Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) takes questions from reporters after announcing he will not seek the Speakership again after being ousted.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00 I intend to make sure that we gain and keep the majority in the next cycle as well.
00:04 With that, I look forward to your positive questions.
00:07 [inaudible]
00:12 Well, I'll look at that.
00:12 [inaudible]
00:28 You know, you need 218 for the rule, 218 to move forward.
00:34 And I'll never give up on the American people.
00:36 That doesn't mean I have to be speaker to do what I have to do for the American people.
00:43 There's a lot of things I could do for the American people.
00:46 But you know what's interesting?
00:50 Everybody's sitting there.
00:52 In today's world, if you're sitting in Congress and you took a gamble to make sure
00:57 government was still open and eight people can throw you out as speaker and the Democrats
01:04 who said they wanted to keep government open, I think you've got a real divide.
01:09 I think you've got a real institutional problem.
01:11 Interesting, it was in this room after we had won the majority, I had became speaker
01:18 last and Nancy Pelosi came to me.
01:20 She was speaker at the time on the way out.
01:23 I told her I was having issues with getting enough votes.
01:25 She said, "What's the problem?"
01:26 I said, "They want this one person can rule you out."
01:30 She was the only speaker to have changed that rule.
01:32 I had the power to call the vote on her, but I never would.
01:36 I lost some votes because of it.
01:38 And she said, "Just give it to them.
01:41 I'll always back you up."
01:43 I made the same offer to Boehner and same thing to Paul because I believe in the institution.
01:50 I think today was a political decision by the Democrats.
01:54 I think the things they have done in the past hurt the institution.
01:59 They just started removing people from committee.
02:02 They just started doing the other things.
02:05 My fear is the institution fell today because you can't do the job if eight people, you
02:13 have 96% of your entire conference, but eight people can partner with the whole other side.
02:23 How do you govern?
02:24 And for them to make a motion on me because I made a decision for the country that they
02:29 agreed with, but they choose to do the other.
02:33 That becomes a problem.
02:34 Yes, sir.
02:35 One, are you planning on endorsing a successor to you?
02:36 I might.
02:37 I might.
02:38 You might.
02:39 Yeah.
02:40 Who would that be?
02:41 I don't know.
02:42 I don't know who's running that.
02:43 I'll talk to people.
02:44 And when you look back, is there anything you could have done differently to what those
02:45 eight members of the Congress have done?
02:46 I think it's a good question.
02:47 I think it's a good question.
02:48 I think it's a good question.
02:49 I think it's a good question.
02:50 I think it's a good question.
02:51 I think it's a good question.
02:52 I think it's a good question.
02:53 I think it's a good question.
02:54 I think it's a good question.
02:55 I think it's a good question.
02:56 I think it's a good question.
02:57 I think it's a good question.
02:58 I think it's a good question.
02:59 I think it's a good question.
03:00 I think it's a good question.
03:01 I think it's a good question.
03:02 I think it's a good question.
03:03 I think it's a good question.
03:04 I think it's a good question.
03:05 I think it's a good question.
03:06 I think it's a good question.
03:07 I think it's a good question.
03:08 I think it's a good question.
03:09 I think it's a good question.
03:10 I think it's a good question.
03:11 I think it's a good question.
03:12 I think it's a good question.
03:13 I think it's a good question.
03:14 I think it's a good question.
03:15 I think it's a good question.
03:16 I think it's a good question.
03:17 I think it's a good question.
03:18 I think it's a good question.
03:19 I think it's a good question.
03:20 I think it's a good question.
03:21 I think it's a good question.
03:22 I think it's a good question.
03:23 I think it's a good question.
03:24 I think it's a good question.
03:25 I think it's a good question.
03:26 I think it's a good question.
03:27 I think it's a good question.
03:28 I think it's a good question.
03:29 I think it's a good question.
03:30 I think it's a good question.
03:31 I think it's a good question.
03:32 I think it's a good question.
03:33 I think it's a good question.
03:34 I think it's a good question.
03:35 I think it's a good question.
03:36 I think it's a good question.
03:37 I think it's a good question.
03:38 I think it's a good question.
03:39 I think it's a good question.
03:40 I think it's a good question.
03:41 I think it's a good question.
03:42 I think it's a good question.
03:43 I think it's a good question.
03:44 I think it's a good question.
03:45 I think it's a good question.
03:46 I think it's a good question.
03:47 I think it's a good question.
03:48 I think it's a good question.
03:49 I think it's a good question.
03:50 I think it's a good question.
03:51 I think it's a good question.
03:52 I think it's a good question.
03:53 I think it's a good question.
03:54 I think it's a good question.
03:55 I think it's a good question.
03:56 I think it's a good question.
03:57 I think it's a good question.
03:58 I think it's a good question.
03:59 I think it's a good question.
04:00 I think it's a good question.
