Fox News "The Ingraham Angle" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Byron Donalds

Interview

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Joining me now to respond to all of this is Florida congressman Byron Donalds. Congressman, why doesn't Pelosi trust the FBI and the DOJ? They are already actively investigating January 6.

REP. BYRON DONALDS (R-FL): Because she wants to play politics and everybody knows it. Listen, the Senate already went through an investigation. They came out with a complete report. The Homeland Security Committee, any oversight committee, which I sit on, by the way, has already had multiple hearings about this. But you know who she won't allow to testify in these hearings?

ARROYO: Who?

DONALDS: The Capitol police. She won't let Capitol police testify. And here's why. Because the FBI has given intel to Capitol police before January 6, talking about threats to the Capitol. On January 3 or January 4, one of those two days, President Trump talked to the head of DoD, Mr. Miller. And Mr. Miller testified in oversight that President Trump authorized National Guard troops, as many as they needed, to secure the capital of Washington D.C.

The day before January 6, January 5th, there was a rally up on Capitol Hill, President Trump called director Miller and told him, did you see the crowd? It's going to be a lot of people out there. Do you have everything you need with the National Guard? I don't know about you. But if you're fomenting an insurrection, why do you make sure that there's enough law enforcement capacity that's going to be in the nation's Capitol on the day, in question?

The reason why Nancy Pelosi has to play politics with this is because she can't let it go. Their agenda sucks. And it's the only thing they have left.

ARROYO: I got to tell you, Congressman. This entire committee seems strange. Given that Pelosi claims to already know the root causes and what was behind the riot on January 6. Listen.

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PELOSI: All of these institutions talking about, well, I hate to even go there. But it's what they had said in terms of white supremacy, anti- semitism, Islamophobia, all these attitudes that have - have, well, contributed to what happened on January 6.

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ARROYO: Congressman, do you believe those people wandering around the Capitol, many of them taking selfies in the rotunda, were they all driven by Islamophobia, white supremacy, anti-semitism? Is that what drove them there?

DONALDS: Listen, here's what we need to figure out about what drove them there. Let the Department of Justice and FBI finish the investigation. They're in the process of doing that. All Congress would do right now is play politics, which is the last thing that we should be doing with this Select Committee.

If Homeland Security and Oversight want to continue holding hearings, we're the relevant committees, let's do that. But Nancy Pelosi understands one thing. They have to keep Donald Trump front and center because they've gotten so accustomed to attacking him all the time that now they don't have to - they don't have anybody to do that with and their agenda is exposed. They can't get anything through the house. Their ideas are bad. The American people know it. And so they have to constantly go back to January 6. It's the only thing they have left to do.

ARROYO: Very quickly. I've got seconds. Liz Cheney's appointment to that committee, totally politically motivated. Your take on this. What are your confreres in the Republican Congress saying?

DONALDS: Absolutely. It's all politics all the time. But what can you expect from Nancy Pelosi. She runs the place with an iron fist.

ARROYO: Congressman, thank you so much.

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