The Anchormen Show with Matt Gaetz - April 27, 2023


Episode 101 LIVE： ATF Director Melts (feat. Rep. Tim Burchett)– Firebrand with Matt Gaetz


Episode Stats


Length

36 minutes

Words per minute

171.72923

Word count

6,234

Sentence count

473

Harmful content

Misogyny

4

sentences flagged

Toxicity

22

sentences flagged

Hate speech

6

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Rabblerousers and are joined by Rep. Tim Burchett (R-GA) to discuss the debt ceiling vote and ATF Director James Comey's testimony on gun control and surveillance. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R/GA) joins the show to talk about his vote against a debt ceiling increase and why he voted against it.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 In battle, Congressman Matt Gaetz.
00:00:03.680 Matt Gaetz was one of the very few members in the entire Congress
00:00:06.540 who bothered to stand up against permanent Washington on behalf of his constituents.
00:00:10.940 Matt Gaetz right now, he's a problem for the Democratic Party.
00:00:13.760 He could cause a lot of hiccups in passing the laws.
00:00:16.780 So we're going to keep running those stories to get hurt again.
00:00:20.160 If you stand for the flag and kneel in prayer,
00:00:23.340 if you want to build America up and not burn her to the ground,
00:00:26.800 then welcome, my fellow patriots. You are in the right place.
00:00:31.080 This is the movement for you.
00:00:33.160 You ever watch this guy on television?
00:00:35.340 It's like a machine. Matt Gaetz.
00:00:37.920 I'm a canceled man in some corners of the Internet.
00:00:41.080 Many days I'm a marked man in Congress, a wanted man by the deep state.
00:00:45.880 They aren't really coming for me. They're coming for you.
00:00:49.680 I'm just in the way.
00:00:50.980 Several votes tonight, but the main one, of course, was raising the debt limit,
00:00:59.700 and I voted against it.
00:01:00.920 The proposal that we sent over to the Senate does not, in fact, cut the deficit.
00:01:07.540 It actually adds, over 10 years, almost 19 trillion new dollars.
00:01:13.420 It cuts the rate of growth.
00:01:17.020 So it's not cutting the hefts. It just cuts the rate of growth.
00:01:20.540 So anyway, I'm going to keep fighting for fiscal responsibility,
00:01:27.680 although sometimes it seems it is my backs against the law on this stuff.
00:01:32.460 Anyway, we'll just keep fighting.
00:01:33.780 Thank you all for sending me here.
00:01:37.000 We are live.
00:01:38.120 That was Congressman Tim Burchett.
00:01:39.460 He'll be joining us in just a moment to talk about all of today's events here in Congress,
00:01:44.160 but Tim Burchett joined me and Andy Biggs and Ken Buck as the only Republicans voting
00:01:50.060 against the $1.5 trillion increase in the debt limit.
00:01:53.160 We're going to get Congressman Burchett's hot takes on that,
00:01:56.080 but also key information regarding testimony from the director of ATF on the live stream.
00:02:02.240 They're watching from South Carolina, Pensacola, Jacksonville, Oklahoma,
00:02:06.060 and we get a lot of feedback on these issues where the ATF is targeting gun owners.
00:02:10.980 I had the ATF director for five minutes going to give you that content.
00:02:15.780 Also, FISA, this Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Authority that often is not used to target foreign entities.
00:02:25.940 You're going to find out how many of these queries have occurred
00:02:30.600 where a whole lot of FBI has got a whole lot of access to data without a warrant,
00:02:36.800 and they are using it to a great degree.
00:02:39.300 And I could not end the show.
00:02:40.900 I'm going to show you where the top uniformed individual for the United States Air Force
00:02:47.440 tried to convince me that the words mom and dad are exclusionary.
00:02:53.360 But first, joining us, Congressman Tim Burchett.
00:02:56.980 Tim, you made some news joining us rabble-rousers in voting against this increase in the debt limit.
00:03:02.560 Why did you do it?
00:03:03.720 $32 trillion in debt, Matt.
00:03:05.840 It adds, if you add $1.5 trillion a year over 10 years, $17 plus trillion,
00:03:13.800 it's just out of control.
00:03:15.700 Well, we've got to stop it at some point, and this going back and forth, it's just not happening.
00:03:24.140 And I committed to do it.
00:03:26.260 I didn't vote for it under Trump, and I haven't done it under Biden.
00:03:30.520 And to me, it's just disingenuous to vote for it.
00:03:34.540 So, I mean, you laid out the math to me as we were meeting with negotiators
00:03:39.600 and talking with some of the designers of this plan that even though there is some limitation
00:03:45.660 in the growth of the federal budget, that this plan, the supposed Republican plan,
00:03:51.020 the conservative plan to save the dollar, reverse inflation, unlock energy,
00:03:55.240 all that was going to put us at a moment 10 years from now with about $49 trillion in debt.
00:04:03.380 That's correct.
00:04:04.080 That's correct. 0.99
00:04:04.880 And, you know, it's a sucker's bet.
00:04:06.280 When I was in the state legislature, I know you were in the state legislature in Florida.
00:04:10.120 I was in Tennessee, and they'd always talk about, oh, we're cutting the rate of growth.