04:01 I think it's a good question.
04:02 I think it's a good question.
04:03 I think it's a good question.
04:04 I think it's a good question.
04:05 I think it's a good question.
04:06 I think it's a good question.
04:07 I think it's a good question.
04:08 I think it's a good question.
04:09 I think it's a good question.
04:10 I think it's a good question.
04:11 I think it's a good question.
04:12 I think it's a good question.
04:13 I think it's a good question.
04:14 I think it's a good question.
04:15 I think it's a good question.
04:16 I think it's a good question.
04:17 I think it's a good question.
04:18 I think it's a good question.
04:19 I think it's a good question.
04:20 So, not all those eight, but these are the same people that never voted for me.
04:26 They thought it was big.
04:27 They went to present after we went through 15 rounds.
04:33 Why do I do something for myself that can hurt the country?
04:37 Why create?
04:38 I'm not quite sure those individuals are looking to be productive.
04:45 It concerns me as a Republican based upon watching what they do.
04:50 I want to be a Republican and a conservative that governs.
04:55 And we're going to have to find a way to do that.
04:59 The challenge is we had so many opportunities.
05:02 These are the same people that sat on the floor and criticized me that we didn't get
05:07 all 12 spending bills done, but we first had to do a debt ceiling that they didn't support.
05:14 They held up every appropriation bill in the summer because they wouldn't let it come through.
05:18 After the debt ceiling, they stopped us from doing anything on the floor.
05:20 When we had a continuing resolution that would do something on the border, I listened to
05:24 one talk about how it made him think about the border and when he voted against it.
05:30 And then they wanted to challenge me because I worked with the other side so America could
05:35 go forward and government could stay open.
05:37 You know, if you have to lose for something, I will always lose for the country.
05:45 It is a much better battle to have.
05:55 Change the rules.
05:56 Do you think I let it?
06:00 I mean, for the whole point, I mean, if you talk about like a Gates, Gates came to the
06:07 whole conference and said, we will never use this.
06:09 We'll never use this.
06:10 I mean, this is a man that sat there on the 14th vote and said, okay, I'm going to vote
06:17 for you next time and falls back and not.
06:19 So I mean, it's just the trustworthiness of a lot of individuals.
06:23 It makes it difficult, but I do not think regardless of who the speaker is, that you
06:28 should have that rule.
06:30 You know, everybody had it but Pelosi, but it was never used and still started getting
06:34 used against Boehner.
06:36 And if the entire, if you can always count on the other party to vote in the block against
06:43 it, then you're allowing four to five people to control whatever.
06:49 So it doesn't matter even if you have 96%.
06:53 So that is not a government that works.
06:56 That is chaotic.
06:57 Okay, go right ahead.
06:58 I don't think it says about the Republican party.
07:12 I think it says something about some people who are not a conservative.
07:16 I mean, if you were conservative and you only had one entity making the battle and you vote
07:21 against securing the border, you vote against cutting fund, this wasteful spending, and
07:29 then you partner with all the Democrats.
07:31 Now you'll phrase it all the other different ways.
07:33 That's not a conservative.
07:35 Look, you all know Matt Gaetz.
07:41 You know, it was personal.
07:43 It had nothing to do about spending.
07:45 It had nothing to do about everything he accused somebody of he was doing.
07:50 It all was about getting attention from you.
07:53 I mean, we're getting email fundraisers from him as he's doing it.
07:59 Join in quickly.
08:01 That's not governing.
08:03 That's not becoming of a member of Congress.
08:07 And regardless of what you think, I've seen the text.
08:09 It was all about his ethics, but that's all right.
08:13 [inaudible]
08:14 No, I said, he asked about that.
08:19 I said, I haven't thought about that.
08:20 I said, yeah.
08:21 And then just over your face, he was like, he said the institution is--
08:24 Look, look, look, look, no, no, no.
08:26 I'm not going to blame anybody.
08:29 There's not blame anywhere.
08:31 Look, I give it as good as I get it, right?
08:34 So it's, you know the challenge.
08:37 I knew going in, you would take a poll all the time.
08:40 Is he going to get thrown out this week?
08:42 But you know what?
08:44 If I lose my job over doing what I truly believe what's right, I'm very at peace with it.
08:49 You asked earlier like when did I decide?
08:52 I knew they would make the motion on me.
08:54 It didn't make one bit of difference.
08:57 I felt very comfortable in that decision.
08:59 And I think the American public believed that decision was right.
09:05 That's the conference's decision.
09:06 [inaudible]
09:07 No, no, no, no, no, no.
09:22 There's a lot of great people in conference.
09:24 There's always other people to do jobs.
09:26 It is amazing the talent that we have.
09:29 And the one thing I've always hoped as speaker that we lifted more of that talent up.
