Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX) joined the “Todd Starnes Show” and called on Congress to defund the FBI after a whistleblower report revealed the law enforcement agency is spying on the Catholic Church.
“I think this is one of the most concerning things happening in our country right now. This is a full on Soviet era type stuff where you have institutions like the DOJ, the FBI, IRS coming after political enemies, political adversaries. And that’s exactly what you’ve got going on here. You know, this is just another example of the weaponization of the federal government against people that don’t agree with the Biden administration,” Jackson told Starnes.
The congressman said the only way to ensure accountability is to pull taxpayer cash from the Justice Dept.
“I don’t want to give them more capability and more people right now so that they can come after our very constitutional freedoms,” he said.
The following is a rush transcript from the Todd Starnes Show which airs daily from noon to 3:00 p.m. EST.
TODD STARNES: [01:26:59] Congressman Ronny Jackson on the Patriot Mobile Newsmaker Line representing the 13th Congressional District in Texas. Congressman, how are you today? [01:27:07][7.9]
REP. RONNY JACKSON (R-TX): [01:27:08] Hey, I’m doing great, man. Thanks for having me. [01:27:10][1.7]
STARNES: [01:27:10] You know, before we jump into this Uber driver, this crazy story out of Texas, I want to get your reaction to this leak from the FBI where they’ve apparently been infiltrating Catholic churches, this war on religious liberty that’s being waged by the Biden administration. How concerned are you about this? [01:27:30][19.7]
JACKSON: [01:27:31] Well, I think this is one of the most concerning things happening in our country right now. This is a full on Soviet era type stuff where you have institutions like the DOJ, the FBI, IRS coming after political enemies, political adversaries. And that’s exactly what you’ve got going on here. You know, this is just another example of the weaponization of the federal government against people that don’t agree with the Biden administration, with the far left in this country. And, you know, it’s just it’s been going on and on. And the disturbing part, Todd, is that they’re to the point now where they don’t even really care if you know, that they’re weaponizing the government against you. They’re not even trying to hide it anymore, you know. And so the fact that they’re coming after Christians now, coming after Christian faith is just, you know, pile that on to the fact that they’re coming after teachers and conservatives of all types. I mean, this is really bad for our country. And if we don’t stop this, if we don’t figure out how to stop this right now, our country will be lost. I mean, this is very fundamental to who we are and an attack on who we are. [01:28:35][63.9]
STARNES: [01:28:36] This is the gravest of scandals that we know of in this administration, because this really goes to the heart of who we are as an American people, Congressman. And, you know, our first freedom, freedom of religion. If they can destroy that, then every single other one of our freedoms will be at risk. [01:28:57][21.0]
JACKSON: [01:28:58] Absolutely. And, you know, they would love to do that. If you think about it, they’re basically saying that if you’re a Christian, there’s a high probability that you’re a domestic terrorist. And so they’re going to equate those two and they’re going to use the fact that you’re a Christian to come after you. And they want to stop with the FBI trying to put informants into churches and trying to get people in churches to spy on each other and report back to the FBI so that they could potentially arrest people, you know, that don’t agree with them politically. They’re going to do this. You know, they have these 87,000 new IRS agents. If you don’t think that that’s part of their plan, you’re crazy because they’re going to take these IRS agents and they’re going to try to come after people, you know, based on their religion and their political beliefs and whether they’re conservative or liberal in the way that they think. So, yeah, this is a horrible thing for our country. And I just you know, we are going to do everything we can. So one thing I’ll tell you right off the bat, I’m sick of like you have Chuck Schumer and these idiots in the Senate on the left, and some in the House and other left wing politicians coming out and saying, “oh, my gosh, you know, the Republicans want to defund the police.” We don’t want to defund the police. The Republicans want to give money to police forces into communities all over this country, to build up the police, and to reestablish law and order in this country. But we are not going to give taxpayer money to an organization like the FBI that’s doing unconstitutional things like coming after people based on their religious activities. I’m all for taking the purse strings and shutting down a large part of what the FBI does, to really go in there. And we need to look at all the special projects that have going on. They need a lot more oversight. They have gone rogue. [01:30:36][97.6]
STARNES: [01:30:37] I’m with you on this, Congressman. And that’s the only way to, I mean, we’ve got to stop it right now. Stop it dead in its tracks and Chris Wray is going to testify, or at least he’s been called to testify before House Judiciary. But we got to stop this nonsense. And if they’re coming after the churches, then I say pull the purse strings right now. [01:30:54][17.2]
JACKSON: [01:30:55] That’s what I say too. We can stop that. We can shut that money down. You know, there’s millions and millions of dollars that are being appropriated right now to build a brand new FBI headquarters. I don’t want to build these people a brand new FBI headquarters. I don’t want to give them more capability and more people right now so that they can come after our very constitutional freedoms. So they’re going to have to prove to us that they’re reforming this organization and that they’re cleaning it up. And they better hold some people accountable, too. That’s what I’m really disgusted with being in Congress over the last two years. Nobody gets held accountable for anything. Nothing. All this stuff happens. It gets brushed under the rug, they move on, and all these people either keep their jobs or they get reassigned to other jobs and we find out they’re causing problems in their new assignment. We have got to have some accountability in this country. [01:31:37][41.7]
STARNES: [01:31:38] All right, Congressman. And meanwhile, in Austin, Texas, this crazy story about the Uber driver who is now facing jail time because he dared to defend himself against a Black Lives Matter mob. [01:31:52][13.9]
JACKSON: [01:31:54] Yeah. I mean, this is a disturbing story as well, right? Because you think, well, you’re in Texas, things are much different in Texas than they are in California and New York and New Jersey and places like that. Because, you know, we have you know, we have the constitutional right to defend ourselves and carry guns and so on and so forth. But does it really matter if you have a rogue D.A. like the one in Dallas, a district attorney, like the one in Dallas, that can basically just throw all that out the window. It doesn’t. They might as well live in New York City. And, you know, if they’re going to live in Austin right now based on, you know, the fact that they have this Soros-funded and appointed, basically appointed funded D.A. that’s calling all the shots there. So we got to clean it up. You know, and I know that Governor Abbott, you know, wants to do something. He wants to pardon this guy, but we have to fix this where he doesn’t have to go through the pardons board. He can do this on his own. So the legislature, the Texas legislature needs to get it together and they need to come up with some real solutions here to stop this. They need to hold these District Attorneys accountable. They’re not doing their job, not enforcing the law and not protecting people from all the rampant stuff that’s going on in Austin with carjackings and and rapes and murders and everything else that this guy does not want to prosecute, then they need to get rid of this guy. There needs to be a process in place for them to get rid of him. And they definitely need to reform the law such that, you know, the governor doesn’t have to jump through hoops like this. [01:33:16][81.6]
STARNES: [01:33:18] Well said. All right. Well, Congressman, we’re going to leave it there. We’re running late on time here, but we appreciate the great work you’re doing. And I stand alongside of you defund the FBI and the Justice Department. [01:33:30][12.1]
JACKSON: [01:33:31] Yes, sir. All right. I appreciate you having me. [01:33:33][2.3]
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