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Oct. 25, 2023 - Firebrand - Matt Gaetz
30:12
Episode 123 LIVE: Getting To Know Speaker Mike Johnson – Firebrand with Matt Gaetz
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Thank you.
Matt Gaetz, the biggest firebrand inside of the House of Representatives.
You're not taking Matt Gaetz off the board, okay?
Because Matt Gaetz is an American patriot and Matt Gaetz is an American hero.
We will not continue to allow the Uniparty to run this town without a fight.
I want to thank you, Matt Gates, for holding the line.
Matt Gates is a courageous man.
If we had hundreds of Matt Gates in D.C., the country turns around.
It's that simple.
He's so tough, he's so strong, he's smart, and he loves this country.
Matt Gates.
It is the honor of my life to fight alongside each and every one of you.
We will save America!
It's choose your fighter time!
I'm sending the Firebrands.
Welcome back to Firebrand.
I'm Congressman Matt Gaetz.
We're broadcasting live out of Room 2021 of the House Office Rayburn Building at the Capitol Complex in Washington, D.C. This is an exciting and special episode of Firebrand because we've got a Speaker of the House, MAGA Mike Johnson, a brilliant constitutional scholar, a family man, a devout Christian Southern Baptist, a fellow from Louisiana, someone I was elected to Congress alongside Someone who sits literally next to me in the House Judiciary Committee.
committee.
We work together on the Armed Services Committee to make sure that our military is protected, that we are strong, and that we are not overburdened by endless foreign wars without any goal or purpose or vision.
I cannot tell you how excited and vindicated I feel that Mike Johnson is the Speaker of the House right now.
I made all of you a promise when we filed the motion to vacate, that we would have a Speaker of the House who was more conservative and more honest.
And we have checked those boxes thoroughly with electing Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana.
Such a great guy.
Such a great father.
Such a great husband.
He's got a terrific wife, Kelly Johnson.
And I want to give you a little taste first of his first remarks as House Speaker.
Here's Mike Johnson.
To my colleagues, I want to thank you all for the trust that you have instilled in me to lead us in this historic and unprecedented moment that we're in.
The challenge before us is great, but the time for action is now, and I will not let you down.
I want to say to the American people on behalf of all of us here, we hear you.
We know the challenges you're facing.
We know that there's a lot going on in our country, domestically and abroad, and we are ready to get to work again to solve those problems, and we will.
Our mission here is to serve you well, to restore the people's faith in this house, in this great and essential institution.
We are back live, and I have a high confidence level, and it seems based on the comments, so do you.
Rosella Jerome on Facebook saying, I love the new speaker.
We see the great Mike Johnson, a lot of America First energy, and I would agree with our Rumble commenter who said, McCarthy looked pissed.
Yeah.
I think he probably did.
We're going to get to all the things that Kevin McCarthy did to try to scuttle this moment and sabotage Mike Johnson and really all of us in just a minute.
But I want to get to the plan, because it's not just about the man, it's about the plan.
Today, hot off the presses, we get a letter from House Speaker Mike Johnson regarding the path forward for the Congress.
Go ahead and put that up on the screen for me, and I'll read you part of this message from the Speaker.
We must take action right away.
I would begin by proposing the following immediate steps concerning our unfinished appropriations bills and our schedule for the remainder of this Congress.
We all understand that our next speaker must be prepared to negotiate from a position of strength with the Democrat-controlled Senate and the White House.
The only way to secure that position is for the House to have passed all 12 of our appropriations measures.
I am confident we can work together to accomplish that objective quickly in a manner that delivers on our principled commitments to rein in wasteful spending and put our country back on a path to fiscal responsibility.
He continues with a detailed calendar description that we will do the energy and water appropriations bills this week.
We will do interior, environment, transportation, and the legislative branch next week.
We will do criminal justice thereafter.
And then in the week of November 13th, we will do the Department of Labor, Department of Health and Human Services, and ag as well.
This is an actual plan centered around single-subject spending bills.
It's a plan that doesn't require us to surrender to omnibus legislation or continuing resolutions that lead to more continuing resolutions.
I had some reporters ask me, oh well, if Mike Johnson needs some sort of bridge government funding bill, will you oust him if he needs that?
And we will not apply the exact same standard to Mike Johnson that we applied to Kevin McCarthy because Kevin McCarthy was so insincere and duplicitous about what he was doing.
Consider this.
Kevin McCarthy tried to sell us the fiction that he wanted the same thing, the single subject spending bills.
But then he sent us home for six weeks in August when we were behind on our work.
You don't take a vacation when you're behind on your work.
Everyone knows this.