00:04:13.880 We're cutting the rate of growth.
00:04:14.780 But you're still growing.
00:04:15.620 If you're growing at an exponential amount and you cut it by a little bit, it's still growing. 0.93
00:04:20.380 It's just ridiculous to me.
00:04:22.060 And I got so sick of people saying, this is the largest cut in government that we've ever had. 0.70
00:04:27.360 But it's growing at such a level, the percentage is just so minuscule.
00:04:30.780 But actually, in our state legislatures, we don't talk like they talk in Washington.
00:04:34.840 No.
00:04:35.120 When we talk about a cut in the state legislature, that actually means fewer dollars than you got in the prior year.
00:04:42.180 Only in Washington is a cut still massive growth in the overall cost of the program,
00:04:48.800 but just a reduction in the rate of that growth.
00:04:52.000 Correct.
00:04:52.880 And I shared that concern.
00:04:57.340 Are you also worried that the dollar itself might be in jeopardy?
00:05:00.480 I am.
00:05:01.380 That seems to be the movement afoot.
00:05:02.980 Under Trump, gasoline was cheaper.
00:05:07.180 The dollar was worth something.
00:05:08.800 I remember I was in the county mayor's office, and the girls in my office came in because they got a raise because of the economy and Trump. 0.97
00:05:18.500 And they came in going, choo-choo, we're on the Trump train now, boss, because I was a Trump guy.
00:05:23.880 And two years ago, if you made $100,000, and today it would be worth $85,000.
00:05:31.740 I mean, that to me is just crazy.
00:05:34.440 And families are struggling.
00:05:36.800 We're devaluing our dollar.
00:05:38.720 And it's a trap.
00:05:40.980 It is a trap.
00:05:41.580 If you want to wreck this economy, let's just continue doing what we're doing.
00:05:44.620 The number one question we got asked today as we were walking out of our final votes, well, where does it go from here?
00:05:51.580 What's going to happen next?
00:05:53.460 What's your assessment of how you think the Senate will react to this offer and where this ultimately resolves?
00:05:59.940 Are we headed to a shutdown?
00:06:01.080 Are we headed to spending cuts that are acceptable?
00:06:03.940 Are we headed to just a veneer of spending cuts and a massive increase in the debt limit?
00:06:09.260 What do you think?
00:06:09.700 I just don't think the Senate's going to do anything.
00:06:14.620 I think they're going to flip it back to us, stripped, and then we'll have to see.
00:06:19.260 So you don't think they'll cut $1?
00:06:20.960 I don't.
00:06:21.600 Well, that's the news.
00:06:22.480 I mean, the news is your assessment is that the Senate will not respond to this package with the reduction of even one planned dollar in spending.
00:06:32.240 I don't see them doing any of it.
00:06:34.120 The president said we're not going to negotiate, so he and Schumer joined it to HIP.
00:06:38.600 And I just don't see it happening because I don't think the president's capable of it.
00:06:43.920 Even though the president was in charge in 2011 under Biden of negotiating the debt limit, he just said he's not going to do it.
00:06:51.960 And Schumer's not going to do it.
00:06:53.800 And they've messaged this thing as such that we're cutting, you know, or, you know.
00:06:59.720 Oh, yeah. 0.97
00:07:00.280 We're slaughtering the widows and orphans. 1.00
00:07:02.380 Yeah, exactly. 0.99
00:07:02.940 If you believe the Democrats.
00:07:03.900 Yeah, and so I just don't see us getting anywhere.
00:07:08.160 That's my personal opinion.
00:07:10.100 So does that mean a shutdown?
00:07:11.700 I think we'll run right up to a shutdown and possibly have a shutdown. 0.69
00:07:15.120 But then we always blink like we always do.
00:07:18.060 And then, you know, massive spending.
00:07:20.900 And we pat ourselves on the back and call it, oh, we've fought the good fight.
00:07:25.500 And we haven't.
00:07:26.780 We haven't.
00:07:27.240 Tennessee Congressman Tim Burchett did not blink when we had the vote on the plan to increase the debt limit by $1.5 trillion.
00:07:34.920 He joined fellow firebrands Andy Biggs, Ken Buck, myself.
00:07:39.280 We were the four votes against that.
00:07:41.420 You're hearing the reasons why now.
00:07:43.220 And the prognosis is not good.
00:07:44.660 We may have to get ready for some shutdown politics and some shutdown economic consequences.
00:07:49.500 If your assessment is that there's going to be a stalemate, a hardening of positions, I think that the thinking among Republican leadership in the House is that this is going to dislodge some negotiating activity.
00:08:02.100 You seem to think that it might not.
00:08:03.940 But one thing that a serious country would not do, $32 trillion in debt, is spend so much money and send so many of its bravest patriots to faraway lands for unclear gain and the lack of an end state.
00:08:20.380 And today we had a debate and a vote on legislation that I filed to withdraw U.S. troops from Somalia.
00:08:29.460 I want to give you a flavor of that debate.
00:08:31.020 We'll come back and get Congressman Burchett's reaction.
00:08:33.140 Play the clip.
00:08:33.940 There are 17 million Somalis.
00:08:38.500 I'm rooting for them.
00:08:40.140 I hope that when my life ends, Somalia isn't synonymous with famine and failed states and civil wars and coups.
00:08:49.940 I really hope that.
