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00:00Good evening, and thank you for joining us.
00:03I'm Trey Gowdy, and it's Sunday night in America.
00:06Historically, the FBI was seen as the world's premier law enforcement agency.
00:11Fidelity, and bravery, and integrity, the Bureau was meant to be a beacon of justice
00:17built on a foundation of trust.
00:20And that's what the FBI was back when I worked with the agents nearly 20 years ago.
00:25There was never any talk about politics.
00:29It was bank robbers, and kidnappers, and gangs, and terrorism.
00:32It was all about crime.
00:34But public perceptions started to slip because that foundation of trust began to crumble.
00:40Former FBI Director James Comey said the FBI did not give a hoot about politics, but his
00:45actions told a very different story.
00:48At one point, the FBI had both major presidential candidates under investigation, but even then,
00:54the fairness was lacking.
00:56Peter Strzok was in charge of investigating a man he hated, personally and politically.
01:02Agents began to conspire about how to prevent Trump from winning, or how to impeach him
01:06if he did win.
01:08FBI lawyers and agents misled the FISA court.
01:11An FBI employee altered evidence to justify surveillance against a perceived political
01:16enemy.
01:17FBI agents botched major investigations like murder and rape, but found time to pursue
01:23vindictive, vexatious cases against political opponents.
01:27Perhaps nothing encapsulates what happened to the Bureau better than what James Comey
01:31himself said when he admitted he treated a Republican president differently and worse
01:38than he would a Democrat president.
01:40Chris Wray was brought in to clean up the FBI.
01:43He was warned by the Speaker of the House and the Chairman of House Intel, eye to eye,
01:48you can be part of the cleanup crew or part of the cover-up crew.
01:52But nothing changed.
01:54So when Donald Trump was elected a second time, Chris Wray resigned, and President Trump
01:58picked a former federal prosecutor who also happened to be a former federal public defender.
02:04The task is and was challenging, but essential.
02:09Restore public trust in the Bureau.
02:12Build a Bureau that is not only respected, but worthy of respect.
02:18And that man is Cash Patel, and he joins us now.
02:21Welcome, Director Patel.
02:22Thank you for joining us.
02:23You've been on the job for about a month now, so tell us what you've seen and what you've
02:27learned.
02:28Well, Trey, it's great to be with you.
02:31And I wanted to stay radio silent for the first month, just a laser focus on restoring
02:35law enforcement and the credibility and trust of the American people and getting the weaponization
02:40out of there.
02:41And in order to do that, you need a strong Department of Justice.
02:44And we have a courageous leader in Attorney General Pam Bondi and her team over there.
02:48And we have to remind the folks in the American public that the FBI reports to the Department
02:52of Justice, and the FBI does not make prosecutorial decisions.
02:55We investigate based on lawful predications anywhere the facts lead us, and we work with
03:01our partners at DOJ.
03:03So that collaboration has been absolutely brilliant to set the new foundation for the
03:07FBI that we want to see serve the American people.
03:11And that's what we've been focusing on, is restoring the trust through the chain of command
03:17and through great leaders like Pam and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanch and PAYDAC Emil
03:22Bomey.
03:23All right, Director, you've been very intentional about moving agents out of D.C. and back into
03:30the field, which is where they really ought to be.
03:34Why is that important to you?
03:35Well, Trey, you know, this is my first media appearance since taking the job, and I'm glad
03:41that it's on your wonderful show.
03:43And what I want to do is highlight for the American public that there's 38,000 employees
03:48at the FBI.
03:49If you take the national capital region, as the folks around Washington, D.C. call it,
03:53the 50-mile radius around Washington, D.C., we have 11,000 employees for the FBI in that
03:5850-mile radius, give or take.
04:01And a third of the crime does not happen in this region.
04:04A large portion of one of my priorities, fighting violent crime, crushing narco-traffickers,
04:10stopping fentanyl overdoses, is happening in any town USA across this country.
04:14And they need resources in the form not just of money, but manpower.
