• 3 months ago
Speaker Johnson and House Republican leaders hold their weekly press briefing.

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Transcript
00:00Good morning.
00:18Last week's verdict in New York shows how corrupt, rigged and un-American the weaponized
00:23justice system has become under Joe Biden and Democrats.
00:28The facts are clear.
00:29This was a zombie case, illegally brought forward by a corrupt prosecutor doing Joe
00:34Biden's political bidding in a desperate attempt to save Joe Biden's failing and catastrophic
00:40campaign.
00:41The case hinged on the testimony of a convicted felon who was disbarred for lying and perjured
00:47himself to Congress.
00:49This sham trial was overseen by a corrupt and highly unethical judge who is a Biden
00:54donor and whose own family has directly profited from this case.
00:59This corrupt Democrat judge imposed a clearly unconstitutional gag order on President Trump
01:04and his team.
01:06The prosecution team that brought forward this case consisted of a Soros-funded far-left
01:11Democrat district attorney Ana Vendetta, Democrat political operatives and Democrat donors.
01:17We must work and are committed to working around the clock to ensure President Trump
01:21is victorious this November to save America from Biden's failed far-left Democrat agenda
01:27and this illegal weaponization of the justice system against the American people.
01:32This week, on the floor, House Republicans will deliver for our veterans and continue
01:37our steadfast support for our most precious ally, Israel.
01:41At every opportunity, Joe Biden has turned his back on Israel, most recently refusing
01:46to sanction the International Criminal Court following their politically motivated targeting
01:51of Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu.
01:54The ICC must be immediately sanctioned.
01:57That is why today House Republicans will bring Chip Roy's bill, the Illegitimate Court Counteraction
02:03Act, to the House floor to ensure needed guardrails to protect Israel and all our allies from
02:09baseless undemocratic attacks by the international bureaucrats of this illegitimate court.
02:15We will also bring up the Milcon VA Appropriations Bill to fully fund veterans' programs and
02:21benefits and prohibit the Biden administration from funding woke priorities.
02:25I'm proud to announce that following many years of advocacy, this legislation will also
02:30secure Fort Drum in upstate New York in my district as the third missile defense site
02:35on the East Coast, ensuring our policy of peace through strength by bolstering our nation's
02:40defense.
02:41With that, we have two special guests today, Congressman Michael Guest, who serves on the
02:45Milcon VA Appropriations Subcommittee, and we also have Congressman Juan Siscamani from
02:50Arizona to discuss the impact of the Biden border crisis.
02:53We will begin with Michael Guest from Mississippi.
02:56Good morning.
03:00At a time in which we see war in Europe, fighting in the Middle East, continued unrest in the
03:07Indo-Pacific, House Republicans are making a substantial investment in our military infrastructure
03:14while simultaneously fully funding VA benefits and health care.
03:20This bill provides more money than the president requested.
03:24You would believe in a time in which we see these global challenges that the White House
03:29would support increased funding, that they would find this bill to be something that
03:33which they could rally behind, but we know that that is not the case.
03:39The White House does not take issues with the funding levels, and in a statement the
03:42administration said that they appreciate that the bill provides the VA with the continued
03:49funding and support of key priorities.
03:52What the White House takes issue with and what the White House has said in their statement
03:58says the White House is taking issue with the fact the bill makes the VA follow the
04:02Hyde Amendment.
04:04The White House also calls out provisions that would ban gender-affirming care, ban
04:10the VA from flying the LGBTQ plus pride flag at its facilities, and prohibit any discriminatory
04:17action from being taken against someone whose religious or whose moral beliefs are that
04:24marriage should be recognized as a union between one man and one woman.
04:32This veto threat shows that our president cares more about liberal policies than he
04:38does about honoring the promise that we have made our veterans.
04:43I hope and I believe that all members should support this legislation and that the House
04:49will stand with our veterans who have sacrificed to serve and protect this great nation we
04:55call home.
04:56And with that, I would like to recognize my colleague from the great state of Arizona,
05:02Juan Siscamone.
05:03Good morning, and thanks for being here.
05:12These problems call for serious solutions.
05:15And the current border crisis is at the worst point we've ever seen any kind of border crisis
05:20in our country.
