The Anchormen Show with Matt Gaetz - January 25, 2023


Episode 84 LIVE： Russia Hoax Fed Indicted – Firebrand with Matt Gaetz


Episode Stats

Length

21 minutes

Words per Minute

156.80025

Word Count

3,378

Sentence Count

195

Misogynist Sentences

1

Hate Speech Sentences

4


Summary

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-GAETZ) speaks live from Room 2021 of the Rayburn Office Building in the Capitol Complex in Washington, D.C. Rep. Gaetz was one of the few in the entire Congress who bothered to stand up against permanent Washington on behalf of his constituents.


Transcript

00:00:01.000 The embattled Congressman Matt Gaetz.
00:00:03.000 Matt Gaetz was one of the very few members in the entire Congress
00:00:06.000 who bothered to stand up against permanent Washington on behalf of his constituents.
00:00:10.000 Matt Gaetz right now, he's a problem in the Democratic Party.
00:00:13.000 He could cause a lot of hiccups in passing applause.
00:00:16.000 So we're going to keep running those stories to keep hurting him.
00:00:20.000 If you stand for the flag and kneel in prayer,
00:00:23.000 if you want to build America up and not burn her to the ground,
00:00:26.000 then welcome, my fellow patriots.
00:00:29.000 You are in the right place.
00:00:31.000 This is the movement for you.
00:00:33.000 You ever watch this guy on television?
00:00:35.000 It's like a machine, Matt Gaetz.
00:00:38.000 I'm a canceled man in some corners of the internet.
00:00:41.000 Many days I'm a marked man in Congress, a wanted man by the deep state.
00:00:46.000 They aren't really coming for me.
00:00:48.000 They're coming for you.
00:00:50.000 I'm just in the way.
00:00:55.000 Welcome back to Firebrand.
00:00:56.000 I'm Congressman Matt Gaetz broadcasting live out of room 2021 of the Rayburn Office Building
00:01:02.000 here at the Capitol Complex in Washington, D.C.
00:01:05.000 We've got a short show for you, but key updates we've got to get through.
00:01:10.000 Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell booted from the House Intelligence Committee.
00:01:15.000 I'm going to react to that.
00:01:16.000 We're going to get some of the greatest hits from the lying that we saw from those two on the Russia hoax and beyond.
00:01:24.000 And Ilhan Omar is probably up next.
00:01:27.000 I would expect that a vote would be upcoming on the floor of the House of Representatives regarding her service on the Foreign Affairs Committee.
00:01:34.000 The reason that vote was not required for the Intelligence Committee is the Speaker of the House has broad authority over who gets to sit on the Intelligence Committee.
00:01:43.000 So Kevin McCarthy keeping a promise, being the best version of himself, Swalwell and Schiff off the Intelligence Committee.
00:01:52.000 Ilhan Omar very likely soon to follow tomorrow.
00:01:55.000 The House of Representatives will have its major energy bill on the floor.
00:02:00.000 I'm going to talk about that, why it's important, why there are some Florida specific issues that we're going to be leading on and addressing.
00:02:07.000 And I see we got the live stream up and running.
00:02:09.000 Folks watching from Florida, Ohio, Kentucky.
00:02:13.000 Thanks for letting me know.
00:02:14.000 Even Red Rural Oregon watching on Rumble right now.
00:02:18.000 Great to have your feedback.
00:02:19.000 Great to have you as part of the movement.
00:02:21.000 But the main thing I wanted to discuss today, the big news.
00:02:26.000 Charles McGonigal, a Fed, indicted for his illegal work on behalf of a Russian oligarch and the receipt of illegal payments.
00:02:36.000 Now, this is how this all comes together.
00:02:39.000 Back when the Russia hoax first started against President Trump, you'll remember that there were reports saying that a friendly foreign government had information that Trump was potentially working with Putin or working with Russians in the campaign.
00:02:54.000 It was, of course, nonsense that was just bar talk from George Papadopoulos at a London pub.
00:03:01.000 But part of the team that did the initial intake on that information that ignited the Trump-Russia hoax, Charles McGonigal.
00:03:12.000 He was working in the D.C. office of the FBI.
00:03:16.000 Now, after he was a part of some of that investigative work that destabilized the presidency and was just totally nuts for years, he gets a promotion.
00:03:27.000 And who promotes McGonigal?
00:03:31.000 Jim Comey.
00:03:32.000 That's right.
00:03:33.000 And where does he end up?
00:03:34.000 At the New York field office as the special agent in charge of counterintelligence.
00:03:40.000 Now, you know, this isn't Topeka, Kansas, right?
00:03:43.000 This is New York City, some of the most really competitive kind of intelligence and counterintelligence space on the planet Earth.
