Latest / Rich Valdés: This is America! / Clinton under oath, Congressman weighs in (interview only)
Transcript
- 0:01Speaker 1: All right, America, welcome back. As promised, we've got congressman
- 0:05Speaker 1: from the great state of Carolina, sir, welcome back.
- 0:11Speaker 2: Hey Rich, how are you doing today, sir?
- 0:13Speaker 3: I'm doing great, Mark Harris.
- 0:15Speaker 1: Always a pleasure to have you on the show, to
- 0:17Speaker 1: talk with you, to get an update on what's going
- 0:20Speaker 1: on in the swamp. You're one of the good guys
- 0:22Speaker 1: that still spends time in district, so you don't get
- 0:24Speaker 1: too affected by what's going on in the swamp. But
- 0:29Speaker 1: I want to get your take on a couple of things,
- 0:30Speaker 1: because obviously there's a lot going on in the news.
- 0:32Speaker 3: Been very busy.
- 0:33Speaker 1: Hillary Clinton appearing before her Congressional committee to give her deposition.
- 0:41Speaker 1: It wasn't on Capitol Hill. A lot of people were
- 0:43Speaker 1: upset that it was happening in her own backyard at
- 0:45Speaker 1: the Performing Arts Center in Chappaqua, some saying that she
- 0:49Speaker 1: in fact is a performing artist herself and trying to
- 0:53Speaker 1: throw the president under the bus. But what's your assessment
- 0:57Speaker 1: on what's going on there. I do agree that it
- 1:00Speaker 1: is a political win to have her have to be
- 1:04Speaker 1: called to the carpet, but beyond that, I don't know
- 1:06Speaker 1: what we get from this.
- 1:07Speaker 3: So bring us up to speed.
- 1:09Speaker 4: Well, that's a great point that you make her at
- 1:11Speaker 4: several great points. In fact, I was interested to watch
- 1:15Speaker 4: her yesterday during that press conference following the deposition, and
- 1:20Speaker 4: of course it was interesting. All she wanted to talk
- 1:22Speaker 4: about was process and how she felt like it was
- 1:25Speaker 4: a waste of time because.
- 1:26Speaker 2: They were repeating things over and over again and again.
- 1:30Speaker 4: Just focused on process and sort of the rules of
- 1:33Speaker 4: the hearing. I find that fascinating because the Clintons refused.
- 1:38Speaker 2: Over and over again to even show up for this event.
- 1:43Speaker 4: And then it took recognizing that even Democrats on the
- 1:47Speaker 4: Oversight Committee were going to vote in favor of holding
- 1:51Speaker 4: them in contempt in order to get it to the floor.
- 1:54Speaker 4: And so the very night before we were to take
- 1:57Speaker 4: the vote on the floor of the US House, to
- 2:00Speaker 4: the Clinton's incontent, and I guess they started thinking, you know,
- 2:04Speaker 4: Peter Navarro went to jail for this, Steve Bannon spent
- 2:07Speaker 4: time in jail for this, and no one's above the law.
- 2:12Speaker 4: I think that really is at the root of all
- 2:14Speaker 4: of this. Americans want to know that nobody is above
- 2:17Speaker 4: the law and that people are going to be treated
- 2:20Speaker 4: equally and fairly when it comes to our justice system,
- 2:23Speaker 4: so they just kept putting it off until finally they
- 2:26Speaker 4: got their hearts right, I guess, and decided they would
- 2:29Speaker 4: work it out to do the deposition, and they.
- 2:32Speaker 2: Worked with Chairman Comer the arrangements for all of that.
- 2:36Speaker 4: Again, I'm not on Oversight Committee, so I don't know
- 2:39Speaker 4: all of the ins and outs and details, but I
- 2:41Speaker 4: do know that I really believe that yesterday was really
- 2:45Speaker 4: more of the warm up act, if you will, for
- 2:48Speaker 4: what was going to come today, because I think that
- 2:51Speaker 4: the relationship. She kept saying that she really didn't know Epstein,
- 2:56Speaker 4: that she hadn't manage or anything. I found that interesting
- 3:00Speaker 4: cause the records that I've seen say that the Clintons
- 3:04Speaker 4: in the Clinton White House, Epstein visited the White House
- 3:07Speaker 4: seventeen times, so I guess in those seventeen times she
- 3:11Speaker 4: never was around or either Bill never introduced him to her.
