Aaron Reitz, former Texas AG Ken Paxton's former chief of staff, joins the War Room to discuss his endorsement of his opponent in the race for the Texas Senate race, Aaron Reitz. He also talks about his relationship with Paxton and why he thinks he's the best choice to succeed him.
00:04:00.000I'm proud that now Texans can finally rest easy and know that they've got a true MAGA attorney who has fought the fights that they care about to succeed.
00:04:11.000Aaron, give me a minute on this, because we're momentarily as soon as the president comes to Oval Officer and cut to that.
00:04:17.000Given the fact, and you know this better than anybody, what a basically just rudimentary hold we have on the Justice Department.
00:04:25.000You know, as Pam and Pam Bondi and Todd, now with Emil Bovey going to the federal courts, losing a guy like you.
00:04:33.000Compare and contrast the importance of us getting things done at the federal level, which were just strapped for people.
00:04:40.000I mean, I think Cash and everybody, Dan Bongini would tell you the FBI, hey, we're short of great attorneys, we're short of prosecutors.
00:04:47.000You had this situation with Haba, where she just got bruseliped by Republicans that concurred with it.
00:04:54.000What is it about Texas, what is it about Texas in this moment that takes a Senate confirmed, I mean, you're like rare platinum right now.
00:05:03.000Why we take a Senate confirmed warrior, MAGA warrior, and take them back to Texas.
00:05:10.000What is happening in Texas and what's going to happen that makes it that important?
00:05:14.000Yeah, look, it's a great question, and figuring out whether it made sense for me to stay at Maine Justice, what we'll call sort of HQ, where all the biggest brass was,
00:05:25.000or to go out into the front lines to redeploy back to Texas and to wage war against the left there.
00:05:33.000And so, look, that's why when Ken announced for Senate in early April, I didn't announce until mid-June, because it took me and my colleagues and my superiors, both in the West Wing and at Maine Justice,
00:05:45.000to figure out how important is this to get a fully vetted MAGA attorney to succeed Ken Paxton.
00:05:54.000Look, the Texas Attorney General leads 600 politically appointed attorneys to wage war on all of the various fronts that we care about.
00:06:04.000And so it's not as though I'm leaving a MAGA Justice Department.
00:06:08.000It's not as though I just departed and I'm no longer an asset to the America First law and order movement.
00:06:16.000Now, I'm pursuing an office that can actually be more effective, and I look forward to partnering with the Trump administration,
00:06:24.000to partnering with Trump's Justice Department and all of my former colleagues to deploy those 600 lawyers.
00:06:30.000It's the largest conservative Republican state law firm in the country.
00:06:35.000And so this is a massive infusion of troops that we can project directly at the enemy.
00:06:41.000And when I was considering, OK, do I stay at DOJ? Do I go back? The answer was clear.
00:06:47.000The America First movement, our law and order and justice movement cannot afford to have some squish or some flip flopper
00:06:56.000or somebody who has not been fully vetted and tested by President Trump and his administration.
00:07:01.000That's why I'm going back home to Texas.
00:07:03.000I'm seeking the keys to this office so that I can fully integrate with the Trump administration
00:07:08.000and deliver the America First agenda right in the low start, right in the low start state.
00:07:14.000Aaron, on the afternoon of 20 January 2021, our first guest on the five o'clock edition of the war was Ken Paxton.
00:07:22.000And we talked about being attorney general under a bite, illegitimate Biden regime.
00:07:28.000And he walked in and said, hey, where they abide by the Constitution, we'll work with them.
00:07:31.000Where they're against the Constitution, we're going to fight them.
00:07:34.000And that started the journey of this show in this audience over the last, you know, four or five years of this fight down in Texas,
00:07:42.000from from from the impeachment now to the redistricting, all of it.
00:07:46.000What is your punch list since you're leaving and going to the front lines as you talk to the president and made justice?
00:07:52.000What is your top two or three on your punch list of what needs to be done down in Texas?
00:07:57.000Yeah, I love that you go all the way back to January of 2021, the day after Joe Biden got inaugurated.
00:08:05.000And so I was with Paxton in the fall of 2020.
00:08:10.000We filed Texas v. Pennsylvania to challenge the constitutionality of four states management of that fraud election.
00:08:19.000And so while one of my main opponents in this race was out there defending Mike Pence and saying that the election was great.
00:08:26.000Ken Paxton and I were in the Oval Office in December of 2020 to stand up for the righteousness and integrity and confidence of what should have been a good election.
00:08:37.000We challenged that on January 21 of 2021.
00:08:41.000That date that you just cited when Attorney General Paxton came on your show.
00:08:45.000My colleagues and I were in the office of the Attorney General in federal court via Zoom during the still at the height of the COVID era,
00:08:54.000already dropping our first lawsuit against the Biden administration, specifically on border security and Alexandra Mayorkas's refusal to deport illegal aliens.
00:09:05.000I was the offensive coordinator responsible for the Texas v. Biden docket.
00:09:09.000That was my docket to lead the Texas v. Biden fight under Paxton.
00:09:14.000And so even going all the way back then, it brings back such good memories of the times that we were in the trenches fighting against the lawless Biden administration.