04:18So we're going to reorient our assets in Washington.
04:21We're going to look at it strategically, as we've been doing the last month, and send
04:24our agents and analysts and SOS operatives into the field to take on this violent crime
04:33explosion that has occurred over these last four or five years, and to make sure that
04:38every state and every county, be it in my hometown of Las Vegas, Nevada, or up in Montana
04:43or Kansas or Iowa or Maine, is all safe and secure.
04:47And the best way to do that is through a proper show of force with the FBI men and women who
04:52do this job so courageously every day, out in the streets fighting crime.
04:56All right, Director.
04:58You have touched on my next question, but I want you to elaborate, because I think it
05:02is central to your mission as you see it.
05:05The FBI has really broad jurisdiction.
05:08All criminal statutes are important to enforce, but your emphasis sounds to me like it's going
05:14to be on violent crime.
05:20It's definitely going to be a big emphasis.
05:21Look, Trey, you and I have been in government service before, and we overlapped in the House
05:25Intelligence Committee, where we exposed the largest corruption in FBI history during Russiagate
05:32when you and I partnered there.
05:34And that formed the foundation of my ethos going forward.
05:37We have to change to the dynamic threat landscape that is changing constantly in not just America,
05:42but abroad.
05:43Back then, you know, CT and national security were up here, but now we see the narco-traffickers
05:48and the gangs exploding in terms of violence in America, so we see that shift.
05:53And so we have to shift with that threat dynamic.
05:55We're not going to forget or ignore national security, never.
05:58The consequential mission of the FBI is to safeguard our citizenry and our way of life
06:03and to investigate those that do harm to our citizenry.
06:07But right now, the major portion of that focus is on sex trafficking, is on fentanyl and
06:12heroin overdoses, and is on violent crime in the form of gang murders and homicides
06:18and rapes.
06:19Every seven minutes in this country, Trey, an individual American citizen overdoses on
06:25a drug, a narcotic.
06:26Every six and a half minutes, a woman or child is raped.
06:30And twice an hour, an individual in this country is lost because of a homicide.
06:36That is violent crime out of control.
06:38That is a national security crisis.
06:41So we are treating it as such under this administration with President Trump's priorities and Attorney
06:46General Bondi at the helm of the Department of Justice.
06:48I don't know how or why the American public in the world refused to acknowledge this explosion
06:53in violent crime and found it acceptable for children to be dying off at such a vast rate.
06:59Couple that with the explosion in illegal aliens, we are seeing the intersection between
07:04violent crime and so many of those illegals.
07:07And that's another priority that we're facilitating and assisting with, though that's not our
07:11primary mission.
07:12That's over with DHS.
07:13All right, Director, I want to ask you about something that I've known you a long time.
07:17You don't want to talk about, and that is yourself.
07:20But when you were nominated, I told folks that you would be a lot more fair to your
07:25critics than they ever were to you.
07:27But it's hard to forget what others have said and done.
07:30So how do you put that blindfold on and be fair even to those who were never fair to
07:36you?
07:37Well, Trey, as I tell everybody at the FBI when I walk in the building, I don't care
07:43what the media says about me.
07:44There's nothing they can tell me that I haven't heard.
07:47As long as I'm taking the arrows and the men and women of the FBI aren't, I'm winning every
07:51single day.
07:53And I learned from your great mentorship and friendship on the House Intelligence Committee
07:56where we served together, where we said the priority here is the truth and serving the
08:01American people.
08:03And that lesson that I learned with you and so many of the brave men and women on the
08:06House Intelligence Committee has stuck with me to this day.
08:08Now, also, I got to add in here, Trey, I know I was nominated by President Trump and I had
08:13a lot of support, but a big thanks to you for reaching out to the community that you
08:17have on Capitol Hill.
08:19And your voice was heard in those hallways to carry that message and penetrate and break
08:24through that glass charade that was, oh, Kash Patel cannot lead the FBI because he's
08:29too political.