- 3:16Speaker 4: But nevertheless, I think there is much more to be
- 3:19Speaker 4: gleaned from the president former president's testimony that's coming today.
- 3:24Speaker 3: Yeah, I agree. I think that's a good point.
- 3:27Speaker 1: And my thinking here again is I think there's value
- 3:31Speaker 1: in the political process of things in Congress doing what
- 3:35Speaker 1: it does in Oversight, But I feel a lot of
- 3:37Speaker 1: people that call the show and things like that, they're
- 3:39Speaker 1: expecting to see Hillary Clinton marched out of Congress in handcuffs,
- 3:44Speaker 1: you know, And I think obviously this is fact finding, right,
- 3:47Speaker 1: we're trying to correct the record. I don't see maybe
- 3:50Speaker 1: there'll be a referral for criminal charges in the future,
- 3:52Speaker 1: but we've seen these referrals in the past.
- 3:54Speaker 2: You know.
- 3:54Speaker 1: The only time I've seen them really take root is
- 3:57Speaker 1: the ones you've mentioned Steve mannon Peter nov right, those
- 4:00Speaker 1: are the ones that have ever materialized. So in that thinking,
- 4:07Speaker 1: and if you have different thinking, that's fine. What's the
- 4:10Speaker 1: end of this, right, because we saw the Benghazi hearings
- 4:13Speaker 1: and that was a very big deal. But with that
- 4:16Speaker 1: being said, where do we end up with Hillary Clinton
- 4:19Speaker 1: in this deposition, in this effort?
- 4:22Speaker 4: Well, I think what you're going to see is you're
- 4:24Speaker 4: going to continue to see more information, more fact finding
- 4:28Speaker 4: that the Oversight Committee is seeking to do. But I
- 4:30Speaker 4: do think that one thing leads to another, and I
- 4:33Speaker 4: think that they're just trying to maybe connect some dots.
- 4:36Speaker 4: There were more names even yesterday. I think that Chairman
- 4:40Speaker 4: Comer reference that maybe have hearings for so again, I
- 4:45Speaker 4: think there's more information they're looking for. I think that
- 4:48Speaker 4: there's so much that happened with the Epstein files. I mean,
- 4:51Speaker 4: we're talking three million pages to go through and so
- 4:55Speaker 4: many of those things. If they are past the statue
- 4:58Speaker 4: of limitations, I don't know, but I do know that
- 5:01Speaker 4: this really, the whole thing of shame is what has
- 5:05Speaker 4: seeming to take more effect than anything. Yeah, and that's
- 5:08Speaker 4: people resigning their jobs, losing their positions and all those
- 5:11Speaker 4: kinds of things. So I think there's gonna be more
- 5:14Speaker 4: of that now. I think we have a responsibility to
- 5:16Speaker 4: expose those that are guilty and treat them the way.
- 5:21Speaker 2: The Justice Department would be expected to treat them.
- 5:23Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree with that. And something you said, you know,
- 5:27Speaker 1: shame is great. My parents are from Puerto Rico, and
- 5:30Speaker 1: when I was a kid, there was a you know,
- 5:33Speaker 1: my mother would constantly, you know, as when we got
- 5:35Speaker 1: in trouble, she would say, stop being on seen beguenza,
- 5:38Speaker 1: which is without shame, right, and I'll put some shame
- 5:40Speaker 1: on that face. And that was a big deal growing up.
- 5:44Speaker 1: Was to make sure you know you have some shame
- 5:46Speaker 1: and somebody who I feel has none. Bill Gates, Right,
- 5:50Speaker 1: Bill Gates has none. He says, Oh, I'm so sorry.