00:09:21.000And in fact, when President Trump nominated me for my DOJ post back in December, he specifically cited all of the dozens and dozens and dozens of lawsuits that I brought against the Biden administration under Attorney General Paxton's leadership.
00:09:35.000So what I would say is moving forward, my tenure, it's a four year term as Texas AG, I'm going to have two chapters as AG.
00:09:42.000Chapter number one is going to be deep integration with the Trump administration to advance the ball on the America first law and order agenda.
00:09:51.000This administration and this attorney general and all of my legal colleagues in this administration know that they need a fully vetted and tested true MAGA attorney, as President Trump said is me.
00:10:03.000So it's going to be that deep integration with the Trump administration.
00:10:06.000In the middle of my term, there's going to be a presidential election. God forbid a Democrat wins.
00:10:12.000I hope that a Republican does and we're going to get more integration with the Republican administration.
00:10:16.000However, if a Democrat wins and captures the White House, you can guarantee that I is the next Texas attorney general and going to wage blitz creed against a lawless left wing liberal administration.
00:10:29.000We are going to throw sand in the gears. We are going to block them in court and we are going to protect law, order, liberty and justice and Texans constitutional rights.
00:10:37.000And we're going to lead the way for the whole country. That's what happens when Texas leads. All of these other states follow.
00:10:44.000And the reason why this role is so mission essential is because as goes Texas, so goes the nation.
00:10:50.000This is where the battle lines are being drawn. It's why the establishment, the anti-MAGA, the anti-Trump, the never Trumpers, the people who have wanted to undermine the president.
00:11:01.000It's why they picked their candidate in this race. It's not me. And so even though I'm the war room posse is a national audience. OK.
00:11:08.000And so most of the time, folks aren't paying attention to, you know, a sort of second tier state level offices.
00:11:14.000No, the battle lines in this fight for Texas attorney general are now national. It's MAGA versus anti-MAGA.
00:11:21.000It's a Trump guy versus a never Trumper. And so the war room posse around the country has got to be paying attention to this race because either Texas is going to go the way of America first or it's going to go right back into the hands of the rhinos and the establishment.
00:11:35.000And I'm going to stop it. Before we get to 2028, we've got to get through 2026.
00:11:42.000There's a firestorm right now in Texas about adding these five additional seats. Walk us through, because the source guys who blew $300 million trying to turn Texas blue got to a light shade of purple.
00:11:54.160Then we reverse it. President Trump won by 14 points. They have not given up. The sun has targeted Texas. And we're talking about 2026. What are your thoughts there, sir?
00:12:02.560Yeah, look, I was. It's fun to watch the liberal tears drop off their faces when they went on their little stunt to leave the state.
00:12:14.320And lo and behold, just like I was saying on various media appearances and on the campaign trail at the end of the day, Texas passed the new maps and we're getting five new seats.
00:12:23.880Those five new seats are consistent with Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals legal holdings and it's consistent with Supreme Court holdings on the same subject.
00:12:34.500And look, Texas is now more Republican than ever. As you rightly pointed out, Trump swept Texas in overwhelming numbers.
00:12:43.300And those congressional lines ought to best reflect the political leanings of the state.
00:12:48.220That is how political lines are drawn. And so these far left liberal Democrats are out of state, seething, going on their little press conferences, getting clicks on their little social medias, trying to get fundraising.
00:13:00.160And we drag their butts back to Texas and we cram the new maps down their throat and they're going to go cry about it.
00:13:06.520Well, they can cry harder because at the end of the day, what's going to happen is Texas is going to be better represented in the United States Congress.
00:13:14.120And I, as the next attorney general, I'm going to have to fight them in court for years to come.
00:13:19.820I know this because last time we did redistricting in Texas, it was in 2021.
00:13:24.400We got the 2020 census, 2021 redistricting happened. All the lines were drawn.
00:13:28.720I was still Paxson's deputy and offensive coordinator at the time.
00:13:31.720And I had to coordinate litigation troops against a barrage of Soros-funded, hardcore left-wing, fancy law firm, Democratic-aligned nonprofits suing Texas, bringing constitutional claims, Voting Rights Act claims, Civil Rights Act claims.
00:13:48.040And they're going to do exactly that. In fact, lawsuits are already dropping.
00:13:51.720This litigation doesn't go away quickly. It's a years-long process.
00:13:55.400So your next AG not only has to have the balls and the courage to be able to block what the left is trying to do,
00:14:03.720but he's got to be able to walk into the beautifully appointed armory of state and federal law weapons to repel the left-wing enemy that wants to turn Texas into something that it's not.
00:14:15.560And the only AG candidate that is equipped to do that, who knows what he's doing, and who's ready to fight the fight in this lawfare environment that we're in, it's me.
00:14:24.280And so those maps are great, number one. And number two, when I'm AG, those maps are going to stick.
00:14:32.480Aaron, we've got 30 seconds. Where do people go to find out more about you and more about your campaign, sir?
00:14:37.980They can go to my website, AaronWrites.com, A-A-R-O-N-R-E-I-T-Z.com, and they can follow me on X, Aaron underscore Writes, A-A-R-O-N underscore R-E-I-T-Z.
