On this episode of Firebrand, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-GA) joins us live from Room 2021 of the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, D.C. to discuss the ATF's assault on gun owners, the White House's attempt to delegitimize the Second Amendment, and the House Freedom Caucus's call to defund the ATF. Also, a hearing on diversity and equity in the military. Firebrand is a production of the Firebrand Podcast. Copyright 2019 Firebrand Media. All rights reserved. This content may not be used without written permission from its creator. If you or someone you know is in need of financial assistance, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255-7386. Don't forget to tell a friend about this or any of the other great resources mentioned in this episode. Thank you for supporting Firebrand. Tweet Me! if you like the podcast and/or have any suggestions on how we can improve the show. Timestamps: 1:00 - What would you like to be featured on the next episode? 4:30 - What do you need to do to make sure you re included in the next batch of episodes? 5:15 - What are you looking for? 6:40 - How do you want to be included in next week's episode of the show? 7:00 8:00- What are your thoughts on the future of the podcast? 9:10 - Who do you think we should be prioritized in the most? 11:15- What is the most important thing you re looking for in 2020? 12:30- What do we need to focus on? 13:40- What kind of government you re going to get? 14:40 15: Should we get back on our side of the table? 16:30 17:10- How do we get more woke and weaponized? 17 - What s the best? 18:00+ - How much more woke? 19:00 +16:30 +17:40 + 17: What are we getting out of our government? 21: What s our government should we be doing in 2020 & 15:30+ - What we can get back? 22:10 22 - What should we do with our government in the 21st century? 23:10+
00:04:43.000Matt Gaetz was one of the very few members in the entire Congress who bothered to stand up against permanent Washington on behalf of his constituents.
00:04:50.000Matt Gaetz right now, he's a problem for the Democratic Party.
00:04:53.000He can cause a lot of hiccups in passing applause.
00:04:56.000So we're going to keep running those stories to keep hurting him.
00:04:59.000If you stand for the flag and kneel in prayer, if you want to build America up and not burn her to the ground, then welcome, my fellow patriots!
00:05:36.000We are live broadcasting out of room 2021 of the Rayburn House Office Building here on the Capitol Complex in Washington, D.C. And it was a very busy day in committees.
00:05:46.000We had a key oversight committee hearing on the ATF, what they're doing to gun owners.
00:05:53.000I can't wait to show you the exchange we had with one of the Democrat witnesses and those who are experts on things like the bracing rule where inadvertently a lot of Americans are about to be made felons by an unconstitutional illegal action by an entity that frankly we should probably abolish altogether, the ATF. So we're going to get to that.
00:06:15.000Also, a big hearing on DEI in the military.
00:06:20.000These Diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives are destroying our country.
00:06:25.000They are destroying corporate boardrooms.
00:06:27.000But where that pain is most intense and, frankly, most dangerous is in our military, where we need unit cohesion.
00:06:38.000Wait till you see what some of the leading officials, leading Biden administration officials are saying about DEI. Also, Africa might not be the place in the world where you are most focused when it comes to foreign policy analysis.
00:06:54.000But I had an exchange today with the leader of AFRICOM, a four-star general, and it was the most remarkable exchange I think I've ever had with a witness in my going on seven years in the United States Congress.
00:07:20.000House Republicans who have called to abolish and defund federal law enforcement, including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, are holding a political stunt as they undercut the ATF's work to keep our streets safe and reduce gun violence.
00:07:35.000The latest stunt hearing comes as extreme MAGA members of the House Republican Caucus have proposed devastating cuts to law enforcement funding, according to a blueprint released by the House Freedom Caucus, which would make communities less safe by.
00:07:49.000Let's see if you agree with these things.
00:07:51.0001. Eliminating funding for 11,000 FBI personnel Including agents who investigate crimes and keep guns out of the hands of felons and domestic abusers.
00:08:02.000Actually, what we're doing there is we've isolated the areas in the FBI where there is some of the most weaponization against gun owners.
00:08:09.000And yeah, we don't think that being a gun owner is illegal.