- 5:53Speaker 1: Apparently the guy was a heartless, a dealer of children
- 5:58Speaker 1: to pedophiles. And it just it blows me away. How
- 6:02Speaker 1: this man is indicted in one country for his vaccine
- 6:05Speaker 1: abuses and whatnot, yet he's still lauded by and large
- 6:09Speaker 1: in America as some sort of hero.
- 6:12Speaker 3: How do we have this bifurcation effects.
- 6:15Speaker 2: Well, it is a tragedy.
- 6:18Speaker 4: It speaks more to the culture and the decline we've
- 6:20Speaker 4: seen in the culture than anything else. And I think
- 6:24Speaker 4: that more than anything, we've got to restore confidence and
- 6:27Speaker 4: restore fate that the American people can have in our
- 6:31Speaker 4: justice system, which is the reason I think that there's
- 6:34Speaker 4: been so much effort that has gone into this. But
- 6:37Speaker 4: we also remember that we are in nation of laws,
- 6:39Speaker 4: and we've got to follow those laws, and we've got
- 6:42Speaker 4: to make sure we have evidence, and we can't just
- 6:44Speaker 4: be hearsay. It's got to be evidence that we can
- 6:47Speaker 4: take somebody, indict them, charge them, and then try them,
- 6:52Speaker 4: and then sentence them if indeed they're found guilty.
- 6:55Speaker 2: And I think that takes time.
- 6:57Speaker 4: And that's one of the things that I know is
- 6:59Speaker 4: frustrating to the American people to see those the time
- 7:02Speaker 4: that is taking to get to the bottom of it.
- 7:05Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure. Now I want to switch gears a
- 7:07Speaker 1: little bit because, unlike many of the guests that I
- 7:10Speaker 1: have on this program, you have the ability and work
- 7:14Speaker 1: in Congress. So when people are, you know, watching the
- 7:18Speaker 1: State of the Union on TV, you know, you get
- 7:20Speaker 1: to be a part of all the fun and all
- 7:21Speaker 1: the action. Talk to me about how awkward that was,
- 7:25Speaker 1: And I know there's a lot of awkward moments in
- 7:27Speaker 1: your line of work. You know, a lot of people
- 7:28Speaker 1: think it's glamorous, but it's not all it's cracked up
- 7:32Speaker 1: to be right and same as mine.
- 7:34Speaker 3: And sometimes people think this is so cool.
- 7:36Speaker 1: You have no idea what goes on behind the scenes,
- 7:38Speaker 1: But give us the behind the scenes on those moments.
- 7:42Speaker 1: We saw the President doing an amazing job, I feel,
- 7:46Speaker 1: unifying the nation in saying, you know, let's stand up
- 7:50Speaker 1: for protecting the citizenry and and your colleagues giving a
- 7:56Speaker 1: proverbial FU to the American people.
- 7:59Speaker 4: Well, we could talk for hours about the State of
- 8:01Speaker 4: the Union address because it was so phenomenal. I mean,
- 8:05Speaker 4: you could talk about just the speech itself and the
- 8:07Speaker 4: way he delivered it, and how he laid out what
- 8:11Speaker 4: the situation was that he inherited after four miserable years
- 8:15Speaker 4: with Joe Biden, and then to talk about what he
- 8:18Speaker 4: has sought to do in moving the America First agenda
- 8:21Speaker 4: and what we have been able to do in these
- 8:23Speaker 4: first thirteen months that he's been in office, and it's amazing.
- 8:27Speaker 4: I mean, from spending cuts of one point six trillion
- 8:30Speaker 4: dollars which was part of the One Big Beautiful Bill.
- 8:33Speaker 4: First time in history that mandatory spending has seen those kind.
- 8:36Speaker 2: Of cuts, and look, it's not enough.
- 8:39Speaker 4: We have more work to do, but it was a start,
- 8:41Speaker 4: and the other things that he has accomplished, and then
- 8:44Speaker 4: to talk about the things that he sees going forward.
- 8:47Speaker 2: It was just a phenomenal speech.
