00:01:31.280So I stand before you today, Mr. President, and my colleagues to say this will be my last term as Republican leader of the Senate.
00:01:50.400I'm not going anywhere anytime soon, however, I'll complete my job my colleagues are giving me until we select a new leader in November, and they take the helm next January.
00:02:07.960I'll finish the job the people of Kentucky hired me to do as well, albeit from a different seat, and I'm actually looking forward to that.
00:02:23.940So let me go back to you, Garrett Haake.
00:02:26.620Tell me what your view is of the short term now and what we just heard, frankly, from Mitch McConnell.
00:02:32.940Obviously, a very emotional day for him.
00:02:37.480I mean, he's been in this body almost half of his life.
00:02:40.840Like I said, longer than I've been alive, he's been a United States senator.
00:02:44.580We have seen it time and time again over the last several years, really, over the history of the Senate, how difficult it is for lawmakers to understand when it is time to step away from this chamber.
00:02:54.560It's particularly hard for members in leadership.
00:02:56.360Mitch McConnell probably hasn't driven a car in decades, all right?
00:03:00.060I mean, these are people with security details.
00:03:03.000They are absolutely critical to the political infrastructure of the party they support and basically are treated as such every single day.
00:03:12.060And to step back from that, even to become just a regular rank-and-file member of your own party again, is a big step.
00:03:18.340As I mentioned earlier, he also recently suffered a loss in his family, which is the kind of thing that gets anybody thinking about their own mortality and about their own future.
00:03:26.800And I want to just add something to the question that Michael raised rhetorically, the idea of what does a Mitch McConnell endorsement give Donald Trump?
00:03:36.140It gives him proof of the complete dominance that he has over the Republican Party if he were able to essentially subjugate the last remaining elected leader anywhere who has opposed him,
00:03:47.760who has been mocked by Trump, whose wife has been mocked by Trump in racist terms on social media for months, if not years.
00:03:56.020I'm thinking about the dates going back in time here.
00:03:58.780To have someone like McConnell, after all of that history, then turn around and endorse Donald Trump is kind of, to me, the one final signal, if anybody needs any more, that the Republican Party in 2024 is Donald Trump's.
00:04:11.600He talked about the party and the body of the Senate that he came into in the mid-80s and the idea of kind of a Reaganite view of the world and of America that he has tried to uphold.
00:04:22.400He talked a little bit about his view of the Senate.
00:04:24.600This is a guy whose book is titled The Long Game.
00:04:27.060He has been focused on the Senate and senatorial power.
00:04:30.440When so many of his colleagues, past and present, came into this office, looked in the mirror, and saw themselves as president, not as a senator,
00:04:37.640that was never a goal of his, and it showed in the way that he controlled this body, even from his current job as minority leader.
00:04:46.220He did not talk about Donald Trump, although he did allude to the fact that he understands, as well as anyone, the politics within his own party.
00:04:52.860Remember, as I said, they've not spoken since 2020.
00:04:56.400McConnell was reported to have considered voting for a conviction of Donald Trump in the second impeachment trial, the one related to January 6th,
00:05:03.340but ultimately voted to acquit and then blistered the former president on the floor.
00:05:08.280Their relationship has never recovered.
00:05:10.120And even as other senators, including his current number two, John Foon, who is equally perhaps Trump skeptical,
00:05:17.160have come back into the fold and endorsed the former president as he seeks the office for a second time, which McConnell never has.
00:05:24.040Now, he's engaged in conversations or his aides have engaged in conversations about that possibility.
00:05:28.360But I think it's also entirely reasonable to assume that he, who understands the politics of the moment so well in this country,
00:05:36.200looked around and saw a future Republican Party, perhaps in the majority again in Washington, perhaps not,
00:05:41.440as not necessarily something he wanted to dive in with both feet as an 82-year-old, Chris.
00:05:46.200Broke out a Capitol Hill, and that is one Mitch McConnell, who ended his tenure today as the longest serving Senate leader in history.