08:30But as you just pointed out, I may be one of the most falsely maligned people in all
08:35of government service.
08:36And I don't care if they continue to falsely malign me.
08:39What I cared about is the leaders and the American people saw that in 16 years of apolitical
08:43government service, I was there to put the mission first.
08:46And I'm indebted to you for allowing me to continue in our friendship and your guidance
08:50on the Hill during that process.
08:53Well, you're welcome, Director.
08:55But all I did was ask the senators to give you a chance.
08:57You're the one that won the argument.
08:59I just got you in the courthouse, but you're the one that won the argument.
09:03More with FBI Director Kash Patel when Sunday Night in America returns.
09:10Welcome back to Sunday Night in America.
09:12We're back with FBI Director Kash Patel.
09:15Director, you had a front row seat to Congress trying to get information from the bureau,
09:21oftentimes without success.
09:23It's a challenge to balance congressional oversight with the need to keep certain matters
09:28confidential.
09:29You've had to do it before.
09:31How will you negotiate?
09:34You know, Jim Jordan is a friend of yours.
09:36Jim Jordan is a big supporter of yours.
09:39But there's also that need for confidentiality and ongoing investigation.
09:43So how does a former prosecutor and criminal defense attorney balance those two?
09:50No, it's a great question.
09:51And it speaks to the answer about how we restore trust with the American people and the FBI.
09:57And it's not just by putting handcuffs on the bad guys.
09:59I want to let good cops be good cops across this country.
10:03And that's a primary focus of mine.
10:04But on an equally important parallel track, constitutional congressional oversight is
10:10critical to communicate to Capitol Hill, where we report as the FBI, to the committees of
10:15jurisdiction in judiciary and intel and elsewhere, and provide the documentation of
10:20where the FBI in the past made mistakes, or there was corruption, or there were cover-ups.
10:25And we will provide that documentation the American people can read for themselves and
10:29not be told a regurgitated aversion of what happened, but the actual truth.
10:34And so I've made a promise during my confirmation process, which we've upheld in my first four
10:39weeks here.
10:40We have provided thousands of pages of documents that have been requested to Capitol Hill for
10:45the members of Congress to analyze and take back to their constituents and respond accordingly.
10:49So I think that constitutional oversight mission is as important as something else I hope we
10:53touch upon, which is some of the violent crime and terrorists we've already taken down in
10:58the first four weeks here.
11:00All right.
11:01Well, we will not leave without addressing that.
11:04Let me ask you one thing that's been on my mind.
11:07Obviously agents need people to cooperate, especially witnesses and sometimes subjects.
11:12But the FBI seems to have fallen in love with these 1,001 cases, which is a false statement
11:18to an agent.
11:19So how do you distinguish what happened to Mike Flynn and Jeff Fortenberry and others
11:24with legitimate 1,001 cases?
11:26I actually, Director, had an FBI agent call the mutual friend of both of ours recently
11:31and said, I want to talk to you about something.
11:34You're not related to it.
11:35And our friend said, I'll talk to Kash Patel, but probably no one else, which told me they
11:40trust you to not abuse 1,001, but, but, but they're not sure because they've seen it used
11:47and abused and you saw it as a criminal defense attorney.
11:50So how do you balance that?
11:52Yeah.
11:53And look, I hearken back to my days as a public defender when I was deputy director of national
11:57intelligence or even chief of staff in the department of defense.
12:00All of that has formed a unique experience for me to serve as the ninth director of the
12:05FBI.
12:06There's never been a public defender that has sat in this seat and I think it's about
12:09time we did so.
12:11But I want to remind the American public, the former leadership, some of those in leadership
12:14in the FBI in the past years, the Comey's, the McCabe's, the Strzok's, the pages of the
12:18world and the list goes on.
12:20They're the ones that weaponized law statutes like the 1,001 count you're talking about
12:25to victimize and politicize the statutes on the books.
