Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) hurt every member of Congress with his orgy and drugs allegations, Rep. Debbie Lesko (R-AZ) said on the Todd Starnes Radio Show.
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The following is a rush transcript from The Todd Starnes Radio Show. Listen to the program live Monday – Friday from 12 p.m. until 3 p.m. Click here to listen to the full interview
TODD STARNES: [00:42:09] But right now on the Patriot Mobile Newsmaker Line. Honored to have with us our great friend from Arizona, Congresswoman Debbie Lesko. Congresswoman, good to have you with us today. [00:42:18][8.4]
DEBBIE LESKO: [00:42:19] Hello, it’s great to be with you. [00:42:20][1.6]
TODD: [00:42:21] You know, I’m curious. A lot of Republicans have been very upset over Madison Cawthorn and what he said. Did you have a problem with what he said? [00:42:29][8.2]
DEBBIE: [00:42:31] Well, I was curious who the heck he was talking about, because I haven’t seen any of that stuff going on, and I guess I’m, you know, just naive or something. I was like, I want to know who he’s talking about. I was curious who these people were. [00:42:45][13.3]
TODD: [00:42:45] Yeah, that’s what got me. But anyway, I hope he’s learned his lesson here, and I think Kevin McCarthy did him a favor by bringing him to the proverbial woodshed. [00:42:57][11.7]
DEBBIE: [00:42:59] Yeah. Well, you know, Madison is young, and sometimes people say things that I would hope he regrets, but certainly talking like that, that he’s witnessed that and then it not being true is not good. [00:43:16][16.9]
TODD: [00:43:17] No. [00:43:17][0.0]
DEBBIE: [00:43:17] And it hurts the reputation of not only Republicans in Congress, but, quite frankly, all members of Congress. [00:43:24][6.5]
TODD: [00:43:25] And you know I just don’t like using the young excuse. He’s 26 years old. Most people are married and have already started their families by then. So I just think there’s something else going on there. But anyway, that is a we’ll see how that story plays out. But we wanted you to come on the program today to talk about this situation at the border. And this is nuts. Congresswoman, we saw a report in the Hill that if the numbers are true, that our Border Patrol agents are dealing with about a half a million illegals every month now. This is very disturbing information coming out. [00:44:01][35.5]
DEBBIE: [00:44:02] Oh yeah. And this has been going on ever since Biden has become president. As you know, on day one, day one, he did an executive order stopping the building of the fence. We already paid for the materials for the border wall. It’s just laying there at the border next to the border wall. And he stopped it on day one. So that signaled to all the cartels, all the illegal immigrants from all over the world “come on in.” And then he reversed almost all of the Trump policies that actually had reduced the number of illegals coming over, like the Remain in Mexico policy, where the people that were coming over to claim asylum in and saying, Oh, I have to come in because it’s so dangerous where I was, they would have to stay in Mexico or another friendly country and before their immigration court hearing came up. Well, now it’s gone back to the same old plard where they come in and they’re just shuffled all over the United States at taxpayer dollar expense. And even though the court has ordered Biden not to get rid of that policy, I’ve talked to Border Patrol officers and elected officials that are on the Arizona southern border. And they said he is only very minimally enforcing that and sending back just a few people into Mexico, hardly any. And so he’s absolutely rejecting even what the court order said, let alone not enforcing our federal laws. [00:45:38][96.8]
TODD: [00:45:39] So yesterday we had Senator Bill Hagerty on the show. He is leading a delegation of Tennessee mayors and sheriffs down to the border. He’s been very vocal about Title 42. And according to the New York Post, since Title 42 had been put into place, more than 1.7 million illegals were prevented from coming into the country. It’s just shocking. We’re talking about city sized numbers here. I mean, Memphis, Tennessee, where we broadcast from Congresswoman 1.4 million people, you’re looking at city sized numbers of people coming across that border. [00:46:14][34.4]
DEBBIE: [00:46:15] Yeah, you’re absolutely right. And Biden, the reports that Biden might get rid of using Title 42, which can expel illegal immigrants, usually single adults, back to certain countries, including Mexico, he’s thinking of lifting that. So then I’ve talked to Border Patrol agents, they said. It’s so bad now that it will be totally uncontrollable. If Biden lifts that, and it’s no surprise, I mean, the hypocrisy of some of my Democratic colleagues just floors me, I shouldn’t be surprised. But I get surprised. And so all along, Republicans have been saying, don’t get rid of Title 42. Trump put it in place. It was able to reject or expel illegal immigrants on the basis of COVID right or another communicable disease. And so we have done resolutions since Biden has been in office. I introduced a resolution back in August of last year saying we need to keep Title 42. I sent a letter to Biden to keep Title 42 in July of 2021 last year. I’ve signed on to a bill with Yvette Herrell saying that we need to keep Title 42, and in fact, she has 209 signatures on that bill, if she gets another nine signatures, they have to hear the bill. And yet all of a sudden in an election year when they see the polling, the Democrats are now for border security. So you have U.S. Senator Mark Kelly, a Democrat from Arizona. He’s up for election this year, and geez- it’s an election year. He sees the polling. He knows that border security is the number one issue. And so all of a sudden he comes out and says to Biden, You know, we can’t get rid of Title 42. And that gets all the media attention in Arizona. It’s just like the media is like an arm of the Democrat Party. Let’s give them free publicity right before an election. Drives me nuts [00:48:27][131.8]
TODD: [00:48:28] On the Patriot Mobile Newsmaker Line, our good friend, Congresswoman Debbie Lesko. We heard from Brandon Judd from the Border Patrol agents and he says, Look, if Title 42 is lifted, the country is going to be in grave danger. What is he talking about there? What kind of danger are we talking about? [00:48:44][16.3]
DEBBIE: [00:48:45] There’s all kinds of danger. They’ve already apprehended people at the border that were on the terrorist watch list. I’ve talked to the Border Patrol and the people on the ground, elected officials, they’re coming. These people are coming in from all different countries. They’re coming in from Romania, Iran, Saudi Arabia. It’s not just, you know, people from Mexico or Central America coming in. They’re coming in from everywhere. And we don’t know who these people are. And then our government, Biden puts these people on planes and they get through TSA. Some of them by using their arrest records, which they could give whatever name they want. I could say, Hey, I’m Jane Doe and then put that on the arrest record. And that’s what Jane Doe uses to get through TSA to get on our planes with taxpayer dollars. Absolute insanity. And I’m telling you, this is the number one issue in Arizona. It’s going to be a key issue in the U.S. Senate race. It’s going to be a key issue in the Arizona governor race and every other issue raised in Arizona. [00:49:55][69.9]
TODD: [00:49:56] All right, Congresswoman, we’re going to leave it there. Appreciate the update. I mean, again, there are so many things going on in the country right now. It’s just, you know, it’s hard to juggle all of these major stories that could fill up, you know, more than three hours of radio time. [00:50:10][13.8]
DEBBIE: [00:50:12] You’re right, it’s one crisis after another. In Arizona, we have the highest inflation rate in the country. The highest inflation rate in the country is right in the Phoenix metropolitan area. That’s bad news for the Democrats in our state. [00:50:25][13.4]
TODD: [00:50:26] Big time. All right. Congresswoman Debbie Lesko, always good hearing from you. [00:50:31][4.9]
DEBBIE: [00:50:32] Thank you so much. [00:50:32][0.8]