05:21And listen, I'm always open to working with anyone to find the solutions that we need
05:26for these kind of problems.
05:28But the initial reports that we've been seeing regarding the executive order by President
05:33Biden later today regarding the border, they don't indicate a serious approach to this
05:39very serious issue.
05:41And there's a reason for my skepticism on what we're about to see.
05:46On day one, this president signed dozens of executive orders that cost this border crisis.
05:54Since then, he refused to take any kind of responsibility or ownership over this crisis.
06:01Also since then, refused that he had any authority to actually solve or address this crisis that
06:08we're seeing now.
06:10So after doing that, and he's about to sign one executive order, my expectation of what
06:17this was actually do is pretty low.
06:21What we see today and just a little bit from this president, if it's in line with anything
06:26else that we've seen up to this point, that is the reason of my skepticism of what's actually
06:30going to be in it and how serious this is going to be to solve the issue.
06:33If it's in line with the way he's acted before, it's going to be too little too late and probably
06:37not enough and not enough seriousness to actually address this issue.
06:42But we do know about this potential executive order regarding a 2,500 person limit.
06:48That's a problem.
06:49If that's the case, that sets a number of how many people can actually enter the country
06:54legally before we allow our border agents to start doing their job.
06:58So I have an issue with 2,500, 5,000 or whatever the number is that we've seen before.
07:04If that number can be 2,500, why not make it zero to allow people to break the laws
07:10of this country before entering and then actually allow our agents to do their job?
07:16My district, border agents, my border community, they demand serious answers for this serious
07:22problem and it's time for us to have some meaningful solutions on this and to find and
07:27see meaningful leadership from this White House.
07:30So this is my message.
07:32Let's get serious about this issue now.
07:34You have no time to waste.
07:36We have to do it right now.
07:39And with that, I would like to yield to my friend, Majority Whip, Tom Emmer.
07:44Thank you, Warren.
07:46Last week, Democrats pulled off the biggest sham in U.S. history.
07:52It's no secret that their case against President Trump has been a witch hunt from the beginning.
07:59From a conflicted judge who has donated to anti-Trump causes, to the lead prosecutor,
08:05Alvin Bragg, who campaigned on going after President Trump, to the ridiculous charges,
08:12to Matthew Colangelo, a senior Biden DOJ official, leaving his position in the administration
08:19to join Bragg's team, to the prosecution's star witness, who my colleague, our conference
08:26chair referenced, Michael Cohen, a real criminal, admitting to multiple crimes on the stand.
08:35All of the evidence in this case points to one simple fact.
08:39This was never about what President Trump did or didn't do.
08:44It's about who he is.
08:46He's the leading Republican candidate for president, and the Democrats have made it
08:50clear that they will stop at nothing, even if it means weaponizing our justice system
08:55and trampling on the rule of law to try and prevent him from getting to the White House again.
09:02Good news is, the American people are not fools.
09:05They see this for the sham that it is, and they will issue the ultimate verdict this November.
09:12Until then, House Republicans will continue to do our part to give Americans the transparency
09:17and accountability they deserve on this shady cast of characters who are hell-bent on attacking
09:23President Trump.
09:25Last month, I wrote to Attorney General Merrick Garland demanding that this corrupt Department
09:30of Justice take immediate action to indict Cohen for repeatedly lying under oath to Congress
09:38and answer to our congressional committees on their documents' request to Colangelo.
09:44Chairman Jordan has called on Bragg and Colangelo to testify before our select committee on
09:49the weaponization of the federal government next week.
09:52Speaker Johnson has also said we're going to look at Special Counsel Jack Smith, who
09:57we believe has been abusing his authority as well.
10:00Bottom line?
10:02The Democrats' corrupt weaponization of our justice system must be stopped, and we're
10:07going to do everything in our power to hold them accountable.
10:10And with that, I turn it over to our leader, Steve Scalise.
10:19Last week was a sad time for anybody in America who believes in the basic tenet that justice
10:25is blind, that everybody in America is going to get equal treatment regardless of who they
10:30are.
10:32We saw from the very beginning of this trial that Alvin Bragg did not want to just target
10:37somebody based on criminal wrongdoing.