And in Mike Johnson's memo that I just detailed for you, for the month of August, he says this, Do not break for district work period unless all 12 appropriations bills have passed the House.
So don't plan on your big vacation in the month of August next year under Mike Johnson if we have not completed the work.
Nothing could be more invigorating to our team than unity with purpose.
You've heard Republicans go on all kind of media platforms to say, oh, we just need unity.
Gates is crazy and has no plan.
This was the plan.
Give you an honest conservative speaker who will actually do the single subject appropriations bills.
And we got our guy.
But we didn't get him without a fight.
And that's what I want to talk about now.
Let's go ahead and put up the endorsement tweet from Kevin McCarthy.
This is from former Speaker McCarthy.
All right, here's what happened.
So we're in these rounds trying to elect a speaker and Steve Scalise gets put up.
And McCarthy helps knife Scalise.
And then Jordan gets put up.
And McCarthy helps knife Jordan.
Then Emmer gets put up.
He can't get there.
And so Mark Molinaro, a moderate freshman Republican from New York, stands up and makes sort of an obvious but yet still out-of-the-box suggestion after Tom Emmer had withdrawn from the speaker contest yesterday.
Molinaro said, look, why don't we just take a poll to see where people stand on the guy who came in second to Emmer, who was Mike Johnson, and see if that's someone we could rally behind.
And to do that, to take that path, we needed unanimous consent from all the members.
Guess which member objected?
Kevin McCarthy.
In an emotional, eruptive outburst, I object.
We can't elect a speaker this way.
You know why Kevin McCarthy objected?
Because he hadn't quite figured out how he could scuttle and sabotage Mike Johnson.
Johnson saw it.
I saw it.
The whole conference saw it.
Then, he wasn't done.
Because as Mike was working to bring together the coalition, as he was gelling our team, McCarthy inspired a write-in campaign to get people to vote for McCarthy.
He even got 43 Republicans.
Now, they told us they were going to get 100 Republicans, 120 Republicans to write in McCarthy.
He found out that his strength has withered as he has dithered.
And McCarthy got these 43 votes.
And so Johnson, being the total, I think, sophisticated thinker that he is, along with Steve Scalise, said, well, if we've got 43 people still voting for McCarthy, let's have a roll call.
Let's see if those 43 members will stand up and say they still want McCarthy back and suffer the ridicule that that would have brought down on them, rightfully.
And those 43 votes, when we went to a roll call, Not a single person voted for Kevin McCarthy publicly, even though they were willing to do it anonymously, in private, in a secret meeting.
After Mike Johnson was designated, it's typical for the speaker-designate to go out to the microphones and address the media about their plans, their vision, their prevailing in the designation election.
And Mike was the first one who said, no, I'm not leaving this room and going out in front of the cameras.
You're all going to stand here with me, and we will invite them in, and we will do this as a team, all united together.
And he began that press conference in humble and sincere prayer.
It was so touching to see this man of God with one hand on the Bible, with one hand raised, talking about how we can fulfill America's great vision together.
And it is an America first vision.
It is a strong America vision, but it is an America first vision and one I definitely share.
Now there are some who put some funny stuff on the internet.
Sasha, go ahead and put up the Matt Gaetz apology form.
So if you're listening and not watching, who was this?
What account was it?
WorldMapping on Twitter puts together the Matt Gaetz apology form.
It says, two Matt Gaetz from the American people, date October 24, 2023. Reason for behavior.
The media convinced me that a motion to vacate was a bad thing.
You could check that.
Or maybe you would check, I miss Kevin McCarthy.
Or, I was jealous of MAGA gaining power.
Or, I thought you were playing actual games.
Remember when they kept saying that on the media?
MAGA is just playing games.
This is all personal.
You could also check, I don't know anything about the house, or my personal favorite, you could check the box that just says, Mercury was in retrograde.
So if that's the reason you were mad at me, we will forgive you.
Very, very funny form.
And it's always amazing to see what the internet will generate.
One thing that Speaker Mike Johnson has generated has been a lot of intense, rigorous oversight of some of the worst people in the United States federal government.
The clip I am about to show you is Mike Johnson questioning Attorney General Merrick Garland.
And I say this without reservation.
What you are about to watch is the most effective questioning that any member has engaged in this Congress with any witness.
And I do not say that lightly because I think I'm pretty good at asking tough questions of people who don't want to give honest answers.
But there is nothing like what you're about to watch.
What was going on at the time, you had critical race theory sweeping across school boards and curriculum offices in public education all over the country.
And then Garland has to deal with the fact that his own son-in-law is making money off of critical race theory.
While then Garland is going after the parents who are complaining about it.
It is so epic and so good.
It is peak Mike Johnson.
Take a listen and enjoy.
