'Always Thought This Couldn't Happen Here, But It Has': McClintock Compares US To Banana Republics

3 months ago

At a House Judiciary Committee hearing held last week, Rep. Tom McClintock (R-CA) spoke about New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

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Transcript

00:00without objection thank you gentlemen from california is recognized for five minutes

00:03thank you mr chairman of course the the leftist lawfare didn't start here uh i think it started

00:08when the democrats used the irs to target tea party volunteers for harassment and intimidation

00:15in advance of the 2012 presidential election in the 2016 presidential election the fbi the doj

00:21and our intelligence agencies used their power to legitimize the lie that had been concocted

00:28by the hillary clinton campaign that trump was colluding with the russians despite knowing this

00:33was a lie these agencies used their powers to legitimize it to authorize spying on the trump

00:39campaign and to terrorize its supporters and when this failed they continued to pursue it

00:44to undermine the trump administration questioned the legitimacy of the election

00:49and and shook this country apart for more than two years before the lie was finally

00:53fully exposed to the public thanks to the inspector general's reports and we have the

00:582020 presidential election hunter biden laptop contained emails that clearly documented

01:04long-standing influence peddling scheme involving the biden family in which millions of dollars

01:09were paid yet 52 high-ranking intelligence agency officials signed a letter circulated

01:15by the biden campaign calling it russian disinformation and although the doj had that

01:21computer in its possession and knew it was authentic they suggested otherwise and then

01:26used their power to pressure social media companies to censor and suppress that story

01:31pollsters have reported that action alone could have decisively influenced the 2020 election

01:37and now we have this and i'm sorry to inform the ranking member but jack smith was one of

01:42the principal figures in the irs scandal he had a history of prosecutorial misconduct culminating

01:48with unanimous reversal by the u.s supreme court he yet he was the one appointed by the

01:54biden administration to try to put their chief political opponent in jail biden's attorney

02:00general personally approved a raid on a former president's home despite strenuous opposition

02:06by career doj officials and by the local field office that would normally have had jurisdiction

02:12alvin bragg who campaigned by boasting he'd prosecute donald trump was joined by the number

02:17three official in the biden justice department nathan wade named prosecutor by his paramour

02:24atlanta d.a spent eight hours consulting with the white house council at the white house

02:32before filing these felony charges not to mention the multiple failed attempts by democrats to throw

02:37trump off the ballot this administration is confederates have broken every political norm

02:43every civil tradition every due process protection that shielded americans from the convulsions

02:49suffered by banana republics and we can now clearly see the full power of leftist lawfare

02:55we always thought this couldn't happen here but it has and my question is is what can be done by

03:01congress first of all to close this pandora's box and assure that it is never opened again mr bailey

03:09i think this body has a duty to erect a wall of separation between tech and state to prevent

03:15government censorship of conservative voices on big tech social media platforms as you pointed out

03:19the deep state has actively suppressed information that interfered with the 2020 election i think

03:26that that will continue to happen as we move into 2024 and i think the distinguished members

03:30absolutely right that we we've got to stop looking at lawfare in terms of trees and start seeing the

03:35forest for what it is it's censorship it's civil suits it's president trump being unconstitutionally

03:40stricken from the ballot and states it's uh now criminal charges it's the turning of the most

03:46terrifying powers that government possesses against its own citizens to influence elections

03:51and this has been going on now through several cycles and now it's getting uh to a whole new

03:57level mr trainer thank you for the question um i think i think it really comes down to the fact

04:02that we have to get away from allowing government to be the weapon to interfere in political

04:07participation i had i had the opportunity uh last year to testify before the house administration

04:13committee on this very issue of how complaints are filed with the federal election commission

04:17and used to do nothing but go investigate political opponents under the guise of the federal

04:22government conducting that a legitimate investigation and they ultimately turn out to be

04:27nothing at all in fact the the most infamous one that i talked about was a gentleman who spent

04:32two hundred three hundred and forty eight dollars on a facebook page the allegation against him was

04:38that he had spent twenty three thousand dollars on a facebook page and he spent three and a half

04:42years being investigated right and word gets out to anybody else don't even go near the political

04:47process because you will expose yourself to this kind of liability i know tea party volunteers

04:52today won't go near politics for fear of invoking the the harassment of the irs what really frightens

04:59me is what happens to our country when trump if trump narrowly loses the election and the cases

05:06then overturned and repudiated and exposed by the higher courts um that could tear our country

05:13apart miss foley final word well i mean i think there are a few things that at a minimum should

05:19be done one is to defund um the district attorneys and actors who engage in these um these nefarious

05:26acts uh two i think the congress needs to use its oversight authority it has clear oversight

05:32authority under the civil rights act to um to make sure that law is not weaponized um to prevent

05:39people from exercising their first amendment freedoms and other constitutional rights um and

05:45i think that's really a pattern that's going on today i think there's mass intimidation through

05:49lawfare and other means to intimidate uh especially those on the right from speaking their mind from

05:55gathering from assembling from protesting um and uh i think also we're to a certain extent you know

06:03we're late to the game as as as conservatives and republicans but we have to start engaging

06:07in lawfare of our own i think there's uh various ways for example that mr trump uh if he uh wants

06:13to and my time is up but i hope we don't do that we must never allow the left become our teachers

06:18well but there's there's good lawfare and there's

'Always Thought This Couldn't Happen Here, But It Has': McClintock Compares US To Banana Republics

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