10:40He wanted to target somebody based on who they were.
10:43That's how he actually campaigned.
10:45Talk about somebody beginning their campaign with a bias, saying he was going to go after
10:49people to use the weight of government to target his political opponents.
10:54Now we know that happens in third world countries.
10:57That cannot be the norm in the United States of America.
11:01And I think that's what disgusted so many people, Republican, Democrat, Independent,
11:07that disagreed with not only the verdict, but the fact that the case should have never
11:12been brought to trial.
11:14And so when you see this weaponization of government against political opponents, starting
11:19at the top with Joe Biden, allowing his agencies to go after political opponents, encouraging
11:26Democrat DAs, conflicted judges, we've heard all the stories, the reports, a judge that
11:33donated to the campaign of Joe Biden, talk about a conflict of interest, whose own daughter
11:38was making millions of dollars off of the trial.
11:42And yet here we are.
11:44This cannot be the new norm for the United States of America.
11:48And as Donald Trump said, he's going to fight this thing, not only for himself, but for
11:54every American who could be the next person that they go after.
11:58And so this Republican majority is going to continue to go and look into the weaponization
12:05of government.
12:06We have committees, obviously, aggressively pursuing that, continuing to get transparency,
12:11bringing in witnesses.
12:14But we also are bringing legislation.
12:16You're going to see in the appropriations process, let's look at the funding of some
12:20of these agencies.
12:21You're going to also see policies that are going to be coming forward to address the
12:26abuses of power that we've seen.
12:28And so this is going to be something that continues.
12:31I know my colleague Juan Sestamani talked about the open southern border, and we've
12:35all been talking about the perils of Joe Biden's policies.
12:40Because today he tries to throw out another fig leaf, to try to distract people from the
12:45failures of his own policies.
12:47I think most people in America now know Joe Biden, with a pen, could fix the problems
12:51that he created, and he chooses not to.
12:53He doesn't want to fix the problem.
12:55In fact, he actively opposed the bill that we passed through this House, H.R. 2, that
13:00would have actually secured America's border.
13:02He wants it to be open.
13:04But you just saw a couple of days ago yet another glaring example of the failures of
13:10the Biden open border policy, and that's when two more New York Police Department officers
13:15were shot by someone here in this country illegally.
13:19How many times is Joe Biden going to allow this kind of criminal activity in the United
13:24States by people here illegally, that he's let in the door to injure cops, to kill people
13:31like Lake and Riley, before he actually works with Republicans to do something about it?
13:37Because ultimately the voters will have a say on November 5th and all of these issues.
13:42But if you look at the bill we brought forward just a few weeks ago, imagine this, we had
13:45a bill on the House floor that said any illegal who assaults a police officer in the United
13:51States of America is immediately deported.
13:55Do you know that almost 70% of Democrats voted against that bill?
14:00And then just a few days ago, two NYPD cops are shot by someone here illegally, and they
14:06don't want that illegal criminal to be deported.
14:11It's unbelievable how far left their party has gone.
14:13It's unrecognizable to most people in America.
14:16But again, that's what's at stake on November 5th.
14:20And then you turn to what we're doing this week, standing up for our military veterans,
14:24bringing bills as we heard from that are going to be really important to make sure that our
14:29veterans have the tools and resources they need when they come home after defending our
14:33freedoms so that they're properly taken care of with the MilCon VA bill.
14:38And then, of course, the ICC bill, the rogue radical actions of the International Criminal
14:44Court going after Prime Minister Netanyahu with no justification.
14:49We're going to be pushing back on that.
14:50Initially, the White House was supporting that effort, and now they've walked away because
14:55their radical left in their own party does not any longer support the Jewish State of
15:00Israel.
15:01And they surely do, and we're going to be standing up for Israel and against radical
15:06actions like the ICC this week as well.
15:09With that, the leader of our party, the Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson.
15:14Thank you, Mr. Leader.
15:17Thank you all for being here.
15:19Something is happening in the country right now, and I've been traveling extensively around
15:23the country.
15:24I was out this past week in the Rust Belt, and I was in states like Ohio and Michigan
15:30and Wisconsin and Illinois.
