The Anchormen Show with Matt Gaetz - Episode 33 - Flynn Vindicated. Strzok's Bombshell Notes Revealed. Don't Tear Down Our History.

00:00:00.000 Welcome to Hot Takes, this is Congressman Matt Gaetz.

00:00:19.500 Let's talk about the news.

00:00:21.440 Michael Flynn's crowdsourced prosecution is not going to proceed.

00:00:26.040 A two-judge appellate panel has ruled that the court's inquiry into the Department of Justice's motivations or reasons or desires or ambitions in abandoning the Flynn prosecution were not proper and should not continue.

00:00:42.580 And of course, in this case, the appellate court came out on the right side of the issue.

00:00:46.580 In this country, we don't crowdsource the prosecution because the referee doesn't like the way that one side has played the game.

00:00:56.720 And in this instance, it became very clear that the prosecution of Michael Flynn was motivated not by any criminal activity on his part.

00:01:06.920 We've seen the transcript of Michael Flynn's call with Kislyak that was supposed to be like this great predicate act to justify his prosecution.

00:01:14.560 And we even saw from notes released today that it seemed legit, that it was proper and appropriate for Flynn to try to maintain the status quo with Russia after the Obama administration had so badly bungled things with Russia.

00:01:32.280 And fundamentally, the notes from the Flynn-Susan Rice interactions show that Flynn saw a rise in China as the main threat to the United States.

00:01:41.320 That was this guy's big crime. That's why they were trying to set him up, because he didn't want to see the United States launch into some conflict with Russia when he wanted to correctly realign our priorities to focus on China.

00:01:54.380 And for that, he suffered this terrible political prosecution.

00:01:58.940 And it is good to see that the judge is not going to have the opportunity to go find some person to then investigate the reason why the Justice Department, upon the disclosure of the evidence, decided that Michael Flynn did not do anything that justifies criminal prosecution.

00:02:16.640 We congratulate General Flynn. It is good to see justice done in this case.

00:02:21.160 But the Biden connection to General Flynn is one that still has to be examined and explored.

00:02:27.340 It was Joe Biden, according to these notes that were just declassified, who indicated that the Logan Act could be a predicate to investigate Flynn.

00:02:38.720 Now, the Logan Act had never been so successfully prosecuted against anyone since its inception, and yet it was going to be presented by Biden as the basis for this corrupt investigation into Flynn that ultimately was just there to try to leverage against the president.

00:02:55.520 General Flynn had a victory lap calling into Rush Limbaugh today.

00:03:00.620 Here were some of General Flynn's comments.

00:03:02.860 I have always believed and fought for our rule of law.

00:03:07.500 The most important thing that we have in this country, bar none, is that.

00:03:12.420 And we have to make it work, whether we like it or not.

00:03:15.740 And it has to work with the right people and the right leaders and the right, you know, the people of our country to step up to the plate.

00:03:25.160 And, you know, elections matter, right? Voting matters.

00:03:28.400 So, anyway, I just wanted to just get my two cents in with you today and tell you that we think about you often and we pray for you and that we are so happy with the decision, not only for our family, but for our country.

00:03:43.960 And General Flynn is right.

00:03:45.240 To boost confidence in the American system of justice, we needed this case resolved as it was with an innocent person not going to prison as the consequence of a political prosecution.

00:03:57.480 Now we should go change this system and demand the transparency so no matter which political party is in power, you have reliable systems that will not be the subject of the whims of politics, but instead will be honest and fair for all Americans.

00:04:16.060 Peter Strzok's notes are out.

00:04:19.100 One of the most common questions I get is, how high did the corruption go in the Obama White House?

00:04:25.300 You know, was it just kind of, you know, the people out at the agencies and at the departments?

00:04:31.040 Was it at the advisory class like the Clappers and the Brennans?

00:04:34.960 Or did this go all the way up to Obama and Biden?

00:04:38.900 In Strzok's notes, that picture seems to become more clear.