00:08:51.620 But we must also exercise sufficient humility in this body to understand the capabilities of persuasion for a relatively small batch of American troops given the problem.
00:09:03.860 And I would return to the argument that I made earlier in this discussion.
00:09:07.780 There is an opportunity cost to this in people.
00:09:10.740 There are specific units that call my district home that are having to split between AFRICOM and Indo-PACOM when the reality is whether or not our children are speaking Mandarin, our grandchildren are having to get dominated by the Chinese Communist Party.
00:09:27.420 Somalia is not going to be the result of who wins the battle of Mogadishu.
00:09:31.540 It's going to be the result of who holds the high ground against our true pacing adversaries.
00:09:37.380 And becoming the neighborhood block captain of Somalia is certainly not the behavior of a serious country engaged in very serious challenges against serious adversaries.
00:09:48.720 I thank my colleagues for the indulgence.
00:09:51.340 I certainly thank the leadership for permitting me such time.
00:09:54.080 And I would yield back the balance.
00:09:57.260 We are back live with Congressman Tim Burchett.
00:10:00.040 Kathy on Facebook says she is ready for the shutdown.
00:10:03.220 Steve on Instagram says do not falter.
00:10:06.220 Stay together.
00:10:07.200 Kay Shaw on Rumble says they're getting half the groceries at twice the price.
00:10:13.000 So, Tim, you voted with me.
00:10:14.920 We were defeated in that vote overwhelmingly.
00:10:17.480 What do you think folks in East Tennessee think about sending Americans to Somalia?
00:10:22.020 Dadgummit, Matt.
00:10:24.400 Americans are patriotic people in Tennessee and specifically.
00:10:28.560 In Vietnam, they had a statistically higher number of volunteers went.
00:10:33.660 My daddy fought in the Second World War.
00:10:35.700 My mama flew an airplane during the Second World War.
00:10:38.040 She lost a brother fighting the Nazis.
00:10:41.200 You know, we're fighters.
00:10:42.940 We're fighters.
00:10:43.720 We believe in fighting.
00:10:44.780 We believe for standing up for what's right.
00:10:46.320 But nobody knows what the heck's going on over there.
00:10:48.980 We sent five.
00:10:49.780 We have over 500 Americans there now, excluding our embassy personnel, the Marines that do that.
00:10:57.000 And what are they there for?
00:10:58.360 Like you said, they're block captains.
00:10:59.860 We're fighting block to block.
00:11:01.340 They're MPs or something.
00:11:03.100 We're in countries that don't appreciate what we have.
00:11:06.360 They don't want what we have.
00:11:07.960 They don't even understand what we have.
00:11:09.720 It's like going literally to a caveman and handing him a cell phone.
00:11:15.180 I mean, they don't get it.
00:11:17.320 Yeah, like trying to spread Jeffersonian democracy like it's going to spread like COVID across North Africa. 0.79
00:11:23.900 Absolutely.
00:11:24.520 Somebody in biblical times.
00:11:25.820 I mean, these folks live in a different lifestyle.
00:11:28.480 They don't.
00:11:29.040 And a lot of them don't like us.
00:11:31.320 And yeah, I think I think it helps the terrorists potentially recruit new members.
00:11:35.100 If there are U.S. uniformed service members patrolling the streets engaged in local law enforcement.
00:11:40.660 Yeah, dressed up like something that's come from Mars or something.
00:11:43.960 I mean, they just don't get it.
00:11:45.120 Why do you think we keep losing these votes?
00:11:46.520 Because I've done this now in Syria, Somalia, may do Niger next.
00:11:50.220 And I wonder why so many Republicans and Democrats see utility in sprinkling our service members around the globe.
00:11:58.640 I think there's key members in both parties that profit from this.
00:12:03.220 I really do.
00:12:04.340 I think they profit from it financially.
00:12:08.920 And I believe key people in their areas do.
00:12:12.860 You know, we vote for a missile defense system we're going to send to Ukraine, things like that.
00:12:17.780 And thinking, wow, that's a great idea.
00:12:19.800 We'll just give them our missiles. 0.93
00:12:21.280 But the rules are that we have to every time we do that, we have to supplant ours or supply ours to bring ours back up to a certain level by rule or law or whatever is in the in the deal.
00:12:33.060 And then and they know that and they've got stock in that.
00:12:35.560 And it's it's blatant to me. 0.99
00:12:37.700 It is just pathetic. 0.94
00:12:39.920 And so you you don't believe that it's that they accept the underlying argument of globalism. 0.99
00:12:45.040 You believe it is just raw, craven self-interest.
00:12:47.540 Well, I think some of the key people are that's what they believe.
00:12:50.460 But they put it in these idealistic folks that maybe have never, never had a father that that that had to kill people for his country that that wake up and you couldn't wake him up over his himself.
00:13:03.760 I had to wake my dad up by his toe.
00:13:05.600 My dad fought in the Second World War.
00:13:07.060 And I'm talking just to just the day he died.
00:13:09.620 He was in his 80s.
00:13:10.700 I would still have to wake him up that way because he might wake up thinking where he was as an 18 or 19 year old young man.
