May 10, 2023 - Firebrand - Matt Gaetz
29:24
| 
| Time | Text |
|---|---|
| Thank you. | |
| In battle, Congressman Matt Gapes. | |
| Matt Gaetz was one of the very few members in the entire Congress who bothered to stand up against permanent Washington on behalf of his constituents. | |
| Matt Gaetz right now, he's a problem in the Democratic Party. | |
| He can cause a lot of hiccups in passing applause. | |
| So we're going to keep running those stories to keep hurting him. | |
| If you stand for the flag and kneel in prayer, if you want to build America up and not burn her to the ground, then welcome, my fellow patriots! | |
| You are in the right place! | |
| This is the movement for you! | |
| You ever watch this guy on television? | |
| It's like a machine. | |
| Matt Gaetz. | |
| I'm a canceled man in some corners of the internet. | |
| Many days I'm a marked man in Congress, a wanted man by the deep state. | |
| They aren't really coming for me. | |
| They're coming for you. | |
| I'm just in the way. | |
| Welcome back to Firebrand. | |
| We are live broadcasting out of room 2021 of the Rayburn House Office Building here at the Capitol Complex in Washington, D.C. And Washington is embroiled in scandal today. | |
| I've got the latest news from the George Santos indictment, the George Santos press conference. | |
| There was a big reveal about the various financial webs that tied the Biden family to corrupt enterprises overseas. | |
| Jamie Comer gave a briefing on that. | |
| I'll have the latest from Chairman Comer in the House Oversight Committee. | |
| We also had a major scandal out of the CIA break, and that's where I would like to begin our discussion right now. | |
| The CIA, for quite some time, has been all about controlling the shape of leader selection abroad, right? | |
| They have been involved in coups abroad, they have been involved in election interference abroad, and sadly Those capabilities have been brought home to our country. | |
| The House Judiciary Committee led by Chairman Jim Jordan upon which I serve released a report just today that laid out the problems with what the CIA was doing and the nature of their election interference in the 2020 campaign. | |
| That's right. | |
| I am explicitly asserting as this report does that the CIA was involved in interfering in the 2020 election. | |
| One in six of the people who voted for Joe Biden said they would have not done so if they were aware of the corruption erupting out of Hunter Biden's laptop. | |
| But you see, the American people didn't get that information in time for the election. | |
| Why? | |
| Well, because 51 senior national security folks, people who had retired from some of the top positions in the FBI, CIA, Department of Homeland Security, NSA, these 51 people signed a letter saying that the Hunter Biden laptop was Russian disinformation. | |
| And that letter... | |
| Was then used by big tech and big media to censor the reporting from the New York Post that laid out those foreign contacts and those foreign connections. | |
| So you might ask yourself, why did 51 people put their reputation on the line, their name on the line, their security clearance on the line to sign that which we know today to be false? | |
| And the conclusion in this report... | |
| Is that they were prodded and triggered to do so by the current Secretary of State, Tony Blinken, who at the time was a senior Biden campaign official. | |
| And then they were coerced in at least one circumstance by folks who were at that time working for the CIA. The CIA was working to coerce people to sign a letter that then government and media and tech would all use... | |
| To try to stop the American people from seeing something that undeniably would have been dispositive on this election had it impacted the perspective of one in every six voters. | |
| Now, how did that coercion occur? | |
| When someone in one of these senior intelligence organizations wants to, following their employment, write a book or a manuscript, they have to get approval of the agency where they worked. | |
| They have to get approval to see that no national security information is being released, that it is an appropriate disclosure. | |
| And these approvals are typically given so long as there's not a release of information that might be classified, sensitive, or otherwise protected. | |
| Well, one of the 51 people told the House Judiciary Committee that he was only going to get his book approved by the CIA if he signed the Hunter Biden letter. | |
| Isn't that amazing? | |
| Using the power of the most exquisite intelligence agency in the world to coerce someone that if they did not do what they were being told to provide this tool for Biden in the debates, for big tech, for big media to censor, if they did not do that, they could not publish their book. | |
| That is the weaponization of government that we are reporting on. | |
| The live feed is fired up and there's a lot of folks saying, where's the action? | |
| Tired of talk, where's the action? | |
| Let me lay out some level setting here for you. | |
| The United States Congress has no ability to throw anyone in jail or put handcuffs on folks, issue arrests. | |
| That's probably for good reason if you think about it. | |
| We have the power, though, to expose and we have to use the power of the subpoena and the power of the purse. | |
| I believe that what we are learning about a weaponized government ought to be the principal driver of how we think about every budgetary fight. | |
| Every authorization to spend every nickel. | |
| Even the debt limit. | |
| If this government is weaponized, why would we willy-nilly go raise the debt limit to provide a ton more cash for it to continue to operate in a way that has turned on the people? | |
| We shouldn't, but yet we do. | |
| And so don't judge House Republicans based on whether or not anyone goes to jail. | |