15:32And when the verdict came down against President Trump, there was something palpable that happened
15:37around the country.
15:38And I don't know if you sensed it where you were and among the groups where you were over
15:41the last week, but people realize that we have reached a new low.
15:46And when you have activist prosecutors and the Democratic Party who are so desperate
15:50because of the presidential campaign and the way it's going, they understand that Donald
15:54Trump, all the polling shows, is crushing Joe Biden.
15:57They're in panic mode on the Democratic side, and they are so desperate to stop Donald Trump.
16:02He's winning in the swing states.
16:04He's winning among the people.
16:05He's winning among new demographics that have never voted Republican before.
16:10They see this happening, and they're so desperate to stop him that they are willing to use the
16:14judicial system to do so.
16:17It is a new low, and it's a dangerous one, because what they're doing is they're eroding
16:21the people's faith in our system of justice itself.
16:25As Leader Scalise said, people have to believe that justice is blind.
16:28You have to believe that there is equal justice under the law in order to maintain a constitutional
16:32republic.
16:33This goes to the very core of who we are, the foundation of who we are as a nation.
16:37And that's why it's bigger than just President Trump.
16:41It's bigger than just these cases.
16:44It's about our system itself.
16:46And because of that, there is a backlash.
16:48President Trump hit a fundraising record the day after within 24 hours of the verdict.
16:53We did as well on our fundraising platforms.
16:57We raised record amounts of money because people understand what's at stake now.
17:01This is not just a contest between two individuals for president.
17:04It's now about whether we're going to defend the integrity of our system itself.
17:08And we're going to do everything we can, everything within our scope of our responsibility in
17:11the Congress, to address it appropriately.
17:14And I announced this morning to our conference we're working on a three-pronged approach.
17:18You heard Leader Scalise and others reference it today.
17:22But we're looking at various approaches to what can be done here, through the appropriations
17:26process, through the legislative process, through bills that we'll be advancing through
17:31our committees and putting on the floor for passage, and also through oversight.
17:35All those things will be happening vigorously because we have to do that, because the stakes
17:40are too high and because people are losing faith in our institutions.
17:43And that, at the end of the day, is something that should concern every single one of us.
17:47And I think it does.
17:50On other issues, I just want to tell you one important number, 126, it was 126 days
17:56ago today that Joe Biden said, quote, I've done all I can do.
18:00He was asked about why he wouldn't use his extensive executive authority to address the
18:06border catastrophe that he himself created.
18:08And 126 days ago, he looked into the cameras and said, I'm out of options.
18:12I've done all I can do.
18:14He tried to convince us all for all this time that there was no way he could possibly fix
18:18the mess.
18:20Remember that he engineered it.
18:21When Congressman Siskimani said a few moments ago, he began this on the day he took office
18:26over three and a half years ago.
18:27He walked into the Oval Office and he started issuing executive orders, dozens of them.
18:31We counted 64 specific executive actions that President Biden and Secretary Mayorkas took
18:38to open that border wide.
18:40They did it intentionally.
18:41They engineered the open border.
18:42There's no question about it.
18:44The evidence is so clear.
18:45And now suddenly now, oh, now he wants to issue some weak executive order, one, by the
18:51way, one executive order supposedly to try to address the issue.
18:55It's window dressing.
18:57Everybody knows it.
18:58If he if he was concerned about the border, he would have done this a long time ago.
19:01And we don't know what's in this.
19:02The devil will definitely be in the details here, I can assure you.
19:05But from from what we're hearing, it will ignore multiple elements that have to be addressed.
19:11The elements that were in our legislation that we passed over 14 months ago to fix the
19:16broken asylum program, to fix the broken parole process, to reinstate the remain in Mexico
19:22policy, to end the catch and release policy that they've advanced.
19:26Those are the reasons that this catastrophe has been allowed to continue.
19:30And whatever little short measure that he's going to do here is not going to solve the
19:34problem.
19:35In fact, by some estimates, it might make it worse because it will extend once again
19:40the welcome to tell incentivize people to come and be among the first twenty five hundred
19:45is what we're hearing.
19:46The first twenty five hundred per day to come in to be ensured that you get your, you know,
19:50your welcome package when you come into the country illegally.