- 8:49Speaker 4: And then you mix in with that having the gold
- 8:53Speaker 4: winning hockey team that came out from into the press
- 8:58Speaker 4: area and stood there before it with those gold medals
- 9:02Speaker 4: around their neck. It was a unifying moment for the country,
- 9:06Speaker 4: the individuals, and he reached out to and told the
- 9:09Speaker 4: most fascinating stories real American heroes that have seen the
- 9:13Speaker 4: providential hand of God work in their lives and they've
- 9:17Speaker 4: risked it all for freedom and for this nation and
- 9:20Speaker 4: to recognize them.
- 9:21Speaker 2: It was just a phenomenal night in so many ways.
- 9:25Speaker 4: And yet when probably one of the most memorable moments
- 9:29Speaker 4: is when he gave everybody the opportunity to respond to
- 9:33Speaker 4: the statement that a primary responsibility we have is to
- 9:37Speaker 4: protect American citizens, not necessarily illegal immigrants, and he just
- 9:43Speaker 4: asked us simply to stand up and for the other side,
- 9:47Speaker 4: my colleagues across the aisle.
- 9:49Speaker 2: To not be willing to stand for that.
- 9:51Speaker 4: Was just it was heartbreaking, and it was infuriating and
- 9:56Speaker 4: at the same time not surprising because of the message
- 10:00Speaker 4: is that they continue to put forward. So, I mean,
- 10:02Speaker 4: it was an incredible night. The electricity in the room
- 10:06Speaker 4: was just almost palpable. You could sense the excitement.
- 10:10Speaker 2: But you know, we've got work to do.
- 10:12Speaker 4: I mean, listen, I've been talking again about things that
- 10:16Speaker 4: they need to be doing over in the Senate.
- 10:18Speaker 2: Things we've passed.
- 10:18Speaker 4: We've got to get to the Department of Homeland Security
- 10:21Speaker 4: open back up and operating. This is serious stuff. And
- 10:24Speaker 4: the Save America Act that is just sitting there in
- 10:27Speaker 4: the Senate. They've got to move, and my Republican colleagues
- 10:31Speaker 4: have got to be willing to move this bill and
- 10:34Speaker 4: at least force the Democrats with the talking filibuster to
- 10:38Speaker 4: get back to something that.
- 10:39Speaker 2: The American people want to know that we're working.
- 10:42Speaker 4: And at a minimum, we've got to be fighting as
- 10:45Speaker 4: Republicans to show that we're government can work when we're
- 10:49Speaker 4: given the keys to the place.
- 10:51Speaker 2: And in twenty twenty four November.
- 10:53Speaker 4: They gave us the House, they gave us the Senate,
- 10:56Speaker 4: and they gave us the White House. And though margins
- 10:58Speaker 4: are slim, if we stand together, united, we can move
- 11:03Speaker 4: the needle.
- 11:05Speaker 1: You know, Congressman, I'm so with you there, I'm so
- 11:07Speaker 1: with you. I'm ready to move to your district and
- 11:08Speaker 1: vote for you. Honestly, let's go plus now quick plug.
- 11:13Speaker 1: For North Carolina, you guys have some of the most
- 11:15Speaker 1: amazing barbecue. Oh yes, that vinegar based barbecue is something
- 11:20Speaker 1: else that you don't really get anywhere else really but
- 11:22Speaker 1: for North Carolina.
- 11:23Speaker 2: But that's on the eastern part of the state. We
- 11:25Speaker 2: have the ketchup based on the western part of the states.
- 11:28Speaker 3: I've yet to try it. I've got to try that.
- 11:30Speaker 4: Come have lexing and barbecue and you'll love that just
- 11:33Speaker 4: as well as you do the vinegar base.
- 11:35Speaker 3: I love it.