00:13:17.320 And it's still, you know, they don't get that. 0.98
00:13:20.260 And then you whisper in their ear some idealistic garbage. 0.98
00:13:23.660 A few liberals are idealistic conservatives that rah, rah, we're America. 0.99
00:13:27.980 We're going to wrap ourselves in the flag.
00:13:29.300 And that government, it doesn't work.
00:13:30.840 It doesn't work.
00:13:31.560 And they know it.
00:13:32.280 And they're playing us. 1.00
00:13:33.260 And they're playing us for fools. 0.98
00:13:34.940 And then the United States ends up being the world's piggy bank and the world's police force. 0.93
00:13:38.820 And it never happens.
00:13:40.240 And we end up pulling out.
00:13:42.040 And dadgummit, they're, you know, they're not.
00:13:45.180 And we don't do it.
00:13:46.100 Like Afghanistan, we've got nothing. 1.00
00:13:48.300 We've got nothing except a bunch of body bags with American names on them.
00:13:52.800 Yeah, and families that will never be the same and minds and body parts and communities.
00:13:58.460 Staff Sergeant Ryan Knauss, the last person to die in Afghanistan, my constituent.
00:14:03.100 And that's just wrong.
00:14:04.120 He died.
00:14:04.640 He should have been home on Easter Sunday with his family.
00:14:08.120 And that's just wrong.
00:14:09.780 And these bad decisions repeat over and over again.
00:14:14.240 And certainly we hope that we're able to persuade more of our colleagues.
00:14:18.440 But I think the American people also have to wake up to the driving factors of these decisions.
00:14:23.840 And you've been quite clear on that point.
00:14:26.740 I also want to get to the very freedoms that people like our veterans fight for.
00:14:33.200 And that includes the Second Amendment.
00:14:34.680 And increasingly in this country, we're seeing the Second Amendment under attack.
00:14:39.100 We're seeing law-abiding gun owners totally villainized unfairly.
00:14:44.880 And the ATF has really exceeded the authority we've given them.
00:14:50.280 They're making millions of Americans inadvertent felons based on this thing that they're calling, oh gosh, what is it, Tim?
00:15:00.280 The stock extension is what it is.
00:15:02.340 Well, yeah, it's the arm pistol braces.
00:15:05.300 Right.
00:15:05.700 No, it's the zero tolerance policy.
00:15:07.880 Yeah.
00:15:08.800 The zero tolerance policy.
00:15:09.940 So if you mess up anything in your paperwork, they come for you.
00:15:13.140 But yet they can't live up to that same standard.
00:15:15.280 I got a chance to point that out with the ATF director this week.
00:15:18.840 Take a listen.
00:15:21.240 How many guns has the ATF lost?
00:15:26.500 I'm not sure I understand the question.
00:15:29.580 Is it a difficult question to understand?
00:15:31.320 Well, I don't know if you're referring to any particular incident or time period.
00:15:39.260 How many instances should we be looking at where you've lost guns?
00:15:42.540 So if what you're referring to is what happened at the National Destruction Branch, no guns were lost.
00:15:50.060 They were stolen by an individual who's now in prison who was not an ATF employee.
00:15:54.780 There were recommendations made on what you should do so that you don't become the victim of the theft.
00:15:59.800 And the inspector general is saying you're not following them.
00:16:02.360 I'm quoting directly from the inspector general's report.
00:16:04.940 Thousands of firearms, firearms, parts, and ammunition had been stolen from the ATF.
00:16:10.240 So you gave testimony that the brave ATF agents are the ones showing up at 2 in the morning after a burglary.
00:16:16.180 But it seems as though in this case you were the one burglarized.
00:16:19.580 But why have you not followed the recommendations of the Office of Inspector General so that you aren't the mark?
00:16:28.760 Again, I want to say that it is brave men and women of ATF who do this.
00:16:37.660 I know what they're doing.
00:16:39.480 They're getting robbed on one hand.
00:16:40.980 So you can't keep a hold of the guns you're supposed to have.
00:16:44.180 But then you do keep a hold of a bunch of stuff you're not supposed to have a hold of.
00:16:48.080 The GAO report, firearms data, ATF, did not always comply with the Appropriations Act restriction and should better adhere to its policies.
00:16:56.040 As a result of breaking the law, didn't you guys have to go and delete like a quarter of a million records that you illegally kept?
00:17:03.820 Again, with respect to both the inspector general reports that you're talking about.
00:17:09.020 Nope, one's inspector general, one's GAO.
00:17:10.760 Well, the GAO, the inspector general report, ATF, that happened several years ago, more than that.
00:17:17.880 2022.
00:17:18.160 And ATF has, the report came out.
00:17:21.120 But the theft, and ATF has implemented numerous different safety measures with respect to the National Destructive Branch.
00:17:28.320 Well, I mean, I'm reading to you from the report from last year, Mr. Director, we found that the NDB staff does not currently, currently in 2022, adhere to establish operating procedures in place to mitigate risk of firearms being lost and stolen.
00:17:43.620 So I guess that shows an ATF that is not functioning correctly and is not responding to the problems you create.
00:17:52.100 You keep records you're not supposed to.
