1 00:00:00,440 --> 00:00:03,280 Speaker 1: The White House chief of Staff has traditionally been known 2 00:00:03,320 --> 00:00:07,640 Speaker 1: as the gatekeeper. Well, we have gone behind the gates 3 00:00:07,960 --> 00:00:10,920 Speaker 1: with Mark Meadows live from the White House. This is 4 00:00:11,039 --> 00:00:19,320 Speaker 1: Verdict with Ted Cruise. Welcome back to Verdict with Ted Cruz. 5 00:00:19,440 --> 00:00:22,680 Speaker 1: I'm Michael Knowls, little change of scenery today, joined as 6 00:00:22,680 --> 00:00:25,720 Speaker 1: always by the Senator and Mark Meadows. Great to be 7 00:00:25,800 --> 00:00:28,479 Speaker 1: with you, mister Meadows. I'm noticing now it is seven 8 00:00:28,480 --> 00:00:31,480 Speaker 1: o'clock here. This is probably the earliest you have gotten 9 00:00:31,520 --> 00:00:34,880 Speaker 1: off work since you've taken As soon as we get 10 00:00:34,880 --> 00:00:37,240 Speaker 1: off work, I'll let you know whether that's a case 11 00:00:37,360 --> 00:00:40,800 Speaker 1: or not fair enough. Obviously it's it's a twenty four 12 00:00:40,800 --> 00:00:43,839 Speaker 1: to seven kind of kind of job. But you know, 13 00:00:43,880 --> 00:00:47,440 Speaker 1: our nation is in a critical time where we've got 14 00:00:47,440 --> 00:00:50,479 Speaker 1: to actually make sure that people like Ted and I 15 00:00:50,600 --> 00:00:54,680 Speaker 1: worked together on behalf of all the freedom loving forgotten 16 00:00:54,720 --> 00:00:58,920 Speaker 1: men and women in this country. And really the impact 17 00:00:59,080 --> 00:01:03,360 Speaker 1: is well beyond this is Ted and I have articulated 18 00:01:03,400 --> 00:01:05,920 Speaker 1: a number of times. Well, because I know, Senator you 19 00:01:06,120 --> 00:01:09,160 Speaker 1: and mister Meadows go back a lot farther than just 20 00:01:09,240 --> 00:01:12,119 Speaker 1: you taking this job as the White House chief of staff. Yeah, 21 00:01:12,120 --> 00:01:14,840 Speaker 1: he actually would talk to me before I actually was 22 00:01:14,880 --> 00:01:18,560 Speaker 1: the chief of staff, you know, so I could count 23 00:01:18,640 --> 00:01:21,039 Speaker 1: him on one hand. But well, Mark and I go 24 00:01:21,080 --> 00:01:23,240 Speaker 1: back a long time. We were actually both elected to 25 00:01:23,280 --> 00:01:25,800 Speaker 1: Congress in the same day November twenty twelve. We showed 26 00:01:25,840 --> 00:01:28,480 Speaker 1: up here in January twenty thirteen, looked around and said, 27 00:01:28,520 --> 00:01:31,880 Speaker 1: what the hell are we doing here? And it was 28 00:01:32,240 --> 00:01:35,399 Speaker 1: Barack Obama had just been reelected. It was a messed 29 00:01:35,480 --> 00:01:39,479 Speaker 1: up time. But one of the things we found, we're 30 00:01:39,480 --> 00:01:42,720 Speaker 1: both brand new, is there were really only a handful 31 00:01:42,720 --> 00:01:45,640 Speaker 1: of people willing to stand up and fight for anything. 32 00:01:45,680 --> 00:01:49,600 Speaker 1: And so we became fast friends. We became fast friends 33 00:01:49,640 --> 00:01:52,520 Speaker 1: fighting against Obamacare, where we're standing up, going wait a second, 34 00:01:52,520 --> 00:01:55,960 Speaker 1: We got elected to fight this damn thing, and too 35 00:01:55,960 --> 00:02:00,840 Speaker 1: many Republicans just wanted to give in. And and it 36 00:02:00,840 --> 00:02:04,400 Speaker 1: it's interesting in Washington, like anywhere else, courage is contagious. 37 00:02:04,960 --> 00:02:07,880 Speaker 1: So so before it was chief of staff, Mark led 38 00:02:07,880 --> 00:02:11,400 Speaker 1: the Freedom Caucus of the House and and marketing you know, 39 00:02:11,480 --> 00:02:13,880 Speaker 1: maybe helpful. Look, the folks that watch and listen to 40 00:02:13,880 --> 00:02:18,680 Speaker 1: this podcast are a savvy, educated group. But explain to 41 00:02:18,680 --> 00:02:22,799 Speaker 1: folks what the Freedom Caucus is and WHYATT, WHYATT matters? Well, 42 00:02:23,160 --> 00:02:25,360 Speaker 1: I can tell you you're right. We came in together, 43 00:02:25,400 --> 00:02:28,960 Speaker 1: and what I found, Michael, was is that most members 44 00:02:28,960 --> 00:02:31,840 Speaker 1: of Congress, on both the Senate side and the House side, 45 00:02:31,919 --> 00:02:34,680 Speaker 1: actually had the backbone of a banana, you know, had 46 00:02:34,760 --> 00:02:37,239 Speaker 1: great shape until it was peel back and it got 47 00:02:37,280 --> 00:02:40,520 Speaker 1: real mushy. Ted Cruise was not one of those. And 48 00:02:41,639 --> 00:02:46,400 Speaker 1: immediately we formed this friendship. But what I found was is, 49 00:02:46,800 --> 00:02:49,600 Speaker 1: unlike Ted, who was willing to stand on courage and 50 00:02:50,240 --> 00:02:53,040 Speaker 1: I might add a great personal cost where you know, 51 00:02:53,760 --> 00:02:57,160 Speaker 1: if you stand for the people back home, you don't 52 00:02:57,200 --> 00:03:00,799 Speaker 1: get invited to dinners in Washington, DC. And and it's 53 00:03:00,840 --> 00:03:03,480 Speaker 1: a real cost. There's not a benefit package of being 54 00:03:03,520 --> 00:03:06,720 Speaker 1: a real true conservative. But that being said, I think 55 00:03:07,120 --> 00:03:10,000 Speaker 1: what I saw was what Ted was able to do 56 00:03:10,040 --> 00:03:12,000 Speaker 1: in the Senate. I said, well, we got to create 57 00:03:12,080 --> 00:03:14,280 Speaker 1: that same kind of leverage over in the House. And 58 00:03:14,360 --> 00:03:17,000 Speaker 1: the problem is the key number in the House was 59 00:03:17,040 --> 00:03:20,680 Speaker 1: two eighteen. Yeah, we had the majority, and I said, well, gosh, 60 00:03:20,720 --> 00:03:23,640 Speaker 1: you know, if a few of the Conservatives would stay together, 61 00:03:25,080 --> 00:03:28,880 Speaker 1: we could actually make some policy differences because they would 62 00:03:28,880 --> 00:03:30,360 Speaker 1: need our vote to be able to do it. And 63 00:03:30,400 --> 00:03:33,960 Speaker 1: Obamacare was the first fight we made Ted an honorary 64 00:03:34,080 --> 00:03:36,480 Speaker 1: member of the Freedom Caucus. He was welcome in our 65 00:03:36,480 --> 00:03:39,560 Speaker 1: meeting anytime. But it was all about leverage, and for us, 66 00:03:39,600 --> 00:03:42,040 Speaker 1: it was about making sure that we didn't just go 67 00:03:42,080 --> 00:03:46,160 Speaker 1: along to get along, but we actually stood for something. 68 00:03:46,640 --> 00:03:50,280 Speaker 1: And one of the amendments on the Obamacare was what 69 00:03:50,360 --> 00:03:53,840 Speaker 1: I call the Crew's Freedom Amendment. It was all about 70 00:03:54,280 --> 00:03:56,880 Speaker 1: making sure that people had choices. Because I think this 71 00:03:56,960 --> 00:04:00,120 Speaker 1: is actually pretty important. The House Freedom Caucus, especially when 72 00:04:00,120 --> 00:04:03,360 Speaker 1: it first came around, was the real deal. You know, 73 00:04:03,400 --> 00:04:05,720 Speaker 1: these are the real conservative Some people are a little 74 00:04:05,720 --> 00:04:08,120 Speaker 1: bit less conservative. They talk a good game, maybe they 75 00:04:08,120 --> 00:04:10,640 Speaker 1: don't vote that way. And the Freedom Caucus really stood 76 00:04:10,680 --> 00:04:13,000 Speaker 1: for something. So the very fact that the White House 77 00:04:13,080 --> 00:04:16,160 Speaker 1: Chief of Staff is a Freedom Caucus guy, I mean 78 00:04:16,200 --> 00:04:18,080 Speaker 1: that that does tell you something. And I know that 79 00:04:18,160 --> 00:04:22,119 Speaker 1: this Obamacare fight, it didn't just end in two thousand 80 00:04:22,200 --> 00:04:24,840 Speaker 1: nine or twenty thirteen, or it kept going on and on, 81 00:04:24,880 --> 00:04:27,000 Speaker 1: and I know you two worked on that together well, 82 00:04:27,040 --> 00:04:30,279 Speaker 1: and it was interesting. You fast forward to twenty seventeen, 83 00:04:30,320 --> 00:04:34,640 Speaker 1: President Trump's been elected and there's an energy, a real 84 00:04:34,720 --> 00:04:38,279 Speaker 1: passion to take on the Washington swamp. And you remember 85 00:04:38,320 --> 00:04:40,760 Speaker 1: the first thing that came up, it was Obamacare repeal, 86 00:04:41,360 --> 00:04:44,800 Speaker 1: and first White House Chief of Staff was Ryan's previous right. 