- 11:36Speaker 1: Well, I want two points that you made I think
- 11:38Speaker 1: that are really good. Number one here is you mentioned
- 11:42Speaker 1: that we've got work to do. I agree with that
- 11:44Speaker 1: from you know, every good policy maker such as yourself,
- 11:47Speaker 1: needs to be a good politician as well and a
- 11:49Speaker 1: good campaigner so you can keep making the policy. And
- 11:54Speaker 1: the midterms historically don't go great for Republicans. We've seen
- 11:59Speaker 1: a lot of Republicans I'm going to use the term
- 12:01Speaker 1: jumping ship, but for a myriad of reasons not signing
- 12:04Speaker 1: up to come back on Ice, immigration, all of that
- 12:09Speaker 1: stuff has been an issue with some Hispanics. I see
- 12:13Speaker 1: that and with other constituencies as well, but there were
- 12:16Speaker 1: some inroads made, I think with Hispanics. So do you
- 12:20Speaker 1: think that there's going to be enough of an offset
- 12:23Speaker 1: and some of the wins that the President talked about
- 12:26Speaker 1: in that state of the Union to offset some of
- 12:29Speaker 1: the downside that we're seeing politically, so that Democrats don't
- 12:33Speaker 1: capitalize on that.
- 12:35Speaker 4: I am still bullish Rich on how we're going to
- 12:38Speaker 4: do this fall. And I'm bullish primarily because of several
- 12:42Speaker 4: things that we're seeing and hearing. One, Fundraising is going
- 12:46Speaker 4: extremely well for the NRCC, and we seem to be
- 12:50Speaker 4: outpacing the Democrats. So there are those that are willing
- 12:53Speaker 4: to invest. That tells me they recognize the importance of
- 12:58Speaker 4: the moment that we're in. So folks willing to give
- 13:00Speaker 4: that's critical. The other thing that we're seeing is there's
- 13:04Speaker 4: just going to be more and more commercials that write
- 13:06Speaker 4: themselves out of that speech the other night that the
- 13:09Speaker 4: President gave, and we see Democrats sitting on their hands
- 13:14Speaker 4: and not responding. And when you see that, it so
- 13:17Speaker 4: much of it seems to be wrapped up in Trump
- 13:20Speaker 4: Derangement syndrome TDS is real, I tell people, and I
- 13:24Speaker 4: think that folks are going to get motivated. Listen when
- 13:28Speaker 4: you have a contrast election. And we had a contrast
- 13:31Speaker 4: election in the fall of twenty twenty four when you
- 13:34Speaker 4: contrasted Kamala Harris and her lack of vision and her
- 13:38Speaker 4: lack of leadership alongside Donald Trump. The American people turned
- 13:43Speaker 4: out and they spoke. Now, this is going to be
- 13:46Speaker 4: another contrast election, and I think the pictures were drawn.
- 13:50Speaker 4: I think that speech will prove to be so critical
- 13:54Speaker 4: going forward in the months ahead. I know people say,
- 13:56Speaker 4: you know, nine months is an eternity in politics. It is.
- 14:00Speaker 4: But I think what you saw is really just evidence
- 14:06Speaker 4: of the realities that are happening right now, and the
- 14:09Speaker 4: American people, when push come to shove, they're going to
- 14:11Speaker 4: stand up. And the third reason I'm most excited and
- 14:15Speaker 4: bullish is I believe we put the principles in place
- 14:18Speaker 4: to see this economy begin to roar again, just like
- 14:21Speaker 4: it did in President Trump's first term, just prior to COVID,
- 14:25Speaker 4: and I think that we're poised to see some incredible
- 14:28Speaker 4: wins in twenty twenty six economically, and folks come September
- 14:33Speaker 4: October are going to be able to vote on the economy.
- 14:36Speaker 4: They're going to be able to vote on the leadership
- 14:38Speaker 4: that President Trump, and if the Senate will get off
- 14:40Speaker 4: their butts and it pass to Save America Act, the people
- 14:43Speaker 4: are going to be able to vote and say that
- 14:45Speaker 4: there's a functional government that made it happen, and we're
- 14:49Speaker 4: willing to fight to make it happen.
- 14:51Speaker 3: With the Save Act.
- 14:53Speaker 1: I don't want to ever put you in a position
- 14:55Speaker 1: where you're going to bind with Leader Thun, But what
- 14:57Speaker 1: is going on with Leader thuon what is going on
- 14:59Speaker 1: in this Senate?