12:29And instead of using them against actual criminals, I'm here to tell you that the men and women
12:33at the FBI that I've seen in the building and out in the field since I've been in the
12:37office these four weeks, they want to use that 1,001 charge only where the facts and
12:41the law allows them to and not where leadership forces them to.
12:45So me as the FBI director are never going to force or interfere with the decision making
12:49process of the field investigators and the line agents who do that work on a daily basis.
12:55They are the pros.
12:56I'm going to give them the resources they need.
12:58I'm going to give them the runway they need.
13:00And one of the things I've learned in my short period about being a good leader and being
13:03an effective leader is get out of the way of the experts.
13:06Now we got a whole heck of a lot of experts here at the FBI, and I will remind them that
13:10I will take the arrows for them when Capitol Hill or the media wants a target or pinata.
13:15So long as they are using the laws to arrest the bad guys, we are winning every day.
13:20All right, director, it's only been a month, but it's been a busy month.
13:25And I think part of your success is the good relationship you have with your colleagues,
13:30whether it be John Ratcliffe, whether it be Mike Walsh, I mean, it is a it is a really
13:35good national security team.
13:36But update us on some things, some highlights of your first month that maybe we missed.
13:43I really appreciate this.
13:44This shows what the men and women of the FBI can do when they have leadership who are in
13:48lockstep with the national security mission of safeguarding our citizens.
13:52Just in the last three weeks, Trey, the FBI has arrested and brought to justice, thanks
13:58to the Department of Justice and Pam Bondi, three top 10 of the FBI's most wanted.
14:03Let me just say that again.
14:04Not one, not two, but three of the FBI's most wanted top 10 are now in custody because
14:11of our relationships with folks like Director Ratcliffe and Secretary Hexeth and Rubio and
14:16the list goes on.
14:17But we've also returned to justice in just one short week's time.
14:21One of the architects of the Abbeygate explosion that killed 13 of our service members.
14:25We did that in one week, flying through multiple countries and going into Pakistan and utilizing
14:31our liaison relationships and the leverage that we have, thanks to great guys like Johnny
14:35Ratcliffe and getting a modicum of justice to the American people.
14:40And just to put that in perspective, those folks have been on the run for four years.
14:44And in the last 12 months before I got into this seat, Trey, do you know how many top
14:4810 FBI's most wanted were arrested by the FBI?
14:52Zero.
14:53That's the difference.
14:54Four weeks in, we got three and we're just warming up.
14:57All right.
14:58You touched on something, Director, that I think is essential to reiterate.
15:0495% of the FBI agents you would love to have as your next door neighbor.
15:09You would love to have them coaching your kids in youth sports.
15:13You would love to attend a worship service with them.
15:16I think the Bureau's reputation, we focus on the names of people who have not done their,
15:22have not upheld their trust and not the agents, the line agents who are nameless and faceless
15:28but are doing exactly what we would want them to do.
15:32And they are.
15:33And I want that.
15:34I want the olden days back when an FBI agent would show up at my door or a police officer
15:38and we'd welcome them in for a cup of coffee and have a conversation with them because
15:41that's how I was raised, that to respect law enforcement.
15:45But I want the American public to know too, we've had problems at the FBI.
15:48We are going to hold ourselves internally accountable for those meeting out justice
15:53who have the privilege to serve and wear the gun and the badge or the uniform of the FBI
15:57out in the field.
15:58Where those missteps have been taken, we've already addressed that by eliminating those
16:02people from the roles of the FBI.
16:04And we will continue to vigorously uphold on a 24-7, 365 basis, as vigorously as we
16:10pursue violent crime, those that abuse or corrupt or violate their oath of office at
16:16the FBI.
16:17And I will not stand for it.
16:18I will have zero tolerance for those that we will utilize our badge to harm our country.
16:25And there's not a lot of them.
16:26We've gotten rid of some of them.
16:28But we are going to have an absolute zero, zero tolerance level.
16:32And we are not going to be hypocrites here.
16:34If there's someone in this building or in this mission that is doing harm to the American
16:37public, then the American public is going to hear about it, be it through Congress or
16:41through prosecutions.