09:33 I look at people doing a lot of different jobs and the different opportunities we did
09:39 and they're doing an exceptional job.
09:41 We have so much talent.
09:43 It is remarkable.
09:44 Yes.
09:45 [inaudible]
09:46 I made history, didn't I?
09:47 Well, you did do that.
09:48 But was that kind of always thought that we would inevitably do this because of the
10:07 narrow majority and because the writing might have been on the middle?
10:12 Would any of you think if it took that long and you had one person, you knew it was always
10:16 a possibility.
10:17 So that was fine.
10:18 It didn't bother me.
10:19 It didn't change any of my decision I made.
10:22 But it was interesting.
10:23 I read a tweet the other day of Matt Rosendale.
10:30 He goes to mass every day.
10:31 But you know what he said his prayer was all last year?
10:35 That Republicans didn't have a big victory.
10:37 That they had a narrow victory.
10:39 When you have members like that, that are part of your team, you got a tough team.
10:45 When I was in business, I got to hire and fire who worked with me.
10:49 Somebody else hires them, somebody else fires them.
10:52 My job was to inspire them.
10:54 I think we did some good work and I think we'll continue to do great work.
10:57 Yes, sir.
10:58 [inaudible]
10:59 Eric Cantor, yeah.
11:00 [inaudible]
11:01 We're not that young anymore.
11:02 [inaudible]
11:03 No, let's be fair and it's wrong that you ever say.
11:22 They are not conservatives.
11:25 They voted against, one, the greatest cut in history that Congress has ever voted for
11:30 $2 trillion.
11:31 They voted against work requirements.
11:34 They voted against NEPA reform.
11:35 They voted against border security.
11:37 They voted against, they don't get to say they're conservative because they're angry
11:41 and they're chaotic.
11:43 That's not the party I belong to.
11:45 The party of Reagan was if you believed in your principles that you could govern in a
11:50 conservative way.
11:52 They are not conservatives and they do not have the right to have the title.
11:55 Yes.
11:56 [inaudible]
12:05 Why do you say that?
12:07 Because your question doesn't hold true to history.
12:10 When Donald Trump was president, we did tax reform.
12:14 You can look at all of our different successes.
12:18 You may dislike the policy, but we've been very successful.
12:23 You watched the Abraham Accords.
12:26 You can go victory after victory.
12:28 The price of gas, we were energy independent at the time.
12:32 We had more businesses growing at the time.
12:35 We didn't have to evacuate our embassies.
12:41 It's easy on its merit to see the difference of what Biden has destroyed America to what
12:46 the policies we were able to create.
12:47 Yes, sir.
12:48 [inaudible]
12:55 No, we didn't ask for anything.
12:58 [inaudible]
13:03 No, no, no.
13:04 I have a lot of respect for Huckie.
13:07 He wants to win the majority.
13:09 I heard what they said in conference.
13:15 Why would they vote for me if I've won every time as leader?
13:20 I raised 70% of all the money.
13:23 It's an opportunity for them.
13:24 The real question to the eight, why would you enable and allow the Democrats to do it?
13:30 That's the question.
13:31 Yes.
13:32 [inaudible]
13:33 What concessions did I make?
13:34 [inaudible]
13:35 To what?
13:36 [inaudible]
13:37 Look, I'm not going to, no, I'm a Republican.
13:52 I win by Republicans and I lose by Republicans.
13:55 It's not that way.
13:57 And so did I work with, I believe you should work across the aisle.
14:01 I worked across the aisle at times.
14:03 Do I want to make the bill the most conservative possible?
14:05 Yes, that's the goal.
14:07 It's difficult when you can't get 218 for the conservative bill.
14:12 And then they want to challenge you when you went and solved and kept the government open.
14:15 Yes, sir.
14:16 [inaudible]
14:17 We did pretty well, didn't we?
14:18 [inaudible]
14:19 Other people can do the job.
14:20 You know, it's interesting.
14:31 I've never received so many texts from so many senators about how big a play we just
14:39 did the other day or how many congratulations about the debt ceiling and the other.
14:43 I mean, if I would go back to the days before the debt ceiling, none of you even thought
14:47 I'd get a meeting with the president.
14:50 All of you would ask me, is it going to fall off the cliff?
14:52 End of the day, we worked an agreement out.
14:56 Some of those people got mad about it, but two thirds, the highest number of Republicans
14:59 ever voted for a debt ceiling when you had.
15:02 And you only negotiated based upon the deal we went.
15:05 That was the moment they wanted to go after, and that's what they continued to follow.
15:11 [inaudible]
15:12 You should.
15:13 Look, government's designed that you have to have compromise.
15:20 You can't get everything that you want.
15:22 You know, you've got a house, you've got a Senate, but you had more questions.
15:28 [inaudible]
15:29 In which way?
15:30 [inaudible]
15:31 In which word did I not keep?