19:53It's it's absolute madness.
19:55They're going to say he's using Section 212 of the Immigration and Nationality Act.
19:58You know what?
19:59I read him that provision myself on the telephone a year ago, seven months ago.
20:06I know after I became speaker, we had this conversation.
20:08I told him this first.
20:10He tried to tell me it didn't exist.
20:11Then I read him the language on the phone later.
20:14I met with him in person, reiterated the same language.
20:16And that provision is so broad.
20:18It allows the president to use his authority unilaterally if he determines it to be in
20:23the best interest of the country.
20:25If it's detrimental to the interest of our country, he can close the border down entirely.
20:30He's not going to do that.
20:31He has no interest in doing that.
20:32They want it wide open.
20:34So this this weak measure here, don't be fooled.
20:36One executive order can in no way undo the 64 specific executive actions he's already
20:41taken and three and a half years of chaos that they've allowed to ensue.
20:46House Republicans, on the other hand, stand with the American people.
20:48And we've been fighting on this every single day to protect the border.
20:51We passed H.R. 2, the most comprehensive border protection measure that's ever been passed
20:54by Congress, still sitting on Chuck Schumer's desk collecting dust 14 months later.
20:59We passed the Lake and Riley Act after violent crimes and even murders have been committed
21:05by the illegals in the country.
21:06We passed legislation to deport illegals who commit crimes here, like drunk driving
21:10and Social Security fraud and assaulting law enforcement officers.
21:13We passed resolution after resolution and we ultimately impeached Secretary Mayorkas
21:18at DHS.
21:19Why?
21:20Because historically desperate times call for historic historic measures.
21:24It's a very rare thing to impeach a cabinet official, but we had to do it on other issues
21:29with regard to the ICC.
21:31We are on the floor this week.
21:32The House will be passing legislation to sanction the ICC for its outrageous efforts to arrest
21:37Israeli officials.
21:38The idea that they would issue an arrest warrant for the prime minister of Israel, defense
21:42minister of Israel at the time when they're fighting for their nation's very existence
21:45against the evil of Hamas as a proxy of Iran is unconscionable to us.
21:50And as I said a couple of weeks ago, the ICC has to be punished for this action.
21:53We cannot allow this to stand.
21:55If the ICC was allowed to do this and go after the leaders of countries whose actions they
22:00disagree with, why would they not come after America?
22:02You already have leaders around the world and in smaller countries who take issue with
22:07things we do around the globe.
22:08Why wouldn't they then issue arrest warrants for the next president of the United States
22:13or any of our defense officials?
22:14Why not?
22:15We have to stand against it.
22:16We can't allow bureaucrats to make decisions about what we're doing and come and have this
22:21authority.
22:22So our legislation, which will have bipartisan support, will apply visa restrictions and
22:27economic sanctions to anybody at the ICC trying to investigate, arrest, detain, or
22:32prosecute protected persons, including U.S. allies.
22:34It's a really important step for us.
22:37We know the president doesn't like to listen to us, but I hope that he'll listen to the
22:40members of at least his own party who are denouncing the ICC and calling for action.
22:45President Biden ought to recognize the danger of letting them pursue these illegitimate
22:48investigations and the need to sanction the ICC in response to that.
22:53The last thing I'll mention is that the MilCon VA bill, as has been noted, is on the floor.
22:58First Appropriations Bill of FY 2025.
23:02It fully funds veterans' health care and benefits programs.
23:04It bolsters our national security at a very important time, refocuses the executive branch
23:09by prohibiting enforcement of woke DEI policies and the use of funds on promoting critical
23:14race theory, protects the Second Amendment rights of veterans, prevents taxpayer dollars
23:19from being used for abortions, and all the commitments that the American people expect
23:23us to maintain here will do.
23:25But yesterday, the White House said, no surprise, it'll veto the legislation, sends a terrible
23:30signal to our nation's allies and to our adversaries.
23:34The president's push toward radical and woke policies is a continuing threat to our national security.
23:39We shouldn't be using the military for this, and everybody knows it.
23:42His agenda is changing the focus of the military.
23:44It is undermining our readiness, and it's rejecting the promises made to our veterans.