Mr. Attorney General, millions of Americans are deeply concerned today that instead of addressing the most pressing issues facing our country, we're watching the Biden-Garland Justice Department be weaponized, that you are using your authorities now to advance far-left policies and attack Republican-led state actions and erode constitutional norms.
The most recent case in point has been brought up this morning.
Your memorandum directing the FBI and other Department of Justice officials to get involved in local school board debates.
It concerns us that it was issued just five days after the National School Board Association sent a letter to President Biden which referred to concerned parents as the equivalent of, quote, domestic terrorists and perpetrators of hate crimes, unquote.
Given the timing of all this, your memo appears to have been motivated by politics more than any pressing federal law enforcement need.
This is concerning to us, and it's worthy of investigation.
It also concerns us that your actions may have been motivated by your family's financial stake in this issue.
Published reports show that your son-in-law co-founded a company called Panorama Education.
We now know that that company publishes and sells critical race theory and so-called anti-racism materials to schools across the country.
And it works with school districts nationwide to obtain and analyze data on students, often without parental consent.
On its website, the company brags that it's surveyed more than 13 million students in the U.S. It's raised $76 million from powerful investors, including people like Mark Zuckerberg, just since 2017. My first question is this.
Are you familiar with Title V of the Code of Federal Regulations, which addresses the rules of impartiality for executive branch employees and officials?
I am very familiar with it and I want to be clear once again that there's nothing in this memorandum which has any effect on the kinds of curriculums that are taught or the ability of parents to complain about the kinds of...
I understand your position on the free speech of parents.
Wait just a minute.
The question is, the question is, The thing that is concerned many of those parents that are showing up at these school board meetings, the very basis of their objection and their vigorous debate, as you mentioned earlier, is the curricula, the very curricula that your son-in-law is selling.
So to millions of Americans, I mean, my constituents, I was home all weekend, I got an earful about this.
They're very concerned about that.
Subpart E of that federal regulation says an employee of the executive branch is discouraged From engaging in conduct that's likely to affect the financial interest of someone close to them.
Your son-in-law, your daughter, clearly meets that definition.
And so the question is, did you follow that regulation?
Did you have the appropriate agency ethic official look into this?
Did you seek guidance as the federal regulation requires?
This memorandum is aimed at violence and threats of violence.
I understand that.
Excuse me.
Did you seek ethics counsel before you issued a letter that directly relates to the financial interest of your family?
Yes or no?
This memorandum does not relate to the financial interests of anyone.
I take that as a no.
I take that as a no.
Memorandum is against violence and threats of violence.
Mr. Attorney General, will you commit to having the appropriate ethics designated review the case and make the results public?
This memorandum is aimed at violence and threats of violence.
I understand your talking point.
You're not answering my question, Mr. Attorney General.
With all due respect, will you submit to an ethics review of this matter, yes or no?
There is no company in America or, hopefully, no law-abiding citizen in America who believes that threats of violence should not be prevented.
There are no conflicts of interest that anyone could have...
According to you, but sir, with due respect, that's the purpose of the federal regulation.
We need objective third parties to review our activities.
You don't get to make that decision yourself.
It doesn't matter.
You're the chief law enforcement of this country.
This raises questions in the minds of millions of Americans, and your impartiality is being called into question.
Why would you not submit to a simple ethics review of that?
I am exquisitely aware of the ethics requirements.
But you're not following them.
I have followed them and lived with them for the last 25 years.
Did you seek an ethics review of this or not?
I'm going to say again.
There are no conflicts of interest involved when the Justice Department...
Okay, okay.
According to you, I got that.
I'm not trying to be disrespectful, but you are not respecting our rules, our constitutional norms, and the federal law that directly applies to your activities.
This is a great concern.
This is why people are losing faith in our institutions.
They're losing faith in this Department of Justice.
And you and I both know, as constitutional attorneys, that if the people lose their faith in our system of justice, if they lose their faith in the idea that justice is blind, that they're not two standards, that there's one standard of the law, and that there's one standard of the law, and that everybody...
It is only getting started from the speaker's rostrum.
I will definitely miss Mike Johnson sitting next to me in the House Judiciary Committee, really leaning into the important work that needs to be done.
And there is some criticism of me still that I am getting in the way of that work.
Matrix on Getter says, all Matt Gaetz has done is ensure that there'll be no impeachment hearings and the Biden's walk.
Here's what I would ask you.
How were the impeachment hearings going under Kevin McCarthy?
Because what I saw was one impeachment hearing that began with The best Republican witness saying that he didn't believe our evidence supported impeachment.