15:43 Name one thing I did not keep.
15:44 [inaudible]
15:45 From, oh, no, no, no, tell me.
15:49 What did Gates say?
15:50 What did I not keep in Gates' mind?
15:51 Because Gates had never been a part of a discussion.
15:54 Just because Gates said something, don't believe it's true.
15:57 I haven't heard him say one true thing yet.
15:59 [inaudible]
16:00 On what?
16:01 On what?
16:02 On the debt ceiling.
16:03 That is not true.
16:04 So, no, no, no.
16:07 If you're going to ask the question, you're going to say it.
16:09 Tell me how I did something different on the debt ceiling bill.
16:12 Any of you.
16:13 Tell me what I did different on the debt ceiling that I didn't keep my word.
16:20 Is it not a ceiling?
16:21 Okay.
16:22 This is the problem.
16:23 Okay.
16:24 No, no, no, no, no, no.
16:25 If you're going to get me to spending levels, that's the maximum amount you can spend.
16:29 This is what is wrong with Washington.
16:33 Because it's the height that you can spend, you can also spend less.
16:37 We're a different body.
16:38 So did, does any of you believe then the Senate broke their word on the debt ceiling?
16:43 Because they spent more than the limit.
16:45 But somehow I'm wrong because I want to save the taxpayers more money.
16:48 We're our own body.
16:50 I have two children.
16:52 If I give them each $100 for dinner and one spends $100 and one spends $80, am I going
16:57 to yell at the one who spent $80 and say, "Oh my God, you've got to spend it all"?
17:02 It's not our money.
17:04 And why am I getting criticized because I'm fighting for the American people that we can
17:08 eliminate waste?
17:09 And you know what?
17:10 We're our own body.
17:12 So if we can pass the bills and the Senate can pass the bills, but they pass them higher,
17:16 but they haven't passed anything, somehow I'm wrong.
17:19 I kept my word.
17:20 I did not spend over the limit.
17:23 They broke their word.
17:24 >> You don't feel you're too transactional.
17:26 >> Okay, you used the word transactional.
17:28 How was I transactional?
17:29 If you ask a question, I want you to show an example.
17:33 Give me an example.
17:34 >> The definition is basically this for that.
17:37 >> So what did I do this for that?
17:39 >> Well, on the new trend, on the CR, you're just talking about digging in, digging out,
17:47 and then finally putting it out.
17:50 >> No, no, you're making no sense.
17:52 What transactional did I?
17:53 No, no, I did no transactional.
17:54 I tried to pass a conservative stopgap measure that secured the border and actually cut spending.
18:02 When that didn't go, the only bill that was going was sitting over in the Senate that
18:07 had a stopgap measure, disaster, and Ukraine.
18:12 I made a decision as Speaker to keep the government open, and I put something on the floor.
18:18 And let me get this straight to all of you, because someone said, "72-hour rule?
18:23 I'm the only one who's lived by it.
18:25 We're the ones who created it.
18:26 We never broke the 72-hour rule.
18:28 The bill I put on the floor was a suspension, which takes a two-thirds vote."
18:33 And you know what?
18:34 You can put a suspension on a rule, and you can waive it based upon the leadership.
18:39 That's exactly what I followed.
18:41 So my question to you is, when somebody says something, don't take it that it's gospel.
18:46 Why don't you ask them to point?
18:49 When Gates said, "I didn't follow," he said, "Show me one place."
18:52 You saw Thomas Massey, who is the hardest-lined person, say, "We followed all the rules all
19:01 the time."
19:02 That he was in the room when the agreement was made, and then we surpassed what we said
19:07 we would do.
19:10 So if you ask me a question, I'm going to answer back, because when it's not true, it's
19:14 not fair.
19:15 [Question from audience]
19:22 They always float some of the names.
19:24 [Laughter]
19:25 Yes, you have.
19:26 Okay.
19:27 First of all, you've got to be in the institution to understand how it works.
19:32 And look, it's legal to have somebody out.
19:35 I just do not think that would ever be good.
19:39 Do I regret?
19:40 You start with this question.
19:41 [Laughter]
19:42 I don't think you've ever been positive on it yet, but come on.
19:44 I have high hope.
19:45 This is going to be exciting.
19:46 [Laughter]
19:47 That's a good thing.
19:48 [Question from audience]
19:49 Okay, let's get through this.
20:05 I personally like Tim Burchett, and I call Tim Burchett because I read his quote.
20:09 And Tim Burchett's a friend of mine, which I'm kind of shocked by this.
20:13 And Tim Burchett, in his quote, said, "He's leaning towards no, he's on CNN, but I'm going
20:18 to pray about it."
20:19 So I pick up the phone and call him, because I didn't think he was already there.
20:22 I said, "Tim, I read your quote.
20:25 You said you're going to pray about it.