00:17:53.860 It was a quarter million of them you had to delete, right?
00:17:55.620 I don't believe that that is correct.
00:17:59.760 Was it over 200,000 that you had to delete?
00:18:01.700 So what was happening was...
00:18:04.180 I just want to know the number of records you had to delete that were not being lawfully maintained.
00:18:09.080 There were records that had not actually been searched, but my understanding is were searchable.
00:18:15.520 And so that's what you guys do.
00:18:16.760 You keep what you shouldn't keep.
00:18:18.220 You lose what you're not supposed to lose.
00:18:19.940 But how do you treat regular Americans?
00:18:21.400 I got this letter from someone in my district, a firearms dealer.
00:18:25.280 I have been a firearms dealer for 46 years.
00:18:28.420 For 46 years, I've had a good relationship with law enforcement.
00:18:32.080 Then came the ATF's zero tolerance policy.
00:18:35.540 Two years ago, while in the process of selling a firearm to a customer, I completed their background check using Florida's FDLE firearm purchasing program.
00:18:44.120 The background check was uneventful, and FDLE rendered an approval number.
00:18:47.860 Some months later, during an ATF audit, I was told the background check was now a non-approval.
00:18:54.540 Even though FDLE made the error, it was on my paperwork, so ATF deemed it a willful error.
00:19:01.220 After completing close to 50,000 background checks over 46 years, why would I willfully ignore this background check?
00:19:08.480 The answer is simple.
00:19:09.820 I did not.
00:19:10.800 But the ATF has revoked my license, ended my career, and my livelihood.
00:19:16.460 So I guess the question is, why should you be able to destroy the life of one of my constituents over a technicality where they weren't even at fault,
00:19:25.760 when you all lose thousands of guns and illegally keep hundreds of thousands of records?
00:19:30.980 Respectfully, Congress has given us the authority to inspect and make sure that firearms dealers, the vast majority by the which, are compliant.
00:19:44.900 They are our first line of defense in dealing with straw purchases.
00:19:49.240 This guy isn't your first line of defense anymore.
00:19:50.940 He's fired.
00:19:51.400 A very small minority, those dealers, after due process, have been determined.
00:19:58.780 A small minority, a small minority, ATF, enforcer of gun laws, lost thousands of firearm parts to thieves.
00:20:05.560 New data shows ATF, gun store restrictions, at the highest rate in 16 years.
00:20:10.700 Mr. Director, the definition of hypocrisy is when you can't live up to your own standard.
00:20:15.880 So you have imposed a zero-tolerance policy that is resulting in the highest rate of revocations in 16 years,
00:20:24.940 and you wouldn't be able to meet your own zero-tolerance policy because you lose stuff you're supposed to keep,
00:20:30.860 and then you keep stuff that it's illegal to keep.
00:20:33.600 And by the way, I am one of those MAGA Republicans that would defund your salary, your agency,
00:20:38.460 and I think all these good things that you say exist could happen with those folks at the local and state level,
00:20:43.800 and this is a terrible abuse of power.
00:20:48.960 We are back live.
00:20:50.500 A lot of feedback from the live chat.
00:20:52.560 Blackbeard on Getter saying,
00:20:54.560 The ATF shouldn't make the laws.
00:20:56.040 That's the responsibility of Congress.
00:20:58.220 Kendra on Facebook saying she's a vet.
00:21:00.420 She had her CCW stripped.
00:21:02.440 John on Facebook calling the ATF modern-day KGB.
00:21:06.980 That's a very hot take.
00:21:08.580 And a raging patriot on Instagram saying,
00:21:10.960 Abolish the ATF.
00:21:12.640 Tim Burchett, congressman from Tennessee.
00:21:15.000 What do folks in East Tennessee think about the ATF?
00:21:17.640 Well, the director, I don't think, Dadgummit, I don't think he could spell ATF.
00:21:22.200 You had him pretty wrapped up.
00:21:24.080 I'm a gun owner.
00:21:25.820 I've used a gun to protect my constitutional rights.
00:21:30.540 Some folks have broken in.
00:21:32.100 My warehouse, we're stealing some of my motorcycles,
00:21:34.540 and Dadgummit, I caught them and I held them.
00:21:38.080 They're not fans of the ATF.
00:21:39.740 If this stock thing is going to put dealers out of business,
00:21:43.820 it's ridiculous because there's no clear definition.
00:21:48.500 You've got to hire an attorney to figure it out,
00:21:50.920 and it's just like the IRS.
00:21:52.740 They've created, you've got a bunch of-
00:21:54.100 Is the ATF savable,
00:21:55.460 or do you just have to devolve these powers to the state and local level?
00:21:58.700 No, state and local.
00:21:59.720 I have no problem with our state and local authorities monitoring and regulating this.
00:22:06.380 And by the way, if they want to create interstate compacts to be able to share and track data,
00:22:10.380 they don't need the federal government overseeing that to even make that an effective thing 0.65
00:22:16.020 if there's actual criminal activity.
00:22:17.800 But the reality is the ATF, really, they're like on a snipe hunt.
00:22:23.300 More like a witch hunt.
00:22:24.720 And then you have to start believing in witches if you're in the business of witch hunting.