00:14:53.280The battle is engaged in the Lone Star State. Short break. California next.
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00:16:58.420And I'm so proud to be here at the Won't Back Down Tour because now we have our eyes fixed on 2026, the midterms.
00:17:06.620And let me tell you something you already know.
00:17:09.820Donald Trump knows if the election were held today, they would lose.
00:17:14.140Donald Trump knows that when the election is held in November next year, they will lose.
00:17:22.560That's why he came out and he said blatantly, Texas, I want you to redraw your lines to get me four to five new seats.
00:17:35.280That's why he's telling other states that are run by Republicans, we need you to redistrict so we can get more seats.
00:17:46.500Because he knows they can't win, so he wants to cheat.
00:17:50.420The same thing he's done his entire life.
00:17:52.520But I'll tell you, something else I feel really good about is what California is doing.
00:18:04.040They're saying, we're not going to let you do this without a fight.
00:18:08.200And even when, think about this, even when, Democrats, when we have to do something we're not necessarily fully proud of, but we know we have to do to protect democracy, even then we do it differently.
00:18:20.120Because California is putting it on the ballot to put it to the people.
00:18:26.680And that will make the victory even more sweeter when that ballot proposal passes in November.
00:18:32.980Okay, the show's a little different than we had planned.
00:18:40.620The reason is the president's going to be coming in momentarily, we think, to the Oval Office on executive orders.
00:18:45.140These executive orders, ladies and gentlemen, I think many of them are tying to tie back to the maximalist strategy we've been advocating now for, I don't know, a month, over a month.
00:18:59.080I believe some of this is tied to the fact that President Trump's, what he's done in Washington, D.C., is extraordinary about law and order and safety.
00:19:08.200And he's taken that show on the road to Chicago and I think New York City and maybe even Los Angeles.
00:19:18.720I want to bring on Elaine Kalati from Los Angeles, an activist, someone that's talked about home rule and this horrible situation with the fires and the Palisades and the governor.
00:19:29.080And everybody's focused down there, Elaine, on the governor's race next year.
00:19:33.340But right now we have a bigger race, and that is a throwdown by Gavin Newsom.
00:19:37.560Gavin Newsom is rolling the dice on a presidential run in 2028 to basically take five seats from the Republicans.
00:19:45.640These are folks who get 40 percent of the vote or 42 percent of the vote in California.
00:19:49.740He wants to take them down to four seats in a 52-seat delegation.
00:19:53.840Gavin Newsom, you have been known to have a pretty strong opinion of things.
00:19:59.380Walk us through your sense of what Gavin Newsom is doing, and is there going to be a fight back from the MAGA base, from the GOP, from the right in California to thwart this in November, ma'am?
00:20:33.480It was the worst political disaster in history in California.
00:20:36.860He was done, and when he couldn't extract any more money from the federal government, $1.1 billion, he turned his sights to this redistricting thing, which is essentially a land grab.
00:20:47.880People don't understand redistricting, de-annexing, moving maps is what it is, and it's a land grab.
00:20:53.820Once you grab the land, you grab the people.
00:20:56.220They imported 15 million immigrants into the California region, and they put them in all different towns, and then they redistrict.
00:21:03.760They count those heads, and then they get more seats.
00:21:12.640So the Republican Party, there's been a lot of structural things that's made the Republican Party weak, and they got this – you have the – you don't really have primaries anymore.
00:21:22.560So consistently, the Republicans, although I think it's 38 to 42 percent of the state, has been grossly underrepresented in the assembly, in the congressional districts, and statewide offices.
00:21:35.680Just how you're an activist that's now coming to it and firing people up.
00:21:39.320How do people anticipate you're going to fire – because I understand all that about Newsom, and I know he's not going to run on his policies as governor of California for the presidency.
00:21:48.480What he's done is gone to the playbook of their leaderless, and they don't think their leaders are fighting for them.
00:21:56.040What he's done is try to mimic President Trump with the memes and with the smack talk, and he's using this 26th, the redistricting, to basically propel himself to the front of the Democratic primary as a fighter.
00:22:10.440So how do you anticipate people in California, given that we don't have a great track record of – you have more MAGA in California than any state in the union, but just structural issues and the fact that you haven't had leaders who really want to go to the mat, we haven't won a lot.
00:22:27.120So how are the grassroots – how are people like you going to turn this around when – do not underestimate Gavin Newsom.
00:22:33.540He's a very cunning, a very sly individual who now has the entire media in back of him because they are looking for something to stop President Trump.
00:22:43.140And the only way they can stop President Trump is to win the House of Representatives in 26th and begin to impeach him, ma'am.
00:22:50.720Okay, first of all, I want to say Trump is like a mean dog to people here.
00:23:42.020If Donald Trump was here, if there was some sort of containment of our crime, look, every crime bill that's passed, including Prop 36, they kick it out when it gets to the top level.
00:32:31.040If you go into a drugstore to try to buy, I don't know, makeup, you have to stand in front of a glass thing with a lock and wait for someone to help you.