20:26 I wanted to talk to you about it."
20:27 And somehow he construes that, "I'm a Christian.
20:29 I'm not going to offend somebody."
20:30 I simply read his quote back.
20:32 I thought there was still an opening, and I wanted to talk to him about it.
20:36 He never mentioned anything when we were communicating like that.
20:39 And he said, "Nancy Mace is a whole other story."
20:41 [LAUGHTER]
20:42 OK.
20:43 Let's just be honest here.
20:47 This is the one that-- I just got a text from her primary opponent saying, "Why'd you spend
20:52 $3 million?"
20:55 I called Nancy Mace's chief of staff yesterday.
20:59 And--
21:00 Why's that?
21:01 Because I called the chief of staff.
21:02 And the way you used it all worked.
21:03 Well, she was on The View saying I didn't keep my word, so I didn't know what to-- listen.
21:09 I can't say this in class, but OK.
21:12 But so--
21:13 [LAUGHTER]
21:14 I--
21:15 [LAUGHTER]
21:16 No.
21:17 You'll keep it among yourselves, right?
21:18 This is my favorite, but I don't want it.
21:19 Wait till my book.
21:20 [LAUGHTER]
21:21 No.
21:22 So I call her chief of staff because-- I don't know.
21:23 Maybe I don't connect her with someone else.
21:24 But I just said to him, I said, "Can you please tell me?
21:25 I don't understand.
21:26 Where have I not kept my word?"
21:27 You know what her chief of staff said?
21:28 "You have kept your word, 100 percent."
21:29 I said, "Well, I don't understand.
21:30 I don't understand.
21:31 I don't understand.
21:32 I don't understand."
21:33 And he said, "Well, I don't understand.
21:34 I don't understand.
21:35 I don't understand."
21:36 You know what her chief of staff said?
21:37 "You have kept your word, 100 percent."
21:42 Members come to me, and one thing, I don't like the idea that a member comes and tries
21:46 to leverage me.
21:47 I don't go for that.
21:48 You know, I'll vote for the bill you do.
21:50 That's not well.
21:51 But if you have a problem with the bill, I want to help you.
21:53 But I can't sit there and write your entire bill and work it all the way through committee.
21:58 We just got our one bill out.
21:59 And it came back, the other bill, doing on guns, it just wasn't working.
22:02 Do you want to do something else?
22:03 We did something else.
22:04 I just don't appreciate -- look, I bite my lip.
22:09 I let people say things that are not true, but it's not right.
22:14 It is not right.
22:15 Her chief of staff told all of us, "We have kept every single one of our words."
22:21 And he said he's told her that, too.
22:23 Now if somehow he gets fired, I'll still give him a job.
22:26 Last question.
22:27 I'm being too honest now?
22:28 Your argument about the pulse of the institution might have resonated with more than the fact
22:29 that it's not really working.
22:30 Do you regret -- Oh, my God.
22:37 No, but do I regret the Democrats playing games with January 6th?
22:43 Yes.
22:44 They played so many politics.
22:46 What they did to this institution and what they did to this building was so wrong.
22:50 The idea that they put magnetometers there, the idea that they would go to any Republican
22:55 member that they had been co-sponsors of bills and they no longer could be a co-sponsor,
23:00 that they would fine members $5,000 if the magnetometers went on, but when Nancy went
23:06 around it or Clyburn was supposed to get a fine, it all got waived.
23:10 The idea that bills didn't have to go through committee, the idea is they created a select
23:15 committee on January 6th and they wouldn't let the minority appoint who to do it.
23:20 I'm trying to change all that and bring the body back so they can work together, but I
23:25 think they did a lot of damage to it.
23:26 Yes, sir.
23:27 How is the Trump past the appropriations bill, one by one?
23:30 Were you having a connection to the process now that you're not in the Trump era?
23:34 That's always been my goal.
23:38 I just talked to Mitch yesterday and I had to call in to Schumer and I talked to Hakeem
23:45 last night.
23:46 What I was going to do is, because we had passed, we had taken five up, we passed four
23:50 of them.
23:51 I was going to start individually pre-conferencing so we can get this work done.
23:56 I'm concerned with the timeline now.
23:59 Look, I truly believe at the end of the day we can get this all worked out.
24:04 I do believe at the end of the day we can find common ground and do something about
24:07 the border.
24:09 I don't know if this has caused problems.
24:12 I was doing Squawk today and they had the other TV on, MSNBC.
24:15 The first time I saw MSNBC running a whole story about the border with people just walking
24:20 across.
24:21 Pritzker sent a letter yesterday about the immigration.
24:25 Massachusetts governor, state of emergency.
24:28 Connecticut.
24:29 Everybody's becoming the number one.
24:31 They cannot ignore it.
24:33 I had told my members all before, I heard Gates say something on the floor, that, "Oh
24:37 my God, Kevin asked for a stopgap measure when he came back."
