Fox News "Sunday Morning Futures" - Transcript: Interview with Jim Jordan
Interview
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BARTIROMO: Joining me right now is Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan.
He is the ranking member on the House Judiciary Committee, which has jurisdiction over the border.
Congressman, it's good to see you this morning. Thanks very much.
REP. JIM JORDAN (R-OH): You bet. Good to be with you.
BARTIROMO: You just heard the flip-flop from Mayorkas moments ago.
JORDAN: Yes.
BARTIROMO: I'm going to ask you about the border in a moment.
But, first, give us your assessment of Afghanistan, which is falling apart this morning.
JORDAN: Yes.
BARTIROMO: The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the Taliban has now entered Kabul, home to six million Afghan people. Your reaction?
JORDAN: Well, I think the first thing is, why is Joe Biden on vacation?
I don't think he's taken one question from the press this entire weekend. So, this is a frightening situation. It's an embarrassing situation for the United States. But I think, frankly, it's not surprising.
I mean, Maria, tell me what this administration has done right in their first eight months on the job. We got inflation like crazy. We got a crisis on the border, which we're going to talk about. We now have this unbelievable mess in foreign policy. We have an economy that's not where it needs to be and crime surging in every major urban area.
We had 12 murders in Chicago two weekends ago. So tell me what they have done right. This is -- as I said, it's embarrassing. It's frightening. It's -- we have never seen anything this -- this crazy in foreign policy probably since back in Vietnam, when we had to get people out at the last minute as well.
So let's hope we can, we can protect American lives. But this would not happen, this would not happen if President Trump was in the White House. We know that. We would not be treated the way we are from our from our adversaries. We would not have what took place up in Anchorage, Alaska, a few months ago, where Secretary Blinken was treated the way he was by his Chinese counterpart.
That just would not happen when you project strength and confidence from the White House. But, unfortunately, we don't have that today.
BARTIROMO: Yes, and the Taliban actually released a statement saying that they would not take Kabul by force. The insurgent group added it had ordered its fighters to wait and not attack the Afghan capital, and that it was in talks with the other side to discuss entering the city without harming the residents.
Of course, the president of Afghanistan has now fled.
JORDAN: Yes.
BARTIROMO: He is gone and left the country.
The border is another problem. I spoke with a border source yesterday, and he said they are apprehending people from the Middle East. I'm wondering if this is going to be another option for people who want to do the U.S. home -- harm, rather, coming through the open border.
What is your assessment of where we are now at the Southern border, which I'm told has destabilized all borders, including the northern border and the coastal borders as well of this country?
JORDAN: No, of course, it's a -- of course, it's a concern.
I mean, terrorists are -- could get into our company (sic). We know the drug cartels now have basically control, and they're sending people through the border. Of course, fentanyl, and drugs are coming through, causing all kinds of harm in our communities.
We now have what Secretary Clinton said five years ago. We have a borderless hemisphere. And I believe it's intentional, because you cannot look at these numbers and look at what's happening and not conclude that it's actually an deliberate act by the Biden administration.
Remember, Maria, March was the highest month on record for illegal crossings until April came. And then April was the highest month until May. And then May was the highest month until June. And then June was the highest month until July.
This just keeps increasing. So, it is truly a deliberate action, a borderless hemisphere, as the Democrats said. And it brings with it all the problems of drugs, not to mention the threat from terrorists now again.
When you have a weak administration, bad guys will exploit that.
BARTIROMO: Yes, we're looking at the border encounters right now at 212,000 for the month of July. It's gone up every month.
Let's look at the drug seizures, because I just have this breaking news that CBP agents in San Diego discovered 2.8 tons of meth and fentanyl powder, the largest drug smuggling seizure along the border to date. This is an incredible number.
And, of course, we have had 93,000 overdoses in America because our people, our young people are taking drugs, common drugs like Xanax, but those Xanax pills were laced with fentanyl, unbeknownst to them.
JORDAN: Yes.
BARTIROMO: There was also toxic cocaine that led to eight overdoses just in this neighborhood where I am right now, the North Fork and Shelter island in the last eight days.
Who -- I mean, what is the justification for pushing fentanyl into this country? This is just to kill. I mean, what is fentanyl used for, other than to kill? And I know that the underlying chemicals are made in China. So you have got the Chinese criminal cartels working with the Mexican criminal cartels to kill Americans by getting this drug into this country.
JORDAN: Yes. Yes, I mean, this is Joe Biden's America, terrorists being more aggressive. The Taliban control Afghanistan. The cartels control the border. And China keeps being as aggressive as they can. That is the world we live in today, again, because you don't have any kind of confidence, I think, projected from the Oval Office.
So, look, it's no accident or no question of what needs to happen. You got to go back to the policies that work. You got to build a wall. You got to have the remain-in-Mexico policy. And you need to -- imagine this, Maria -- enforce the law.