So that's what you get with someone like Kevin McCarthy and his experience trying to guide this when the reality is with a brilliant litigator and lawyer and constitutional scholar like Mike Johnson you're going to see us move at I think a lot more effective pace and with a lot more just proficiency.
Proficiency that you hadn't seen under Kevin McCarthy.
So judge us by the work of the Johnson Speakership, if not the reputation and the skill set that you just saw on display as he was skewering Merrick Garland.
Terry on Facebook says she never doubted me.
I understand we are having some technical difficulties with the Facebook stream right now.
You can always watch us on Rumble.com.
That's our favorite platform for viewing if Facebook is freezing up on you a little bit.
And Sydney on Facebook says, McCarthy's pants were pulled down.
It wasn't pretty, but it had to happen.
Well, thank you for that frightening image, Sydney.
There was also great discussion during the race for House Speaker and in Speaker Johnson's speech on the floor about the border.
We have got to get the border under control because when these millions of people come into the country, it becomes unidirectional.
Not enough for going back home.
And frankly, until we get the White House, the Biden administration is able to ameliorate any effort that we put forward to try to secure the border.
But you got to have somebody who understands the border.
Not the border between K Street and the Capitol, but the border between the United States and Mexico.
Mike Johnson showed that in his questioning of Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas, who undeniably deserves censure, impeachment, ending his salary.
He deserves every consequence that the United States Congress can bring to bear.
Take a listen to Mike Johnson questioning Secretary Mayorkas.
Can you define what misinformation is?
Congressman, misinformation is false information that is disseminated to...
Excellent.
Who determines what is false?
Congressman, our focus...
No, who determines what is false in your agency?
If you're going to pull something off the internet and collude with a social media platform to make sure Americans don't see it, Who determines what's false?
Congressman, we don't do that.
That's not true.
That is not true.
That is not what the court has found.
This is not a Republican talking point.
This is what the documents show.
We've had people testify under oath that say, and you just defined the term, you're telling me that you don't know who determines what is false?
Congressman, what we do at CISA, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, is identify the tactics that adverse nation states use To weaponize disinformation.
Okay, what is disinformation?
Disinformation is inaccurate information.
Who determines what's inaccurate?
Who determines what's false?
Do you understand the problem here?
The reason the framers of our Constitution did not create an exception for That is not true.
What we do...
Is we disclose the tactics that adverse nation states are utilizing to weaponize this information?
No, sir.
No, sir.
The court found specifically it's a finding of fact that is not disputed by the government defendants, the Biden administration, your agency, the FBI, or DHS. Not in the litigation.
They determined you made, you and all of your cohorts, made no distinction between domestic speech and foreign speech.
So don't stand there and tell me under oath that you only focused on adversaries around the world, foreign actors.
That's not true.
We're back live.
You've never seen anything that effective from the prior speaker.
It is great to have one of our most talented members in a position to be able to engage in great leadership.
And I'll confess this to you.
Mike Johnson is a bit of a cult figure in Florida's first congressional district because as we have shared our questioning of attorneys general and FBI directors over the years, With Mike Johnson sitting next to me, you always get the best reactions.
The thoughtfulness, the engagement.
He is not only a terrific communicator and a terrific interrogator, he is a terrific listener.
Take a listen and enjoy.
We actually think that unborn life is a child and that there is a liberty interest there that is worthy of our defense and our protection and the values that undergird the American Constitution.
I don't think that's too unreasonable.
And by the way, if you use a phrase in this committee...
We are back live and in just moments I'll be heading to the House floor to vote on the first legislation under Speaker Johnson to express our support for the operations that Israel is conducting on their own behalf to root out terrorism in Gaza and certainly defend themselves from Hezbollah in the north.
This is a land that's connected to our faith for 4,000 years and we will not allow the Holy Land to be overrun by terror and death and destruction and harm to innocent civilians who have a right to live in Israel in a Jewish state in 2023. Mike Johnson's going to be great.
I can't wait to vote for this bill.
We've got to make sure that the war in Israel and the war in Ukraine are separate and dealt with separately.
And that we are able to take separate votes on those questions because while I'm certainly open-minded to support Israel if there is an actual articulated need that they have that's not being met by the funds we're already sending there on auto-pay pursuant to a memorandum of understanding, I don't believe, I do not believe That the cause for Israel somehow has to carry with it the political anchor that is tens of billions more for Ukraine.
We have sent enough to Ukraine.
We need to get out of that war in Europe.
And there's a risk here.
With us extended in Ukraine, extended in the Middle East, that our deterrence in the Pacific Rim will be so diminished that China would take action against Taiwan or otherwise that they wouldn't If we weren't so overstretched.
So there'll be more on what we're dealing with around the globe soon.
There'll be more from Speaker Johnson.
There'll be more Firebrand.
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