| Why? | |
| We can't throw anyone in jail. | |
| And oh, by the way, the folks who are at the Department of Justice right now don't really think that they're going to move up in their career if they go after Joe Biden. | |
| So... | |
| When the appropriations process comes, when the budget is before us, we ought to use the tools that I fought so hard for during the speaker contest, defunding the salaries of these bureaucrats, deep vertical cuts into these agencies, strip them of their authorities and their cash and the veneer that they use to lie. | |
| That is the action. | |
| That we ought to perform in the House of Representatives and divided government. | |
| And no, it probably doesn't give these people the ultimate accountability that they deserve But it sets us on the correct trajectory to save the country and our future and our values. | |
| And I care about that even more than I care about any bloodlust or vengeance against any particular individual. | |
| I want to set it right. | |
| Because if we do not, these corrupt cultures will continue to re-manifest throughout the national security apparatus and the enterprise of government entirely. | |
| So there was the other major news today on the debt limit. | |
| I want to get to that. | |
| President Biden had a press conference where he discussed his desire to have unchecked, continuous spending with no downward pressure, no limitation on the growth of this government and all that it is doing to borrow against the future of our fellow Americans. | |
| Take a listen to President Biden. | |
| So let me tell you a story about what's going on. | |
| There's a very extreme wing in the Republican Party, and the House of Representatives referred to themselves now. | |
| I've been calling this for a while, but now they refer to themselves as the MAGA Republicans. | |
| And they've taken control of the House. | |
| They've taken control. | |
| They have a speaker who has his job because he yielded to the quote MAGA element of the party. | |
| They're doing, to the best of my knowledge, what no other political party has done in the nation's history. | |
| They're literally not holding the economy hostage by threatening to default on our nation's debt that we've already incurred. | |
| We've already incurred over the last couple hundred years unless we give in to the threats and demands as to what they think we should be doing with regard to the budget. | |
| This would be incredibly damaging. | |
| So let's fact check a few of those claims. | |
| First of all, Joe Biden is not the first person who started calling me and others MAGA Republicans. | |
| We were MAGA Republicans before Joe Biden. | |
| I think we give President Trump credit for that, and credit he is most certainly due. | |
| Second, he says that McCarthy was only able to assume the speakership because of concessions that he made to us, the MAGA Republicans. | |
| And on that... | |
| Joe Biden gets a ding, ding, ding, totally true, accurate rating on that judgment. | |
| But it's good for the country. | |
| It's not bad for the country that McCarthy had to make concessions on spending in order to secure the speakership. | |
| And those very concessions that McCarthy had to make to folks like Chip Roy and Dan Bishop and Scott Perry, good friends of mine, great conservatives, folks who've joined us on Firebrand, those concessions are reflected in the House Freedom Caucus debt limit architecture that the House passed. | |
| Now, I didn't think it went far enough for the very reasons that many of you are firing off about on the live stream that we have to stop funding this corrupt government. | |
| And even what Joe Biden calls extreme would gaslight up to $49 trillion in debt over the next 10 years, something that Congressman Burchett and I discussed on a previous episode of Firebrand. | |
| Final response to President Biden. | |
| What a hypocrite! | |
| When you were a senator, there were times when you refused to vote against raising the debt limit because you said there was not another feature of the deal that reduced spending and the deficits. | |
| When you did vote to raise the debt limit, you often cited the fact that it included something on deficit reduction. | |
| But you're not interested in it now, Mr. President, because you are totally captured by By the woke left that actually doesn't mind the borrowing and the inflation, the harm to the US dollar, because they don't think a lot of America in the first place. | |
| They actually think that the path to socialism that leads to all of our fellow Americans being poor is the right thing because that will destroy the country and that's their ultimate goal. | |
| That's what they think would make the world a more just and more kind place. | |
| And Joe Biden is their employee. | |
| Joe Biden is just who they allow to wander around in the Rose Garden. | |
| I guess in a way, Biden accuses McCarthy of being our captive... | |
| But that's just being captive to a theory of economics that is consistent with reality. | |
| That you cannot keep printing money and remain the strongest country in the world with government spending that doesn't have any relationship to revenue. | |
| And who's Joe Biden captive to? | |
| The people who would have no upper limit on spending. | |
| Who would leave the American people alone. | |
| Abandoned economically and under attack culturally because that's what they've done. | |
| Joe Biden on the debt limit. | |
| There'll be a lot more on that for sure. | |
| Other big news in Washington, D.C. surrounds Congressman George Santos. | |
| Congressman Santos has been indicted by the federal government and I've been asked with some frequency my perspective on that issue and here it is. | |
| Senator Menendez faced a 14-count indictment, including eight counts of alleged bribery. | |
