On today's show, Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-IL) joins me live from the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to talk about his speech at the RNC and what we can expect from tonight's events.
00:00:16.000What was it like speaking at the RNC convention last night?
00:00:19.000Was that your first time speaking at a Republican National Convention?
00:00:23.000When I spoke in the 2020 convention, that was a pre-tape because of COVID. And this is obviously very different, live in an arena that was electrified with the story of 13 Blue Star families that became Gold Star families.
00:00:40.000electrified as the UNC frat bros came out to the convention hall, the Nutra parents were out, and others, real-life Americans, talking about their story, their experience, their pain, but also their courage.
00:00:56.000And in different ways, their stories impact those undecided voters across the country listening.
00:01:04.000There are people who are actually Biden and Clinton voters from 16 and 20 who maybe in 2024 realize that if they actually want to make America great again, if they want to make their streets safer, life more affordable, they want to secure our border, they want to be energy independent, they're going to be energy-independent, well, they need to vote for the president who is actually going to accomplish that, to make our country strong again, but to elect Donald Trump president.
00:02:05.000So I was in the middle of asking you, what do you think we can anticipate tonight ahead of the RNC convention's final night?
00:02:12.000President Trump is going to be speaking.
00:02:14.000I know that we're going to be hearing from Tucker Carlson, Dana White, Ivanka Trump is going to be there, Melania Trump.
00:02:20.000Still no word on whether or not Melania Trump will be speaking.
00:02:24.000But I know that there's going to be a lot of messages around unity.
00:02:28.000So what are you expecting to see tonight?
00:02:31.000I think there will be messages for unity and substantively talking to those gettable Democrat and independent voters across this country to talk about why they don't have to let those Democrats take their votes for granted.
00:02:48.000There are all sorts of Americans in these swing states and beyond who have been voting Democrat their whole life.
00:02:55.000But now is an opportunity for them to take control of the destiny for their family, their community, and this country.
00:03:02.000So let's talk to them about how we are going to secure our border.
00:03:05.000We are the party who will make our nation prosperous again.
00:03:09.000We will have a strong, effective foreign policy again.
00:03:13.000We will make our nation energy independent.
00:03:22.000I feel like this substantive delivery of what's really so important to us as Americans, what's so important to us as America's first messengers, I think is now resonating with more people than ever before.
00:03:38.000And while we're watching dysfunction and civil war over on the Democratic side as they try to take down their party's leader and president and standard bearer, here on the Republican side at the RNC, we've never been more united.
00:03:53.000And we can contrast this, of course, right now with the absolute chaos and disarray within the Democrat Party, Congressman.
00:04:01.000Just today and yesterday, there were reports that top Democrats, including Senator Schumer, Congressman Adam Schiff, your former colleague and...
00:04:08.000Nancy Pelosi, the former Speaker of the House, are now all calling on Joe Biden to step aside.
00:04:14.000What do you think we can expect to see in the next few days?
00:04:17.000There's reports that Joe Biden may be exiting the presidential election as early as this Saturday, although other reports say that we could see it happen over the next five days.
00:04:27.000Because obviously you're not in Congress anymore, but you still have maintained those relationships and you are very politically connected and plugged in.
00:04:36.000When do you think we can expect to see Joe Biden step aside?
00:04:40.000I mean, there's certainly a possibility that he succumbs to this pressure, which is coming from the leaders of his party.
00:04:52.000I mean, I remember George Clooney coming out a few days ago and all sorts of different members of Congress coming out against him, polls that are showing him even further behind.
00:05:03.000But it It really, in a way, vindicates Dean Phillips, who said before this primary process, we can't nominate Joe Biden.
00:05:13.000It's time for us to have someone else as a Democratic Party standard bearer.
00:05:18.000Now, here's the other problem, though, for the Democrats, is that they can't pass up Kamala Harris, who's their DEI pick.
00:05:26.000You know, it doesn't matter about merit.
00:05:29.000Kamala Harris is the one person Joe Biden could have picked from that short list who was least capable of upstaging Joe Biden.
00:05:38.000And there are a lot of people who are saying, we shouldn't have Joe Biden, but we should have Kamala Harris, who has all sorts of flaws herself and in many respects is much further to the left than Joe Biden.
00:05:50.000President Trump will do well against either of them.
00:05:53.000If the Secret Service did, in fact, yesterday, tell Marsha Blackburn and other United States senators that they identified this shooter over, you know, 30 minutes prior to President Trump taking the stage and he had only been speaking for 20 minutes, then that means that they allowed him to get on stage with knowledge of a shooter in the audience.
00:06:17.000Because how could you say that this wasn't an inside job if the agency responsible for protecting the life of the president knew of a potential lethal threat to the president's life and allowed him to take the stage?
00:06:28.000And I know that's an inflammatory thing to say.
00:06:30.000And people don't want to imagine our government ordering the assassination of a United States president.
00:06:37.000So, again, do you think that we need to start having more pointed conversations about whether this was, in fact, an inside job by law enforcement agencies in the Biden administration?
00:06:50.000These are the questions that are being asked right now, is how the heck did this possibly happen?