00:08:16.000Forcing the ATF, which protects Americans from violent criminals, including firearms traffickers, and assists in identifying perpetrators of mass shootings to implement a hiring freeze and furloughs that would undermine these operations.
00:08:29.000Yeah, what do you think about a hiring freeze at the ATF? We are $30 trillion in debt.
00:08:35.000I would be for a federal hiring freeze on just about everything but DOD and VA. In VA, you could convince me that there are certain things we need to be doing outside the walls of government rather than inside.
00:08:48.000Three, cutting federal support to 60 local law enforcement agencies, eliminating 400 local law enforcement positions, and slashing millions in law enforcement, crime prevention, and justice grants for state and local governments.
00:09:00.000I am for law enforcement, but that is what our states are for constitutionally with the exercise of police power And that is what our local communities are for.
00:09:11.000I do not need the federal government in Washington, D.C. hiring police in Northwest Florida.
00:09:20.000And the more the federal government is involved in our education, in our law enforcement, the more woke and weaponized it seems to get, actually.
00:09:29.000So they go on to quote in this Biden memo, Matt Gaetz, a member of the House Subcommittee on Crime, The federal government surveillance and co-hosting today's hearing says, we either get this government back on our side or we defund and get rid of.
00:09:46.000Abolish the FBI, the CDC, ATF, DOJ, every last one of them if they do not come to heal.
00:09:54.000Now would the Biden White House disagree with that?
00:09:57.000Would the Biden White House disagree with the assessment that if we don't get government back on our side, we shouldn't continue to flood these corrupt agencies with authorities, resources, cash, more personnel, more hiring?
00:10:12.000I actually think that, in a way, it's a cell phone for the White House to cite me here because it's as if they're saying they're happy fueling these entities even if they're not on the side of the people, which is what we are exposing each and every day.
00:10:29.000So they seem to be really worked up over the ATF. They cite different statements from Congressman Andy Biggs, who we've had on firebrand, Congressman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who we've had on firebrand.
00:10:41.000It was Gates, Biggs, and Greene who got singled out.
00:10:45.000And we were doing the hard work today.
00:11:37.000It says, a technical defect allows ATF agents to access data, including purchaser data, beyond what ATF policy permits.
00:11:47.000Do you take any umbrage with that conclusion?
00:11:50.000ATF has been collected out-of-business records pursuant to a law signed by Ronald Reagan, and President Trump digitized more records than any other president.
00:11:58.000I'm just worried about the impact on my citizens, and I would acknowledge there may be Republican presidents who didn't do enough In the 80s to protect our gun rights.
00:12:08.000But on this finding, the ATF had to delete 252 million records, didn't they?
00:12:15.000So this is a tool that's helped solve 50% of crime cases.
00:12:27.000They had to delete 252 million records.
00:12:29.000I'm not aware of that line, but what I'm aware of is the crime-fighting tool.
00:12:33.000I'll represent to you that that's what had to happen.
00:12:35.000The fact that the government collected 252 million records that was beyond the law, beyond policy, never approved according not to me, not to my fellow Republicans, but to the GAO, should that be concerning to us?
00:12:49.000That scope of records being collected.
00:12:51.000ATF's collection of out-of-business records was fully complying with the law.
00:12:55.000That's not what the GAO said, so you disagree with the GAO report?
00:13:47.000Does it concern you that the witness that the Democrats brought would make such a claim that is obviously disproven by any utilization of those arm braces?
00:13:57.000I hope that my testimony today can help everyone here understand that the brace does nothing to make the weapon any more dangerous than it already is.
00:14:08.000And so, when you've got the ATF going beyond their authority, collecting 252 million records that they have to destroy, well, that can just be explained because they're doing their best.
00:14:19.000But when Americans get inadvertently converted to felons because the ATF has exceeded their authority, there is no such grace for them as their miswear.
00:14:30.000That would seem to be the case under the recent policy change to zero tolerance.
00:14:34.000Zero tolerance for our fellow Americans when they're trying to exercise their rights and protect their liberties, but all the tolerance in the world for a corrupt bureaucracy that is violating the law, exceeding their authority, and collecting records that they have no business collecting.