87 00:04:44,920 --> 00:04:49,360 Speaker 1: Ryance is a good guy, but Ryan was very very 88 00:04:49,440 --> 00:04:51,560 Speaker 1: close with Paul Ryan, the Speaker of the House. They're 89 00:04:51,560 --> 00:04:55,640 Speaker 1: both from Wisconsin. And if you remember, the first draft 90 00:04:55,680 --> 00:04:58,520 Speaker 1: of Obamacare repeal in the House was terrible. It was 91 00:04:58,640 --> 00:05:02,880 Speaker 1: drafted by insurance company lobbyists. It was garbage. But when 92 00:05:02,880 --> 00:05:09,640 Speaker 1: it was drafted, you remember early on the House leadership 93 00:05:09,800 --> 00:05:13,200 Speaker 1: was trying to really weaponize the president to attack the 94 00:05:13,200 --> 00:05:16,000 Speaker 1: Freedom Caucus, to attack conservatives, and you know, you go 95 00:05:16,040 --> 00:05:17,919 Speaker 1: back to the first few months where the President was 96 00:05:17,960 --> 00:05:21,520 Speaker 1: blasting them. And I still remember spring of twenty seventeen, 97 00:05:21,600 --> 00:05:23,520 Speaker 1: Marcus in the House, he's leading the Freedom Caucus, I'm 98 00:05:23,560 --> 00:05:26,440 Speaker 1: in the Senate, and we both would go to Mara 99 00:05:26,560 --> 00:05:30,960 Speaker 1: Lagos and basically just drop in on the President unannounced. 100 00:05:30,960 --> 00:05:33,360 Speaker 1: We basically called over and said this President, we need 101 00:05:33,360 --> 00:05:35,600 Speaker 1: to see it. That's exactly right. That's how you're saying. 102 00:05:35,600 --> 00:05:38,080 Speaker 1: That's how urgent this was. This wasn't some prescheduled White 103 00:05:38,080 --> 00:05:40,840 Speaker 1: House meeting. You go down to the president's beach resort 104 00:05:40,839 --> 00:05:43,520 Speaker 1: in Florida and we sat there and said, listen, if 105 00:05:43,560 --> 00:05:46,400 Speaker 1: you go down the road of this House bill, insurance 106 00:05:46,440 --> 00:05:49,200 Speaker 1: premiums will go up. And yeah, did you hear what 107 00:05:49,320 --> 00:05:53,800 Speaker 1: he just said, insurance premiums go up? I mean yeah, 108 00:05:53,839 --> 00:05:57,680 Speaker 1: it just it was crazy. Now, the insurance lobbyists loved it. 109 00:05:57,720 --> 00:06:00,360 Speaker 1: They want premiums to go up. But but we're both saying, 110 00:06:00,400 --> 00:06:03,760 Speaker 1: listen to people who elected you, who elected us, didn't 111 00:06:03,800 --> 00:06:06,120 Speaker 1: want us jack enough premiums. And it was a really 112 00:06:06,160 --> 00:06:10,039 Speaker 1: important It started to shift that bill away from that 113 00:06:10,080 --> 00:06:14,480 Speaker 1: first VET version and it ended up getting significantly better. Yeah, okay, 114 00:06:14,640 --> 00:06:17,280 Speaker 1: you never heard that story before. But something I've noticed 115 00:06:17,560 --> 00:06:20,119 Speaker 1: just on these shows is you hear so much about 116 00:06:20,120 --> 00:06:24,240 Speaker 1: how personal relationships and these sort of unplanned moments can 117 00:06:24,279 --> 00:06:27,200 Speaker 1: really shift the path of policy in the country. Well, 118 00:06:27,240 --> 00:06:29,120 Speaker 1: it does, but I think the other thing is the 119 00:06:29,200 --> 00:06:32,279 Speaker 1: interesting thing. So so Ted goes, come on, I'm going 120 00:06:32,360 --> 00:06:34,359 Speaker 1: over to see the president. You need to come with me. 121 00:06:34,440 --> 00:06:37,279 Speaker 1: We need to talk to him about Obamacare. And I'm going, okay, 122 00:06:37,320 --> 00:06:39,040 Speaker 1: well you got in a point. No, no, we're just 123 00:06:39,160 --> 00:06:41,800 Speaker 1: going I mean, and so so you get this and 124 00:06:41,839 --> 00:06:43,400 Speaker 1: you go, okay, we're going to drop in on the 125 00:06:43,400 --> 00:06:46,320 Speaker 1: President of the United States and talk policy on a Saturday. 126 00:06:46,360 --> 00:06:50,920 Speaker 1: By the way, we literally oopered over. I mean, it 127 00:06:48,640 --> 00:06:52,880 Speaker 1: was it's a miracle Secret Service didn't shoot us and 128 00:06:53,000 --> 00:06:58,480 Speaker 1: we're there. I don't know about that, but it's all 129 00:06:58,520 --> 00:07:01,719 Speaker 1: about one relationship ships. You're exactly right, Michael. But the 130 00:07:01,760 --> 00:07:05,480 Speaker 1: other part of that is is about tenacity. It's making 131 00:07:05,520 --> 00:07:08,919 Speaker 1: sure you're tenacious about what you know is good for 132 00:07:08,960 --> 00:07:12,119 Speaker 1: the American people and you're willing to fight that fight. 133 00:07:12,200 --> 00:07:16,440 Speaker 1: And Ted obviously has not only a career of doing that, 134 00:07:16,880 --> 00:07:19,960 Speaker 1: but when when you look for profiles and courage, uh, 135 00:07:20,080 --> 00:07:22,320 Speaker 1: you know, it's got his picture right there. And so 136 00:07:22,560 --> 00:07:24,960 Speaker 1: for us in the Freedom Caucus, we just said we 137 00:07:25,000 --> 00:07:28,400 Speaker 1: want to give you a partner in the House, and 138 00:07:28,480 --> 00:07:31,160 Speaker 1: it came, you know, at great personal costs. I mean 139 00:07:31,160 --> 00:07:35,760 Speaker 1: there were times when well we missed a few dinners 140 00:07:35,760 --> 00:07:41,000 Speaker 1: as well. That you know something that I noticed. You 141 00:07:41,000 --> 00:07:44,000 Speaker 1: obviously had this very public role before in Congress running 142 00:07:44,000 --> 00:07:46,480 Speaker 1: the Freedom Caucus. Senator, you still have a very public role. 143 00:07:46,720 --> 00:07:49,920 Speaker 1: But your job now, mister Meadows, is a little bit 144 00:07:49,920 --> 00:07:52,920 Speaker 1: more of a behind the scenes job. Could you maybe 145 00:07:52,960 --> 00:07:55,040 Speaker 1: take us behind the scenes a little bit into what 146 00:07:55,120 --> 00:07:57,800 Speaker 1: that day looks like. Well, obviously they've got cameras rolling here, 147 00:07:57,800 --> 00:07:59,480 Speaker 1: so I don't know that it'll be too much behind 148 00:07:59,480 --> 00:08:02,200 Speaker 1: the scenes, but I will say this, Uh. You know, 149 00:08:02,480 --> 00:08:04,880 Speaker 1: since I've come over and we're we're almost at a 150 00:08:05,120 --> 00:08:09,760 Speaker 1: day eighty five on this job, I've done no press, 151 00:08:09,880 --> 00:08:12,280 Speaker 1: so it's it's it is a behind the scene, so 152 00:08:12,320 --> 00:08:14,560 Speaker 1: to bring everybody behind the scenes. I think that the 153 00:08:14,640 --> 00:08:17,880 Speaker 1: real key is, I see, the job is to serve 154 00:08:17,920 --> 00:08:21,920 Speaker 1: the President of the United States, who serves the American people. 