Latest / INSIGHT TODAY / Rep. Massie 'Speaker Johnson blocked Hegseth impeachment vote'

Transcript

Rep. Massie 'Speaker Johnson blocked Hegseth impeachment vote' · INSIGHT TODAY

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: House Speaker Mike Johnson has sent lawmakers home for a
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: seven-week recess early out of the midterm campaign. That departure
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: is one day earlier than planned. It staves off a
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: vote to impeach the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, that was
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: brought by a fellow Republican. Thomas Massey made the unprecedented
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: and surprise move yesterday to force that vote over how
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: the secretary has handled the Iran war. He had wanted
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: to catch leadership off guard so they would be forced
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: to call a vote, but by skipping town a day early,
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: that legislative clock on that vote has now been paused.
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: On the way out the door, Congressman Massey slammed his
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: party's leader for the delay.
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: We may only be the majority for six more weeks.
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: Why would we be canceling days? When the country is burning,
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: the inflation is rampant, there are things we could do here.
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: Why would we cancel our own majority?
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: I can't figure that out.
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: But I did figure out why we canceled tomorrow. Tomorrow
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: would be the vote on impeaching Secretary of Defense Peter
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: Brian Hegseth. Where else can you get a job that
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: pays almost $ 15, 000 a month and benefits and some months
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: you don't even have to come to work?
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: And Congressman Massey is back as my source tonight. Thank you, sir,
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: for being here. Do you believe that it was because
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: of your introduction of those articles of impeachment is the
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: reason lawmakers went home early today?
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: I know it was.
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: Here's why.
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: It's actually bad politics to leave this impeachment hanging over
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: Pete Hegseth's head for eight weeks. And if there was
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: any other reason that they canceled tomorrow's day of session,
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: they could have had the Hegseth vote tonight. Because the
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: rules say that he has to have the vote within
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: 48 hours. They don't say he has to wait 48 hours.
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: So he could have had the vote yesterday as soon
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: as I introduced the articles. He could have done it
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: today before he adjourned Congress. But he called us off tomorrow.
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: I'm calling it the Hegseth holiday because it's just one day. Now,
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: the two weeks he cut off the calendar, I'm calling
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: that the Epstein recess because that's an entire recess, two
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: weeks of our majority.
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: What would have happened, do you think, if they had
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: voted on it tonight?
• 2:14
  Speaker 4: That's a great question.
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: The fact that they didn't vote on it tells me
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: that they did a whip check and they probably found
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: that there were some other Republicans besides me that were
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: going to vote for this or at least didn't want
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: to be on the record supporting Hegseth.
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: You know, one of your colleagues, a congressman from North Carolina,
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: a Republican, Greg Murphy, said, quote, sadly, we have members
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: of Congress who didn't get picked by their fifth grade
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: kickball team and are taking out their frustration on the
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: institution of the House of Representatives. Hashtag move on. He
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: doesn't name you, but do you believe that's directed at you?
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: I made it to sixth grade kickball.
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: Thank you very much.
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: I washed out in the seventh grade. I'm not here
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: to play kickball. Look, I'm here to get stuff done.
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: And he doesn't put his signature on the Epstein discharge petition,
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: but he'll vote for it. Once I lead that bill
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: to the floor, he'll vote for it. He's a follower,
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: not a leader.
• 3:10
  Speaker 4: He was facing an impeachment vote in the House. Speaker
• 3:12
  Speaker 4: Johnson abruptly announced he was sending members home early for
• 3:15
  Speaker 4: their midterm election recess today, postponing any vote on impeachment
• 3:19
  Speaker 4: of Hegseth until after the election. As a former Republican
• 3:22
  Speaker 4: member of Congress, I'm wondering what he made of that move.
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, look, I know exactly what that move
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: is because it's happened a number of times. It's happened
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: a lot under Speaker Johnson because he has such a
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: slim majority. It's because that vote would have passed. Tom
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: Massey created these articles of impeachment. I think there were
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: eight of them against Hegseth and actually didn't tell leadership.