00:14:52.000I had the great privilege to spend two years on the House Judiciary Committee with the gentlelady from Missouri, and while she and I disagree strongly on this issue, her beliefs are sincere, and they are strong, and they are powerful, particularly when she expresses them.
00:15:06.000And so when she says to people that she wants to defund the police, she means it.
00:15:12.000And when she says in this committee meeting that gun violence is a public health emergency, well, she means that too.
00:15:19.000And our fellow Americans know the impact of folks up here in Washington declaring everything and anything a public health emergency.
00:15:28.000It means you're more likely to be locked in your homes, deprived of your freedoms, less healthy, less safe, less secure, and less able to live a truly American life.
00:15:40.000When the left talks about this as a public health emergency, get ready to see those enhanced authorities abused by the ATF. And, Mr. Chairman, it is my sincere hope that in the very near future, we will have those very folks from the ATF here.
00:15:55.000And I intend to be utilizing the new rules that we have in the House of Representatives to offer amendments to the Appropriations Act to zero out their salaries for breaking the law and abusing the liberties of our fellow Americans.
00:16:13.000Sean Kelly pointing out the double standard on Getter that exists when Americans have any type of technical violation of some rule obscurely published.
00:16:24.000There is zero tolerance from the ATF. They come after us but then when they break the law Oh, they want more authorities, more people, and the White House slams me and Andy Biggs and Marjorie Taylor Greene when we propose that maybe in some places we ought to have hiring freezes and furloughs.
00:16:41.000A. Gregg, also on Getter, saying the ATF is out of control.
00:16:46.000I spoke with some of our committee leadership today, and in April...
00:16:51.000Next month we plan to have the leadership of ATF before the committee and that is when we are going to start identifying the very bureaucrats whose salaries we will seek to zero out in the budgeting process.
00:17:04.000So in April ATF leadership coming in a big part of the Republican oversight plan.
00:17:10.000I want to thank my Walton County constituent who just Gave us a shout out on Rumble and said that we have the best law enforcement in Northwest Florida.
00:17:17.000I could not agree more with that assessment.
00:17:19.000But whether it's law enforcement or society at large or our military, we are seeing these DEI initiatives divide people and erode the meritocracy that is central to American life.
00:17:34.000No matter where you come from, no matter what you believe, the essence of the American capitalist system and political system and social system is that if people do well, they will be able to move up.
00:17:45.000And as leaders, we ought to be getting rid of the things that bar people's path to success.
00:17:51.000No matter what their color is, no matter what their background is, people should have a right to follow the rules and achieve more and do better.
00:17:59.000And I believe that these DEI initiatives, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, They are often used to stovepipe people into being an oppressor or oppressed, into being privileged or frail or unworthy or unwilling or unable, and it is all so deeply racist at its core.
00:18:23.000And yet, the military, the Department of Defense, has been embracing these DEI initiatives in their hiring, in their promotions.
00:18:32.000You would think the military would be a place that we would actually want the meritocracy to drive the success of the mission.
00:18:41.000You wouldn't want to leave whether or not America is the preeminent military force in the world to a DEI seminar.
00:18:50.000But wait till you see the folks that we are leaving it to.
00:18:54.000The people who've worked in the DEI leadership, people who are senior officials in the Biden administration, testifying today about DEI in the military.
00:19:58.000Gosh, the Pentagon told Fox News Digital that Gil Cisneros would provide a final decision in 30 days.
00:20:05.000So someone at the Pentagon is throwing your name out there as being responsible for this, and now it looks foolish that you're suggesting you don't know what that means.
00:20:14.000Well, I would say that quote did not come from me, but I don't know who that came from.
00:21:25.000Because you're asking me a personal opinion, and that's not what this is about.
00:21:28.000Well, actually, I'm asking you, in your capacity, as a senior DOD official in the Biden administration, where we see recruiting falling off the table, whether or not the embrace of racist tweets, whether shuffling these people around rather than firing them, and whether this little exchange here is helping or hurting recruiting.