155 00:08:22,280 --> 00:08:24,920 Speaker 1: But it's also to make sure that every good idea 156 00:08:25,040 --> 00:08:28,040 Speaker 1: that is in the Senate gets the visibility with the 157 00:08:28,080 --> 00:08:32,079 Speaker 1: President of the United States, uh, in a nanosecond. And 158 00:08:32,120 --> 00:08:34,400 Speaker 1: so one of the things that people don't realize is 159 00:08:34,440 --> 00:08:36,760 Speaker 1: that I can get a phone call from Senator Cruz 160 00:08:36,920 --> 00:08:41,960 Speaker 1: or Senator Blunt or Lindsey Graham and they're saying, you know, listen, 161 00:08:41,960 --> 00:08:44,800 Speaker 1: we've we've got this, uh, this issue. We need you 162 00:08:44,840 --> 00:08:48,120 Speaker 1: to take care of it. Sometimes it's just as simple 163 00:08:48,160 --> 00:08:51,880 Speaker 1: as we've got some constituents that have raised this concern. 164 00:08:52,000 --> 00:08:53,640 Speaker 1: We want to make sure the President of the United 165 00:08:53,679 --> 00:08:56,240 Speaker 1: States knows about it, and Ted, Ted can vouch for this. 166 00:08:56,920 --> 00:09:00,760 Speaker 1: It's a phone call and within minute, the President of 167 00:09:00,760 --> 00:09:04,679 Speaker 1: the United States is weighing in on that particular issue. 168 00:09:04,800 --> 00:09:08,440 Speaker 1: Nothing like anything I've ever seen. And it's trying to 169 00:09:08,480 --> 00:09:12,560 Speaker 1: be the gatekeeper behind the scenes that maybe is not 170 00:09:12,600 --> 00:09:16,520 Speaker 1: as much of a gatekeeper is their megaphone within the 171 00:09:16,559 --> 00:09:21,080 Speaker 1: West wing. And so senators have better access, I think, 172 00:09:21,080 --> 00:09:25,280 Speaker 1: to this president than historically has been the case. I 173 00:09:25,360 --> 00:09:28,240 Speaker 1: think that's a good thing. The closer the president is 174 00:09:28,280 --> 00:09:31,360 Speaker 1: to the American people, the more he hears from from 175 00:09:31,520 --> 00:09:35,320 Speaker 1: the people of Texas through through Ted or the people 176 00:09:35,400 --> 00:09:38,439 Speaker 1: of South Carolina through Tim Scott or Lindsey Graham or 177 00:09:39,040 --> 00:09:42,120 Speaker 1: whichever senator it might be, the better off it is. 178 00:09:42,320 --> 00:09:46,960 Speaker 1: And so but it's also the power of the executive branch. 179 00:09:47,080 --> 00:09:49,880 Speaker 1: You know, when when I was in Congress is saying, boy, 180 00:09:50,440 --> 00:09:52,960 Speaker 1: all I wanted to do is make sure that Congress 181 00:09:53,080 --> 00:09:55,720 Speaker 1: was empowered. But it's a little bit different role now. 182 00:09:55,760 --> 00:09:58,120 Speaker 1: But if we work hand in glove, I think what 183 00:09:58,160 --> 00:10:00,560 Speaker 1: we can do. This president is willing to do things 184 00:10:00,800 --> 00:10:04,920 Speaker 1: that most presidents are not willing to do and take 185 00:10:04,960 --> 00:10:08,319 Speaker 1: political risk. You know, we have an embassy that in 186 00:10:08,880 --> 00:10:12,800 Speaker 1: Jerusalem is something that Ted and I share passionately together. 187 00:10:13,320 --> 00:10:16,880 Speaker 1: That would It's been promised before, you know, and it 188 00:10:17,000 --> 00:10:20,400 Speaker 1: never happened. And so the Republican and Democratic presidents have 189 00:10:20,520 --> 00:10:23,680 Speaker 1: broken that promise. Trump is the first one to follow through. 190 00:10:23,960 --> 00:10:26,679 Speaker 1: I have to make a confession. When President Trump, when 191 00:10:26,679 --> 00:10:28,000 Speaker 1: he was running and he said I'm gonna move the 192 00:10:28,000 --> 00:10:31,520 Speaker 1: embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, I just didn't believe him. 193 00:10:31,520 --> 00:10:33,400 Speaker 1: I said, that's the sort of thing people say, but 194 00:10:33,440 --> 00:10:35,120 Speaker 1: then they don't actually do it. And I think a 195 00:10:35,120 --> 00:10:36,880 Speaker 1: lot of people in Washington thought that, and then when 196 00:10:36,920 --> 00:10:40,280 Speaker 1: it actually happened, everybody was so surprised. One thing that's 197 00:10:40,360 --> 00:10:43,120 Speaker 1: really unusual in this administration is the kind of lead 198 00:10:43,240 --> 00:10:47,640 Speaker 1: person on Israel policy has been the US Ambassador Israel, 199 00:10:47,679 --> 00:10:50,280 Speaker 1: David Friedman, who's great guy, has become a close friend, 200 00:10:50,800 --> 00:10:53,480 Speaker 1: and it's unusual. I don't know of any instance where 201 00:10:53,480 --> 00:10:56,400 Speaker 1: an ambassadors had that kind of influence, and it's because 202 00:10:56,400 --> 00:11:00,000 Speaker 1: the President knows and trust him, and David is passionate 203 00:11:00,280 --> 00:11:03,720 Speaker 1: committed the strengthening the US IS relationship. But I worked 204 00:11:03,800 --> 00:11:06,280 Speaker 1: very closely with David after the President made the announcement 205 00:11:06,679 --> 00:11:10,480 Speaker 1: because look the nature of Washington, the swamp, the State Department, 206 00:11:10,480 --> 00:11:13,560 Speaker 1: foggy bottom, did not want this to happen. So here's 207 00:11:13,559 --> 00:11:15,960 Speaker 1: how they would normally kill it. They would just slow 208 00:11:16,080 --> 00:11:18,800 Speaker 1: roll it. We need to study for a year the feasibility. 209 00:11:18,800 --> 00:11:20,920 Speaker 1: We need to do a security assessment, we need to 210 00:11:20,960 --> 00:11:22,800 Speaker 1: we need to do this and that, and their plan 211 00:11:22,960 --> 00:11:24,440 Speaker 1: it was clear what their plan was going to be, 212 00:11:24,960 --> 00:11:28,800 Speaker 1: delay it four years. They were hoping Trump loses reelection 213 00:11:28,880 --> 00:11:31,120 Speaker 1: and then the next the Democrat who comes in will 214 00:11:31,160 --> 00:11:34,800 Speaker 1: cancel the announcement. And what the Trump administration did, and 215 00:11:34,880 --> 00:11:37,360 Speaker 1: David was the point person. I said, David, the only 216 00:11:37,360 --> 00:11:39,880 Speaker 1: way this happens is if you opened the damn embassy. 217 00:11:39,920 --> 00:11:43,280 Speaker 1: You don't announce it, you open it. And they found 218 00:11:43,280 --> 00:11:47,120 Speaker 1: a facility. There was a consular facility in Jerusalem and 219 00:11:47,200 --> 00:11:50,360 Speaker 1: within a year open the damn thing. I've never seen 220 00:11:50,360 --> 00:11:55,559 Speaker 1: anything like it. And it was tenacity and the bureaucracy 221 00:11:55,559 --> 00:11:59,800 Speaker 1: at State was shocked. But that the scene like the 222 00:12:00,120 --> 00:12:03,880 Speaker 1: urgency of understanding. Oh and and so true. And you 223 00:12:03,920 --> 00:12:06,240 Speaker 1: talk about behind the scene. So one story that I 224 00:12:06,280 --> 00:12:09,280 Speaker 1: don't think is out there is so the State Department 225 00:12:09,360 --> 00:12:12,160 Speaker 1: pushing back, you know, continuing to push back. I think 226 00:12:12,160 --> 00:12:14,800 Speaker 1: they gave a list of the pros and cons. And 227 00:12:14,840 --> 00:12:17,960 Speaker 1: so there were a whole long list of all these 228 00:12:18,040 --> 00:12:22,040 Speaker 1: cons zero pros for moving. Yeah, no, no, I'm telling 229 00:12:22,080 --> 00:12:26,040 Speaker 1: you that. And so that's something that doesn't get reported. 230 00:12:26,120 --> 00:12:28,679 Speaker 1: So it literally was you got all these reasons not 231 00:12:28,720 --> 00:12:31,640 Speaker 1: to do it, and no reasons to do it, and 232 00:12:31,720 --> 00:12:35,680 Speaker 1: yet this president stayed true to his campaign promise. And 233 00:12:35,840 --> 00:12:40,319 Speaker 1: but but it takes the encouragement. Sometimes it's a phone 234 00:12:40,320 --> 00:12:42,800 Speaker 1: call from Ted Cruz in the middle of the night saying, 235 00:12:42,880 --> 00:12:45,920 Speaker 1: you know, CALLI, it's the right thing to do. And 236 00:12:46,400 --> 00:12:48,520 Speaker 1: in that affirmation makes a big difference. Well, this is 237 00:12:48,720 --> 00:12:50,840 Speaker 1: what you said earlier is very interesting to me. This 238 00:12:50,920 --> 00:12:53,920 Speaker 1: idea that the chief of staff is the gatekeeper. But 239 00:12:54,040 --> 00:12:57,000 Speaker 1: the flip side is it means you're the megaphone for 240 00:12:57,480 --> 00:13:00,200 Speaker 1: good ideas. You're the megaphone for ideas that you're hearing people. 