00:22:29.940 Or they drown you, and then if you drown, they go,
00:22:31.980 Oh, you weren't a witch.
00:22:33.600 Yeah.
00:22:34.360 Well, that's happening to far too many dealers, mom and pops, small businesses,
00:22:38.120 and we have to keep fighting for them and going after guys like that
00:22:41.720 who are abusing the power of this government.
00:22:43.980 Now, speaking of witch hunts, we all know that the Russia hoax began with the FBI
00:22:50.160 and the Department of Justice misusing the FISA process.
00:22:54.140 This is the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
00:22:56.660 And what they do is they act as though they're targeting a foreigner,
00:23:00.680 but through incidental collection, they get information on Americans that then they save
00:23:05.540 that then can be used in queries.
00:23:08.340 Now, over every executive agency, there's an inspector general
00:23:11.680 who has an obligation to review their conduct and to judge its adherence
00:23:16.360 with what the law requires.
00:23:18.640 The inspector general over the Department of Justice is Obama-appointed.
00:23:23.360 He is an Obama-era inspector general.
00:23:26.040 And that is what I think makes this line of questioning from earlier today so interesting.
00:23:30.780 Take a listen.
00:23:31.280 I want to get into the 3.4 million backdoor sources that the ranking member pointed out
00:23:41.200 in his opening statement.
00:23:43.180 Mr. Secretary General, how should the public think about those?
00:23:47.300 Well, I think what we've seen in the various public reports,
00:23:51.660 and I'm limited in what I can say about what's public,
00:23:54.220 which I think is one of the issues, by the way,
00:23:55.760 that's what we're talking about is transparency here.
00:23:57.600 It's obviously very concerning that there's a broad volume of searches,
00:24:04.240 and particularly concerning the error rate that was reported on in the last two years
00:24:10.240 in the public reporting.
00:24:12.500 Now, I believe it was around 30%.
00:24:16.960 I think fellow members, I think it's around 30%.
00:24:21.560 I'm a lawyer, not a mathematician, but 3.4 million, about 30%.
00:24:26.680 You're talking about seven figures of error in terms of these searches.
00:24:31.740 I'm wondering, how many people can perform these backdoor queries?
00:24:37.940 I'm going to defer to board members because you've had the review ongoing.
00:24:41.720 I'm afraid I don't have those figures at my fingertips in terms of the number of people
00:24:46.640 that can conduct those types of searches.
00:24:50.360 But I share the concern expressed in the question that we need to have greater safeguards,
00:24:57.900 and I urge Congress to incorporate a requirement for FISA court review of these kinds of searches
00:25:02.940 to protect Americans' Fourth Amendment rights.
00:25:05.600 Four million backdoor searches, more than a million of them in error.
00:25:11.000 If I represent to you that we believe there may be north of 10,000 people in the federal government
00:25:17.260 that can perform those queries, would anyone here have a basis to disagree with that assessment?
00:25:22.740 No.
00:25:25.860 We are back live.
00:25:27.720 I've got Congressman Burchett, my good friend from Tennessee, here.
00:25:30.360 And make sure that you follow his podcast, Tennessee Talks with Tim Burchett.
00:25:35.520 I listen to it on Apple, but you also have a video version available on YouTube, right?
00:25:40.720 Correct.
00:25:41.360 Great.
00:25:41.860 Well, what's your YouTube channel so folks can find it?
00:25:45.520 Holler at me.
00:25:47.080 Rep Tim Burchett.
00:25:48.240 At Rep Tim Burchett.
00:25:49.700 Give him a follow.
00:25:50.380 Tennessee Talks, one of my regular listens.
00:25:52.920 And a lot of folks from Congress come on and share their perspective as well.
00:25:55.900 But I want to get your perspective on this FBI, DOJ, coloring outside the lines on how they're collecting intelligence.
00:26:03.340 Well, none of us are safe.
00:26:05.420 It was created for foreign folks.
00:26:07.400 And so all they do is backdoor you.
00:26:08.940 They just cast the net deep enough.
00:26:11.060 And that's where they went after Trump illegally and basically just falsified everything.
00:26:16.900 If they can go after a man running for president of the United States, they can go after anybody.
00:26:22.160 And I believe that that is what they're doing.
00:26:23.760 And it's a police state operation.
00:26:26.280 To me, it's not constitutional.
00:26:28.340 And I don't see how the evidence can be entered, but they're allowed to do it.
00:26:32.780 And it's just a way to backdoor all of us.
00:26:34.820 Well, it's a secret court.
00:26:35.580 For folks who don't know about FISA, it is a secret court that exists without a defense attorney.
00:26:40.700 So it is the government in secret alone with a judge with decisions that never get published or reviewed to see how jurisprudence develops.
00:26:50.440 And so we've had these reports after reports come out showcasing how the FBI is not complying with the law.
00:26:58.360 They're not complying with their own procedures.
00:27:00.300 And there's no one there to hold them accountable at all.
00:27:03.340 These authorities are coming up for renewal this year.