00:06:56.000Who knew what and when and why weren't certain actions taken?
00:07:00.000Because there's only one conclusion to reach when there's a law enforcement officer on the ground, when there are law enforcement officers that are on the ground, Who knew and they didn't do their job.
00:07:12.000They didn't do what they were trained to do and they didn't protect the President of the United States.
00:07:15.000There are questions that need to be asked and answered.
00:07:18.000And I hope that they're answered this week so that we can all have comfort in knowing truth.
00:07:23.000That we don't have to make any assumptions.
00:07:26.000We can just say this is exactly what happened.
00:07:29.000We don't have to wait months in order to find out what it is.
00:07:31.000And anyone who is responsible for these failures are held accountable.
00:07:36.000Do you think that people who knew and didn't take action when they say that they identified a shooter before President Trump took stage, do you think that these people should possibly face criminal charges?
00:07:47.000People like Kim Cheadle, some of the agents on the ground and Alejandro Mayorkas, if in fact, you know, it is further reiterated that they knew that President Trump could have been shot the moment they allowed him to get on stage?
00:07:59.000Depending on what they knew, there's a possibility that the facts may lead to criminal charges.
00:08:08.000You take a crime, you see whether or not the elements of that crime are there and that it could be proven in court, and you go.
00:08:16.000And it doesn't matter who's responsible for it.
00:08:19.000We're not looking for a particular person and then trying to find a crime.
00:08:23.000You ask the questions, you do your investigation.
00:08:26.000If the facts are there to support the elements of a criminal statute on the books, no one should get immunity from that just because they were somebody who was in law enforcement.
00:08:40.000Listen, there's a possibility that the facts here may end up leading to even people in law enforcement being held responsible.
00:08:48.000And so what kind of charges are we potentially talking about?
00:08:51.000Accessory to attempted murder of the United States President or accessories to murder, given the fact that Cory Camparate, the firefighter who tragically lost his life, was a victim of one of those bullets that struck him in the head and killed him.
00:09:06.000Do you think that they could potentially be charged as accessories to murder and attempted murder?
00:09:12.000Depending on what the answers are to the questions that are out there, what the facts are, if it can be proven, then yes, there's a possibility that there will be law enforcement officers who should be prosecuted for their role.
00:09:29.000But it really requires an investigation.
00:09:32.000And I don't want to start speculating or making assumptions.
00:09:36.000I want to be able to have a conversation with you within days Not months or not years.
00:09:42.000I want to have a conversation within days where you and I are armed with all sorts of new black and white facts as to who the names are of the people who knew what and when.
00:09:54.000And listen, there might be people in law enforcement who had information and they were on comms pleading.
00:10:03.000There might have been a sharpshooter on a roof who was looking for a green light and not getting one.
00:10:08.000And you have to figure out who in that chain of command was not making sure that the president was protected.
00:10:16.000I'm not going to assume that every single person who came into contact with this information did something criminal.
00:10:22.000Quite frankly, there might be All sorts of law enforcement officers who are handling things by the books.
00:10:28.000And we saw it with our own eyes as far as some members of the president's detail who jumped on stage to protect him.
00:10:34.000But listen, I would love to have a conversation with you within days with far more answers as opposed to just questions.
00:10:41.000You mentioned that there needs to be an investigation.
00:10:44.000How can the American people and President Trump himself trust the investigation into the attempted assassination of his physical being, given the fact that this investigation is being carried out and also controlled by the FBI, the same FBI that the same FBI that manufactured and distorted evidence in the documents case that was recently dismissed by Judge Eileen Cannon in Fort Pierce, Florida, the same FBI that has raided Mar-a-Lago, the same FBI that is demonizing
00:11:11.000the same FBI that is demonizing Trump supporters as the biggest terrorist threat in the country under Merrick Garland and Christopher Wray, while ignoring groups like Antifa and ISIS and Hamas and all of these other radical Islamic factions in our country that while ignoring groups like Antifa and ISIS and Hamas and all of these other radical Islamic factions in our country that are terrorizing Americans, especially Jewish students on college campuses.
00:11:30.000How can we actually trust this investigation, given the massive credibility crisis at the FBI?
00:11:37.000no, really quickly, you can't stonewall this investigation in the days to come.
00:11:44.000Christopher Wray, I'm not sure if you saw this, Congressman.
00:11:49.000He actually just denied a request that was sent to him by the House Judiciary Committee to appear before Congress this week to answer about the attempted assassination.
00:11:58.000So they are actually dodging this investigation.
00:12:46.000And I just really hope that come next Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, that you're able to be on air and actually start assessing Breaking down, analyzing actual facts that are coming in.
00:13:02.000Listen, if you get to next Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and it's all more responses like you just mentioned from Christopher Wray, then we're talking about something really different.
00:13:13.000And folks need to be fired with more urgency.
00:13:17.000And whoever replaces these people need to be pledging to come in, not trying to cover anything up, but coming in To make sure that they're providing transparency and answers.
00:13:55.000And we need to make sure that in swing states and in the expanded map and beyond, That we don't just put this entire battle on President Trump to fight all by himself.