00:05:53.820He'll be gone in a few months, but we're going to live with his legacy for a very long time.
00:05:59.520So if there's anything that sums up McConnell's relationship with Donald Trump and that MAGA movement and how it defines our politics today,
00:06:06.480it would be the moment he pinned the blame for the deadly insurrection on Donald Trump,
00:06:10.540while in the same nanosecond voting to acquit him during that second impeachment trial.
00:06:14.660When you, Melissa, see McConnell try to put some distance between himself and the MAGA movement,
00:06:21.700which now is, you can't separate it from the Republican Party.
00:10:26.320If you double rush and double quick everything, you could start, you know, September 15th and get it done, get a jury back, you know, with a verdict on the day before the election, November 4th.
00:10:40.400This is how, the lawfare, you do understand, as Mike Davis said, and you had a huge part in this, by digging in hard and having President Trump's back, all the lawfare is cratering around us.
00:10:51.240The 14th Amendment charge is cratering.
00:10:53.580Fannie Willis is probably going to end up going to jail for perjury.
00:12:16.980He doesn't want to tangle with MAGA anymore.
00:12:19.820He understands that after Michigan last night, even though she's getting donors, she still has donors and they still want to force their way into the administration.
00:12:27.680They still want to force their way in to try to tamp down what President Trump wants to do.
00:12:31.940That on Super Tuesday, next week, it's all over.
00:12:38.700Trump will win all the states, blow it away.
00:12:41.620She'll just be, I mean, they're still going to try to hang around, but he, this is also this pressure that, about getting his endorsement.
00:12:48.640We don't, I said, we don't need his endorsement.
00:13:26.300Understanding that they just sit there and say they think they can deem it.
00:13:30.840And if you deem it, it's going, it's going to happen.
00:13:34.700This was the great, this is the great analysis of our own Ben Harnwell, that they're so upset is that Mitch McConnell, these guys, in the old days, they could just deem it.
00:13:42.820Go on Fox, give you a couple of talking points, pat you on the head and say, okay, scoot.
00:13:48.040We're going to do what we're going to do.
00:14:10.640To every day have to face this, that we're going to be up in his grill to defend this country.
00:14:18.360This evil old man, and he is pure evil, this evil old man took months and months and months and months to put forward a fake, a totally fake and phony bill, supposedly to save our country, shut down this invasion.
00:14:34.960That would only exacerbate and make it worse and then allow the media to use it as a bludgeon of us.
00:14:39.600Oh, you had the best bill ever in history.
00:14:42.180And we know it was totally fake, totally phony because they threw it away immediately.
00:14:47.620When we saw through it and Rosemary Jenks and Rosemary Jenks get that leak, they immediately, they pivoted right to Ukraine.
00:16:48.400Give me a story that illustrates that.
00:16:50.480Well, Mitch McConnell, when we first met him, he said, I think, in one of the first meetings in Trump Tower with the president, as we're wrapping up,
00:16:59.860he basically says, I don't want to hear any more of this drain the swamp talk.
00:17:05.180He goes, a guy up on Capitol Hill can't buy a Coke unless it's got to be reported.
00:17:09.620He says, I can't hire any smart people because everybody's all over him for reporting requirements and the pay, et cetera, and the scrutiny.
00:17:17.360You know, you've got to back off that.
00:17:18.520The drain the swamp thing was Mitch McConnell was day one.
00:17:49.740So, if there's anything that sums up McConnell's relationship with Donald Trump and that MAGA movement and how it defines our politics today,
00:17:57.240it would be the moment he pinned the blame for the deadly insurrection on Donald Trump while in the same nanosecond voting to acquit him during that second impeachment trial.
00:18:06.820Former President Trump's actions preceded the riot for a disgraceful, disgraceful dereliction of duty.
00:18:18.600The House accused the former president of, quote, incitement.