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: So there's a privileged resolution, which means any member can
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: bring it. And he kind of snuck it in, was
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: ready to drop it. Leadership found out about it. And
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: then that is the oldest thing in the playbook is
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: send everybody home early. And, I mean, if you actually
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: look at how many days Congress has been in session
• 4:02
  Speaker 3: this year, it's egregiously low. They're now going home until
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: after the election, despite being here just a week after
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: just coming off of the significant break. So it's a
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: really good job if you can get it because you
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: really don't have to go to work much.
• 4:17
  Speaker 4: But do you think that impeachment resolution would have passed?
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: It really seems like it. I think if they knew
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: they had the votes to shoot it down, they would
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: have shot it down because clearly by going home when
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: that thing is introduced, it appears to all of us
• 4:34
  Speaker 3: like it actually would pass.
• 4:37
  Speaker 4: There's enough Republicans who think he's doing a terrible job.
• 4:42
  Speaker 3: I think so. There doesn't need to even be that
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: many Republicans that are willing to vote for an impeachment
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: because they're such a slim majority. But yeah, I think Republicans,
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: if you put them on the polygraph that Hegseth seems
• 4:54
  Speaker 3: so keen on giving, I think they would all fail
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: if they tell you he's doing a good job. But
• 4:59
  Speaker 3: I think there's a few that were willing to put
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: their money where their mouth was and vote for it.
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: And I think Speaker Johnson had to go home. Otherwise,
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: that would be a crazy story to go on for
• 5:08
  Speaker 3: up until Election Day.
• 5:09
  Speaker 5: After his win forcing an Epstein vote, Thomas Massey's really
• 5:12
  Speaker 5: feeling himself, right? He wants, let's just put that out there,
• 5:15
  Speaker 5: he likes to be in front of the camera.
• 5:16
  Speaker 6: Or after losing a primary, he's got nothing to lose.
• 5:19
  Speaker 5: Tell me more. So why do you think Johnson didn't
• 5:21
  Speaker 5: just have the vote?
• 5:22
  Speaker 6: Well, I think it's important. I mean, look, I'm going
• 5:26
  Speaker 6: to take him at his word here because we've got
• 5:29
  Speaker 6: important midterm elections coming up. I'm not sure what else
• 5:32
  Speaker 6: they would have accomplished today. They accomplished the they voted
• 5:37
  Speaker 6: the Russia sanctions bill that got sent to the White
• 5:40
  Speaker 6: House at that point. I think it's sending everyone home
• 5:43
  Speaker 6: to campaign in their districts was a smart, smart move,
• 5:46
  Speaker 6: whether or not this Hegseth bill by Massey got put
• 5:50
  Speaker 6: forward or not. So that's what I think happened last night.
• 5:52
  Speaker 7: And speaking of the YOLO conference or caucus, you have Massey.
• 5:56
  Speaker 4: I had news, but I'm glad.
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: Glad you brought it up.
• 5:58
  Speaker 7: You have him doing what he wants to do. But
• 6:00
  Speaker 7: a lot of House Republicans can't because they're facing very
• 6:04
  Speaker 7: tight reelection bids. There was also a vote yesterday on
• 6:07
  Speaker 7: the war powers resolution. And you saw seven Republicans vote
• 6:11
  Speaker 7: with Democrats on that. A lot of those Republicans are
• 6:13
  Speaker 7: facing very uphill reelection bids. Mary Annette Miller-Meeks in Iowa,
• 6:18
  Speaker 7: Tom Barrett in Michigan, Brian Fitzpatrick in Pennsylvania. So I think,
• 6:23
  Speaker 7: you know, there's a possibility that there was the chance
• 6:25
  Speaker 7: that a lot of these Republicans would have been put
• 6:28
  Speaker 7: on the record for this vote at a time when
• 6:30
  Speaker 7: poll after poll shows Americans are very unhappy with the administration,
• 6:35
  Speaker 7: including Secretary.
• 6:36
  Speaker 5: Just while you're talking, Quinnipiac poll from September showing people
• 6:40
  Speaker 5: actually asked directly, do you approve of the way Pete
• 6:42
  Speaker 5: Hegseth is handling his job. Right now, it's 57% disapproval,
• 6:48
  Speaker 5: and that 11% no opinion is probably not high enough
• 6:51
  Speaker 5: to gamble on in terms of winning them over. Manu
• 6:55
  Speaker 5: Raju actually caught some people in the hall, as he
• 6:58
  Speaker 5: is wont to do, to say, hey, seems like you're leaving.
• 7:02
  Speaker 5: Is that a good idea? And here are some of
• 7:04
  Speaker 5: the answers.
• 7:05
  Speaker 8: What do you think of the fact that the House
• 7:08
  Speaker 8: is now leaving town until after the November elections?
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: Well, if you leave the business arena, if you leave town,
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: you don't get paid.
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: You don't work.
• 7:18
  Speaker 4: Disappointing.
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: Democrats benefit from this as much as Republicans do.
• 7:22
  Speaker 9: Everyone gets to go home and campaign.
• 7:24
  Speaker 7: It's going to be a bloodbath.
• 7:25
  Speaker 8: The speaker, though, says the reason why you guys can
• 7:26
  Speaker 8: go home is because you guys have done such a
• 7:27
  Speaker 8: great job up here. Do you think that the public
• 7:29
  Speaker 8: thinks you guys have done such a great job?
• 7:30
  Speaker 9: No, actually not.
• 7:31
  Speaker 3: We have the lowest ratings ever in the history.
• 7:36
  Speaker 5: Just so people know, that's pulling right up to the
• 7:39
  Speaker 5: front steps of the congressional building. When you see a
• 7:42
  Speaker 5: car zooming out of there, they are truly going home.
• 7:45
  Speaker 5: Is that going to be time well spent?
• 7:46
  Speaker 9: I mean, I don't know that they're going home to
• 7:48
  Speaker 9: actually campaign. I think that's a nice talking point that
• 7:50
  Speaker 9: the Republicans can give everyone. They need to stay and work.
• 7:53
  Speaker 9: I think the American people are tired of Congress not working.
• 7:56
  Speaker 9: They seem to always be out on vacation or they're
• 7:58
  Speaker 9: not passing legislation or the government is shut down. So
• 8:01
  Speaker 9: there is a reason that they have low approval ratings.
• 8:03
  Speaker 9: And this is why it's going to be an anti-incumbency
• 8:05
  Speaker 9: election for both Democrats and Republicans. The American people want solutions.
• 8:09
  Speaker 9: They want their gas lower. They want their groceries lower.
• 8:12
  Speaker 9: And being sent home to campaign is not a good
• 8:14
  Speaker 9: enough reason to the American people.