Sen. Marsha Blackburn (D-TN) and Judicial Watch's President Tom Fitton (R-NJ) join host Lou Dobbs to discuss the latest train derailment in Alabama, the kidnapping of four Americans in Mexico, and the growing number of train derailments across the country.
00:02:36.360Our guests today are Senator Marsha Blackburn and Judicial Watch's President Tom Fitton.
00:02:42.540Senator Blackburn sits on the Judiciary Committee, the Finance Committee, Veterans Affairs, and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
00:02:51.320She is without question one of the hardest-working, most knowledgeable senators we have.
00:02:56.320And it's great, Senator, to have you with us here.
00:02:58.660Let's start with the train derailments.
00:03:00.520Norfolk Southern just had another one.
00:03:27.520These need to be investigated to figure out exactly what is causing these.
00:03:34.660And then if it's maintenance, looking at the history of maintenance and see if these are sudden, if these are things that have been on the list for needed repair,
00:03:45.060or is this, does it have anything to do with bad actors?
00:03:51.220I don't know the answers to all of this.
00:03:54.820I do know that there is a concern because of the number of accidents that we have seen and the short period of time in which we have seen these.
00:04:06.600And in many of those cases, and one hopes it's coincidental, hazardous, toxic chemicals aboard the train cars that are derailed.
00:04:18.660Palestine, East Palestine, Ohio, a terrible accident there.
00:04:25.220And we're only learning now more and more about just how hazardous the contents of those tanks were.
00:04:31.880To look at this right now, to see all of these derailments, the number of derailments,
00:04:38.460I think most people would be astonished at the number each year of these trains that derail.
00:04:44.620And I'm not clear about who is responsible for those tracks beyond, obviously, the railway, the railroad company.
00:04:53.100But there seems to be very little regulation about the rails themselves.
00:04:59.720And what we are, and this is one of the reasons people are concerned about Secretary Buttigieg and how he spends his time.
00:05:10.240They want to know that planes are going to fly.
00:05:12.860They want to know that boats are going to be able to navigate the rivers.
00:05:17.480They want to know that trains are going to stay on the rails and that our interstates are going to be safe and passable.
00:05:27.140Now, that is for people and the safety of people and the safety of goods.
00:05:33.080And they're very concerned that there does not seem to be a sense of urgency in finding out what is really going on here and why this has continued to happen.
00:05:50.560And as I said, I don't know the answer to all of these things.
00:05:54.980I'm not certain anybody has all of the answers at this point.
00:06:03.740And right now, the frustration with many people is that we don't seem to have an administration that is putting that best effort forward.
00:06:14.540You know, Senator, you make a great point.
00:06:17.300I can't think of any department within this government under the Biden administration that shows much urgency at all about anything, let alone doing something about any of it.
00:06:31.180Well, and see, you know, Lou, here's the thing.
00:06:37.240People are paying for this government.
00:06:39.460The money doesn't just fall out of the sky and into the federal coffers.
00:06:46.460You have American citizens who work, and before they ever get their paycheck, the federal government has taken their share of that paycheck.
00:06:58.800So they expect government to give them something in return.
00:07:04.660And right now, every taxpayer is holding $246,000 of U.S. government debt.
00:07:12.220If you want to say by every man, woman, and child, it is north of $70,000 per individual.
00:07:21.180And people are saying, hey, wait a minute.
00:08:55.040He doesn't work, seemingly, and he certainly knows how to fly in style on the taxpayer dime.
00:09:01.860Well, we certainly think that how he spends his time is something that should be looked at.
00:09:09.460But right now, as a matter of fact, he is in Nashville at the Clinton Global Health Initiative.
00:09:16.620And I said, you know, maybe they're going to do a health panel on how to support people that are being subjected to toxic exposure.
00:09:28.600Maybe that would be a good topic for them.
00:09:30.800But instead of working on East Palestine, instead of making certain that our rails are safe for passengers and for transit for cargo and goods,
00:09:45.820maybe he should be focusing on that, trying to figure this out, rather than hobnobbing with the rich and famous in Nashville at the Clinton Global Initiative.
00:09:56.720Well, it certainly would make sense to me.
00:10:00.160The man makes no sense, irrespective of whether it's an event like what you're describing or simply dealing with the tragedy in East Palestine, Ohio.
00:10:11.780I have to ask, I mean, Buttigieg is running around saying that this derailment could have been prevented if Trump hadn't carried out certain regulatory policies, etc.