241 00:13:00,280 --> 00:13:02,080 Speaker 1: Let me give it. Let me give a real time example. 242 00:13:02,120 --> 00:13:07,240 Speaker 1: So Mark's been in office a couple of months. Yeah, 243 00:13:07,480 --> 00:13:09,360 Speaker 1: you remember a couple of months ago the president was 244 00:13:09,440 --> 00:13:12,120 Speaker 1: meeting with CEOs a bunch of big oil companies and 245 00:13:12,559 --> 00:13:14,760 Speaker 1: I was really worried that at the time, and when 246 00:13:14,760 --> 00:13:17,200 Speaker 1: the meeting was initially announced it was just the CEOs 247 00:13:17,240 --> 00:13:19,920 Speaker 1: of the giant companies, and so I called Mark and 248 00:13:19,960 --> 00:13:23,079 Speaker 1: I said, this is a real problem because the way 249 00:13:23,520 --> 00:13:26,800 Speaker 1: energy works. Yeah, there are a bunch of small independent producers, 250 00:13:26,800 --> 00:13:29,200 Speaker 1: a lot of guys in Texas that aren't the you know, 251 00:13:29,360 --> 00:13:32,280 Speaker 1: giant super majors that have the GDP of a country, 252 00:13:32,720 --> 00:13:35,280 Speaker 1: but they're the innovators. They're the ones that drive the 253 00:13:35,320 --> 00:13:38,280 Speaker 1: domestic production. And early on they were not on the 254 00:13:38,320 --> 00:13:40,480 Speaker 1: meeting invite list. And so I called Mark said, look, 255 00:13:40,640 --> 00:13:42,720 Speaker 1: this is a real problem. We need to make sure 256 00:13:43,000 --> 00:13:46,439 Speaker 1: we've got an independent producer there. Mark not only got 257 00:13:46,440 --> 00:13:49,080 Speaker 1: it done, but but said, look, you need to be there. 258 00:13:49,080 --> 00:13:50,680 Speaker 1: And I got on a plane the next day. In fact, 259 00:13:50,720 --> 00:13:51,880 Speaker 1: it was funny when I walked in. There are a 260 00:13:51,880 --> 00:13:53,320 Speaker 1: couple of other senators there. They said, what the hell 261 00:13:53,360 --> 00:13:56,600 Speaker 1: are you doing here? I said, well, you know, funny, 262 00:13:56,640 --> 00:13:59,760 Speaker 1: you should ask. And it was because Mark said, come 263 00:13:59,800 --> 00:14:02,640 Speaker 1: to the meeting. And at that meeting, you want to 264 00:14:02,640 --> 00:14:05,200 Speaker 1: talk about real action. We pressed a couple of things. Remember, 265 00:14:05,440 --> 00:14:08,840 Speaker 1: price of oil was collapsing, millions of jobs where in jeopardy. 266 00:14:09,200 --> 00:14:11,360 Speaker 1: And two things came out of that meeting. Number one, 267 00:14:11,400 --> 00:14:14,160 Speaker 1: the President leaned in hard against the Saudis and the 268 00:14:14,200 --> 00:14:17,439 Speaker 1: Russians and got them to back off their economic warfare 269 00:14:17,480 --> 00:14:21,360 Speaker 1: against the US. But number two, the President directed. I 270 00:14:21,400 --> 00:14:23,480 Speaker 1: suggested to the President it was a real problem of 271 00:14:23,520 --> 00:14:26,800 Speaker 1: capital being cut off from energy, right. And I suggested, 272 00:14:26,840 --> 00:14:30,040 Speaker 1: as the President, if you would, you would instruct the 273 00:14:30,080 --> 00:14:32,200 Speaker 1: Secretary of Energy danbre Yet it was there and the 274 00:14:32,200 --> 00:14:37,120 Speaker 1: Secretary of the Treasury, Stephen Manuchin to make sure that 275 00:14:37,720 --> 00:14:41,800 Speaker 1: Wall Street doesn't discriminate against energy and bankrupt every US 276 00:14:41,960 --> 00:14:45,480 Speaker 1: energy producer. And the President right there said do it. 277 00:14:45,560 --> 00:14:48,160 Speaker 1: He looked at Dan and said make it happen. And 278 00:14:48,320 --> 00:14:51,800 Speaker 1: that made a real, real difference in terms of capital 279 00:14:51,840 --> 00:14:56,000 Speaker 1: being available and literally saving millions of jobs in this country. Yeah, 280 00:14:56,120 --> 00:14:58,240 Speaker 1: and so in less than forty eight hours, a phone 281 00:14:58,240 --> 00:15:00,800 Speaker 1: call from a center to the chiefest Staff and he's 282 00:15:00,840 --> 00:15:04,960 Speaker 1: sitting in the cabinet room of the White House with 283 00:15:05,080 --> 00:15:08,920 Speaker 1: another invited guest who was not on the list, advocating 284 00:15:08,960 --> 00:15:11,400 Speaker 1: for what is important to the people back home in Texas. 285 00:15:11,600 --> 00:15:14,000 Speaker 1: And and and so that happens a lot. The other 286 00:15:14,040 --> 00:15:16,560 Speaker 1: thing that I think that is critical is you've got 287 00:15:16,560 --> 00:15:20,000 Speaker 1: this massive bureaucracy with agencies, and you think, well, there's 288 00:15:20,000 --> 00:15:24,320 Speaker 1: a Republican administration, so you but there is the swamp 289 00:15:24,440 --> 00:15:27,600 Speaker 1: that continues to go on whether it's a Democrat or 290 00:15:27,720 --> 00:15:31,920 Speaker 1: Republican in the overwhel elected people come and go yeah, 291 00:15:32,000 --> 00:15:34,480 Speaker 1: and I just kind of wighed them out, is exactly 292 00:15:34,480 --> 00:15:36,600 Speaker 1: what Ted was saying. They waited them out. And so 293 00:15:36,960 --> 00:15:40,160 Speaker 1: one of the great things is is that if Ted 294 00:15:40,320 --> 00:15:42,280 Speaker 1: or one of his colleagues they're getting you know, the 295 00:15:42,320 --> 00:15:45,560 Speaker 1: stiff arm. I call it the legislative heisman. You know, 296 00:15:45,600 --> 00:15:48,880 Speaker 1: if they're getting that, it's really easy for me to 297 00:15:48,880 --> 00:15:50,640 Speaker 1: pick up and say, you know, why am I getting 298 00:15:50,640 --> 00:15:54,680 Speaker 1: this phone call from this senator on you not responding 299 00:15:54,720 --> 00:15:57,880 Speaker 1: to their phone call? Oh, well, we're busy. Well I 300 00:15:58,080 --> 00:16:00,760 Speaker 1: was busy too, and I took his I mean, why 301 00:16:00,800 --> 00:16:03,520 Speaker 1: aren't you take it? And so sometimes it's just making 302 00:16:03,560 --> 00:16:06,400 Speaker 1: them aware that there's somebody else willing to hold them 303 00:16:06,400 --> 00:16:08,440 Speaker 1: make and two branches there. I mean, this is actually 304 00:16:08,480 --> 00:16:10,520 Speaker 1: something at center. I knew you've talked a lot about. 305 00:16:10,960 --> 00:16:14,000 Speaker 1: Is you've been talking out for years about social media censorship, 306 00:16:14,040 --> 00:16:17,960 Speaker 1: censorship of conservatives. Well, just recently we got out out 307 00:16:18,000 --> 00:16:21,560 Speaker 1: of the executive branch, this executive order on social media censorship. 