People who are supposed to be detained according to our law, detain them. People who are supposed to be sent back according to our law, send them back. You have to enforce the law.
But they're not doing it. This administration is not doing it on our border. And that's why, month after month after month, we see the numbers coming across. This is not rocket science. You just have to enforce the law and go back to the policies that worked in the Trump administration.
But the Biden administration refuses to do those simple things.
BARTIROMO: They're not following the law in any of their policy, and not just the border.
But this eviction moratorium extended, allowing people to live in their homes for free, that is also breaking the law. The Supreme Court had already a ruling saying Congress needs to act in order to have that.
JORDAN: Yes. Great point.
BARTIROMO: But what do you make of this federal judge on Friday ordering the Biden administration to resume the remain-in-Mexico policy? Will we see that resume?
JORDAN: God bless him.
Let's hope. Let's hope so. But, again, the way they exploit the law, don't follow the law, the way they just thumb their nose at the Constitution, as you mentioned, on the eviction notice, again, this is not just coming because I'm a Republican, but tell me what they have done right.
I mean, look at their economic policy, Maria. Their economic policy is basically lock down the economy, spend like crazy, pay people not to work. The same people you're paying not to work, tell them they don't have to pay their rent. And, oh, by the way, for people who do work and do pay the rent, they're getting ready to raise your taxes.
Now, that's the dumbest economic plan you could come up with. But that's their plan. So they do everything wrong. It's all -- I mean, I don't get it. I think -- so, I think a lot of Americans don't get it.
And, frankly, maybe, just maybe there's a few Democrats who've now figured out -- the nine Democrats who signed the letter to Pelosi and said, we don't want to vote on this crazy spending, and we just want this 1.2 so- called infrastructure, we don't want to vote on the other $5 trillion they want to spend, maybe there's some rational thought coming back to some Democrats, and we can stop some of the craziness that's been going on by the Democrats in Washington.
BARTIROMO: So let's talk about that, because Nancy Pelosi is telling you and your colleagues that you need to come back from recess early. You have got to come back on August 23 to vote on this spending.
It's outrageous to so many that your colleagues in the Senate in the Republican Party agreed to spend $1.25 trillion on a Green New Deal, as well as open the door to massive spending, $5.5 trillion, where our taxes are going to go higher, and there's not one acknowledgement of these wide open borders, not one acknowledgement that defense -- our defenses are not ready in terms of readiness.
There's no new money for the defense budget, Congressman.
JORDAN: Yes.
BARTIROMO: And your colleagues are agreeing to spend money on a Green New Deal.
JORDAN: Yes, they don't want to -- they don't want to address the real issues, the real crises that are happening in our country right now. They just want to keep spending and keep moving things too in this socialist fashion.
Look, I don't know why the Republican senators went along with it. I wish they hadn't. Let's hope we can slow it down and stop it. I do think it's important that your viewers understand just how massive this is. We normally spend $4 trillion.
And we were already piling up debt just with the normal spending of $4 trillion. But Democrats have already spent 1.9. They're looking to spend the 1.2 and the 3.5 on top of that. So that's $6 trillion more than we normally spend.
I mean, I don't know that that's ever happened in American -- you can maybe go back to World War II, maybe percentage-wise, when we were fighting the two evil powers that we were fighting then. Maybe we spent like that, but it's never happened in American history, never happened in human history.
BARTIROMO: Yes.
JORDAN: And they just want to keep doing it.
Again, I hope. I hope there are a handful of Democrats, at least these nine who signed this letter to the speaker. I hope they're willing to say, wait a minute.
I think the reason they're now finally figuring out what you and I know and what the American people know is, they know an election is coming up next fall. And if they keep doing this, they know they're going to get their tails kicked. So I think that's part of it.
But let's hope -- let's hope we can hold the line on some of this craziness.
BARTIROMO: Well, let's end on this FOX News poll showing that the majority of registered Democrats now prefer socialism over capitalism, OK?
This is a FOX News poll. And it says that Democrats are favoring socialism over capitalism. This is just extraordinary in terms of this late -- latest FOX News poll.
JORDAN: Yes.
BARTIROMO: Make sure you look at this and want to make a comment as we go on what voters need to understand as they vote in 2022 in the midterms.
JORDAN: Yes.
Well, the majority of Americans don't buy into that socialism. They believe in the values that made our country great. Here's the key thing. Right now, the Democrat Party, as you point out, the left controls that party. And you now have a major political party in this country, the Democrats, who don't like America. They think we're bad. They think we're terrible.
The Republican Party understands we're the greatest nation in history, not perfect, but the greatest nation in history. And there are certain values and principles that need to be defended. That's the contrast today. That's what's going to be on the ballot in -- next November.
BARTIROMO: OK.
JORDAN: And I think it's why the Republican Party is going to win big.
BARTIROMO: All right.
Congressman, it's good to see you. Thanks very much.
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