16:42We've got some great cases in motion already.
16:46And I look forward to coming back hopefully soon and publicizing that.
16:49There is no corner on this earth we will not chase down a violent criminal.
16:53And there is no sector of the public we will not root out corruption and make sure the
16:57American people know what has happened, because that's what they deserve.
17:02All right, I've got to go back to a topic that I know you don't like.
17:07But I do.
17:08And I think it's important.
17:09And that's you.
17:10I laughed when I watched your confirmation hearing, obviously.
17:14I laugh when I hear people question your qualifications.
17:17You sat on both sides of the courtroom.
17:20You worked with agents and you cross-examined agents.
17:23I think that makes you uniquely well-situated to know what needs to be done and fixed at
17:29the Bureau.
17:30So I'm going to give you a chance.
17:33Look, I appreciate even the Democrat senators that sat down and heard you out.
17:37I think to meet you is to be reassured that whatever they may have read or heard is not
17:44Cash Patel.
17:46You have a unique background.
17:48I can't think of anybody else who's both cross-examined and directly examined FBI agents sitting where
17:54you sit right now.
17:55Well, you know, I was blessed to have a great upbringing that led me into a public defender
18:00career and later national security prosecutor.
18:03And thereafter, I served at Joint Special Operations Command with our tier one operators
18:07in SEAL Team Six and Delta.
18:08And then I was fortunate enough to go to the House, do Russiagate with you, and then on
18:12to the White House and lead the counterterrorism mission and later the deputy DNI and so forth.
18:17And during all those experiences, I learned that the only thing that matters is the truth.
18:23I tried 60 jury trials to verdict.
18:25That's probably more than anybody that's been in this seat before me ever.
18:29And I've cross-examined law enforcement.
18:31I've cross-examined professionals.
18:33But I've also put law enforcement and professionals on the witness stand to prosecute terrorists
18:37when the need arose.
18:39And so having that vision, that 360 degree experience, I think in this time that we are
18:45in where the FBI and we will, we will accomplish our mission and we will hold ourselves accountable
18:51and we will provide the transparency to Congress.
18:54But the men and women in the FBI are beloved for a reason.
18:57And we, in short order, are going to make sure we restore that by utilizing my 16 years
19:01in government service across all three branches of federal government, which also has never
19:05been done before by someone in my seat.
19:08And we are going to make sure we serve the American people and make sure their kids have
19:11safe schoolyards, safe playgrounds and safe streets and no more needles and no more bags
19:17of heroin and no more fentanyl powder and gummy candies flowing through because of gang
19:21violence and vicious national security issues.
19:24We're taking it all on.
19:27I think people see tonight, Director, why I have so much confidence in you, why the
19:31president nominated you, why the Senate confirmed you.
19:35And I want to say right now, I love John Lee Radcliffe, but I don't even think his first
19:39month on the job can rival yours.
19:41So I'm going to give you an employee of the month for narrowly, narrowly beating out John
19:47Radcliffe, employee of the month, the brand new FBI director, Kash Patel.
19:52God bless you.
19:53Thank you for being with us.
19:54We'll see you soon.
19:56Thanks so much.
19:57And that last comment is probably going to cost me a round at Augusta, but we'll get
19:59there.
20:00Great.
20:01You too, Director.
20:04While Kash Patel takes on cartels at the FBI, Dan Crenshaw is taking the fight.
20:10Welcome back to Sunday Night in America.
20:12The cartels are real.
20:14It's not just a miniseries on Netflix.
20:17They are ruthless and subhuman.
20:20The money is staggering, but the violence even more so.
20:24And that violence is reaching the U.S.
20:27Cartels do not hesitate to send hitmen or sicarios to America.
20:32Cartels are brazen.
20:33It was cartel members who tortured and killed DEA agent Kiki Camarena.
20:39The products they peddle kill Americans, and they ventured into human trafficking and other
20:44forms of evil.