308 00:16:22,320 --> 00:16:23,800 Speaker 1: We still don't know a whole lot about that, at 309 00:16:23,840 --> 00:16:25,480 Speaker 1: least I don't know a lot about that. Maybe could 310 00:16:25,480 --> 00:16:26,920 Speaker 1: you tell us a little bit about how that came 311 00:16:26,920 --> 00:16:29,240 Speaker 1: to be. Well, I think Ted and I know that 312 00:16:29,320 --> 00:16:34,160 Speaker 1: as conservatives, sometimes our conservative voice doesn't reach the audience 313 00:16:34,560 --> 00:16:38,400 Speaker 1: as quickly or as effectively as it is normally intense 314 00:16:38,520 --> 00:16:40,360 Speaker 1: diplomatic way to put. Yeah, well, I can tell you 315 00:16:40,400 --> 00:16:42,280 Speaker 1: I was one of the few members of Congress back 316 00:16:42,320 --> 00:16:44,480 Speaker 1: when I was in Congress that was actually shadow band 317 00:16:44,560 --> 00:16:46,960 Speaker 1: by Twitter. Yeah, And so we ought to put that 318 00:16:47,000 --> 00:16:49,000 Speaker 1: out on a tweet and see if they take that down, 319 00:16:49,040 --> 00:16:51,800 Speaker 1: they'll say it wasn't shadow band that we were, but 320 00:16:51,880 --> 00:16:55,680 Speaker 1: it only happened to be four conservative members of Congress myself, 321 00:16:56,000 --> 00:16:58,960 Speaker 1: Matt Gates, Devin Nunis, and Jim Jordan. So you're saying 322 00:16:59,440 --> 00:17:03,280 Speaker 1: didn't follow that, she didn't make it into that. So 323 00:17:03,880 --> 00:17:06,520 Speaker 1: one of the things that that's important is that we 324 00:17:06,600 --> 00:17:09,359 Speaker 1: need to make sure that the free press is really 325 00:17:09,400 --> 00:17:13,360 Speaker 1: the free press and it's not censored. And what Twitter 326 00:17:13,440 --> 00:17:16,240 Speaker 1: has done, probably more so than some of the other 327 00:17:16,280 --> 00:17:19,560 Speaker 1: social media platforms, but YouTube is doing it as well, 328 00:17:20,640 --> 00:17:23,320 Speaker 1: is that they come in and they start to actually 329 00:17:23,880 --> 00:17:28,000 Speaker 1: monitor content and so it's not this free open what 330 00:17:28,160 --> 00:17:30,680 Speaker 1: I call the wild wild West of social media. That's 331 00:17:30,720 --> 00:17:34,159 Speaker 1: the way, and as freedom loving individuals, we want the 332 00:17:34,200 --> 00:17:37,280 Speaker 1: free market to work. But when the free market starts 333 00:17:37,320 --> 00:17:43,560 Speaker 1: to get monopolized by content police, then it's important for 334 00:17:43,640 --> 00:17:45,399 Speaker 1: us to step in. So we did an EO that 335 00:17:45,600 --> 00:17:50,560 Speaker 1: actually has the potential of taking away their protection from litigation. 336 00:17:50,840 --> 00:17:53,040 Speaker 1: So if we can't fix it, or if Congress can't 337 00:17:53,080 --> 00:17:56,119 Speaker 1: fix it, let the trial attorneys fix it, it'll happen requally. 338 00:17:56,640 --> 00:18:00,399 Speaker 1: Unleashing the trial attorneys is a really powerful up And 339 00:18:00,400 --> 00:18:01,800 Speaker 1: I got to say, this is an issue where a 340 00:18:01,800 --> 00:18:05,560 Speaker 1: White House leadership was so needed, and it's so important 341 00:18:05,600 --> 00:18:07,800 Speaker 1: because you and I've talked about this before. One of 342 00:18:07,800 --> 00:18:11,000 Speaker 1: the challenges on the issue of a big tech censorship 343 00:18:11,600 --> 00:18:14,280 Speaker 1: is all the federal agencies are siloed, and it's a 344 00:18:14,400 --> 00:18:17,479 Speaker 1: hard issue where the Anitrust Division of Department of Justice 345 00:18:17,640 --> 00:18:19,679 Speaker 1: doesn't quite fit into what they think they want to 346 00:18:19,680 --> 00:18:21,520 Speaker 1: do the FTC, it doesn't quite fit in with do 347 00:18:21,600 --> 00:18:24,520 Speaker 1: they want to do the FCC. Everyone has is sort 348 00:18:24,520 --> 00:18:26,639 Speaker 1: of looking at their own slice of the problem. And 349 00:18:26,680 --> 00:18:29,960 Speaker 1: the President's Executive Order on this was important to say, 350 00:18:30,119 --> 00:18:32,520 Speaker 1: damn it, this matters. I think it's the biggest threat 351 00:18:32,560 --> 00:18:36,600 Speaker 1: to democracy in the whole country. But we needed the 352 00:18:36,680 --> 00:18:39,119 Speaker 1: President and the White House to lead to get the 353 00:18:39,160 --> 00:18:45,120 Speaker 1: rest of the executive focused on protecting free speech altogether. Right. Well, 354 00:18:45,160 --> 00:18:47,719 Speaker 1: the interesting thing, and so I'll always try to give 355 00:18:47,720 --> 00:18:49,600 Speaker 1: you a little bit of a backstory that no one 356 00:18:49,640 --> 00:18:52,919 Speaker 1: else knows. So that EO, as it relates to Section 357 00:18:53,000 --> 00:18:56,440 Speaker 1: two thirty, we started putting it around for a little 358 00:18:56,440 --> 00:18:59,280 Speaker 1: bit of comment on a very limited basis. All of 359 00:18:59,320 --> 00:19:02,760 Speaker 1: a sudden, this proposed EO shows up in the New 360 00:19:02,840 --> 00:19:07,000 Speaker 1: York Times, and it really was fed to the New 361 00:19:07,040 --> 00:19:12,000 Speaker 1: York Times by a federal worker that didn't agree with 362 00:19:12,720 --> 00:19:15,639 Speaker 1: this administration, or at least it appears that they didn't, 363 00:19:15,960 --> 00:19:18,840 Speaker 1: and they didn't agree with the EO, and so they 364 00:19:18,880 --> 00:19:23,640 Speaker 1: took it and fed it to hum outside sources. And 365 00:19:23,960 --> 00:19:25,520 Speaker 1: I'm glad to say that we were able to track 366 00:19:25,600 --> 00:19:27,960 Speaker 1: that person down. They no longer work for the federal government. 367 00:19:29,520 --> 00:19:32,360 Speaker 1: That's let me ask a question here. That's a great 368 00:19:32,480 --> 00:19:34,480 Speaker 1: I hadn't heard that story, and that's that's a great story. 369 00:19:34,960 --> 00:19:38,040 Speaker 1: Let me take it a slightly different direction. So the 370 00:19:38,160 --> 00:19:41,080 Speaker 1: job marquess, now, I think it may well be the 371 00:19:41,080 --> 00:19:43,920 Speaker 1: hardest job at all of Washington. So Marcus chief of 372 00:19:43,960 --> 00:19:47,480 Speaker 1: staff as a cabinet member, but but he's charged with 373 00:19:47,600 --> 00:19:51,760 Speaker 1: basically wrestling alligators all day, fall, and and and trying 374 00:19:51,840 --> 00:19:57,199 Speaker 1: to get some semblance of order and decision making process 375 00:19:57,240 --> 00:19:59,040 Speaker 1: in this And you look at some of the chiefs 376 00:19:59,040 --> 00:20:01,520 Speaker 1: of staff that have come for they have been you know, 377 00:20:01,520 --> 00:20:03,840 Speaker 1: you've had Howard Baker was a Senate majority leader, You've 378 00:20:03,840 --> 00:20:06,600 Speaker 1: had Johnson Una who was a governor. I mean, you've 379 00:20:06,640 --> 00:20:10,080 Speaker 1: had major, major, and and I think one of the 380 00:20:10,119 --> 00:20:13,800 Speaker 1: greatest chiefs of staff ever was James Baker. And there's 381 00:20:13,840 --> 00:20:17,240 Speaker 1: a legendary discussion. So Baker was Reagan's chief of staff 382 00:20:17,920 --> 00:20:21,840 Speaker 1: and the head of omb was David Stockman, and Stockman 383 00:20:21,880 --> 00:20:25,320 Speaker 1: had done an interview in The Atlantic crapping all over 384 00:20:25,359 --> 00:20:28,760 Speaker 1: the president. It's a terrible interview, basically saying the president's 385 00:20:28,760 --> 00:20:31,159 Speaker 1: economics is all wrong. There was a horrible interview, and 386 00:20:31,200 --> 00:20:35,760 Speaker 1: there's a great story a Baker calling calling Stockman and 387 00:20:35,760 --> 00:20:38,680 Speaker 1: a Stockhan was gonna gonna meet with Reagan, and Bakers 388 00:20:38,720 --> 00:20:41,560 Speaker 1: quoted and I'm not I'm gonna keep this PG rated 389 00:20:43,119 --> 00:20:47,000 Speaker 1: what Baker said, but they'll look it up where Baker said, David, 390 00:20:47,520 --> 00:20:51,560 Speaker 1: you're having lunch with the president and the menu is humble, 391 00:20:51,720 --> 00:20:56,040 Speaker 1: blank and pipe and would you walk out of that room? 392 00:20:56,160 --> 00:21:01,240 Speaker 1: You're sorry, blankety blank blank better be dragging on the ground. 