23:50We need the president to reverse course on this, because we've got to prioritize America's
23:54strength and safety.
23:55It may never have been important.
23:56It certainly hasn't been more important to do that in any previous time in our lifetime.
24:01And this is, the stakes couldn't be higher.
24:04With that, I'll take a few questions.
24:06From the front row.
24:08Mr. Speaker, Marjorie Taylor Greene has said that she's going to trigger a privilege resolution
24:14to impeach President Biden this week.
24:16If you don't move on that, have you had any discussions on that yet?
24:20And is that something you feel you're doing, if you can talk to now?
24:23We haven't talked about it.
24:24I mean, in general, the impeachment power is one that we wield very carefully here,
24:29as I've said so many times.
24:30Next to the declaration of war, it's the heaviest power that Congress has.
24:34It needs to be very methodical.
24:36Look, there's no question.
24:37President Biden, I think, is the worst president.
24:39I think President Biden is the worst president in the history of the country.
24:43And there may well be impeachable offenses.
24:46There's an investigation process that's gone about that has been looked at of our committees
24:50of jurisdiction, and the process continues.
24:52So I'm not making any commitment on that this morning.
24:54We have to let the constitutional process and our constitutional responsibility play out.
24:58So, yes.
24:59Mr. Speaker, thank you.
25:00When talking about President Biden's EO that we expect to roll out, two questions on that.
25:06One, why is no limit, which is what we have now, better than some limit?
25:12Why are you saying we shouldn't go for at least some limit here?
25:16And then also, is your plan to actually move some kind of legislative vehicle?
25:20We know H.R. 2 is what you want.
25:21But to actually get something done that can pass through Congress,
25:24is your plan essentially just to wait till the election and hope that Republicans win?
25:28No.
25:28We've been aggressively pushing to secure the border every single day of this Congress.
25:32Since the Republicans took the majority, we've been working on it every day.
25:36But with what legislation?
25:37We have pieces of H.R. 2 that we'll be advancing.
25:40But the problem is we already know it's not a lawmaking exercise.
25:44If the Senate Democrats and the White House were interested in solving the border,
25:49we could have done this a long time ago.
25:52Limits are fine, but it's not going to solve the problem.
25:54It is not going to solve the problem.
25:56January 3rd of this year, we took 64 House Republicans down to the border at Eagle Pass.
26:01And it was the largest congressional trip ever to the border.
26:03And we talked with the people in charge.
26:05We visited the processing centers.
26:07At the time, Eagle Pass was the epicenter.
26:09They cleaned it up and changed the routes after we showed up down there.
26:12But they were allowing so many people in.
26:14It was a countless number.
26:15And what they told us there was they said, I've said this in this room before,
26:21the Deputy Chief of Border Patrol, a 33-year veteran of the agency said,
26:26we don't need more buckets.
26:27We need to stop the flow.
26:28He said, it's as if I'm having to administer an open fire hydrant.
26:32Who opened the fire hydrant?
26:33Joe Biden did.
26:34They knocked the cap right off of that thing.
26:36And it's been flowing ceaselessly for three and a half years plus.
26:41Our estimate is that there's at least 10, 12 million,
26:44maybe as many as 16 or 17 million illegals have come across the border in that time.
26:48Where do we get that number?
26:49The DHS numbers, the official numbers are over 10 million now.
26:53They count over 3 million, I think, known guideways.
26:56But we don't know how many people came in totally undetected.
27:00Because we know there are wide sections of the border that are not adequately protected.
27:03At Ecopass, they told us 60 to 70 percent of the people who came through there
27:07were single adult males between the ages of 18 and 45 of military capability.
27:11These are not huddled masses of families seeking refuge and asylum.
27:15These are people coming in probably to do us harm.
27:17It doesn't take a big stretch of the imagination to do it.
27:20Look, Joe Biden knows all this.
27:21He knows it.
27:22If he would just reinstate remain in Mexico, that would reduce the flow by 70 percent.
27:28He will not even consider it.
27:30He will not even consider it.
27:31Mexico just got a new president elected.
27:34Now would be a great time to reestablish some boundaries here to do this.
27:37Joe Biden won't even consider it.
27:39Why?
27:39Because they actually want the border open.