00:27:06.740 And I am not voting to reauthorize FISA, these 702 authorities that have been most abused.
00:27:14.360 I am not voting to do it.
00:27:15.920 I know a lot of my colleagues are going to hear arguments from the Intelligence Committee.
00:27:19.240 We're going to make arguments on the Judiciary Committee from the standpoint of people's civil rights and constitutional rights.
00:27:25.280 Because if they need to get this information, for national security reasons, they can get a warrant.
00:27:30.980 They can get a warrant, and then we've got a system that is tried and true.
00:27:34.960 Where is the media on all this?
00:27:36.500 You'd think it's just the transparency aspect.
00:27:39.160 Because if they can go after conservatives, they sure as hell go after a liberal as well.
00:27:44.520 You would think that this would be – because transparency is where it's at in my book.
00:27:49.860 Just let the sun shine in and let everybody see what's going on.
00:27:52.700 Yeah, and we have not had that for far too long.
00:27:55.600 And then when we get these searing moments today where you've got the inspector general saying
00:27:59.960 there were 3.4 million queries of incidentally collected information, all collected without a warrant.
00:28:08.400 And meanwhile, a third of them are in error.
00:28:11.460 More than a million.
00:28:12.680 It's just a fishing license is all it is.
00:28:14.700 It is a fishing license.
00:28:15.560 That's a great way to put it.
00:28:16.580 Well, I also have to get to one final moment we had today that I really wasn't expecting.
00:28:23.240 We're in the Armed Services Committee, and the Air Force is presenting their budget.
00:28:26.620 And when they do, it's reasonable to ask questions about everything from the Air Force's deployments
00:28:31.760 to their strategies to their munitions and hypersonics and platforms and planes and pilots,
00:28:37.600 but also their training, and particularly training the next generation of Air Force leaders
00:28:42.740 that we get the proud honor to be able to nominate to our service academies.
00:28:48.400 So my colleague from Michigan, Lisa McClain, is asking this guy who is the top general
00:28:54.020 in the entire United States Air Force, General Brown, the chief of the Air Force.
00:28:59.140 She's asking him questions about curriculum at the Air Force Academy that seems to say
00:29:05.360 that we shouldn't use words like mom or dad.
00:29:08.700 And after hearing his response, or really his non-response, I couldn't help myself.
00:29:12.880 Take a listen.
00:29:15.220 I have in front of me, you know, the slides on the diversity training and the equity and
00:29:20.600 the inclusion training.
00:29:22.020 How much money and time do we really spend on that?
00:29:26.340 Can we get a better sense to help educate everyone?
00:29:29.140 I can provide you, you know, exact information for the record, but I will tell you,
00:29:32.160 most of our training and most of our focus is on the readiness of the force.
00:29:36.200 And part of that readiness of the force is to ensure that they were building cohesive teams,
00:29:39.660 and part of those cohesive teams is to get to know our mental left or our right.
00:29:42.880 And I appreciate that.
00:29:44.080 And one of the things it talks about in one of your slides is not to recognize people as moms and dads.
00:29:52.220 I mean, as a mother, I take a little bit of offense to that.
00:29:54.960 It also talks about not using the word terrorist.
00:29:59.140 Can you explain why we wouldn't use the word terrorist and mom and dad?
00:30:02.740 And I think you've got to get that message out because I think a lot of people are really
00:30:07.460 frustrated and they feel like we're polarizing as opposed to coming together.
00:30:14.340 What I would tell you is that what I perceive is we're risk reading some of the aspects of
00:30:18.620 the things we're trying to do as we move the Air Force forward, and then we look at how
00:30:22.100 we build cohesive teams.
00:30:23.140 General Brown, I do have to ask you a question that sort of stems from what Ms. McClain was
00:30:28.960 asking about.
00:30:29.620 She showed you this curriculum from the Air Force Academy, and she asked you why the terms
00:30:36.160 mom and dad were disfavored.
00:30:38.700 And you said that you're working to build cohesive teams.
00:30:42.280 So just wondering, how do the terms mom and dad impair cohesive team building?
00:30:51.200 Part of leadership is understanding the people you're privileged to lead.
00:30:55.540 And as you have that opportunity, you get to know them.
00:30:58.060 And every one of us grows up differently and has different experiences, different backgrounds,
00:31:02.260 and we can't assume when we engage with them.
00:31:05.540 And so from that perspective, you've got to build that team and to build that trust with
00:31:11.060 our airmen, in part because that trust is part of the cohesion that gives you the strong
00:31:17.340 team to be able to go execute what the nation asks us to do.
00:31:20.220 I understand better than most that families at times aren't defined by blood or even paperwork.
00:31:26.120 And I know you have to recruit folks from different family environments into the Air Force.
00:31:31.120 But do you think maybe it puts downward pressure on recruiting some of the people who