00:03:53.000 It is a highly contested intelligence domain, New York City.
00:03:57.000 Charles McGonigal gets this job.
00:03:59.000 And so his job there is to hunt people like oligarchs who are trying to compromise our government, influence us in illegal ways, launder money, get positions in businesses that they shouldn't have, avoid sanctions.
00:04:14.000 He's supposed to be stopping all of that, going after the Russian spies and assets.
00:04:20.000 Now, one of the most famous Russian oligarchs is a guy named Oleg Deripaska.
00:04:25.000 Oleg Deripaska, rich history, don't have time to get through all of it, but needless to say, a guy that our own government was watching very closely because we know he is, in many ways, an appendage of Putin.
00:04:38.000 An appendage of that system that has corrupt, crony, klepto-capitalism, not even capitalism, really government control of the economy, but they're allowed to then go and take these ill-gotten gains and plow them into capital markets and participate in capitalist systems.
00:04:56.000 And that is where guys like Oleg Deripaska fused the kleptocracy of the Russian Federation with what we see going on in cash transfers, real estate transfers, buying stock positions in businesses.
00:05:10.900 So McGonagall's supposed to be going after this guy, and he's just got his indictment unsealed this week, where, in fact, instead of going after him, he ended up working for him, trying to help Oleg Deripaska evade sanctions.
00:05:29.280 Money laundering, conspiracy to commit money laundering.
00:05:32.300 Of course, everyone's innocent until proven guilty, but I'm telling you what the charging documents say, what the indictment says, that the feds are having to acknowledge about one of their own.
00:05:43.220 So McGonagall goes up to New York, and he works there up until 2018.
00:05:48.260 He retires in 2018.
00:05:50.400 Then he goes to a law firm, and this happens all the time, where the law firm is giving legal advice and consultation to this Russian bank or Russian entity
00:06:01.180 about sanctions compliance, but really it's sanctions evasion.
00:06:05.160 And then McGonagall, for setting the deal up, is getting paid $25,000 a month.
00:06:10.980 But then, soon thereafter, after that relationship with the law firm, the Russians and McGonagall are saying to each other,
00:06:16.600 well, why are we using a law firm to move the money through?
00:06:19.420 Why don't we move that money through our own shell corporations that we create with our friends and allied interests?
00:06:27.220 And so, the Russians start putting money that ends up being about a quarter million bucks into this New Jersey bank account run by a cutout of McGonagall's, one of his friends.
00:06:41.080 And there's a lot of work done in this indictment from the FBI and the Department of Justice to suggest that, look, McGonagall, he was a Boy Scout pretty much when he was with the Bureau.
00:06:54.460 It was only after the Bureau that these specific allegations about sanctions evasion, money laundering, conspiracy to commit money laundering, lying to the federal government really emerged.
00:07:05.000 That's when the criminal conduct reaches a chargeable level of acuity.
00:07:08.680 But here's the tell.
00:07:11.660 The business entity that ended up taking the corrupt foreign money when McGonagall didn't want to use the law firm anymore,
00:07:19.600 it was set up while he was the special agent in charge of counterintelligence of the New York field office.
00:07:26.620 He had already set it up.
00:07:28.820 And he got email credentials under a fake name.
00:07:33.220 He got a cell phone through this business under a fake identity.
00:07:36.660 And you just wonder, like, why would a special agent in charge of counterintelligence need to have fake email, burner phone, Shell Corporation in Jersey,
00:07:47.940 and then they start collecting Russian money?
00:07:52.360 The other tell.
00:07:53.880 And it's here in the indictment.
00:07:55.320 It's actually on page 7 of the indictment.
00:07:57.780 It's the 12th paragraph.
00:07:58.840 So while McGonagall is in this big counterintelligence position at the New York field office,
00:08:04.840 one of Deripaska's buddies needs a daughter to go get an internship at the NYPD,
00:08:11.420 and McGonagall sets the whole thing up.
00:08:13.480 He goes to the NYPD and establishes this relationship with this daughter of Deripaska's close associate,
00:08:20.400 someone who actually they believed was a Russian intelligence officer.
00:08:23.740 So we know this.
00:08:26.360 One of the top counterintelligence people, promoted by James Comey, involved in igniting the Russia hoax,