00:21:46.000Let's go ahead and put up the recruiting.
00:21:47.000I will tell you, we do not support racist tweets.
00:21:50.000We do not support racism in the military.
00:22:09.000How do you know it's a personal matter if you don't know that the PD could stand for professional development?
00:22:14.000Mr. Cisneros, this is a professional development session where she attacked white colleagues and took the position that black people can't be racist.
00:22:22.000Now, you can't answer basic questions about it, and here's what I would propose to you.
00:22:26.000This is what we're looking at in recruiting right now.
00:22:30.000And when you have employees that you don't fire who do racist things and say racist things, then you really hurt the ability to recruit people who want to be part of an inclusive and diverse force.
00:22:46.000I would say the data that we have is not, the recruiting is not falling off because of that.
00:22:51.000But again, the Department of Defense, Dodia, does not agree with the tweets that she made.
00:22:55.000It was at 3 o'clock during the workday.
00:23:06.000That's her own personal Twitter account.
00:23:08.000Here's the problem with the double standard, Mr. Cisneros.
00:23:12.000Caucasian members of the military post about the Second Amendment or supporting building the wall.
00:23:18.000You all seem to be on a white supremacy snipe hunt.
00:23:21.000You seem to take people's personal views and weaponize them against them.
00:23:25.000And I've had people in my district who serve that wonder whether or not some joke that they forwarded or meme that they liked is going to result in the ruining of their careers.
00:24:31.000DOD Chief Diversity Educator defends tweets targeted toward white educators.
00:24:36.000With objections so ordered, the gentleman's time has expired.
00:24:40.000I yield five minutes to Representative Houlihan.
00:24:45.000I think that everyone can be racist and everyone can be the victim of racism and we should oppose racism in all of its forms and we should embrace what Martin Luther King Jr. put out that we have to judge each other not by the color of people's skin but on the content of character.
00:25:32.000What's the deal with AFRICOM? So, when we look at how our military has its force structure around the globe, there are different areas that fall under the commander of some of our most senior generals.
00:25:45.000And the leader of AFRICON is General Langley, who you're about to see me question.
00:25:51.000Now, you may be wondering, what's the US interest in Africa?
00:25:58.000One of the things that we principally do is we send folks out to train and equip the militaries of other countries.
00:26:05.000And I've had a number of constituents, actually a number of friends, who have been stationed at bases in northwest Florida and they end up in Niger or they end up in Somalia or they end up in some place where really failed states seem to dominate over stable governmental institutions.
00:26:28.000And when we go and participate in the train and equip missions, what we tell ourselves to justify the intense cost in human life, remember in 2017, we had service members killed in action in Niger.
00:26:43.000Also in dollars, the treasure of our country.
00:26:49.000So today this four-star general, General Langley, comes to testify before the House Armed Services Committee and I had questions for him about the train and equip missions that my constituents are on and whether or not they are contributing to insurrections and coups.
00:27:03.000This is truly The most remarkable five minutes I think I have ever had with a witness.
00:27:10.000There were moments when I almost couldn't continue.
00:28:14.000The IMET program is in force and we've pushed a number, a significant number through our schools across the military.
00:28:22.000And what data sets do you track to arrive at the conclusion that less than one percent of the roughly 50,000 that we've trained Have participated in coups?
00:28:32.000Because it would be like about 500, about 1% of 50,000.
00:28:37.000Congressman, you may have that information.
00:28:58.000Well, that guy in the middle with the big red hat, Colonel Mamaday Dumbuya, that's him with a bunch of U.S. service members outside of our embassy.
00:29:06.000And just months after this photo was taken in 2021, he led a coup in Guinea and threw out the leader.
00:29:59.000My question is, do we share core values with the coup leader in Burkina Faso Who we trained.
00:30:07.000Holistically, we teach core values with respect for civilian governance, apolitical, and that's what sticks across a very high percentage in the 90, over 99 percentile.
00:30:32.000You had no basis for that 1% number because there's no data set you tracked.