20:46Nothing satiates their appetite for depravity.
20:49Their weaponry rivals state militaries, except without treaties or rules of engagement.
20:54Their rules are murder and torture and rape and beheadings and hangings and targeting
20:59families.
21:01These cartels terrify most people, but Dan Crenshaw isn't like most people.
21:06He's an ABC alien.
21:07He represents the great state of Texas and joins us now.
21:11Welcome, Congressman.
21:12Thank you for your service to our country.
21:14What did you see and learn in Mexico about these cartels?
21:19Thanks for having me, Trey.
21:20This is my third trip to Mexico City.
21:23I was there for three days, and a lot has changed.
21:26So my last two trips were frustrating.
21:28We learned a lot.
21:29We learned a lot about what we're doing and what we can do.
21:33But those efforts are often hindered by the Mexican administration.
21:38At the time was President López Obrador.
21:41There's a new president there, President Claudia Sheinbaum and her head of security for her
21:46main national security guys, a guy named Omar Harfouch, former Mexico City police chief.
21:53He himself has been a target of assassination target by the cartels, Jalisco specifically.
21:59They want to do what we want to do.
22:02We see it in their news every day.
22:05I've been reposting some of the operations they do, going out every night against the
22:09Sinaloa cartel.
22:11So my big takeaway from this trip is we have a massive window of opportunity that we need
22:16to jump through.
22:17We have a new president, President Trump, and we have new president, President Sheinbaum,
22:21who actually both want the same thing, which is to eliminate the terrorist insurgency that
22:24we have in Mexico.
22:26And this should concern Americans for a lot of reasons.
22:29There's the obvious near-term threat of fentanyl, killing 70,000 Americans a year.
22:34That's what's woken everyone up to this.
22:35The cartels have, of course, been a staple of Mexico for a long time, but the fentanyl
22:40crisis has really woken us up.
22:42That's the near-term goal.
22:43Stop that.
22:44But there's a longer-term goal, too.
22:45You can't have your biggest trading partner and southern border neighbor become a narco
22:49state.
22:50You can't have a true insurgency there that has to be tackled from all forms of government
22:55in a counterinsurgency-style operation.
22:58Congressman, you touched on it.
23:00These cartels have killed judges and politicians and police officers.
23:05So in your judgment, we do have a willing partner.
23:08I mean, I can understand the unwillingness to want to be assassinated, but you are convinced
23:13that we have a willing partner with this new administration in Mexico.
23:19Yeah, the most willing we've had in years.
23:21I mean, look, in their last election cycle, they had around 60 to 80 politicians or candidates
23:28either wounded or killed by the cartels.
23:31Can you even imagine a number like that in any country, just in one election cycle?
23:36So you've got a lot of problems, and especially at the judicial level with the Mexican government,
23:40at the local and state and up to the federal, where, look, even if you want to be a good
23:44judge or a good prosecutor, they know where you live.
23:48So it's, you know, what they call plato plomo, right?
23:50It's lead or silver is the translation.
23:52You either take the money or your family's going to get killed.
23:56They have to deal with that every single day.
23:58Some are willing to.
23:59Some just take the easy route out and take the money.
24:03Sometimes they just don't know how to prosecute cases.
24:05There's only a one and a half percent prosecution rate in Mexico.
24:09You compare that to the federal government in the United States, where it's upwards in
24:13the high 90s.
24:14There's so much excellent work that can be done here.
24:18And because of the Trump administration, because of the new opening in Mexico, you're seeing
24:21now the Department of Defense actually start to make plans on how we would actually help
24:25Mexico.
24:26That's something they didn't even bother doing before because it would be a waste of time.
24:29So, yes, massive opportunities ahead.
24:31Our biggest problem right now is there's not really any congressional focus on this.
24:35So I've led the cartel task force for the last couple of years.
24:39I've done a lot, but I've had no staff to do it and no funding to do it.