00:18:25.600That is a specific term from the criminal law.
00:18:30.880Let me just put that aside for a moment and reiterate something I said weeks ago.
00:18:36.460So, there's no question, none, that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day.
00:18:53.620He says, but I've never understood your virulent hatred for Mitch McConnell until I saw Rosemary Jenks and saw Todd Benzman and saw what was in this bill.
00:19:05.440He clearly hates the MAGA philosophy, the America First philosophy.
00:19:10.840And anybody associated with it, any of the running dogs and messengers of Mitch McConnell are enemies of President Trump, enemies of the MAGA movement, enemies of America First, enemies of the war room posse.
00:19:26.180I'm not saying kind of against, but they're enemies.
00:20:19.420Matt, I want to talk about McConnell, but just came across the wire that Johnson has agreed to a short-term CR in order to agree to funding bills that do not shut down the border and don't really have any policy wins.
00:20:31.980I know I must be reading this incorrectly, sir, correct?
00:20:34.880No, I have said frequently that I believe that we're now going to have a series of minibuses that don't meet our needs on the border, that don't achieve any meaningful policy wins for conservatives, but that allow members of the Appropriations Committee to still tuck away the non-defense discretionary spending that they want.
00:20:55.160It gives the folks who want to see bigger budgets at the Pentagon, I think, all the elasticity that they're seeking, and that'll be the coalition.
00:21:03.680It'll be a coalition that includes more Democrats than members of the Freedom Caucus or Freedom Caucus-aligned members.
00:21:09.660Does Mike Johnson just think we're bluffing?
00:21:13.720Is he just not – or he doesn't care?
00:21:24.640He's going to give the cartel everything and not use the leverage he has to force a shutdown of this government to get meaningful action, executive orders from Biden that even Biden admits he has, sir?
00:21:35.200I believe that with the right vision and the right leadership, even this House Republican majority would be willing to fight on the border.
00:21:44.640Maybe not fight on all the things that I want to fight on, right, on Jack Smith and Planned Parenthood and getting all of the woke and weaponized features out of our government.
00:21:53.520You know, maybe they wouldn't go there.
00:21:54.900But I think from our most liberal member to our most conservative member, there is unity of purpose on the border.
00:21:59.960And I think any deal that does not achieve wins there, that does not force Biden's hand there is one that really leaves a lot to be desired.
00:22:09.200I don't know that it's Mike Johnson thinking that you're bluffing so much as it's a path of least resistance for a lot of the members in our conference who don't want to face down the evil that is this Biden administration.
00:22:23.260Look, if this is a game of chicken, like we're veering off the road before the other side even gets their engine fired up.
00:22:30.700You've got to be willing at this stage of the game to get done what we have to get done.
00:22:36.240We're going to have to be willing to endure political pain as members of Congress.
00:22:39.940Now, we don't want that pain to be felt by our constituents, but look at the path we're on right now.
00:22:44.260We're going to be a country 50 trillion in debt.
00:22:47.080And I'm going to come back and mark this segment with you, Steve, when I said it, because there's no plan to curtail this out-of-control spending, and we just keep kicking the can down the road.
00:22:55.720Now, I'm not read into the details of this particular agreement because I've spent the last eight hours behind closed doors asking questions to Hunter Biden.
00:23:03.860And so I'll have to meet with the speaker and see if he sees this in a more favorable light than I do.
00:23:10.500Hang on, we're going to get to that, and Jack Smith, the Supreme Court rule, all that here in a moment.
00:23:14.780I've got to go back to this, but, brother, we were promised.
00:23:17.860Remember, they told us at first, and you told me, hey, Steve, they're not going to be cutting a nickel out of this thing.
00:23:41.520With an open border, how can you count anything else as a policy win, right?
00:23:46.280Like, well, we're going to claim that we put a work requirement on some entitlement program when you just let 10 million people into the country illegally and you're blowing out the eligibility for all these things.