00:04:42.880 Comey and Obama and Rice and Biden were all meeting together to discuss the calls and the transcripts of the calls between General Flynn and Russian Ambassador Kislyak.

00:04:58.060 And Comey admitted the obvious, that they appear legit.

00:05:01.060 But then Obama orders to make sure you look at things with the right people, meaning that there has to still be something going on.

00:05:09.200 And it's in fact Joe Biden, who in these notes appears to raise the notion of the Logan Act, this thing that, you know, hasn't ever been used since its inception, is probably unconstitutional as the predicate to investigate Flynn.

00:05:22.400 Then Comey does the whole deal where he just sends the people over to investigate Flynn as a consequence of the government being stood up during the Trump administration.

00:05:33.140 What's important about this is it does not match the notes of Susan Rice, which confirm the misleading nature of all of this.

00:05:43.600 Rice's notes seem to be very inconsistent with Strzok's notes.

00:05:47.440 And I think tweezing out those inconsistencies is going to be really important.

00:05:52.400 The Peter Strzok story doesn't appear to be over.

00:05:56.860 This was never a counterintelligence or a national security investigation.

00:06:01.480 This was a setup and we're getting closer to its rotten core.

00:06:05.440 The abject and disgusting weakness of these mayors and governors that allow autonomous zones to exist within their territory, where we've seen an increase in assaults, where we've seen a delay in response time,

00:06:25.140 where we've seen unique challenges for law enforcement and first responders who just want to help people and ensure that in someone's worst moment that their government is there to care for them.

00:06:36.580 The people that allow these autonomous zones to be set up should not get subsidized by the U.S. taxpayer and they should not get the benefit of the hard-earned taxpayer dollars from around this country when we need to be doing things for those who would abide by the law.

00:06:54.000 So that's why I am one of the original co-sponsors of the Chomping Cash for Chaz Act.

00:07:01.340 This piece of legislation does not allow the folks who allow these autonomous zones to exist to then become eligible for federal funds.

00:07:10.840 Here's why this legislation is so important.

00:07:13.360 Here's why the message is so important.

00:07:14.840 Once these autonomous zones get set up, once they get fortified, once they get arms, once they're able to set booby traps, when they create conditions that make it more difficult for people to go in and provide assistance, then you've got a way bigger problem.

00:07:31.580 And of course, could our FBI, could our National Guard roll through these places and in very short order, re-establish order?

00:07:41.520 They could, but that would come at a substantial loss of life.

00:07:45.240 And we don't want to see any of our fellow Americans lose life over this nonsense.

00:07:49.580 We want our laws to apply.

00:07:51.860 We want our first responders to be able to do their jobs.

00:07:55.580 And we want the American citizen to be able to be cared for and protected.

00:08:00.160 That is not a partisan statement.

00:08:02.420 That is just a statement as a fellow American to another fellow American.

00:08:07.020 That being said, I don't think that the hardworking people across this country should be subsidizing the weak leadership that allows this to exist.

00:08:14.240 Because once they do exist, once they do get those arms, once they're able to set those booby traps, it becomes very difficult to deal with this situation.

00:08:22.300 I'm fortunate that in Washington, D.C., there was an absolute prohibition to the establishment of some autonomous zone.

00:08:31.040 The president was very strong about this.

00:08:33.020 His administration was very strong about this.

00:08:35.360 We have to stand for our country and against this neo-Marxist, neo-anarchist revolution that is inflicting harm on far too many people.

00:08:46.700 And that doesn't get talked about.

00:08:47.780 Everybody wants to talk about the virtue of the peaceful protesters.

00:08:51.280 And, of course, peaceful protest is an important part of our society.

00:08:55.100 But what we're seeing happen with a straight-up rejection of our country and our history cannot be tolerated by a great nation.

00:09:07.940 Mashable is a Twitter account with 9.7 million followers.

00:09:13.820 They have tweets ranging everything from the newest in technology to dating.

