Fox News host and Trump supporter Sean Hannity suggests GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is 'not qualified to be president' because he's never held public office
- Fox News host Sean Hannity said Thursday that Vivek Ramaswamy isn't qualified to be president.
- Hannity said he wondered if "people that never held public office" were fit to lead the country.
Following a heated exchange between Fox News host Sean Hannity and Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, the television host suggested that people without any public office experience aren't fit to be president.
Hannity made the comments after he pressed Ramaswamy about an interview the candidate recently did with Tucker Carlson where the two spoke about the war between Israel and Hamas. During the Carlson-Ramaswamy interview, Ramaswamy said that the US "ignoring certain other conflicts, while even more importantly ignoring the interests of the US right here at home" irritated "the heck out of" him.
Ramaswamy also took a swipe at fellow GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley, who formerly held a seat on Boeing's board of directors, saying she was "somebody that like many politicians in a position to get wealthier from war."
Pressed about these comments on Thursday by Hannity, Ramaswamy appeared taken aback, accusing the host of mischaracterizing what he said to Carlson.
"You do this in every single interview," Hannity told Ramaswamy. "You say stuff and then you deny it. You deny your own words. So, you know, why don't you just own what you say and stand by it and stop playing these games?"
Ramaswamy has at times gone after reporters who have highlighted his less-popular countercultural takes, like when he questioned what happened on 9/11. After his comments were placed under a microscope by The Atlantic, he claimed he was misquoted, despite an audio recording showing the opposite.
The back-and-forth between Hannity and Ramaswamy continued, leading Hannity to question if anybody who hasn't held public office before should ever lead the country.
"I think people that never held public office like you," Hannity said to Ramaswamy, "maybe they're not qualified to be president."
Hannity's comments are notable given his ties to former President Donald Trump, who famously never held public office before moving into the White House. In 2018, during the middle of Trump's presidency, New York Magazine reported that Hannity and Trump were incredibly close, speaking on the phone together most nights before bed.