Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel reportedly lost her cool at Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy during Wednesday night’s debate in Miami, Florida, but the RNC denies the claim.
While McDaniel was sitting in the audience as the debate was ongoing, she referenced Ramaswamy, stating, “He’s an asshole. Total asshole,” a source sitting in her vicinity told Timcast.
“He’s desperate because he’s doing bad in the polls. He won’t be getting a cent from us,” she reportedly added. CNN Washington, DC, Bureau Assignment Editor Aaron Pellish noted the RNC has denied the claim.
“When CNN reached out for comment about this report, a spokesperson for the RNC denied McDaniel made any disparaging comments about Ramaswamy,” he wrote on X.
It is unclear at which point in the debate Timcast’s source claims McDaniel made the comments, but Ramaswamy used his opening statement to invite her onstage to resign after saying the GOP has become “a party of losers.”
“Since Ronna McDaniel took over as chairwoman of the RNC in 2017, we have lost in 2018, 2020, 2022. No red wave ever came. We got trounced last night in 2023. And I think that we have to have accountability in our party,” he said.
“For that matter. Ronna, if you want to come on stage tonight, you want to look the GOP voters in the eye and tell them you resign,” he said. “I will turn over my, yield my time to you,” he added.
Ramaswamy also criticized McDaniel’s RNC for selecting NBC News as the debate moderator.
“Think about who’s moderating this debate. This should be Tucker Carlson, Joe Rogan, and Elon Musk, we have 10 times the viewership, asking questions the GOP voters actually care about, and bring more people into our party,” he said.
At another point in the contest, Ramaswamy and Haley had a back-and-forth that allegedly elicited boos from McDaniel for Ramaswamy, the source told Timcast.
Related: “YOU’RE JUST SCUM!” Things Get HEATED Between Nikki Haley, Vivek Ramaswamy at GOP Debate
“She was in complete MELTDOWN mode over Vivek,” the source said. “This was in the middle of the audience, within earshot of at least 50 people.”
The pair appeared to spar with one another after the event, according to the Daily Caller, which shared a video of Ramaswamy engaged in a spirited exchange with someone in the first row of the audience.
Related: Vivek: “Do You Want Dick Cheney in 3-Inch Heels? — We’ve Got Two of Them on Stage Tonight”