evidence: Ramaswamy's comments about Sept. 11 align with his contention that public officials are regularly misleading the public, a central theme of his campaign. Apoorva Ramaswamy said that her husband's focus on those issues has helped him connect with everyday voters, many of whom are distrustful of the federal government. [...] Those comments incited widespread condemnation from media figures and some of Ramaswamy’s Republican rivals, with former Vice President Mike Pence saying he was "deeply offended." Ramaswamy wrote an essay for The Wall Street Journal in which he clarified that he was talking about FBI documents declassified by the Biden administration in 2021 that revealed a Saudi agent supported two of the hijackers. That might have been the end of it if not for an Aug. 21 profile published in The Atlantic in which Ramaswamy compared the investigation of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and the investigation into the Sept. 11 attacks, again bringing up the idea that the public is being misled. [...] Critics lambasted Ramaswamy for seemingly suggesting that federal agents had been involved in the attacks. On CNN with Kaitlan Collins that night, Ramaswamy said the quote was wrong, explaining that he had asked the reporter for a recording of the interview, and the reporter refused. He clarified that he believes there were federal agents in the field on Jan. 6, 2021, and, separately, that the government lied about Saudi Arabia’s involvement in the Sept. 11 attacks. Asked directly if he thought 9/11 was an inside job, he replied, "Of course not, and I’ve never said that."