393 00:21:03,200 --> 00:21:07,879 Speaker 1: And look, Stockman was not, shall we say, timid or shy, 394 00:21:08,000 --> 00:21:11,120 Speaker 1: And you've got to be enough of a principle, enough 395 00:21:11,119 --> 00:21:16,240 Speaker 1: of a leader, strong enough to stand up to cabinet members, 396 00:21:16,240 --> 00:21:19,679 Speaker 1: to stand up to congressional leadership, to stand up to whoever. 397 00:21:20,280 --> 00:21:22,720 Speaker 1: And I got to say, I'm thrilled marks in this job. 398 00:21:23,320 --> 00:21:25,320 Speaker 1: So all of that is a setup to just just 399 00:21:25,359 --> 00:21:28,960 Speaker 1: ask a question, what is a day in the life 400 00:21:28,960 --> 00:21:31,720 Speaker 1: of the chief of staff? Just, you know, a typical day, like, well, like, 401 00:21:31,760 --> 00:21:35,000 Speaker 1: what do you do each day? You know, that's that's interesting. 402 00:21:35,040 --> 00:21:38,320 Speaker 1: My wife asked me that question. I said nothing, I 403 00:21:38,440 --> 00:21:42,600 Speaker 1: met with nobody, so she may tune in just to 404 00:21:42,640 --> 00:21:46,520 Speaker 1: figure out exactly what you know. It starts normally pretty early, 405 00:21:46,600 --> 00:21:51,080 Speaker 1: so I'll normally come in around seven fifteen. I get 406 00:21:52,080 --> 00:21:55,680 Speaker 1: my daily briefing, which is an intel briefing at seven 407 00:21:55,800 --> 00:21:59,240 Speaker 1: thirty that will scare anybody of all the threats that 408 00:21:59,280 --> 00:22:01,760 Speaker 1: we get. It goes from there. We have a fifteen 409 00:22:01,800 --> 00:22:05,760 Speaker 1: minute meeting on what we call our our senior meeting 410 00:22:06,000 --> 00:22:08,120 Speaker 1: on the comms of the day, so we'll look at 411 00:22:08,400 --> 00:22:11,959 Speaker 1: what stories are out there. We go from from there 412 00:22:12,520 --> 00:22:15,560 Speaker 1: to a number of policy meetings. All of this is 413 00:22:15,600 --> 00:22:19,480 Speaker 1: happening before before eleven o'clock, so you try to get 414 00:22:19,520 --> 00:22:22,879 Speaker 1: in a full day's work before eleven o'clock, um. And 415 00:22:23,359 --> 00:22:26,680 Speaker 1: and as we look at that, the big thing then becomes, 416 00:22:27,080 --> 00:22:29,679 Speaker 1: all right, what are we going to do with the 417 00:22:29,720 --> 00:22:32,639 Speaker 1: policy in the in the calendar? Because all you have 418 00:22:32,720 --> 00:22:36,920 Speaker 1: is a full day, and it is always full. There's 419 00:22:37,000 --> 00:22:39,520 Speaker 1: there's always more to do than what you could ever 420 00:22:39,560 --> 00:22:43,280 Speaker 1: fit in, and so are we advancing it? And the 421 00:22:43,320 --> 00:22:46,439 Speaker 1: big thing that you're saying, Ted, is we start to 422 00:22:46,440 --> 00:22:49,960 Speaker 1: put time frames on if we've got this policy, when 423 00:22:50,240 --> 00:22:52,119 Speaker 1: is the president going to be able to make a 424 00:22:52,160 --> 00:22:54,800 Speaker 1: decision on it? Because he didn't care about the rhetoric. 425 00:22:55,080 --> 00:22:57,480 Speaker 1: Now he does like creative chaos. So if you want 426 00:22:57,480 --> 00:23:00,280 Speaker 1: to come in so normally in the afternoon and you 427 00:23:00,320 --> 00:23:02,760 Speaker 1: have at least one creative chaos moment where you have 428 00:23:02,760 --> 00:23:04,840 Speaker 1: a whole bunch of people come in from the West wing, 429 00:23:05,000 --> 00:23:08,480 Speaker 1: they're arguing back and forth, and he will purposefully, you know, 430 00:23:08,560 --> 00:23:10,320 Speaker 1: he would look at you, Michael and say, well what 431 00:23:10,359 --> 00:23:13,040 Speaker 1: do you think, knowing that you have an opposing view 432 00:23:13,080 --> 00:23:15,679 Speaker 1: from Ted, and then he'll go, well, Ted, don't you 433 00:23:15,760 --> 00:23:18,040 Speaker 1: disagree with that? And then sit back and watch you fight, 434 00:23:18,440 --> 00:23:21,359 Speaker 1: Watch you fight. And you've been in those meetings many times, 435 00:23:21,480 --> 00:23:24,679 Speaker 1: and so you know, so a lot of times. What 436 00:23:24,720 --> 00:23:28,120 Speaker 1: will happen is is those will continue on and then 437 00:23:28,160 --> 00:23:31,639 Speaker 1: around five o'clock or so, you're normally getting back to 438 00:23:31,800 --> 00:23:33,920 Speaker 1: some of the emails and so forth that you have, 439 00:23:34,320 --> 00:23:37,640 Speaker 1: trying to set up the follow up because I've got 440 00:23:37,640 --> 00:23:40,720 Speaker 1: to I try to make sure that I'm calling everybody 441 00:23:40,760 --> 00:23:44,880 Speaker 1: back before I go to bed. Now that sometimes sometimes 442 00:23:44,920 --> 00:23:47,960 Speaker 1: that means that I'm calling them back at eleven thirty 443 00:23:48,359 --> 00:23:53,320 Speaker 1: at night from well, so I'll normally get home between 444 00:23:53,400 --> 00:23:57,480 Speaker 1: eight and nine thirty. And uh, and and you're doing 445 00:23:57,520 --> 00:23:59,800 Speaker 1: all your emails because a lot of times you have 446 00:23:59,840 --> 00:24:02,679 Speaker 1: your your phone and it goes in a secure setting 447 00:24:02,720 --> 00:24:05,720 Speaker 1: because you're actually in a skiff, So you're getting secure 448 00:24:05,760 --> 00:24:09,320 Speaker 1: phone calls throughout the day. Uh. You'll talk to cabinet members. 449 00:24:09,400 --> 00:24:12,120 Speaker 1: You mentioned cabinet members, So you'll normally I'll normally have 450 00:24:12,200 --> 00:24:16,560 Speaker 1: four or five calls with different cabinet members every day. Uh. 451 00:24:16,640 --> 00:24:19,880 Speaker 1: Sometimes it's those candid conversations where you said, you said 452 00:24:20,000 --> 00:24:24,359 Speaker 1: what uh and uh and and who thought that that 453 00:24:24,440 --> 00:24:28,199 Speaker 1: was a good idea? Uh? But but in that I 454 00:24:28,240 --> 00:24:31,280 Speaker 1: think the real key it's all about results. And the 455 00:24:31,680 --> 00:24:36,320 Speaker 1: key with results is that if you produce, uh, you 456 00:24:36,359 --> 00:24:39,080 Speaker 1: start to restore the confidence that comes back and and 457 00:24:39,119 --> 00:24:41,720 Speaker 1: it's why people hate politicians. You know. I used to 458 00:24:41,760 --> 00:24:44,480 Speaker 1: say that members of Congress had an approval rating lower 459 00:24:44,480 --> 00:24:48,080 Speaker 1: than a cockroach. Uh and uh, and that's saying something. 460 00:24:48,160 --> 00:24:50,359 Speaker 1: And I didn't know it was quite that high. But 461 00:24:50,359 --> 00:24:54,479 Speaker 1: but as we look at this, UM, it's it's about, uh, 462 00:24:54,720 --> 00:24:57,240 Speaker 1: you know, making sure that we work with the National 463 00:24:57,240 --> 00:25:00,679 Speaker 1: security team, the mic Pompeios and et cetera. You know, 464 00:25:00,760 --> 00:25:04,080 Speaker 1: I think probably the biggest thing is is for Ted 465 00:25:04,119 --> 00:25:10,399 Speaker 1: and I. Fighting for freedom is a twenty four to seven, 466 00:25:10,680 --> 00:25:13,320 Speaker 1: three hundred and sixty five day a year job. And 467 00:25:14,040 --> 00:25:17,719 Speaker 1: it is calling. It's a calling. And you know, whether 468 00:25:17,840 --> 00:25:21,560 Speaker 1: I'm here tomorrow or gone tomorrow, you know, you've got 469 00:25:21,560 --> 00:25:24,560 Speaker 1: to give it your utmost while you're there. The president 470 00:25:24,640 --> 00:25:30,000 Speaker 1: comes under unbelievable attacks and and what it's it's doing 471 00:25:30,119 --> 00:25:32,840 Speaker 1: is preparing him to make the best decisions. He's a 472 00:25:32,960 --> 00:25:36,000 Speaker 1: quick decision maker. And just like when he called out 473 00:25:36,000 --> 00:25:38,400 Speaker 1: to Ted, he says, Ted, I want to make sure 474 00:25:38,440 --> 00:25:41,040 Speaker 1: that gets done. That's a good idea, and he expects 475 00:25:41,040 --> 00:25:43,760 Speaker 1: it to get done. And you think he will forget. 