| He's a Democrat senator from New Jersey, but one hung jury later, after his indictment, he is now the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. | |
| So like every American, whether you like him or not, whether you believe him or not, whether you think he should be in Congress or not, George Santos is innocent until proven guilty. | |
| That's my perspective on the matter. | |
| And I think we've got a clip to go to? | |
| Ah, yes. | |
| This is an interview I actually did while co-hosting for Steve Bannon on War Room. | |
| So a big part of this Santos indictment surrounds campaign finance issues. | |
| And then derivative offenses alleged as a result of those campaign finance issues. | |
| And so when I had the opportunity to ask George Santos about that question directly, I did. | |
| Here was that exchange on the War Room. | |
| One of the principal critiques I've heard is that a lot of money was donated to your campaign by you. | |
| 700,000, I believe. | |
| Where did it come from? | |
| Well, I'll tell you where it didn't come from. | |
| It didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. | |
| How about that? | |
| Well, that is an answer. | |
| So as I understand it now, Congressman Santos' defense will be that he earned this money and that upon earning it was able to invest it in his campaign. | |
| He revised and extended those remarks at a truly New York press conference earlier today following his indictment. | |
| Take a listen to the congressman. | |
| We have an indictment. | |
| We have the information that the government wants to come after me on. | |
| And I'm going to comply. | |
| I've been complying throughout this entire process. | |
| I have no desire not to comply at this point. | |
| They've been gracious in there. | |
| Now I'm going to have to go and fight to defend myself. | |
| The reality is, it's a witch hunt. | |
| Because it makes no sense that in four months, five months, I'm indicted. | |
| You have Joe Biden's entire family receiving. | |
| Deposits from nine, nine family members receiving money from foreign, from foreign destinations into their bank accounts. | |
| It's been years of exposing. | |
| A lot of you here have reported on them and yet no investigation is launched into them. | |
| I'm going to fight. | |
| I will and I'm just going, I'm getting back to that. | |
| I'm going to fight my battle. | |
| I'm going to deliver. | |
| I'm going to fight the witch and I'm going to take care of clearing my name and I look forward to doing that. | |
| That was not a man on defense, George Santos, answering questions at a press conference following, turning himself in, federal charges, largely dealing with campaign finance issues. | |
| We will certainly follow up on that and provide information. | |
| In this very, very slim Republican majority in the House, every single member is significant. | |
| And we're going to follow that story and make sure we get to the bottom of it. | |
| JoJo on Getter on the live stream says that it's an interesting coincidence in timing that the Santos indictment seems to happen the same day that Congressman James Comer, the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, holds a press conference on the information discovered regarding holds a press conference on the information discovered regarding Hunter Biden. | |
| Here's the deal. | |
| Hunter Biden and his family designed an exquisite system of shell companies and LLCs. | |
| They look like businesses on paper, but they don't actually do any business. | |
| They're just in the business of moving foreign cash into the accounts of members of the Biden family. | |
| We learned today it's over $10 million to members of the Biden family, to brothers, to grandchildren, to children, to their spouses, to their former spouses. | |
| Take a listen to Chairman Comer. | |
| The committee has reviewed thousands of bank records from individuals and companies affiliated with the Bidens and their associates. | |
| It has received these bank records pursuant to four subpoenas I've issued to different banks. | |
| These were targeted and specific subpoenas, and each was different based on the information we believed the banks possessed. | |
| Every one of those subpoenas returned valuable information that had been unreported and that contributed to this committee's understanding of how the Bidens conducted their businesses. | |
| The committee is concerned by the complicated, suspicious network Of over 20 companies, we have identified the Bidens and their associates used to enrich themselves. | |
| Most of these companies were limited liability companies formed during Joe Biden's vice presidency. | |
| The bank records show the Biden family, their associates, and their companies received over $10 million from foreign nationals and their companies. | |
| Some of that money came from a Chinese company and went to Hunter Biden's company. | |
| Other transfers occurred with the help of Rob Walker, who then sent it on to different Biden family members. | |
| This is not how lawful businesses operate. | |
| Chinese nationals affiliated with the Bidens created limited liability companies in the United States and then in a short period of time transferred their interest to a Chinese company that sent money to the Bidens. | |
| This is not normal. | |
| Hunter Biden and his associates courted business in countries that correlated directly with Joe Biden's work as vice president. | |
| We are back live and Low Pro Kyle says on the live stream, we are in a constitutional crisis on several fronts. | |
| I could not agree more and having a compromised first family is no way to run a serious country. | |
| We are showing that compromise and what Congressman Comer is unveiling. | |
| Very well could end up being the strongest basis for the impeachment of Joe Biden that we've seen just yet. | |