00:23:56.000You're going to tell me that while we are spending billions of dollars on illegal aliens and people who live in Yuma, Arizona right now can't get their own babies into the neonatal intensive care unit because they're full up with illegals, you're telling me that, like, we're supposed to sell regulatory reform to those folks?
00:24:16.380This border is central to how America is thinking right now about our country.
00:24:20.700And I think that we ought to take the majority out for a spin.
00:24:24.140Otherwise, we risk creating a class of voter that does not exist now.
00:24:28.680Right now, Trump voters, you know what they do?
00:24:31.220They go all the way down the ballot and they vote Republican.
00:24:33.420And that drug a lot of people over the finish line in 2016 and 2020 who are probably undeserving.
00:24:40.140Let's not go and create a new class of Trump voter that votes for Trump and then just puts their ballot in because we haven't given them enough of a reason to believe in us and what we're doing to fight their battles and win a few along the way.
00:24:55.380This is what I understand about the border.
00:24:57.160The polling is coming out again today.
00:24:58.720Eric Adams is unwinding the sanctuary city in New York because everybody understands that this is the number one issue in the country.
00:25:07.400How can Johnson look at you guys after making all these commitments that if the border was not shut down, nothing would go forward?
00:25:30.140I think that we should not be funding this government if it is not at least willing to meet the basic need of securing the U.S.-Mexico border.
00:25:38.100And it's not like this requires some exquisite or novel solution set.
00:25:42.620It's the reinstitution of the Trump policies that Joe Biden got rid of on his first day in the White House.
00:25:47.920And now all Americans are paying the price for it.
00:25:50.600And so the pitch that some leaders have made to me is, well, Matt, you know, OK, we serve up our border demands.
00:25:59.740Then all of a sudden we get a bunch of weak-kneed Republicans that are hand-wringing and bed-wetting that are willing to do anything to get out of the shutdown.
00:26:07.160That then flips the leverage substantially to Hakeem Jeffries.
00:45:32.600She's going to get disqualified from this case.
00:45:34.760Nathan Wade is going to get disqualified from this case.
00:45:38.000Her office, the Fulton County VA's office, is going to get disqualified from this case.
00:45:42.000I think the only thing that needs to be decided is whether this judge dismisses the case without prejudice and allows a new prosecutor to decide whether to refile the case.
00:45:55.380And maybe this new prosecutor will see this dog of a case and realize it's a bogus case and not refile and it goes away.
00:46:01.760Or if a new prosecutor comes in to the case and then that prosecutor decides to move forward with the case or to dismiss the case.
00:46:11.520Regardless, I think that this case is done both politically and legally.
00:46:20.980I know you and people should understand Davis was there.
00:46:24.720I was there and Davis there, but Davis was in the trenches the entire time driving forward these confirmations.
00:46:30.120Give me your Mike Davis tough but fair assessment of Mitch McConnell in this situation with the judges that will have impact for decades to come, not just at the Supreme Court, sir.
00:46:41.420I worked very closely with then Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell when I was the chief counsel for nominations on the Senate Judiciary Committee for then Chairman Chuck Grassley.
00:46:52.640And McConnell and McConnell and Grassley were the tips of the spear to confirm a record number of President Trump's judges.
00:47:40.600And then we not only did he keep it together, we picked up two Republican Senate seats to make it easier in the last two years of President Trump's first term to finish the job of the transformation, getting Barrett in and a record number of lower court judges.
00:47:57.120We went from a five to four left of center court to a five to four Clarence Thomas court.
00:48:03.160And you can say what you want about Mitch McConnell on a lot of other things, including Ukraine and including the border.
00:48:08.500And I'm not with him on those issues, believe me.
00:51:59.100Let's keep the factory floor fully engaged because Mike is going around a million miles an hour to local situations like this down in Cobb County.
00:53:00.520For War Room veterans, you know, we have been all over the supply chain issue with China and medications and the active pharmaceutical ingredients.
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