00:09:20.560 They've got a Stephen Colbert clip.

00:09:23.180 But it's very clear that they tilt left in their politics.

00:09:27.280 Criticisms of the president and sort of a reinforcement of some of the worst attacks on Republicans.

00:09:34.960 People like my friend Devin Nunes, even.

00:09:37.100 And, by the way, check out my most recent episode on his podcast, The Devin Nunes Show.

00:09:41.500 Devin's got one of the other great congressional podcasts that you should be sure to check out.

00:09:46.760 So, this Mashable Twitter account has a tweet and a video.

00:09:52.600 And keep in mind, this has 215,000 views already.

00:09:58.080 Take a listen to what they're saying.

00:09:59.240 We thought it'd be interesting to look at a purely hypothetical way to safely remove a statue.

00:10:04.000 Tip number one.

00:10:04.840 You're going to want to use chains, not rope.

00:10:06.960 Wrap the chain around the top end of the statue.

00:10:09.160 You'll want enough slack on both sides.

00:10:11.780 For, say, a 20-foot statue, you should have at least 40 people involved in this takedown.

00:10:16.480 Tip number two.

00:10:17.320 Use a really upbeat song.

00:10:18.860 One person on loudspeaker should direct the two groups to pull toward themselves.

00:10:22.260 To gain enough momentum to actually topple a statue of, I don't know, Christopher Columbus,

00:10:26.740 the group will have to coordinate pulling left, right, left, right.

00:10:30.520 It's like a game of revolutionary tug-of-war.

00:10:32.460 It just sickens me that people think that the right approach is to tear down and erase our history

00:10:38.060 rather than to build upon it and to gain better understanding.

00:10:42.140 Great societies learn from their history.

00:10:44.940 They don't tear it down.

00:10:46.500 And the fact that Twitter just allows content like that to remain while treating me unfairly,

00:10:52.720 while treating President Trump unfairly, it really shows their bias.

00:10:56.220 And it's something, trust me, that we're going to be dealing with very soon.

00:11:02.000 I know I've spent a lot of time individually highlighting cases where conservative voices,

00:11:08.080 conservative journalists are seeing the impact of big tech and their desire to reshape the

00:11:14.900 national discussion in the few months leading up to the 2020 election.

00:11:19.360 And it is at times easy to allow that to feel normalized, like, well, that's just what's

00:11:26.940 going to happen now.

00:11:27.680 But I just want to take a moment in today's podcast to reflect on the cumulative effect

00:11:33.040 of this.

00:11:33.960 You know, you take a guy like Rahim Kassam.

00:11:36.460 He's out there running a website, The National Pulse, that is breaking the major news on big

00:11:43.180 tech and particularly the interference of China in our politics, in our elections, and in the

00:11:51.460 decisions that our technology companies make.

00:11:53.980 That's a voice we really need.

00:11:56.400 But, you know, wiped off of Twitter as a consequence of merely reporting the news as to what was

00:12:02.680 going on with killings in London.

00:12:03.980 And then you have Carpe Donctum, who becomes, like, the great meme artist, the great, like,

00:12:11.340 meme pope of the MAGA movement.

00:12:14.260 And he makes a few controversial, you know, videos.

00:12:18.200 And all of a sudden, this viral ability he has to captivate people, to draw them together,

00:12:24.980 to mobilize a political force is a tool that we are deprived of for some period of time in

00:12:31.240 our arsenal.

00:12:32.260 And that is fundamentally unfair.

00:12:33.720 And then even this young man, Alex, he goes by at ALX, he gets taken off of Twitter by

00:12:40.840 going after the communist Chinese. 0.64

00:12:44.120 And I am flabbergasted by that.

00:12:48.100 But this is like a wonder kid of putting video together, putting argument together.

00:12:53.860 And if we just continue to see a chip away of these types of folks, and these might not

00:12:59.000 be names you know, they might be names you do know.