24:40 The whole plan was because those eight and a few more had held up passing any of these
24:45 probes bills all summer, I was going to do just what we did Saturday, a stopgap measure
24:51 with disaster.
24:54 I had gone out to Hawaii, we looked at what happened in Florida.
24:57 Those people shouldn't be held back.
24:59 We could finish doing it all individually, but somehow they think that's a dirty word.
25:03 Have you spoken with your family since the summer of 1972?
25:10 Oh yeah, we've texted.
25:12 My poor mom.
25:13 Have you guys met my mom yet?
25:15 My mom's fabulous.
25:16 My mom's this Italian lady.
25:19 She calls me the other day.
25:21 She said, "Oh."
25:22 She gets worried, she reads what you guys write.
25:25 She says, "I'm so nervous, I'm so nervous."
25:28 I said, "Why, Mom?
25:29 It's all right."
25:30 She said, "Last night, she went in the house and she left her car running in the garage
25:33 all night long."
25:35 My mom only fills her car up once a week at Costco on Wednesdays, then calls me because
25:39 the price ... She still lives in California, the price of gas is so high.
25:42 She asked me what I'm going to do about it.
25:47 I think this job is always harder on your loved ones than you yourself.
25:52 It'll be okay.
25:53 Did you make a side deal with the White House on the credit?
25:59 No.
26:00 Unequivocally no.
26:01 Unequivocally no.
26:02 Oh, well, if you want to categorize this, let me see, because people think it's a big
26:05 side deal.
26:06 I did tell when we were doing the stopgap measure, there was a concern in there, does
26:14 it have transferability on money?
26:18 I believed and my staff believed it did, but what I did say to the White House, if it does
26:22 not, if you think some way it doesn't do it the way you want, I will fix that.
26:26 I did say that and I did say I'd do it.
26:28 Look, I support arming Ukraine.
26:31 That doesn't mean sending them cash, but arming Ukraine.
26:33 I have been on the White House, even before they sent this supplemental, I said, "You
26:37 guys are doing it all wrong by just sending us a supplemental."
26:41 I think the President is failing here, because he's not telling the American public what
26:47 is the mission.
26:50 We have a lot of members who are Navy SEALs who've been in theater and F-18 pilots, and
26:56 they're frustrated.
26:57 They want to support, but they don't want to support an ever-ending war.
27:00 They want to see what's going on here.
27:02 I've really been on the White House.
27:04 You've got to come down and talk to everybody, but you should listen to them and the prospects.
27:07 I'm really concerned, though, long-term.
27:11 What's happening around looks a lot like the 1930s.
27:16 A lot of actions that Putin takes is very similar to Hitler.
27:21 If you are history buffs, you'll know Hitler served in the World War I Army.
27:28 He hated that his country collapsed, and they signed the Treaty of Versailles.
27:35 What did he do?
27:36 He ran and created a new party and ran in democracy again and again and again until
27:43 he won.
27:44 When he won, what did he do?
27:46 He took the freedoms away.
27:47 Then he rebuilt his military, and even though it went against the Treaty of Versailles,
27:52 the world power said nothing.
27:55 Then what did he do?
27:57 He took part of Czechoslovakia.
27:58 He took Austria.
28:01 Then he told the entire world he was going to take the rest of it on a given day.
28:06 Now the world power could not sit back, so in come Neville Chamberlain.
28:11 What had happened?
28:13 Hitler loved it because he was equal now to the world power, but he saw weakness.
28:18 Neville Chamberlain made him sign a piece of paper and told us, "Peace for our time."
28:22 Then he invaded Poland the next year, and World War II began.
28:26 If you study Putin, Putin didn't serve in the Soviet Union Army, but he served in the
28:32 KGB.
28:33 He hated that his country collapsed to the west.
28:37 He hated it so much, when Gorbachev died, he still didn't attend the funeral.
28:41 What did he do?
28:42 He rebuilt his military, but he learned something.
28:46 A military makes you strong, but dependency makes you weak.
28:51 He rebuilt it by selling his natural gas to Europe.
28:57 But when his pipeline that went through Ukraine, when they changed power, he didn't want to
29:01 pay, so he proposed a new pipeline, Nord Stream 2.
29:06 Everybody loved it.
29:07 America at least sanctioned it.
29:08 Merkel said, "Great."
29:10 But what did he do when he rebuilt his military?
29:12 Invaded Georgia, took part of the Donbass, took Crimea.
29:15 The world powers really didn't say much.
29:18 But then when he parked 100,000 troops on the border of Ukraine, and after he watched
29:24 Afghanistan collapse, that's going to give us challenges for the next two decades.
29:30 He got his meeting with the world power.
29:34 In comes Biden.
29:36 What does Biden do?