00:08:34.360 was turned, if these allegations are true.
00:08:38.740 And what we don't know is when he was turned.
00:08:43.180 And that is what I think the Judiciary Committee needs to find out.
00:08:46.520 I'm working with Jim Jordan now to demand that Director Wray answer questions about the monitoring,
00:08:53.660 the screening, and what assessments are being done now.
00:08:56.440 Now that our own government has had to charge McGonagall with working for this Russian oligarch,
00:09:02.500 are we looking at the decisions that he made along the way?
00:09:06.900 What investigations had resources deprived where there could actually be a threat to our national security?
00:09:12.700 What investigations weren't open?
00:09:14.480 What investigations were shut down?
00:09:15.920 What investigations were advanced on behalf of Oleg Deripaska or crazy Russian oligarchs?
00:09:24.220 Some of the work that McGonagall ends up doing after he leaves the FBI on behalf of Deripaska
00:09:30.200 is to dig up dirt on some of Deripaska's oligarch competitors.
00:09:36.420 And so it makes you wonder,
00:09:37.300 Was every investigation,
00:09:40.520 was every referral for criminal prosecution truly based on evidence developed?
00:09:45.940 Or did you have circumstances where this guy was essentially moonlighting for the very Russians that he was supposed to be getting
00:09:52.800 while allowing this government to accuse President Trump of being a Russian agent?
00:09:58.540 Really something.
00:10:01.060 We'll continue to follow this and we will soon have the answer back from Director Wray to Jim Jordan and I
00:10:08.940 regarding the threat to national security exists as a result of this betrayal.
00:10:17.440 Absolute betrayal.
00:10:18.500 I want to talk now about some of the folks who absolutely were at the forefront of the Russia hoax beyond McGonagall.
00:10:29.200 They sort of took the baton.
00:10:31.620 Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell.
00:10:33.340 Kevin McCarthy today taking them off of the House Select Committee on Intelligence.
00:10:39.180 And I fully support Speaker McCarthy's decision.
00:10:42.820 Let's actually pull up the Schiff face the nation.
00:10:46.320 This is Adam Schiff on face the nation in August of 2018.
00:10:49.720 Take a listen.
00:10:52.260 Can you agree that there has been no evidence of collusion coordination or conspiracy that has been presented thus far between the Trump campaign and Russia?
00:11:01.920 No, I don't agree with that at all.
00:11:03.600 I think there's plenty of evidence of collusion or conspiracy in plain sight.
00:11:07.300 Now, that's a different statement than saying that there's proof beyond a reasonable doubt of a criminal conspiracy.
00:11:12.880 Bob Mueller will have to determine that.
00:11:15.020 But, of course, the entire meeting at Trump Tower...
00:11:17.000 Right, so you acknowledge that the FBI has not presented it thus far.
00:11:20.000 I'm drawing this distinction because this is what the White House is arguing here, that the president is drawing a distinction,
00:11:25.700 that he is saying when he says hoax and witch hunt that he means one thing
00:11:29.740 and that it's not really trying to disassociate himself from what his national security team says.
00:11:35.420 Well, first of all, we haven't seen what Bob Mueller has produced in terms of the evidence yet.
00:11:41.780 So, in terms of FBI proof, they're not going to present proof to the Congress.
00:11:45.340 We're doing our own investigation, and we've revealed evidence, I think, that certainly goes to the issue of conspiracy and collusion,
00:11:51.360 a lot of which is now public.
00:11:53.800 But I do think that the president continues to cast doubt on whether he accepts the fundamental conclusion that Russia intervened.
00:12:01.660 Of course, those claims were never evidenced, and Adam Schiff's pronouns are now booted and removed.
00:12:10.880 But the lies continued.
00:12:12.680 They disgraced the House Intelligence Committee.
00:12:15.700 They tried to gussy up political dirt as evidence of some sort of crime or threat to the nation.
00:12:21.360 Play the February 2019 clip.
00:12:25.120 Adam Schiff, take a listen.
00:12:26.100 This question derives from New York Times reporting, saying that the FBI opened an investigation into the possibility that the president was a Russian asset.
00:12:37.020 Do you believe the president of the United States is a Russian asset?
00:12:41.560 What matters most is the president's actions.
00:12:44.800 Whether he's compromised or not, he is acting like a person who is compromised.
00:12:50.320 Do you know who is compromised?
00:12:55.020 The FBI!
00:12:56.700 The very national security people empowered to protect us, especially in the counterintelligence space.