00:10:22.800The Washington Post actually fact-checked him and found out that there was absolutely no regulatory change made under President Trump that contributed in any way to that derailment.
00:10:36.880And yet this this oath of a public official is wandering around spewing this kind of partisan nonsense.
00:10:44.700Well, you know, when you look at WAPO coming in and doing the fact check on that, this shows you how this administration is not serious about things.
00:11:19.480They want to be able to drink the water, breathe the air.
00:11:22.440They don't want to have their children breaking out in hives and with rashes after they have gotten a bath or a shower.
00:11:31.600And they're concerned about what they may be exposing their families to by staying there in this area.
00:11:42.080But they don't have the money to go somewhere else.
00:11:44.980And we use the word exposure to talk about the exposure brought to us by, of all departments, the Energy Department, talking about the origin of the COVID pandemic.
00:12:01.820First of all, I think most people would be astonished to find that the Energy Department is considered at least parts of it, part of the intelligence community.
00:12:10.080What do you make of the conclusion that Wuhan, indeed, that virology lab in Wuhan was the source of the pandemic virus?
00:12:20.340Well, Lou, as you know, I was called a lot of things for even suggesting that it was likely that the virus had come from the lab.
00:12:33.980This was a lab that was doing coronavirus research.
00:12:38.520They were doing gain-of-function research.
00:12:42.120Our diplomatic scientist had many times cited this lab as having concerns for what was being done there.
00:12:53.240There were concerns and questions about was this a lab where they were working on a biological weapon?
00:13:00.120There were questions about NIAID, Dr. Fauci's agency, and EcoHealth Alliance and what they were doing with money that was going into this research.
00:13:13.780So now, having this report leaked, and the only way we know about this is because the report was leaked.
00:13:22.680Having it leaked, it raises questions as to what Dr. Fauci did, what was he trying to cover up, because this is the COVID cover-up, the WHO and what they were doing.
00:13:40.900You know, and remember, they negotiated the language of the COVID report with the Chinese Communist Party, because they didn't want to be held to account for this.
00:13:54.100They did not want to have to admit that they were responsible for it, and we know it came from somewhere in China, most likely that Wuhan lab, because that is where they were doing the research.
00:14:12.460But they did not want to have to admit that, and you had the WHO, and you had NIAID, and you had social media, and you had big media out here saying, oh, it's not the fault of the Chinese or the Chinese Communist Party.
00:14:35.540This is something that just evolved, and we know that's not true.
00:14:40.060Not true, and we also know that Dr. Fauci and his exchanges in particular with Senator Rand Paul lied through his teeth, didn't he?
00:14:50.620Well, we know that he did not come forward in a straightforward manner.
00:14:57.160We know that he told lies, and because of that, you've got people that lost their life.
00:15:04.240You've got over a million Americans that lost their lives.
00:15:07.860You've got many million that had their family lives disrupted because of loss of life or injury or loss of livelihood or because of long COVID or kids that are suffering from myocarditis or others that are suffering from respiratory diseases, all because of COVID, and China has still not been held to account.
00:15:31.620And shame on this administration for not doing so.
00:15:36.380And no wonder the report had to be leaked for the American public to learn anything about it, because one thing about this administration, it is, despite President Biden's promises, the least transparent administration, I believe, ever.
00:15:54.320We always, as you know, Senator, give our guests the last word on this podcast, and we turn to you now for your concluding thoughts.
00:16:03.980I'm delighted to join you always and appreciate that you're bringing attention to this issue of China.
00:16:11.300What we need to do as we look at this is realize China has not wanted us to know that they were responsible for COVID because they don't want to be held to account by other nations for what they have done.
00:16:28.540And we have to look at this as more of what China is doing, whether it is trying to buy U.S. farmland, trying to buy U.S. food processors and disrupt our food supply.
00:16:41.480We have to look at what they're doing with soft propaganda, with the sister city programs and the Confucius Institutes.
00:16:48.880We have to pay attention to what they're doing in great power competition and spreading their military and debt diplomacy and the bullying they're doing to Taiwan and how they're carrying out a genocide on their own people, the persecution they're carrying out on the Tibetans and the Mongolians and what they are doing to the Hong Kong freedom fighters.
00:17:14.220China is our adversary, and I think because of a China spy balloon, more people realize that, and we need to continue to encourage people to keep their guard up against the Chinese Communist Party.
00:17:31.700Senator, I think you're exactly right, and we admire and respect you for speaking out on all of these issues.