29:38 He lifts the sanctions off Nord Stream 2, but asks nothing for it.
29:43 Putin misreads that and invades Ukraine, thinking it would collapse in two weeks based upon
29:49 Afghanistan.
29:51 But now we have something even worse that's happened in the 1930s.
29:57 Before Hitler moved, he created an axis of power, right?
30:02 With Italy and Japan, all countries who wanted to expand their sphere of influence.
30:07 Before Putin invaded Afghanistan, what did he do?
30:10 Create an axis of power with China, North Korea, and Iran.
30:15 All countries who want to expand their sphere of influence.
30:18 So what we do here is very important.
30:22 We can't sit there and just collapse it because it'll look from Afghanistan.
30:28 We can't just throw money at it.
30:31 If we provide the weapons to be successful, but why it's so much personal to me, in 2014
30:38 or 2015, when Putin invaded the first time, I went to Ukraine.
30:45 And then I came back.
30:46 And I took a bipartisan group, and we went to the White House.
30:49 And we sat in the Situation Room with then the Vice President, who was in charge of Ukraine,
30:55 Joe Biden.
30:56 And we advocated, let's sell them javelins so they can stop tanks so they wouldn't invade.
31:03 He said no.
31:04 And he said, Europeans wouldn't want it.
31:06 I said, well, why don't we sell them to him now and keep them in Poland then?
31:12 Didn't think that was right.
31:13 And I fear of making the same mistake twice and sending the wrong messages.
31:20 But the thing I would tell everybody is, more Americans are dying on the southern border
31:25 than are dying in Ukraine.
31:28 Each and every day, a plane of Americans crash from fentanyl.
31:35 And I don't understand how the White House continues to ignore it.
31:39 My whole plan, and I've been up front from the very beginning what I would say, if you
31:43 want anything on Ukraine, we've got to do something with the border.
31:47 Mr. President, you mentioned earlier you regret helping to get some of these guys.
31:53 I was joking.
31:54 They're all right.
31:55 Are you supporting primary challenges to any of these American presidents?
31:58 Well, you know, one of the things, when I was running for Speaker, they said I couldn't
32:02 get involved in primaries.
32:03 But I told the conference, I'm a free agent now, aren't I?
32:07 I think I'm pretty good at electing people.
32:08 Mr. Grudnoff, when was the last time you spoke to President Biden and do you expect to now?
32:14 You know, I was thinking about that.
32:15 It's been a long, long time.
32:19 I couldn't remember when I spoke to him last.
32:23 You know, I've worked with a couple different presidents.
32:27 I would have thought, I thought we had built some respect for one another going through
32:33 the debt ceiling.
32:34 I know he got frustrated with me.
32:38 And I have a great deal of respect for the people in his office I worked for.
32:42 Resheti and all them, I think they're, look, we have different philosophy of Schwanza than
32:47 the others.
32:48 They're smart.
32:49 I respect them.
32:50 They were honest.
32:52 And I thought we made a good agreement.
32:55 As a president, I would engage more.
32:58 I think being hands on, look, you're the leader of the free world.
33:03 All the other presidents, I think bringing people together is a better way, talking through
33:08 stuff.
33:09 When you're in those rooms, you can talk about all sorts of things.
33:10 Do you think opening an impeachment inquiry into him and the behavior of his son might
33:11 contribute to that?
33:12 To what part?
33:13 What part, like you guys are not communicating very much?
33:20 No, let's talk about that.
33:22 You guys play, and remember what impeachment inquiry is, is simply the ability to give
33:28 the House, Republicans and Democrats, the power when you request for information.
33:33 So if you were lawmakers, and I hold you in high esteem because you are investigative
33:39 reporters in a minute, you're supposed to cover this stuff.
33:43 When I came into power, I didn't know any of this.
33:46 I did not know when he was vice president that his family created 20 shell companies.
33:52 I had no idea about that.
33:54 I'm not saying that's wrong.
33:56 I did not know they got 16 of the 17 payments from Romania while he was vice president,
34:02 and he was supposed to be in charge of Romania.
34:03 I didn't know that.
34:04 I had no idea when a whistleblower came to us and said that the FBI has an informant
34:12 they still pay who claims that the president was bribed by $5 million.
34:18 It was interesting.
34:19 We had to fight to get that document.
34:21 When we got that document, it said it would be hard to find because he has a lot of shell
34:25 companies.
34:26 Then, I had no idea that IRS agents would come to us.
34:32 How would I know?
34:33 They'd come to us and say, "Look, we've worked for 16 years.
34:37 We don't have any political basis on the other side, but we're concerned with what's happened
34:43 here."
34:44 That DOJ allowed the statute of limitations to run out.
34:49 That they weren't allowed to interview Hunter because when they went and told the FBI, they
34:55 told them.