24:43We did over 30 meetings with officials inside and outside of government, experts on the
24:46cartels, traveled the country nine different times, talking to different agencies, figuring
24:50out what we would do.
24:51Went to Mexico three times, Colombia, Panama.
24:54I'm asking the speaker to create a select committee on the cartels.
24:58Why would we do that?
24:59One, you could actually hire staff, professional staff, to work this issue so we can support
25:03President Trump's priorities.
25:04The administration can only do so much.
25:06They're going to need funding and they're going to need authorities in certain places.
25:09We have a long list of those things.
25:11You just need an actual legislative focus.
25:13When you look at a problem set like this, you're talking about a problem set that spans
25:17across 10 committees of jurisdiction.
25:20So I've got, you know, who's co-sponsoring this legislation to create a cartel select
25:23committee, nearly all the chairmen, because they get this.
25:25Jim Jordan, Mark Green, Mike Rogers of Armed Services, I mean, Brian Mass of Foreign Affairs,
25:33all of the committees that deal with this problem, they understand.
25:37All those chairmen understand.
25:38You need a select committee just for the legislative focus.
25:42Well, we just had Kash Patel and we've got the speaker coming up.
25:46And just so our viewers understand, each committee has different jurisdictions and sometimes
25:51they overlap and sometimes they don't.
25:53That's why the congressman's calling for a select committee.
25:56Dan Crenshaw, not afraid of much of anything.
25:59Thank you for the work you're doing on the cartels and for joining us on a Sunday night.
26:04Thanks for having me, Trey.
26:05I appreciate it.
26:06Yes, sir.
26:08Congress avoided a shutdown and passed a budget blueprint.
26:11What needs to happen to get that big, beautiful bill across the finish line?
26:18Reconciliation is not a Hallmark movie, but your tax rates do depend upon it.
26:22Speaker Mike Johnson next on Sunday Night in America.
26:30Welcome back to Sunday Night in America.
26:33Against All Odds.
26:34That was a song by Phil Collins in a movie with Rachel Ward.
26:37There may have been other people in the movie, but I don't really remember them.
26:41Mike Johnson may star in the sequel.
26:43He passed a budget blueprint, avoided a shutdown and kept a fractious conference coalesce.
26:50But there's always more work for a speaker.
26:52The House and Senate must reconcile and raise the debt ceiling and pass significant legislation
26:57and prepare for the midterms.
27:00Mike Johnson believes in miracles.
27:01I don't know if he needs one or not.
27:03But the work does not get any easier and he joins us now.
27:09Welcome Mr. Speaker.
27:11Thank you for being with us.
27:13How did you pull this off and where do we stand on reconciliation?
27:19Thanks Trey.
27:20Great to be with you, my friend.
27:21Good to see you.
27:22We pulled it off with a lot of prayer and a lot of patience and teamwork.
27:25You know, we're building muscle memory to deliver for the people and to deliver the
27:29America First agenda.
27:30We promised them that we would on the campaign trail last year.
27:33They gave us a mandate.
27:34The highest popular vote we've ever had for House Republicans, 74.8 million votes.
27:40President Trump, as you know, got 77 million.
27:42And we are working in tandem with the White House, with our Senate counterparts, the Republican
27:47majority in the Senate, to deliver for the people and get this done.
27:50And yeah, we've got some big wins on the board, much more hard work ahead of us, but I'm absolutely
27:54convinced we're going to deliver, Trey.
27:58Speaker, you are one of the more mild-mannered colleagues that I've ever had.
28:02The House can get a little rowdy from time to time.
28:05I thought the joint address was a real low point.
28:09You had a bird's eye view for that.
28:11Do House Democrats understand why they lost?
28:17I don't think they do, Trey, and it's really surprising to us.
28:20They seem to be doubling and tripling down on the failed policies that gave us the big
28:25victory last November.
28:27The antics on the floor were just another demonstration of why they lost the election.
28:33They've resorted to this name-calling and profanity.
28:36They have no leader, no vision, no platform they can run on right now.
28:40The Democratic Party is flailing.