00:13:05.040 So think about this.
00:13:06.040 Adam Schiff had an actual responsibility on the Intelligence Committee to have oversight over the FBI,
00:13:12.100 to stop people from being turned, to have the right policies and legislation and review in place
00:13:19.000 so you would never be reading an indictment like this of a person like McGonagall.
00:13:23.940 But instead of doing his actual job, they had to go create the hoax that somehow Donald Trump was compromised.
00:13:31.440 It's like my friend Jim Jordan always says,
00:13:33.660 they always accuse us of the stuff they're doing and we are not sorry to see Schiff go.
00:13:39.540 Matter of fact, I will be introducing legislation not only to see that he is removed from the Intelligence Committee,
00:13:45.640 but to express the sense of Congress that he should have no access to classified information at all.
00:13:51.940 I'd rather give George Santos access to classified information than Adam Schiff.
00:13:56.780 And you know what?
00:13:58.000 This guy has abused that power to such an extent, we don't have to wonder what he will do.
00:14:03.720 We saw it during the Russia hoax and we saw it during the knockoff Ukraine sequel thereafter.
00:14:09.320 But it wasn't just Adam Schiff.
00:14:12.260 Look who swallowed the hook completely during the Russia hoax.
00:14:15.420 Play Eric Swalwell and Ari Melber.
00:14:20.560 Mueller used a legal term and did not find a chargeable Russia-Trump conspiracy.
00:14:28.000 You talk about collusion and you've also, and I'm going to play this for you,
00:14:31.320 talk about it pretty directly as if there was a personal link,
00:14:35.260 a personal activity by Donald Trump established.
00:14:37.420 Take a look.
00:14:39.320 All of the arrows continue to point to a personal, political, and financial relationship
00:14:43.820 that Donald Trump had with the Russians.
00:14:45.760 Do you believe the president right now has been an agent of the Russians?
00:14:48.960 Yes.
00:14:49.340 I'm still not hearing the evidence that he's an agent of Russia.
00:14:51.800 Yeah, I think it's pretty clear.
00:14:53.480 It's almost hiding in plain sight.
00:14:54.860 Do you believe that the Trump campaign colluded with the Russians in the 2016 campaign?
00:14:59.400 Yes.
00:15:00.240 Do you believe the president himself colluded with the Russians?
00:15:03.740 Yes.
00:15:04.000 There was certainly evidence of collusion, not evidence that met the beyond a reasonable doubt
00:15:09.000 standard, but this president in no way is cleared.
00:15:12.920 Do you accept the findings in the Mueller report that do not support some of those claims?
00:15:19.060 Well, I accept that I probably should have been out there a little bit earlier
00:15:23.320 because who knew how many links there were, 200 pages of links.
00:15:27.480 I accept also, Ari, that prior congresses did not have an imagination
00:15:30.980 to see a president or a campaign have so many concerning conduct
00:15:35.520 and not write laws to prohibit it.
00:15:37.840 But it didn't meet the standard beyond a reasonable doubt.
00:15:39.940 But here's what we know.
00:15:41.680 The Russians helped Donald Trump.
00:15:42.820 Sure.
00:15:43.460 But to be clear, so you're no longer maintaining that he is effectively a, quote, Russian asset?
00:15:49.500 No, I think he acts on Russia's behalf, and I challenge him to show me otherwise.
00:15:53.780 Do you know who was acting on Russia's behalf?
00:15:59.180 The federal agents that were taking money from Russia.
00:16:02.080 The people who had been able to influence the direction of investigations
00:16:07.160 that at some point were turned, and we have an obligation to the country
00:16:11.240 to figure out when they were turned.
00:16:13.380 But Donald Trump was never a Russian agent.
00:16:16.300 And Eric Swalwell?
00:16:17.280 Swalwell, how did that guy even get on the Intelligence Committee in the first place?
00:16:22.980 You would think you would have to have some intelligence to be on the Intelligence Committee.
00:16:26.740 But yet, Swalwell found himself there and is now not going to be there anymore.
00:16:31.480 Great job, Speaker McCarthy.
00:16:33.480 Coming up this week also, we have the House Energy Bill.
00:16:37.380 And I want to talk about this because this was one of the major issues discussed
00:16:41.300 in the midterm elections.
00:16:43.140 Republicans believe that inflation is crushing people.
00:16:45.760 It's especially crushing middle-class people.
00:16:49.220 And rural folks have to deal with compounding inflation
00:16:52.220 because to get to their job, they often have to drive farther.
00:16:56.480 Their goods have to come from farther away places in the interior of the country.