00:17:40.280Thank you so much for that, and thank you so much for being with us here on The Great America Show.
00:17:45.980Senator Marsha Blackburn, God bless you. Thank you.
00:18:29.620I think we filed a lawsuit back in 2017 or so, and to their credit, the California Secretary of State's office in L.A. County, they settled with us.
00:18:39.720And as part of this settlement, this is under the National Voter Registration Act, which means, which requires them to take reasonable steps to clean up the rolls, which they hadn't done in 20 years, by the way.
00:18:52.620They said they began the process to remove 1.2 million names, and of course, that began in 2019, and the process was they send cards out to people if they haven't voted, and if they don't vote the next two federal elections, then they're removed.
00:19:10.400And so that time frame has now taken place, and we finally got the acknowledgement this month, or last month now, it's February, from California officials that they removed last year 1.2 million names.
00:19:28.880It's an incredible achievement, and not only that, but the process is in place for a regular removal of names as they age out.
00:19:39.900What happens is, if you don't vote, and you're not around to vote for years on end, you're supposed to have your names removed.
00:19:49.440And, of course, the left doesn't want to do that, because my view is they want that pool of names from which to draw fraudulent votes, which is why the law requires that the names be removed, because, you know, we're not dumb.
00:20:01.680So that's a great victory, and this is on top of last year, New York City, of all places.
00:20:09.100They settled with us after they removed 400, I think, and 40,000 names.
00:20:32.260I think it's a great start, and that's, as I said, congratulations and thank you for what you're doing.
00:20:38.800When you talk about the amount of time and money involved in these lawsuits, Tom, I mean, this is an undertaking that should be, if people were doing the decent and correct thing, you would think that these jurisdictions would want to create a system whereby those names were sloughed off after one election cycle.
00:21:04.220Yeah, well, you know, that's the way the law has been interpreted and applied, and, you know, it's two federal elections, so, you know, just think about it.
00:21:22.300So, in theory, things will, you know, and once the process begins, you know, it doesn't have to be a perfect system, but they've got to take some reasonable steps, and they didn't even want to do that.
00:21:53.940And, you know, this is a more important issue than it used to be, even, because now that we're mailing ballots everywhere, you know, if the lists aren't as clean as they should be, both with people who haven't voted in a while and people who just voted yesterday but moved away, and they're not tracking that adequately, it shows you the urgency of keeping the rolls clean.
00:22:14.380Because dirty election rolls can mean dirty elections, and this is something not only the state should be doing, but this is something the Justice Department is supposed to be enforcing.
00:22:25.880You know, thankfully, this law allows for Judicial Watch and our clients to sue.
00:22:30.660But, you know, some federal election laws don't allow that, and they have to rely on the Justice Department.
00:22:37.880The Justice Department has simply refused to enforce this aspect of the law for decades, practically speaking, Republican and Democrat alike.
00:22:46.220And this, I'm sure, under the guise of civil rights concerns, rather than the electoral integrity concerns.
00:23:20.100So just to be clear, you're not required to vote every two years.
00:23:25.320You're just supposed to check in and say, yeah, I'm still here.
00:23:28.380So the state can, or the county, can just make sure that your name is still, you know, you're still living where you're supposed to be, or you say you are, and you're eligible to vote.
00:23:41.820You know, the danger is people move away, and ballots and other material get sent to where they live, where people know that someone's moved away, and they start voting in their name.
00:23:51.580That's why we've got to have this rigorous enforcement of the law that the Justice Department refuses to do, but Judicial Watch has stepped in to do.
00:24:00.700Well, and again, good for you, and thank goodness.
00:24:04.240I want to turn to that Justice Department and the fact that it has been so apathetic in terms of electoral integrity and absolutely enforcing laws and regulations where appropriate.
00:24:21.580The idea that Merrick Garland and his testimony had to be prodded to give even straightforward, even remotely straightforward answers, he never volunteered one straight away.
00:24:36.280But I think it's really interesting to hear an exchange between Josh Hawley, Senator Hawley, and Merrick Garland on the issue of pro-life centers and charges that the Justice Department brought against, and I'll clean this up here in a minute.
00:25:02.580But let's go to the sound, and then I'd like to get your reaction to it, if we may.
00:25:08.080Do you think, in your opinion, you are the Attorney General of the United States, you are in charge of the Justice Department, and yes, sir, you are responsible?
00:25:25.360Do you think that it was objectively reasonable, and they followed your guidelines, in sending 20 to 30 armed agents to terrorize these people?