28:41But meanwhile, the Republican Party is sticking together and getting our agenda done.
28:46And we have a short period of time in which to do it.
28:49We're going to let the Democrats do what the Democrats do, but we're going to get the job
28:52done.
28:53And I think people are going to see that contrast.
28:55It's on stark display right now, that's for certain.
28:57All right.
28:59Education changes lives, it paves the path to prosperity, but it also isn't mentioned
29:04in the U.S. Constitution.
29:06Do you think the Department of Education should be eliminated, reduced?
29:10And if that happens, is the conference prepared to defend that in the midterms?
29:17We are.
29:18Look, I applaud what President Trump is doing.
29:20He is once again checking a box, fulfilling campaign promises, and frankly, delivering
29:26upon a big principle that we've all been advancing for a long, long time.
29:31The Federal Department of Education has not served the people well.
29:34I mean, just look at the results, as President Trump points out rightfully all the time.
29:38The test scores are at historic lows, while the spending levels are at historic highs.
29:45It is not a good return on investment.
29:47So we believe, as conservatives, you know, you and I, all of us believe that education
29:52is best handled by parents and teachers at the low level, at the local level, local and
29:57state.
29:58They're the ones that should be making these big decisions, not federal mandates coming
30:00from bureaucrats in Washington.
30:02And so President Trump is delivering on that idea, that principle, and that promise.
30:07And I think it's going to be a good thing for the country overall.
30:10All right, Speaker, before you were the Speaker, you were considered to be an expert on the
30:16Constitution.
30:17Yes, you still are.
30:18You were somebody that your peers looked to when there were constitutional questions.
30:22And there are some now.
30:23There's talk about branch integrity, branch equilibrium, executive overreach.
30:28I mean, groups sued Obama and Biden, and now groups are taking this administration to court.
30:34So as a constitutional law expert, what are the limits on executive power?
30:40And is this tension we're seeing really what our founders envisioned and built into the
30:45system?
30:47I think it is to a certain degree, Trey.
30:51I mean, I think you have a separation of powers.
30:53We have checks and balances.
30:54We have three co-equal branches of government, and they're supposed to sort of do this tug
31:00of war when you have difficult questions.
31:03But I do think that the line is being crossed right now.
31:05I mean, I used to litigate constitutional law cases, high-profile cases in the courts.
31:09I did it for 20 years.
31:11And I ran into activist judges all along the way.
31:13I would litigate religious liberty defense cases, for example, and I would run into a
31:17Clinton-appointed judge or an Obama-appointed judge.
31:20And I had a judge one time look down his glasses at me and say, counselor, I know that's what
31:25the Constitution says, but we're doing something different.
31:27So I never walked out of those courtrooms thinking that I could impeach those judges.
31:31I just got as quickly as I could to the appellate court to get them overturned.
31:35But something's happening right now, Trey, that I think we all have to acknowledge.
31:38You've got a lot of activist judges, probably more than ever.
31:42And we were looking at the statistics, and the White House has pointed this out.
31:45Sixty-two percent, for example, of the federal injunctions that have been handed down in
31:49the last century were handed down against President Trump.
31:52And 92 percent of those were done by partisan Democrat-appointed judges.
31:58So something's amiss.
31:59I think we've got to address it, and I'm looking forward to working with our good friend, Chairman
32:03Jim Jordan, and the House Judiciary Committee to sort through this and find out what the
32:07remedies are to figure out how we can bring correction here, because I think it's important
32:11for our system of justice.
32:14Mike Johnson, you know, they called Cory Timboom the miracle worker.
32:18They may write a sequel.
32:19You may author it.
32:20You have done something really, really hard with a historically small margin.
32:26Mike Johnson from the great state of Louisiana, Speaker of the House, thank you for joining
32:29us on a Sunday night.
32:32Thank you, brother.
32:33Appreciate you.
32:34Yes, sir.
32:35Take care.
32:36Virginia will pick a new leader this fall, but the race is on.