476 00:25:44,200 --> 00:25:46,760 Speaker 1: He never doesn't forget. Never forget. You know. It's very 477 00:25:46,760 --> 00:25:50,280 Speaker 1: interesting on this point of the unexpected and chaos. I 478 00:25:50,320 --> 00:25:52,760 Speaker 1: don't know if our microphones are able to pick it up. 479 00:25:52,960 --> 00:25:55,240 Speaker 1: But right now we're here at the White House. Outside 480 00:25:55,320 --> 00:25:58,320 Speaker 1: you can hear the protests that have been raging for weeks. 481 00:25:58,359 --> 00:26:00,720 Speaker 1: We know there have been riots around the country, cities 482 00:26:00,760 --> 00:26:05,280 Speaker 1: burning down. What is the opinion here in Washington and 483 00:26:05,600 --> 00:26:08,000 Speaker 1: in the White House on this protect You can hear 484 00:26:08,040 --> 00:26:11,840 Speaker 1: real time they're outside screaming. We've obviously seen horrific violence, 485 00:26:11,880 --> 00:26:16,199 Speaker 1: We've seen rioting, We've seen police officers murdered, and it 486 00:26:16,280 --> 00:26:20,960 Speaker 1: all started with a grotesque act of police brutality of 487 00:26:21,000 --> 00:26:24,760 Speaker 1: George Floyd. What happened to him was wrong. It is 488 00:26:24,920 --> 00:26:27,920 Speaker 1: It is the exactly the right thing that the officers 489 00:26:27,960 --> 00:26:32,560 Speaker 1: who did that are being prosecuted, and and that's the 490 00:26:32,600 --> 00:26:34,720 Speaker 1: way the system's supposed to operate. But you know, I 491 00:26:34,760 --> 00:26:38,200 Speaker 1: got to tell you, Mark was talking about the challenges 492 00:26:38,359 --> 00:26:41,560 Speaker 1: any president faces, but particularly this president faces, and this 493 00:26:41,800 --> 00:26:45,720 Speaker 1: very polarizing divided time. Last week, last Thursday night, Heidi 494 00:26:45,760 --> 00:26:47,800 Speaker 1: and I are doing date night in Houston. We're heading 495 00:26:47,880 --> 00:26:50,080 Speaker 1: home from from the restaurant. President calls me on my 496 00:26:50,119 --> 00:26:55,920 Speaker 1: cell phone, which which happened regularly, and we talked about 497 00:26:55,960 --> 00:26:57,400 Speaker 1: a couple of things. But I told him, I said, 498 00:26:57,400 --> 00:26:59,200 Speaker 1: miss President, Heidi's here, you mind if I put put 499 00:26:59,200 --> 00:27:02,000 Speaker 1: you on speaker? And he chatted with Heidi. But it 500 00:27:02,040 --> 00:27:06,600 Speaker 1: was interesting, Heidi said. She said, mister President, it is 501 00:27:06,840 --> 00:27:10,639 Speaker 1: really really important for you to speak out to the 502 00:27:11,359 --> 00:27:14,080 Speaker 1: racial injustice in this country and for you to speak 503 00:27:14,119 --> 00:27:18,320 Speaker 1: for unity. And she was really heartfelt and emotional about it, 504 00:27:18,359 --> 00:27:20,280 Speaker 1: said she. You know, Heidi said, look, I can't think 505 00:27:20,320 --> 00:27:22,439 Speaker 1: of anything more important for you to do. And it 506 00:27:22,520 --> 00:27:24,680 Speaker 1: was interesting. Afterwards, I told her, I said, you know, Heidi, 507 00:27:25,440 --> 00:27:29,480 Speaker 1: he actually has and he has repeatedly and you haven't 508 00:27:29,520 --> 00:27:32,680 Speaker 1: heard it because the media won't cover it. So when 509 00:27:32,680 --> 00:27:36,240 Speaker 1: he stands up and says, don't commit commit rioting and 510 00:27:36,400 --> 00:27:40,080 Speaker 1: burn churches down and and murder police officers, they'll cover 511 00:27:40,200 --> 00:27:43,159 Speaker 1: that sort of yeah. But when he speaks out and 512 00:27:43,200 --> 00:27:45,960 Speaker 1: says what happened to George Floyd was wrong and racist 513 00:27:46,000 --> 00:27:49,960 Speaker 1: and bigoted, and the officers who did that need to 514 00:27:49,960 --> 00:27:52,240 Speaker 1: be prosecuted, they don't cover that part of it. And 515 00:27:52,440 --> 00:27:55,080 Speaker 1: that's got to be frustrating. Well, it is frustrating. He 516 00:27:55,119 --> 00:28:00,239 Speaker 1: gave an unbelievable speech when we saw SpaceX elon us 517 00:28:00,520 --> 00:28:05,479 Speaker 1: rocket go uh into orbit, and he gave a great speech, 518 00:28:05,520 --> 00:28:08,160 Speaker 1: and the first part of that speech was literally about 519 00:28:08,200 --> 00:28:11,440 Speaker 1: what you were talking about didn't get covered. I mean, 520 00:28:11,560 --> 00:28:13,760 Speaker 1: in fact, you you said, well, he gave a great speech, 521 00:28:13,800 --> 00:28:15,879 Speaker 1: and no one could find it. They couldn't see it. 522 00:28:15,880 --> 00:28:20,600 Speaker 1: It wasn't you know, CNN, MSNBC, none of them covered it. 523 00:28:20,880 --> 00:28:23,040 Speaker 1: Even I who I am living this stuff. I'm a 524 00:28:23,080 --> 00:28:25,919 Speaker 1: political I didn't see it. Yeah, And so so you 525 00:28:26,040 --> 00:28:29,000 Speaker 1: have all of that in social media censorship on top 526 00:28:29,040 --> 00:28:31,560 Speaker 1: of that's right, well, and that's the key. That's why 527 00:28:31,880 --> 00:28:35,600 Speaker 1: the EO on the social media platforms is so key, 528 00:28:35,880 --> 00:28:38,480 Speaker 1: because it is the workaround and the very fact that 529 00:28:38,480 --> 00:28:41,000 Speaker 1: people are viewing this right now, are hearing this is 530 00:28:41,520 --> 00:28:44,440 Speaker 1: a critical thing that we have to preserve and protect. 531 00:28:44,800 --> 00:28:47,440 Speaker 1: But I say, the other other aspect of that is 532 00:28:47,520 --> 00:28:53,120 Speaker 1: this when when you look at what this president faces, um, 533 00:28:53,560 --> 00:28:57,520 Speaker 1: it is the voice of millions of people across this 534 00:28:57,680 --> 00:29:01,080 Speaker 1: country and actually get to him that he sees it 535 00:29:01,120 --> 00:29:04,080 Speaker 1: in real time, He hears about it from from senators 536 00:29:04,080 --> 00:29:07,719 Speaker 1: who are constantly calling out another story that no one 537 00:29:07,800 --> 00:29:10,600 Speaker 1: knows about. You know, so we have a church that 538 00:29:10,760 --> 00:29:14,840 Speaker 1: was burning. I'm getting text messages and and everybody saying 539 00:29:15,080 --> 00:29:18,160 Speaker 1: the President has got to do something. Washington, DC, literally 540 00:29:18,280 --> 00:29:22,280 Speaker 1: was burning at the Lafayette Park. It was a Sunday night. 541 00:29:23,120 --> 00:29:25,080 Speaker 1: I'm on the phone with the President of the United 542 00:29:25,120 --> 00:29:28,960 Speaker 1: States after midnight, and uh, he says, you know, Mark, 543 00:29:29,000 --> 00:29:31,080 Speaker 1: we've got to get control of it. So what happens 544 00:29:31,200 --> 00:29:35,040 Speaker 1: is is the next morning we put things in motion 545 00:29:35,120 --> 00:29:38,960 Speaker 1: with Attorney General bar and and bring in National Guard 546 00:29:38,960 --> 00:29:42,400 Speaker 1: troops and all of that to actually say that we're 547 00:29:42,440 --> 00:29:45,120 Speaker 1: going to restore law and order. And you know what happened. 