Republican who questioned the 9/11 narrative to address the California GOP next month

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REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE WHO QUESTIONED 9/11 INVITED TO ADDRESS CALIFORNIA GOP

California Republicans will hear from yet another presidential candidate when they meet for their convention this fall: Vivek Ramaswamy.

Ramaswamy, a biotech entrepreneur, will deliver a keynote address at the party’s Saturday, Sept. 30 luncheon in Anaheim, according to a statement.

CAGOP Chair Jessica Millan Patterson said she was excited to welcome Ramaswamy.

“Not only has he helped reshape the pharmaceutical industry with his ambitious efforts to drug development, but he is also the New York Times bestselling author of ‘Woke, Inc.’ Vivek’s robust energy to our party is inspiring a new generation of conservatives, and I look forward to hearing him share his message to California Republicans on how he would shape our nation as the next President,” Patterson said.

Ramaswamy, 38, is scrambling to walk back a quote he gave to The Atlantic writer John Hendrickson, in which he appeared to question the official narrative of what happened on Sept. 11, 2001.

“I think it is legitimate to say how many police, how many federal agents, were on the planes that hit the Twin Towers. Maybe the answer is zero. It probably is zero for all I know, right? I have no reason to think it was anything other than zero,” Ramaswamy said in the piece. “But if we’re doing a comprehensive assessment of what happened on 9/11, we have a 9/11 Commission, absolutely that should be an answer the public knows the answer to.”

Ramaswamy has said that he was misquoted, but an audio recording and transcript produced by The Atlantic says otherwise.

After CNN correspondent Kaitlan Collins pressed him about his remarks Monday, the Republican candidate took to X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, to liken Collins to a “petulant teenager.”

Ramaswamy joins four-time indicted former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in addressing the California GOP this fall.

CALIFORNIA LAWMAKER INTRODUCES BILL TO CREATE REPARATIONS AGENCY

Next year, California could move one step closer toward making reparations to Black people a reality.

Sen. Steven Bradford, D-Gardena, on Tuesday announced that he has amended his bill, SB 490, to create a California American Freedman Affairs Agency that would be charged with “administering reparations as determined by the Legislature and governor,” according to a statement from Bradford’s office.

The agency was one of several recommendations made by the California Reparations Task Force earlier this year.

In a statement, Bradford said this legislation “lays the groundwork for the future.”

“My fellow task force members and I have documented the harm, detailed its generational impact, and determined the way forward to right these wrongs. The Freedman Affairs Agency will establish the instrumental infrastructure California will need as our state takes responsibility for the historical harms that have been committed,” he said.

According to the task force’s report, economists estimate that each Californian descended from slaves or free African Americans who lived in the U.S. prior to 1900 could be owed over $1 million.

The senator pointed out that California, and the rest of the nation, has benefited from 250 years of wage theft in the form of slavery, and that lawmakers who support legislation to stop wage theft and ensure fair compensation to workers should also support his bill.

“Reparations are not a gift. They are not a hand-out or charity, but they are what was promised, owed, and overdue,” Bradford said.

The bill will be taken up in the next legislative session.

NEWSOM, BONTA ALSO SUBMIT BRIEFS IN SCOTUS DOMESTIC VIOLENCE RESTRAINING ORDER CASE

As the U.S. Supreme Court weighs the constitutionality of federal domestic violence restraining orders — used to remove guns from the homes of domestic abusers — California is well-represented among the legal briefs that the nation’s highest court will consider.

Previously, we reported that the California Legislative Women’s Caucus became the first state-level women’s caucus to file a “friend of the court” brief to the SCOTUS. On Tuesday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and California Attorney General Rob Bonta added their names to the list of officials urging the court to overturn a lower court ruling that the “red flag” law is unconstitutional.

“Should the courts take away this evidence-based, constitutional, and commonsense tool, they will endanger victims and our communities,” Bonta said in a statement announcing that he has joined a coalition of 25 attorneys general calling on the SCOTUS to uphold the federal law.

In his own statement, Newsom said that the gun safety law, which has an equivalent in California, is supported by the Constitution and longstanding historical tradition.

“The Second Amendment is not a suicide pact. The Supreme Court must reverse the lower court’s decision,” Newsom said.

AND FINALLY — Assemblyman Matt Haney, D-San Francisco, had a rough time Monday evening, as he was taken to the hospital after dislocating his hip during the annual legislative softball game — which pits NorCal lawmakers against their SoCal colleagues. But Haney appeared to bounce back Tuesday, according to Fox 40, as he attended a committee hearing at the Capitol.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“California is a progressive state that supports LGBTQ youth, but even California has school boards that’ve been hijacked by anti-LGBTQ extremists. They’re adopting policies that harm LGBTQ students. We’re not going to sit by while it happens. We’re sticking up for these kids.”

- Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, via X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

Best of The Bee:

• On Monday, a group of 200 or so concerned parents, grandparents, and community members from up and down the state gathered to fight back against what they see as the attack on parents’ rights — led by Newsom — and to lobby against several bills making their way through the legislature, via Jenavieve Hatch.

• A contentious libel suit against Black Lives Matter Sacramento by a capital region businesswoman was dismissed late Monday after the plaintiff decided not to pursue the case any longer, via Sam Stanton.

• Yolo County Moms for Liberty billed their Sunday event at the Davis public library as a forum on “Fair and Safe Sports for Girls,” but the ouster of their speaker from the facility has raised a different point of debate: What are the limits of free speech in public spaces? Via Shaanth Nanguneri.

• OPINION: Thanks to Assembly Democrats, there is too much suspense surrounding Senate Bill 14, which seeks to make the sex trafficking of minors in California a serious felony, via Tom Philp.