Senator Tom Cotton joined me today to discuss President Trump’s Second Inaugural Address and the Biden Family pardons: The post Senator Tom Cotton On President Trump’s Second Inaugural Address and the Biden FamilyPardons appeared first on The Hugh Hewitt Show.
Senator Tom Cotton joined me today to discuss President Trump’s Second Inaugural Address and the Biden Family pardons:
Audio:
Transcript:
HH: Joined by Senator Tom Cotton, who is the conference chair of the Republican Conference in the United States Senate, and the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and in the front row of today’s second inaugural of Donald Trump. Senator Cotton, thank you for making a couple minutes. And I want to ask you about the President’s speech and the former president’s pardons. First, what did you make of the speech?
TC: Well, Hugh, thank you. It’s great to be back on with you. It’s good to have Donald Trump back in the White House. It was a fantastic ceremony. My only regret is that due to the weather, we couldn’t have it outside, to have hundreds of thousands of Arkansans and others from across the country to join in what was a wonderful occasion. I thought President Trump’s speech was outstanding. I think you might call it the new golden age of America speech, because it is focused entirely on bringing America back to safety, prosperity, and freedom, reversing the damage done by four disastrous years under Joe Biden. I’ve got to say, it’s a testimony that God looks out for the United States that we were able to survive these last four years of Joe Biden in the White House without more calamity than what we saw. But I’m very excited to get to work. We’re getting ready here in the Senate not just to pass the Laken Riley bill that will give our immigration authorities more power to detain criminal aliens, but I hope to confirm Senator Rubio as Secretary of State and John Ratcliffe as the CIA director.
HH: I hope you do, too. My favorite part of the speech, Senator Cotton, is when he said we will forge a society that is colorblind and merit-based. Do you think that is easier said than done, or that we can get that done with a division of civil rights and an Attorney General Bondi oversees?
TC: Well, President Trump is dedicated to it, and I know Pam Bondi will as well. I’m sure they’ll have an outstanding team around them, and that’s what the American people want as well. From my travels in the campaign travel, and my work across Arkansas and looking at public opinion polls, they don’t want the left-wing ideology that has been foisted upon them for the last four years. They want a country that rewards merit and excellence and hard work, and does not see people for the color of their skin, or what sex they are, or where they’re from, or what their upbringing was like, but rather who they are. And on this Martin Luther King day, I think it’s particularly special or appropriate that we remember that aspiration that almost all Americans share.
HH: Now Senator Cotton, you are chair of the Intel Committee. And I’m asking you this with that in mind. The pardons by former President Biden this morning shocked me. I expected James Biden to be pardoned because of what I suspect are Foreign Agent Registration Act violations. I did not expect four other family members to get the pardon. What did you think of those pardons?
TC: Well, Hugh, the pardons to virtually everyone in Joe Biden’s family, when you combine with the pardon of Hunter Biden last month, I think simply confirm what so many on the right have said for more than five years now when referring to the Biden crime family. If Hunter Biden did nothing wrong, but especially siblings of Joe Biden and their spouses, who most American have never heard of have done nothing wrong, why on Earth did Joe Biden feel the need to give them a pardon literally as he was sitting at Donald Trump’s inauguration? All it does is confirm what so many have said about the Biden family for years, that from the beginning they’ve traded on his office, and his influence, and his name.
HH: Now Senator Cotton, I’ve been assuring the audience that if the Foreign Agents Registration Act was violated by any of these people and they have not registered as of 12:01 today, they’re guilty again of violating FARA. Am I correct?
TC: That’s possible, Hugh. I’d have to look at the law and the facts. I will say this, as I said of the Hunter Biden pardon last month. Joe Biden may have hoisted himself and the Biden crime family on his own petard, because a pardon absolves him of other liability, and therefore, they have no excuse not to testify in front of a Congressional committee. So Congress can figure out exactly what it was that Joe Biden thought he needed a pardon virtually his entire family for.
HH: Now I would like those hearings to go on in the Intel Committee under secrecy so that we do not know if there has been a compromise, what the compromise is. Will you be conducting those hearings? Or will Judiciary?
TC: Hugh, I think in most cases, it would probably be Judiciary. Or in the House, I think they’ve set up a select committee for some of these matters on the weaponization of government against the Biden administration’s political foes, and also on the January 6th Committee itself. So I expect those would likely be the forums. Of course, if there is any matter within the committee’s jurisdiction in which I believe wrongdoing has occurred and needs to be investigated and presented to the American people, then I will move forward on that path. But I believe it would be Judiciary and those House special committees.
HH: Senator Tom Cotton, thank you. Enjoy the rest of the day as I’m sure every independent, Republican, and many Democrats will be because of the restoration of the idea of a colorblind, merit-based society. I’m coming right back.
End of interview.
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