548 00:29:45,280 --> 00:29:49,280 Speaker 1: We restored law and order. Right now, it's it's But 549 00:29:49,320 --> 00:29:52,600 Speaker 1: that wasn't the first midnight call. The first midnight call 550 00:29:52,840 --> 00:29:58,040 Speaker 1: was in Minneapolis, where he calls the governor of Minnesota 551 00:29:58,160 --> 00:30:00,760 Speaker 1: and says, Governor, and I was on the phone with 552 00:30:00,800 --> 00:30:04,200 Speaker 1: General Millie with the President. The President calls the governor 553 00:30:04,360 --> 00:30:07,320 Speaker 1: of Minnesota, says, listen, I'm watching in real time. What's 554 00:30:07,360 --> 00:30:11,720 Speaker 1: happening in your cities there in Minnesota. He says, yeah, 555 00:30:11,720 --> 00:30:15,000 Speaker 1: the police have abandoned things. He says, we're gonna send 556 00:30:15,000 --> 00:30:17,480 Speaker 1: the National Guard, will help you. And that was a 557 00:30:17,520 --> 00:30:21,800 Speaker 1: president at almost one am talking to a governor in Minnesota. 558 00:30:21,880 --> 00:30:25,160 Speaker 1: Nobody ever sees that nobody even knows that other than 559 00:30:25,200 --> 00:30:27,280 Speaker 1: the three of us that we're on the phone call right. Well, 560 00:30:27,320 --> 00:30:29,240 Speaker 1: this so we have to get to a couple of 561 00:30:29,240 --> 00:30:31,480 Speaker 1: mail bad questions. Okay, I think the audience will kill 562 00:30:31,560 --> 00:30:35,920 Speaker 1: us if we don't do it. The first question is 563 00:30:36,520 --> 00:30:40,719 Speaker 1: directly about your job, mister Meadows. What is the least 564 00:30:41,160 --> 00:30:44,360 Speaker 1: expected thing that you found about your job when you 565 00:30:44,400 --> 00:30:46,600 Speaker 1: started it? You know, I thought I had it all 566 00:30:46,640 --> 00:30:49,440 Speaker 1: figured out the minute I got here. And it's kind 567 00:30:49,440 --> 00:30:53,920 Speaker 1: of like a minor league player getting called up to 568 00:30:53,960 --> 00:30:58,240 Speaker 1: the big leagues. The pitches are faster, they do brushback pitches. 569 00:30:58,520 --> 00:31:01,040 Speaker 1: I thought I had had everything said and done to 570 00:31:01,120 --> 00:31:03,720 Speaker 1: me in Congress they could have been said or done, 571 00:31:04,160 --> 00:31:07,000 Speaker 1: and that was not the case. And so so I 572 00:31:07,040 --> 00:31:11,000 Speaker 1: think probably the biggest thing was that. The other big 573 00:31:11,040 --> 00:31:15,640 Speaker 1: surprise is how much the president wants to hear from 574 00:31:15,640 --> 00:31:18,479 Speaker 1: the American people. I knew he wanted to hear from 575 00:31:18,520 --> 00:31:21,440 Speaker 1: Ted and I, but he really he keeps saying, well, 576 00:31:21,440 --> 00:31:23,760 Speaker 1: what are the American people saying? What are they wanting? 577 00:31:23,800 --> 00:31:27,920 Speaker 1: And that was the it was really eye opening. Well, 578 00:31:27,920 --> 00:31:30,560 Speaker 1: the next question is for both of you. This question 579 00:31:30,640 --> 00:31:33,440 Speaker 1: came in we're in an election year. If all the 580 00:31:33,480 --> 00:31:35,960 Speaker 1: protests and all the craziness that we've been seeing didn't 581 00:31:35,960 --> 00:31:38,280 Speaker 1: remind us of that we're in an election year. Assuming 582 00:31:38,360 --> 00:31:43,160 Speaker 1: everything goes well, what's priority number one looking ahead into 583 00:31:43,160 --> 00:31:47,080 Speaker 1: twenty twenty twenty one, twenty twenty two, restart the economy 584 00:31:47,080 --> 00:31:50,320 Speaker 1: and bring back jobs. A man, three four months ago, 585 00:31:50,400 --> 00:31:53,920 Speaker 1: we had pluming economic growth. We had the lowest unemployment 586 00:31:54,120 --> 00:31:56,040 Speaker 1: in fifty years. And by the way you want to talk, 587 00:31:56,320 --> 00:31:58,400 Speaker 1: you want to talk racial equality, we had the lowest 588 00:31:58,480 --> 00:32:03,840 Speaker 1: African American unemployment ever recorded. Now, tragically that that that 589 00:32:03,960 --> 00:32:09,000 Speaker 1: got derailed by by a global pandemic from Wuhan, China. 590 00:32:09,120 --> 00:32:12,760 Speaker 1: That that that that that that ended up. We had 591 00:32:12,760 --> 00:32:15,840 Speaker 1: a lockdown across the country and we destroyed forty million jobs. 592 00:32:15,880 --> 00:32:18,840 Speaker 1: And coming out of that is not going to be easy. 593 00:32:18,920 --> 00:32:21,440 Speaker 1: But I'll tell you this, If, if God forbid, we 594 00:32:21,560 --> 00:32:27,160 Speaker 1: go down a socialist road of the far left um 595 00:32:27,280 --> 00:32:31,479 Speaker 1: jacking up taxes, destroying small businesses, that's going to kill jobs. 596 00:32:31,480 --> 00:32:33,120 Speaker 1: And by the way, if they follow through on their 597 00:32:33,120 --> 00:32:36,880 Speaker 1: promise to abolish police departments, a whole lot more people 598 00:32:36,880 --> 00:32:40,600 Speaker 1: are going to die. And and so my top priority, 599 00:32:40,640 --> 00:32:44,280 Speaker 1: and I think yours and the presidents is get get 600 00:32:44,280 --> 00:32:46,800 Speaker 1: this economy, moving back and bring back up. It has 601 00:32:46,840 --> 00:32:49,040 Speaker 1: to be. I mean, that's the number one priority. It's 602 00:32:49,080 --> 00:32:51,360 Speaker 1: also the thing that the president is best at. Right, 603 00:32:51,360 --> 00:32:53,760 Speaker 1: he's already done it, he can do it again, he's 604 00:32:53,800 --> 00:32:56,720 Speaker 1: already starting to do it again. And then along with 605 00:32:56,800 --> 00:32:59,560 Speaker 1: that is preserving freedoms. I think we're getting to a 606 00:32:59,600 --> 00:33:02,800 Speaker 1: place where we see defund the police, we see you know, 607 00:33:03,120 --> 00:33:07,080 Speaker 1: abolish ice. We see what so many on the left 608 00:33:07,200 --> 00:33:10,000 Speaker 1: or wanting to do is basically say we don't want 609 00:33:10,040 --> 00:33:13,360 Speaker 1: any rules, but more importantly, we don't want anybody to 610 00:33:13,440 --> 00:33:17,000 Speaker 1: even enforce the rules that should be enforced. And so 611 00:33:17,040 --> 00:33:19,720 Speaker 1: we need to make sure that we preserve freedom, but 612 00:33:19,880 --> 00:33:22,600 Speaker 1: also understand that we need to uphold the rule of law. 613 00:33:22,640 --> 00:33:25,120 Speaker 1: But certainly the economy is number one, because we are 614 00:33:25,120 --> 00:33:27,480 Speaker 1: a nation of law, not a nation of men. Though 615 00:33:27,480 --> 00:33:30,000 Speaker 1: there are men that need to help us maintain those 616 00:33:30,120 --> 00:33:34,120 Speaker 1: laws and maintain those freedoms, and women and women and women. 617 00:33:34,160 --> 00:33:36,360 Speaker 1: I know, I now we're going to be canceled. We 618 00:33:36,360 --> 00:33:38,720 Speaker 1: are certainly going to be censored for that. But we 619 00:33:38,800 --> 00:33:40,880 Speaker 1: have taken enough of your time, mister Meadows. I'm sure 620 00:33:40,880 --> 00:33:43,280 Speaker 1: you've got another several hours of work to do, so 621 00:33:43,320 --> 00:33:45,320 Speaker 1: thank you so much. Thank you, it's been great to 622 00:33:45,320 --> 00:33:47,120 Speaker 1: be with you and Senator We'll see you on the 623 00:33:47,160 --> 00:33:50,200 Speaker 1: next episode. I'm Michael Knowles. This is Verdict with Ted Cruz. 624 00:34:01,920 --> 00:34:04,880 Speaker 1: This episode of Verdict with Ted Cruz is being brought 625 00:34:04,960 --> 00:34:08,120 Speaker 1: to you by Jobs, Freedom and Security Pack, a political 626 00:34:08,160 --> 00:34:13,120 Speaker 1: action committee dedicated to supporting conservative causes, organizations, and candidates 627 00:34:13,120 --> 00:34:16,400 Speaker 1: across the country. In twenty twenty two, Jobs Freedom and 628 00:34:16,480 --> 00:34:19,960 Speaker 1: Security Pack plans to donate to conservative candidates running for 629 00:34:20,040 --> 00:34:23,360 Speaker 1: Congress and help the Republican Party across the nation.