00:31:35.240 do have moms and dads and do use the term mom and dad, if in the curriculum of the academy
00:31:41.200 it seems to disfavor those terms?
00:31:43.520 No, I don't.
00:31:46.900 And what's your basis for that belief?
00:31:49.940 Because I think part of leadership is dignity or respect of those you're privileged to lead.
00:31:55.140 You don't think it disrespects people?
00:31:57.220 I do not.
00:31:57.880 You don't think it disrespects moms and dads when they send their young
00:32:04.000 children, I guess, becoming adults into the academy, and then they see that mom and dad
00:32:11.240 are disfavored terms.
00:32:12.340 Do you agree that mom and dad should be disfavored terms?
00:32:15.060 I think we need to respect the fact that they have either parents, grandparents, aunts and
00:32:18.420 uncles that sometimes raise young people.
00:32:21.600 Sure.
00:32:21.960 But I mean, I know folks who've been raised by aunts and uncles, and none of them have ever
00:32:26.420 told me that when they hear someone else call their parent mom or dad, that that upsets
00:32:31.420 them.
00:32:31.780 Do you know of people who feel excluded when others refer to their parents as mom or dad?
00:32:39.060 I don't.
00:32:40.860 Either way, whether it's aunts, uncles, moms, and dads, I have not come across anyone.
00:32:45.660 If I could.
00:32:47.080 Sure.
00:32:47.100 The point of that slide, I'm familiar with it, came out of the Air Force Academy.
00:32:50.300 It was actually created by cadets for training it.
00:32:52.820 It's not very artful, but the point was that you should.
00:32:55.680 All right.
00:32:56.200 We're back with Congressman Tim Burchett.
00:32:58.860 Your reaction?
00:33:00.940 It's perverted.
00:33:02.320 Man, it's just beyond the pale. 1.00
00:33:04.380 This bunch is ridiculous. 0.99
00:33:06.720 When you see an American fighting man in a dress, and these people are promoting them, 0.99
00:33:13.480 what do you think our enemies are thinking when they see this kind of stuff?
00:33:17.340 You know what?
00:33:18.140 What I think is that there are moms and dads who see this kind of nonsense and say, I
00:33:22.480 don't want my kid to go into the military.
00:33:24.380 And these are patriotic American families who love our country, and we need, especially
00:33:29.300 families from the South, to put people into the military.
00:33:31.820 You know what my dad was thinking when he was on Okinawa and he was on Peleliu, and going
00:33:37.480 in there, he was thinking about his mom and dad.
00:33:39.680 Yes.
00:33:39.860 I guarantee you he was.
00:33:41.080 He was thinking, and he told me one time, they are sitting around Okinawa, because at night
00:33:45.880 it got a little cold, and the fighting had subsided for a while, and they ran off a
00:33:50.920 little campfire, and they were all talking, and they were talking about what they had
00:33:54.760 back in the U.S. and how good it was, and how they didn't want those Japanese to get 1.00
00:34:00.640 to their moms and dads back home.
00:34:02.760 And that's what it's about.
00:34:05.340 These guys have lost their minds.
00:34:07.040 I don't know how someone could sit there and say, the reason I have to disfavor the words
00:34:11.920 mom and dad and curriculum is because I have to do cohesive team building.
00:34:16.900 That's just...
00:34:17.820 And this isn't just some random person in the bureaucracy.
00:34:21.700 The top guy in the thing who's defending this thing, and it's just beyond the pale.
00:34:28.080 I mean, you have a mom saying, I find this offensive.
00:34:30.300 I find it offensive.
00:34:31.580 Sure. 0.97
00:34:32.100 Yeah, it's ridiculous. 0.98
00:34:34.260 It's totally ridiculous. 0.99
00:34:35.480 It's... 0.95
00:34:36.740 The only thing I can think of is, I hate being a conspiracy theorist, but they want to break
00:34:41.780 the whole system down, and they want to create some homogenous kind of deal, sort of a Marxist
00:34:48.280 state where the overlords are in charge.
00:34:53.520 And your moms and dads have no place in that, other than bringing you into this world.
00:34:57.920 If you were trying to bring the system down, you would destroy the family, you would destroy
00:35:03.640 the dollar, you would destroy people's Second Amendment rights, you would spread our military 0.87
00:35:09.320 too thin around the world, and you would collapse our budget.
00:35:13.800 Absolutely.
00:35:14.340 And I mean, as we've walked through the things that we've observed in Washington...
00:35:18.540 Today.
00:35:19.080 ...we are fighting against a lot of those very forces.
00:35:22.540 And I'm honored to have you by my side in that fight.
00:35:24.800 Tim, where can folks follow you?
00:35:27.420 At Rep Tim Burchett.
00:35:29.020 Well, at Tim Burchett is my cool Twitter one.
00:35:31.460 All right.
00:35:31.700 That's where they get the hot reports right off the steps of the Capitol.
00:35:36.480 Correct.
00:35:37.500 At Tim Burchett.
00:35:38.460 Make sure to give him a follow.
00:35:39.680 Make sure to listen to Tennessee Talks with Tim Burchett.
00:35:42.820 Thank you so much for joining me today.
00:35:44.540 We'll be back soon.
00:35:45.480 Roll the credits.
00:35:45.980 Roll the credits.
00:35:46.040 Roll the credits.
00:35:46.100 Roll the credits.
00:35:48.100 Roll the credits.