- 15:01Speaker 4: Well, Leiderthune can only I guess he can only deal
- 15:04Speaker 4: with the numbers he's got, and he's got a thin margin.
- 15:07Speaker 4: I guess the question is the two or three or
- 15:09Speaker 4: four that are creating the holdout usual suspect being.
- 15:13Speaker 2: Able to move it. That's the yeah, and that's going
- 15:15Speaker 2: to be the problem.
- 15:16Speaker 4: And that's why we've got to have people contacting their
- 15:20Speaker 4: US senators. I mean, this is a ninety five percent
- 15:23Speaker 4: issue for Republicans that are in favor of it. Seventy
- 15:26Speaker 4: one percent of Democrats believe that people should show a
- 15:29Speaker 4: photo ID when they vote to prove that they are
- 15:32Speaker 4: who they say they are.
- 15:33Speaker 2: And that's just common sense.
- 15:36Speaker 4: And so really and truly I believe that that we
- 15:39Speaker 4: need to be just loading up the offices of every
- 15:43Speaker 4: senator with.
- 15:44Speaker 2: Phone calls, email pressures, everything, get to work and make
- 15:48Speaker 2: it happen.
- 15:49Speaker 1: All right, now, Two things quickly, eran, I see that
- 15:54Speaker 1: we took a lot of action with Mexico. There's some
- 15:56Speaker 1: things happening with Cuba which are unbeknownst to a lot
- 15:59Speaker 1: of people. Ambassador Huckabee about I don't know, two or
- 16:05Speaker 1: three hours ago telling his people all but short of
- 16:07Speaker 1: evacuate Jerusalem, evacuate Israel, other governments are doing the same.
- 16:14Speaker 1: Don't know what you can say, how you could say,
- 16:16Speaker 1: but it seems like an action on Iran is imminent.
- 16:19Speaker 4: Your thoughts, well, the President told us about a week
- 16:23Speaker 4: to ten days ago that if we didn't have a resolution,
- 16:27Speaker 4: that ten to fifteen days was going to be plenty
- 16:29Speaker 4: of time. That's all I know, and the President made
- 16:33Speaker 4: that clear. The President has also made clear that he's
- 16:37Speaker 4: got to hear the words from the Iranians. We will
- 16:40Speaker 4: not have a nuclear weapon, We do not intend to
- 16:43Speaker 4: have a nuclear weapon, and we understand that the United
- 16:46Speaker 4: States will always stop us from being a nuclearized ran
- 16:51Speaker 4: And honestly, until that happens, everything is on the table,
- 16:56Speaker 4: everything is loaded. The President has been giving diploma, will
- 17:00Speaker 4: see a chance at every turn, but again the realities
- 17:04Speaker 4: are staring us in the face.
- 17:06Speaker 1: Congressman Mark Harris, you're a gentleman, a scholar, and a patriot.
- 17:09Speaker 1: For people who said, man, I love this guy, he's
- 17:12Speaker 1: competing with you for the best head of hair and radio,
- 17:16Speaker 1: how do they how do they donate to your campaign
- 17:19Speaker 1: and help you get reelected to keep serving America.
- 17:22Speaker 4: Well, they can obviously go to Mark Harris for Congress
- 17:25Speaker 4: Dot oorg, no breaks, Just Mark Harris for Congress dot
- 17:30Speaker 4: org and they can go to our campaign website. They
- 17:34Speaker 4: can always check us out on Twitter all the time
- 17:36Speaker 4: at Rep.
- 17:37Speaker 2: Mark Harris NC. And we would love to be able to.
- 17:41Speaker 3: Communicate outstanding, Sir. I appreciate it.
- 17:44Speaker 1: I'm definitely gonna check out that Lexington BBQ little ketchup,
- 17:48Speaker 1: love ketchup. If you know anything about the Puerto Ricans,
- 17:50Speaker 1: we ketchup on everything.
- 17:52Speaker 2: I'm with you. I'm with you.
- 17:54Speaker 3: God bless you, sir. I appreciate it.
- 17:55Speaker 2: God bless you. Thank you.
- 17:56Speaker 3: Rich Yes, sir, you bet