Fox News "Hannity" - Transcript: Interview with Reps. Matt Gaetz and Ron DeSantis
Interview
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
PIRRO: Thank you both. OK. I'm going to hold you to it.
Joining us now with more reaction, our Florida Republican Congressmen Ron DeSantis and Matt Gaetz. All right. Good evening, gentlemen or congressman. I'll start with you, Ron DeSantis.
All right. So you are running for governor in Florida. All kinds of great things are being -- are happening with economy and Donald Trump. So when you run in Florida, do people in Florida care about?
REP. RON DESANTIS, R-FLORIDA: Absolutely, judge. I mean, we had a good run here in Florida during Rick Scott's tenure, and now with the president is doing, particularly the tax reform. Because, and Jeanine, you probably this. You will know this when you file your taxes in New York by getting rid of the deductions for the high tax states.
That is going to influence a lot of people to pick up and come to Florida. Particularly if you're in industries like financial services where you can be here.
So I think we are primed to really capitalize off of a lot of the good things the presidents has done. I mean, I think Florida has probably never been in a better position as long as we keep good solid low tax fiscally responsible policies.
PIRRO: All right. Congressman Matt Gaetz, you're from Florida also. You just heard Austin Goolsbee talk about the economy. As though, it's not going to -- you know, don't believe your lying eyes. You kind of like Peter Strzok when he testified before you guys in Congress. Don't believe your lying eyes.
What do you say to the Democrats and how is that going to affect the 2018 election? Do you think the Americans are going to believe them?
REP. MATT GAETZ, R-FLORIDA: Well, they should. If the Democrats take over congress the head of the financial services committee will be Maxine Waters. And letting Maxine Waters anywhere near the economy is about as dumb as putting Hillary Clinton in charge of your I.T. department at your small business.
Look, right now we've GDP growth that's doubling. We've got the fastest wage growth in 10 years. We've got home values that are rising at twice that rate and we have had the longest consecutive streak of job growth in American history. Just saying it, judge, it makes me -- it's so exhausting it almost makes me tired of winning.
PIRRO: All right. And Congressman DeSantis, you know, one of the things the president was talking yesterday or last night in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, he talked about the fact that he got NATO to step up and, you know, he said to Melania as he related to the crowd, you know, he said, Melania, he said tomorrow morning, $200 billion, they're going to love it.
And you know, they responded with, you know, he was rude to our NATO allies. In the end, this midterm election, which way is it going?
DESANTIS: Well look, judge, I think it should go Republicans way. I mean, you know, historically there is a reaction against the party in power, but I think the combination of a strong economy and the fact that the Democratic Party doesn't have any ideas, most of their grassroots seem to be gravitating toward socialism, like you see with the Ocasio-Cortez in New York, that's not a winning strategy for places like Florida and other swing states.
So, as long as we stay on message, as long as we keep articulating an agenda, there're going to be a positive contrast for us with the Democratic Party that's exhausted of ideas.
PIRRO: All right. And Matt, what about socialism and, you know, America was stunned with the woman here, Ocasio-Cortez, a socialist supporting -- and I'm not sure she is willing to fully admit that, but supported by the Democrats' socialist association.
Where -- are the Democrats upset with that sector of the party? Because if you are not as left as they are, then chances are, I would think that a lot of the more moderate Democrats would either not come out or a vote differently. I'm not sure how to look at that.
GAETZ: Well, Jeanine, the dynamic you just described is precisely why there are so many Democrats in the rust belt who are part of Donald Trump's winning coalition.
We welcome Democrats who want more prosperity. If you want Nancy Pelosi and Maxine Waters in charge, if you want them to rob America of the successes we've enjoyed during Donald Trump's tenure, then I guess, vote Democrat.
But in Florida we share like freedom that's probably why we're going to elect Ron DeSantis, our next governor, and we want to make sure in our state that we're poised to take advantage of this roaring economy that we've created with the lower taxes, deregulation.
And really trusting the American people to drive their own prosperity so that we're not dependent on government for multiple generations. We become excited and really engineered for success in the long term.
PIRRO: OK. Congressman DeSantis, last question. Tom Fitton was just on, they now have evidence that Christopher Steele got paid 11 times in cash by the FBI. What say you?
DESANTIS: Well, look, we suspected he had been paid. They didn't give us straight answers. Then we figured out he definitely was paid and now this, so I think it further undermines the credibility of the explanations we've been giving.
And it shows they knew or should have known that Steele was working on behalf of the Democratic Party, and to pay him like that and then funnel it through from Bruce Ohr, that's a big problem with how this whole thing was done.
PIRRO: Yes. But you know what, it's about time that Rod Rosenstein and his gang and the rest of them are made accountable, but who knows if that will ever happen.
Thank you, congressmen. And coming up, the midterm election is less than 100 days away. Are Democrats going too far to the left to secure votes? Doug Schoen and Deneen Borelli are next. And remember, you can get a copy of my new book, "Liars, Leakers and Liberals," wherever books are sold. We'll be right back.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source