| Still a lot of work to do. | |
| Still a lot of investigating. | |
| But we're going to pull those strings. | |
| And my expectation is they're all leading back to Joe. | |
| We are in Police Week currently and you would think that would be a bipartisan moment for Republicans and Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee to come together and celebrate police. | |
| Congressman Troy Nels is the first of my colleagues that you're about to see in the House Judiciary Committee introduce what I thought would be a pretty non-controversial resolution. | |
| A resolution that would simply honor We're good to go. | |
| Whether they're for it, whether they're against it, whether they've previously been for it, whether they're for it, but it doesn't really mean defund the police. | |
| You're going to love it. | |
| I could not resist when my colleague Mike Johnson pointed out that a very prominent Democrat has been leading the fight to defund the police, and she has a prominent role as a House Judiciary Committee member. | |
| Take a listen. | |
| Today I offer my support of the resolution recognizing National Police Week. | |
| My colleagues and I are committed to recognizing the valor, dignity, and integrity of police officers across the nation and express our sincere support for those who defend our communities against criminals and lawlessness. | |
| The far left has pushed for defunding the police for far too long. | |
| Ironically, the same folks that have advocated for and voted to slash the police budgets Have armed security surrounding them daily. | |
| First, I must disagree with Mr. Niels, with whom I agree on the bill, but I must disagree with him when he says that the Democrats seek to defund the police. | |
| We do not. | |
| My Republican colleagues are using Police Week to promote cheap talking points and largely meaningless legislation designed to distract and divide communities, not make them safer. | |
| Let me just give you a sampling of some of their comments because it's been said here that these are quote-unquote cheap talking points. | |
| I'll just start with the calls from Chairman Jerry Nadler. | |
| He publicly agreed with reducing the New York Police Department budget, which I think was cut by something like a billion dollars or something. | |
| He said, quote, there should be substantial cuts to the police budget and a reallocation of those funds to where we need them, unquote. | |
| Representative Cori Bush, boy, she has pages and pages of this, but She said, and by the way, she was Vice Chair of the Crime Subcommittee in the last Congress. | |
| She tweeted, it's not a slogan, it's a mandate for keeping our people alive. | |
| DEFUND THE POLICE, in all caps. | |
| Then she said that defunding the police is not the problem, that's the solution, and we have to do that to invest in our communities. | |
| I'll keep going because I've got some more time. | |
| AOC, Congressman... | |
| Will the gentleman yield? | |
| I'll have to yield. | |
| The gentleman just reflected that The person That House Democrats chose to chair the crime subcommittee. | |
| You heard that right. | |
| Said that it was a mandate to defund the police. | |
| And now, on Police Week, when the majority is seeking to simply pass a resolution honoring the police, we are being accused of taking cheap shots at Democrats when, not any Democrat, literally the person they put in charge of the crime sub... | |
| Is that what I'm to understand? | |
| That is, indeed. | |
| I did indeed say that we should defund the police. | |
| What I meant was, and what was done, was that we should reallocate some of the resources to mental health. | |
| When you're at risk of a robbery or a battery or a stabbing, you don't need a therapist. | |
| You need a cop. | |
| The very cops that these Democrats can't quite figure out whether or not they're willing to support or not. | |
| It was quite a day. | |
| BruceFur85 on Instagram says, I should shave my head. | |
| I am not doing that because then who would have the best hair in Congress? | |
| And Neff2020 says, what does the future hold? | |
| And It may very well be with these things that we're talking about, with a compromised first family, with a border that's open that many of you are deeply concerned about for good reason, with a weaponized government with debt that is out of control, a dollar that is spiraling, that it may get worse before it gets better. | |
| But I know one thing. | |
| It can turn around quickly. | |
| How was a young man coming out of law school looking for professional opportunities when Barack Obama was president? | |
| And there was such a sense of national demise. | |
| It wasn't the national malaise of the Carter years. | |
| We were in a state of demise under Obama. | |
| And I saw how quickly an energetic executive, a great leader like President Trump, could turn it around. | |
| And we did turn it around. | |
| President Trump built a roaring economy in this country, one that lifted up the people who liked him and the people who didn't. | |
| That is what the future could hold. | |
| We just have to ensure that the right policies are enacted because we don't have to reinvent the wheel. | |
| We know how it was done and I believe we can do it again. | |
| Thanks so much, everyone, for joining us this evening on Firebrand. | |
| As you see, it's different times in the day based on our vote schedule and committee hearings when I'm able to give you the direct update right as it's happening from the United States Congress. | |
| If you enjoy learning that information, please make sure you're subscribed with your notifications turned on. | |
| And do me a favor, if you're listening on a podcast, give me that five-star rating. | |
| Help us get to 5,000 reviews. | |
| Much appreciated. | |
| Join us again soon. | |
| Roll the credits. |
Export Selection