00:30:36.000Mr. Chairman, I seek unanimous consent to enter into the record, another U.S. trained soldier stages a coup in West Africa by the intercept.
00:30:45.000And I further seek unanimous consent to enter into the record, U.S. forces trained the Guinean colonel behind the recent coup in West African country, and this is regard to Guinea.
00:30:55.000So I guess the question is, why should U.S. taxpayers be paying to train people who then lead coups in Africa?
00:31:03.000Congressman, Congressman, our curriculum harvest this core values and also to be able to embolden these countries for a representative democracy.
00:31:24.000But General, that democracy isn't what emerges.
00:31:27.000The problem is, I know you may have great confidence in what you're teaching, But when two governments have been overthrown, I guess, how many governments have to be overthrown by people we train before you sort of get the message that our core values might not be sticking with everyone?
00:32:23.000That is not some low-level person in our military.
00:32:28.000This is a four-star general that was just providing those inept responses, General Langley.
00:32:35.000He is in charge of every U.S. service member on the continent of Africa.
00:32:39.000He makes major contributions at the table with other senior defense leaders regarding our strategy and our tactics.
00:32:48.000And he could not answer the most basic questions about whether or not the work we were doing in Africa actually works against our stated interests.
00:32:57.000But if you just keep stating core values long enough maybe you can keep moving up the ladder.
00:33:10.000There was a moment in Congress today that I think really encapsulated the non-answer from the Biden administration that we're getting regarding some of the most frivolous spending that is going on in Ukraine.
00:33:22.000As I have stated, our country has nearly $1.5 trillion in unfunded pension liability.
00:33:29.000The squeeze on pensions in the United States is ever the more exacerbated by some of the banking challenges that we've seen.
00:33:38.000When you raise interest rates dramatically, pension funds that are over-invested in long-term government bonds ultimately get squeezed.
00:33:47.000And that has real-life consequences for teachers and firefighters and police.
00:33:53.000But this government, the Biden administration, is actually paying for pensions in Ukraine.
00:34:00.000A point that Congressman Tim Burchett made in the House Foreign Affairs Committee today.
00:34:20.000Four billion U.S. tax dollars have gone to Ukrainian pensions.
00:34:23.000How is that any shape, form or fashion justifiable?
00:34:27.000The program, Congressman of Assistance to Ukraine, has on the ground right now in our embassy about 47 personnel responsible solely for oversight.
00:34:37.000We just had a report by the Inspector General's Office looking at the oversight of the taxpayers' funds in Ukraine.
00:34:46.000The report was very positive in terms of the processes that are in place and the work that's being done to make sure that money is being spent appropriately as well as wisely.
00:34:54.000At the same time, we have in place a process, for example, much of the funding that we provide, the taxpayers provide, to Ukraine goes through a World Bank program that only disperses money upon receipts for authorized expenditures.
00:35:10.000And we have third-party validators to include Deloitte, which is working directly with the Ministry of Finance.
00:35:17.000I appreciate all that, but when we can't fund Medicare and then we're funding Ukrainian pensions, I really think our priorities are out of whack.
00:35:27.000Well, yeah, Congressman Birchett has a point there.
00:35:30.000And it's so telling the way Blinken just avoids answering the question there.
00:35:35.000The question was, why is it part of our stated policy to fund these pensions?
00:35:40.000And then Blinken's answer as well, we're making sure that we're not funding things outside of our stated policy.
00:35:46.000The problem is the underlying premise that American taxpayers ought to be underwriting Ukrainian pensions is deeply America last.
00:35:55.000Thank you all so much for joining today.
00:35:57.000As you can see, it was a wild one on Capitol Hill.
00:36:00.000We want to make sure you're as informed as possible in real time so that you can have contact with your members of Congress so that your voice can be heard so that you can work with us to engage the Senate and the administration on important things that will help our fellow Americans lead better lives.
00:36:15.000And so you have a homework assignment.
00:36:19.000Make sure that you have our notifications turned on and do what you can to share this episode, share this content so that we can reveal some of the deepest, darkest things that are going on in this swamp and so that we can get America going back on the right track.