dismantling of the FBI, which he described was an agency "that was made to be corrupt" since its foundation with J. Edgar Hoover.
"At the federal level, we have the US Marshals, and we have the DOJ. We don't need that separate J. Edgar Hoover-style FBI sitting in between either," Ramaswamy told Fox News Digital. "The DEA pursues cases separately from the FBI in drug cases. That's a redundancy. It's a waste of money. It's a waste of bureaucracy. But when you have a bureaucracy that should not exist, that's a formula for corruption."
He also pledged to sign an executive order to publish records showing any instance showing government agencies pressuring private entities like social media companies and banks to do things "what government couldn't do through the front door."
Earlier in the week, Ramaswamy had gone viral over his handling of a protester passionately advocating for abortion rights at an event in Iowa.
Ramaswamy, who calls himself "unapologetically pro-life," refrained from saying whether he would sign a bill that would ban abortions at either six, 15 or 20 weeks, telling Fox News Digital he believes the abortion debate is a state-level issue though he would commit to defund Planned Parenthood.
A recurring theme in the 2024 presidential race is electability. Critics of former President Trump say he would be defeated again by President Biden in a general election rematch while some of his supporters argue Trump is the only GOP candidate who can win.
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When asked yes or no if he thought Trump could win, Ramaswamy initially responded by saying "most of the Republican candidates in this field can beat Biden" but stressed he himself is the only candidate who can pull a "landslide" victory and that there shouldn't be another "50.1 election." After being pressed if those winnable candidates includes the former president, Ramaswamy replied "yes."
On Monday, Ramswamy rolled out a new fundraising program dubbed "Vivek's Kitchen Cabinet," which allows supporters to earn 10% commission of the money they raise for his campaign.
The campaign touted the program as a way to "democratize political fundraising."
Notably, Ramaswamy has already met the RNC's fundraising prerequisite to participate in the first GOP primary debate, which requires candidates to reach 40,000 unique donors. His campaign told Fox News Digital it exceeded 60,000 unique donors in early July.