00:17:01.100 And so that additional fuel charge you see stacked and restacked
00:17:06.440 at every level of the supply chain.
00:17:08.480 And so if we're able to lower gas prices,
00:17:10.400 then we believe we have fulfilled the initial step of attacking some of this inflation.
00:17:18.180 We also have to curb the government spending that is causing this inflation.
00:17:22.000 But H.R. 21, which I do intend to vote for,
00:17:25.660 would stop President Biden from essentially playing politics
00:17:30.280 with the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
00:17:32.660 Now, you've seen Biden try to manipulate gas prices
00:17:36.060 by digging in to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
00:17:38.960 That is there for our national security, to protect our country.
00:17:43.120 God forbid if anything went on in the world where we couldn't get energy,
00:17:46.540 you would see quality of life in this country plummet immediately.
00:17:50.260 And so that is for all of us, and yet he used it for politics.
00:17:53.640 We don't want to see that happen.
00:17:55.020 We also want to make sure that we have common sense
00:17:57.760 when it comes to where we are utilizing American energy
00:18:02.120 so that we are not subject to the whims of dictators
00:18:06.860 like those in Iran or Venezuela,
00:18:09.700 and that we're not overly reliant on Russia or any other country.
00:18:14.120 We should be working to ensure American resilience
00:18:17.840 and American dominance like we had under President Trump.
00:18:20.940 Now, that does not mean that we have to drill in every conceivable place.
00:18:25.280 There are places where drilling is popular,
00:18:27.980 where drilling makes sense from the topography.
00:18:31.220 Places like the Dakotas, Pennsylvania, Texas,
00:18:34.280 where they want all the drilling they can get even off the coast of Louisiana.
00:18:39.240 But off the coast of Florida,
00:18:40.880 we have sensitive military missions that cannot coexist with drilling.
00:18:45.600 Specifically, we take air-to-air shots that are hundreds of miles long
00:18:50.260 to ensure that our country always holds the high ground against China.
00:18:55.280 And I can't even believe I have to say this out loud,
00:18:57.940 but it is a terrible idea to shoot experimental missiles over oil rigs
00:19:03.400 and all of the transit that goes to and fro to service those rigs
00:19:07.520 and the people who work on them.
00:19:08.760 So we have legislation that will be an amendment to H.R. 21
00:19:13.480 that will simply reinforce the policy put in place by President Trump
00:19:18.100 that created some drilling exclusion zones off of Florida.
00:19:22.360 But the overall effect of the bill undeniably will be terrific
00:19:27.060 for our energy posture and our economic posture,
00:19:29.860 and we'll make sure through our amendment
00:19:32.100 that it does not compromise national security.
00:19:34.620 Speaking of President Trump,
00:19:36.840 just getting breaking news as we're on the show
00:19:38.900 that Facebook and Instagram are going to let Trump back on,
00:19:43.280 and we celebrate that decision.
00:19:45.300 Though the timing is interesting, right?
00:19:47.280 I mean, they had this guy kicked off for years,
00:19:51.820 and then right as Republicans are taking over the Judiciary Committee
00:19:56.620 and the Energy and Commerce Committee,
00:19:58.500 right as Elon is providing documents and information and access to witnesses,
00:20:04.580 all of a sudden you see Instagram, Facebook, the meta entities
00:20:09.520 deciding they're going to let President Trump back on.
00:20:12.160 Don't think that just because you let Trump on,
00:20:16.460 our investigative oversight will not continue.
00:20:19.020 We are going to find out what is happening at these companies
00:20:21.560 because they shape the access of so many millions of Americans
00:20:26.880 to the digital world.
00:20:29.080 And as we've often said,
00:20:30.640 we do not believe that the Constitution ought to be playing second fiddle
00:20:35.040 to the terms of service on big tech.
00:20:38.300 Thank you guys so much for joining me.
00:20:39.960 Our podcast is doing really well.
00:20:41.320 I saw in the ratings we're top 100 in news.
00:20:43.960 We're like, we were top 25 in politics.
00:20:46.900 So very much appreciate everyone listening.
00:20:49.420 When you engage with our content,
00:20:51.360 when you share our content,
00:20:52.740 when you leave us a comment about the stories and topics you're interested in,
00:20:56.360 it only makes the product and the update better for all of you.
00:21:00.440 Thanks for joining us.
00:21:01.180 We'll be back soon.
00:21:02.120 Roll the credits.
00:21:02.620 We'll be right back.