34:56 Then, they even told the inaugural committee, I didn't know how that played in, that the
35:00 DOJ would call Hunter Biden's attorneys and tell them that they didn't even know about
35:05 a storage unit with all the papers before they could go there.
35:09 The president told us he never had a meeting.
35:12 He never talked to his son.
35:13 Look, when he said he never talked to his son, I didn't believe that.
35:15 I don't think it's wrong if you talk to your son.
35:17 I want you to talk to your kids about anything.
35:19 It doesn't mean you're influencing something.
35:21 He literally, I had no idea that the partner to Hunter Biden that also served on the Ukrainian
35:29 Energy Board said they would literally call in the meetings.
35:33 Then he said that they were getting a lot of pressure, Burisma, to do something about
35:39 the Ukraine prosecutor.
35:41 I did know the president told the entire country that he withheld a billion dollars of American
35:45 taxpayer money to get rid of the prosecutor.
35:49 Then we found out that the president not only called in the meetings, that he went to Cafe
35:53 Milano.
35:54 He went to Cafe Milano more times and met with the foreign business partners of Hunter
35:59 Biden than he has gone to the border in 50 years.
36:01 With each meeting that you went to Cafe Milano, and I've never had this happen.
36:05 I've been to Cafe Milano, but I've never gotten a new Porsche the next day.
36:08 I never got $3 million wired to me from a Russian oligarch.
36:13 If you knew all of that, would you at least say, "Hmm, I think there's more thing."
36:21 We've never asked for the tax or the bank statements of the president, of Hunter, or
36:28 anybody else.
36:29 All 20 shell companies had credit cards that were being paid.
36:32 This laptop that was supposed to be Russian that we now found out was Hunter, in there
36:37 he did say his father would take the money from him.
36:43 We did find out that the president, I didn't know this when I became speaker, used another
36:48 name while he was vice president for emails.
36:51 In one of the emails, it said that it only went to him and his son, Hunter, and it was
36:58 about a phone call he was going to have with the president of Ukraine.
37:04 If you knew all of that, would you say, "Oh, I don't have any more questions."
37:09 Would you at least, as a lawmaker, and you have a role here, wouldn't you at least say,
37:15 "Okay, we're going to have to go get some more documents.
37:17 If you're going to get more documents, I just want to make sure if they're going to fight
37:21 it and string everything out that we can get it."
37:24 That's all impeachment inquiry.
37:26 If that made the president upset, maybe he shouldn't have lied to us from the beginning.
37:29 Yes.
37:30 Former President Trump was very active in supporting you when you won the Apple calling
37:31 efforts.
37:32 Mr. Gates, I know you keep saying Mr. Gates is not telling the truth on several things.
37:33 You claim today that the president's home party was supportive of what he was doing
37:34 to remove you.
37:35 What was your experience in talking to the president?
37:47 I doubt if that's true.
37:49 Yes, ma'am.
37:50 You spoke about inculcating progress and the impact of that on the Supreme Court majority
37:51 this year.
37:52 Last year, are you nervous that because of the events today, they'll invite you to the
37:53 conference?
37:54 Is that the conference that was supposed to be-
38:03 Look, I didn't say that.
38:04 I was just told that by Democrats in their conference.
38:07 That's what helped them make their decision.
38:09 A lot of their front line, I think their quote was, "Why would we help the person that becomes
38:14 our executioner?"
38:15 Do you think that today's event will hurt the conference's chances of expanding the
38:16 majority of the Supreme Court?
38:17 No, I'm sure Matt Gates will give the NRCSC a lot of money.
38:18 He raised a lot of money.
38:19 You mentioned that in question.
38:20 Gates is kind of frozen into personal life.
38:21 Do you think he has a fresh mind?
38:22 I'm not quite sure.
38:23 I don't need to find out either.
38:24 Judge me by my enemies.
38:25 Have you spoken to the former president at any point today?
38:26 No.
38:27 Do you think that much of the area of strategy that wasn't in the past that was your intent,
38:52 was that your intent?
39:02 I think that was a lot of the area of strategy that was in the past.
39:03 I think that was a lot of the area of strategy that was in the past.
39:04 I think that was a lot of the area of strategy that was in the past.
39:05 I think that was a lot of the area of strategy that was in the past.
39:06 I think that was a lot of the area of strategy that was in the past.
39:07 I think that was a lot of the area of strategy that was in the past.
39:08 I think that was a lot of the area of strategy that was in the past.
39:09 I think that was a lot of the area of strategy that was in the past.
39:10 I think that was a lot of the area of strategy that was in the past.
39:11 I think that was a lot of the area of strategy that was in the past.
39:12 I think that was a lot of the area of strategy that was in the past.
39:13 I think that was a lot of the area of strategy that was in the past.
39:36 I think that was a lot of the area of strategy that was in the past.
39:59 I think that was a lot of the area of strategy that was in the past.