00:13:01.120 But they're people who really create the exoskeleton of our movement.

00:13:05.840 They create our operational capability to take a message and hone it and get it out so that

00:13:11.600 our transformational president can rally people.

00:13:13.940 And if big tech starts to neuter our ability to do that, it goes to the very core of our movement and the very ability for us to rally around the type of change we need to save this great country.

00:13:26.980 I'll be having a lot more to say soon about technology platforms, about the types of abuses that they have exercised against people.

00:13:36.100 And it is my expectation that we have to do something about this or speech, the very nature of engagement and query and testing arguments against one another could be changed in a way that could make America un-American.

00:13:51.680 And we can never let that happen.

00:13:56.260 Today, Nancy Pelosi's House of Representatives will pass an anti-police bill.

00:14:01.320 And this is really unfortunate because I think there was a lot of agreement on reform that could be done to improve policing that wouldn't demonize or disarm or defund or demoralize our police.

00:14:14.800 And yet, we didn't focus on those things.

00:14:17.700 Instead, the Democrats went and built a really anti-law enforcement wish list driven by the most radical fringe elements of their base.

00:14:26.180 And there's a specific example that I think really highlights this.

00:14:30.580 Now, no one ever protested or claimed that there was some bad activity from the Border Patrol, from the people who secure our nation, from those who would come in without permission.

00:14:42.580 And yet, in the George Floyd policing bill, Democrats have limited the ability of our military and the Department of Defense to give necessary equipment and resources to the people who secure our border.

00:14:57.900 And so, I offered an amendment in the House Judiciary Committee to try to revive that opportunity for our Border Patrol to be safe and secure, to not be out-armed or out-manned by the cartels.

00:15:09.220 And amazingly, on a party-line vote, Democrats rejected my amendment.

00:15:15.340 Here's a little bit of that debate in the House Judiciary Committee.

00:15:17.460 If this is really about policing and Black Lives Matter, why in the world are you trying to hurt ICE and Border Patrol?

00:15:23.920 You're trying to hurt ICE and Border Patrol because the Democrats have the act in this committee.

00:15:29.520 And so, there is no trip to Hollywood.

00:15:31.880 But I would invite every Democrat on the committee, including the gentlelady from the Sunshine State, to join Congressman Biggs.

00:15:37.660 And perhaps then you would be able to see how hard this fight is against a well-equipped enemy that is resourced with billions of dollars that is launching hand grenades at the people who seek to protect our families and our communities.

00:15:53.940 If you want to know why we're not so concerned about the Canadian border, it's because no one's throwing grenades over the Canadian border at our country.

00:16:02.340 And by the way, you realize your bill here hurts the Canadian border too, right?

00:16:08.180 What my amendment does is it preserves the protection for the whole country because I love the whole country and it is worthy of protection.

00:16:16.360 And I love the people who fight on our border honorably and admirably against those who would do us such grave harm.

00:16:23.880 And so today, a partisan bill will pass, it has no chance in the Senate, and sadly, we're further away from reform now than before George Floyd's killing.

00:16:36.560 And that's something that I think represents a missed opportunity.

00:16:39.360 So I hope the Democrats will work with Senator Tim Scott, will work with those of us who want to improve policing and support policing,

00:16:47.120 because the police are truly some of the best among us who stand between civilized society and those who would do us harm.

00:16:54.500 Thanks for listening to Hot Takes.

00:16:57.920 I'm Congressman Matt Gaetz.

00:16:59.620 Leave us a five-star rating and how about use that review box.

00:17:02.940 Tell me something you want to hear about, an issue, an item you'd like me to discuss.

00:17:06.800 Always love hearing from our constituents, and we hope you'll be back tomorrow for more Hot Takes.

The Anchormen Show with Matt Gaetz - June 25, 2020

Episode 33 - Flynn Vindicated. Strzok's Bombshell Notes Revealed. Don't Tear Down Our History.

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