27:41And that's why we're so frustrated about it.
27:43Yes, sir.
27:43Speaker Johnson, I haven't seen anything about any Republicans
27:46planning on boycotting Netanyahu's address when it happens.
27:49Do you think that Senator Schumer, Congressman Jeffries
27:54are going to encourage Democrats to attend?
27:55And what do you make of the number of Democrats who
27:59are potentially going to boycott it when it happens?
28:01I was on a Sunday show, Fox News Sunday this weekend,
28:06and they played a tape of Bernie Sanders, Senator Bernie Sanders,
28:09who said terrible things about Prime Minister Netanyahu
28:12and said that he would boycott the address.
28:14So be it.
28:15I made the point.
28:16Bernie Sanders has taken the side.
28:17He was parroting the talking points of Hamas and the Ayatollah in Iran.
28:22This is a time to choose a side.
28:23If Bernie Sanders wants to side with the terrorists, that's so be it.
28:27And if other Democrats want to do that, it's on them.
28:29But I'm telling you, I pray and hope and expect that most of the members
28:33of the House of both parties and the Senate will join us for this historic address.
28:38It's really important for us to hear directly from the prime minister of Israel
28:41at this pivotal moment in history.
28:44We need to hear his take and his account of what's happening there.
28:48And I think it'll be a very important thing.
28:50We need to show bipartisan support for our closest ally in the Middle East
28:55for all the obvious reasons.
28:57It's the only stable democracy there.
28:59And we've got to allow them to prosecute this war so that peace
29:03can be brokered back in the region.
29:04And I think it's really important for everybody to come.
29:07And even if you have misgivings about it, come and listen.
29:10I mean, this is a really important moment for the Congress.
29:13And I was told that – I was reminded that it will be an historic address
29:17for Prime Minister Netanyahu.
29:18He'll be the first foreign head of state to address the Congress four times.
29:23The record is a tie right now between he and, I think, Winston Churchill,
29:27maybe one other.
29:27But, you know, this is a historic moment, a historic event.
29:31And I think and I hope that it will be bipartisan in the approach.
29:34I certainly do.
29:35No Republicans skipping it?
29:37No Republicans will skip it.
29:38I guarantee you that.
29:39Certainly not intentionally, barring some health event or something.
29:41Scott.
29:42Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
29:44As you know, Hunter Biden, the President's only surviving son,
29:48is being criminally prosecuted right now in a Delaware court.
29:53Given that, do you think that that's proof that there is not
29:58a double standard, as you say, in the criminal justice system?
30:01No, I don't think one case proves that at all.
30:03We have rogue prosecutors around the country that have
30:06drug President Trump through this process because of who he is.
30:09Everybody knows if it wasn't him, the charges in Manhattan
30:12would never have been brought.
30:13And they would not be dragging this out as they are and seeking
30:17potentially prison term and all of that.
30:19Everybody acknowledges that.
30:20Legal experts on both sides of the aisle acknowledge that.
30:23Nor would these other cases have been brought.
30:25The classified documents case.
30:26I mean, still, no one's no one's gone after President Biden
30:30for his abuses with classified documents,
30:32which was more and more locations and all the rest.
30:35Look, it doesn't matter what they do to orchestrate
30:38or try to put window dressing on this.
30:40The American people can see right through it.
30:41The American people are intelligent,
30:43and they understand intuitively what's happening here.
30:45And they see a two tiered system.
30:46And they see that President Trump is being targeted for who he is
30:50because he is soon to be the official nominee of
30:53of the one of the two main parties in the country.
30:56He's the opponent of the president.
30:58And so the president and his Department of Justice
31:01have, you know, participated in this,
31:04given it a pat on the back and endorsed
31:07all of this stuff that's happening against him.
31:09And Democrats cheered when the verdict came down.
31:12I mean, it's just blatantly on display for everybody.
31:14So I think that's what's frustrating the American people.
31:16I think they've had enough of it.
31:17And I think there's going to be a reckoning
31:19on November 5th about this.
31:20As President Trump rightfully said,
31:22the main verdict that matters is the one
31:24that the people render in the election.
31:26And that can't get here soon enough.
31:27Thank you all for the time this morning.

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