October 6, 2025 • 37 mins
Tune in here to this Monday's edition of Breaking With Brett Jensen!
Breaking Brett Jensen kicks the show off In studio with Congressman Mark Harris reflecting on the two-year anniversary of the October 7th Hamas attack on Israel and the lasting impact it still has across the region and here at home. He reflects on how quickly time has passed since that day and how the conflict remains unresolved, with hostages still held and tensions ongoing.
Later in the program, Brett Jensen continues his in-depth conversation with Congressman Mark Harris, turning attention to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and what Americans can do to help. Congressman Harris outlines four key takeaways from his recent visit to Israel: stop echoing Hamas talking points, stop assuming Hamas behaves like a Western democracy, stop blaming Israel for the October 7th attacks, and support the Gaza Humanitarian Fund Initiative.He highlights the effectiveness of trusted aid groups like Samaritan’s Purse, contrasting them with UN efforts that often result in aid being stolen or misused. Harris also shares an emotional moment from his trip—a yellow ribbon given to him by the brother of a current hostage—and urges listeners of faith to pray for those still being held
Listen here for all of this and more on Breaking With Brett Jensen.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Hi, Oh, Let's go oh, Let's go oh, Let's go oh,
Let's go.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
News Talk eleven ten and ninety nine three WBT Brett
Jenson here with you on the special edition on this
Monday Night of Breaking with Brett Jenson as we go
up until seven o'clock tonight. Seven oh four or five
seven oh is the telephone number as always, but that
is also the WBT text line, which of course is
driven by Liberty Buick GNC. And I say this all
(00:53):
the time. You should be following me on X at
Brett Underscore Jensen to get all the letters to breaking
news in and around the Charlotte area. If you follow
me on X then you would know well in advance
who my special guest is in studio tonight for the
full hour, and that of course is Congressman Mark Harris,
who represents District eight Matthews Midhill, parts of Caparis County,
(01:14):
all of Union County going east Anson County, parts of
Stanley County as well. Man what other counties am I missing? There?
Speaker 1 (01:21):
Congo go all the way down the spine of seventy four,
Like you said, Mecklenburg's where we start, and you know
to Union, Anson Richmond, Scotland, and then Robinson County all
the way down to ninety five.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
That's kind of where the line is.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Oh okay, all right, yes, So there's a lot that
we're going to get into tonight. And I actually had
this conversation with someone while driving here to the studio tonight,
and it wasn't that long ago. It was twenty three
months ago, twenty three and a half, yeah, twenty three
twenty two months ago that we had protesters pro Palestinian
(02:01):
and Hummas protesters outside protesting our station, specifically me and
Brett Warnable, and there were about about one hundred or
so that showed up. And at the words that came
out of my mouth tonight were I can't believe it's
been two years since October seventh. It doesn't seem like that.
(02:22):
It actually seems like this should be the one year anniversary.
But it's been two years and there's still hostages and
it's it hasn't resolved itself. The fact that you were
just in Israel not long ago and got special tours
and special information and everything, and I know we talked
(02:43):
about it at the time, but I want to really
go in depth about it tonight. Because we've got a
full hour, And I just want to know, when you
knew that you were going over there with other representatives
from the United States, what did you think you were
going to see? What were the expectations that you were
having about Israel when you got there.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
I bet that's a great question. And first of all,
let me just say thank you for letting me be
with you tonight. It's always an honor to talk with you,
and being in studio tonight's an extra bonus, and I'm
very grateful to have the opportunity to talk. When I
was invited to be a part of this trip back
in August, it was actually a trip that they invited
(03:23):
the freshman congressman from the US House of Representatives, Republicans
and Democrats were invited to be a part of this
trip with Apak. We traveled over to Israel as part
of the education program so that we could see just
what was going on. I had had the privilege of
taking a trip similar to this back in twenty fifteen
(03:45):
when I was a pastor at First Baptist Church Charlotte,
and so that was kind of the first what I
would describe as a geopolitical trip. It was actually the
sixth time that I've been to Israel as this trip
came up, but I had been as a tourist, if
you will, to see the Holy Sites, leading folks from
our church to go and be a part of that trip.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
So I went on this trip thinking.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
This is going to be emotional, this is going to
be eye opening, and this is hopefully going to give
me some insights into what went down. I still recalled
seeing all of the news breaking on October seventh. I
still remember on that Saturday for us, as you got
(04:31):
up that morning and this news was breaking, and as
the day went on, you continued to see everything that
was the reports that were coming out, and it was
absolutely horrendous. And then as the videos began to be
released and people were saying, don't watch them, I mean,
they were so gruesome. And yet at the same time,
(04:53):
in the midst of that, I felt like this trip
was going to be an opportunity to see and hear
what really happened on October seventh of twenty twenty three.
And then of course we were going to have the
opportunity to meet with the Prime Minister and hear from him.
On this trip, we were going to meet with the
President of Israel and meet with him. On this trip,
(05:15):
we were also going to be meeting with a number
of dignitaries and leaders from all walks of life within Israel,
and so it was it was going to be an
important trip. So the expectations I had were probably all
over the map, but I really did believe that I
would have an opportunity to see for myself, and quite frankly,
(05:38):
we did. We're able to see the things that had
happened on October seventh?
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Did with part of the time you were there? What
a week?
Speaker 3 (05:48):
We were there a week?
Speaker 2 (05:49):
So during the time that you were there, did they
take you outside of Tel Aviv, like down to where
the area where they were having the festival where all
those people got slaughtered? Did they show you all these
different areas or were you pretty confined into one area?
Speaker 1 (06:02):
Oh? No, we covered the country. We actually stayed in Jerusalem.
That's where our trip. We landed in Tel Aviv, and
then we went up to Jerusalem. We stayed there throughout
the week. We traveled to various sites throughout the time
that we were there. During that week we were receiving
briefings from the military. We did have an opportunity to
(06:24):
go to a military base. We were able to see
the weapons that Israel is able to use. We actually
met with a number of different folks and heard briefings
on really how this came to be. I mean, let's
face it, October seventh was ten years in the making,
quite frankly, that Iran was putting these folks in place,
(06:47):
from Hamas and Hesbellah and all of them were involved
in a ten year plan that they pulled off. In
the horrendous, horrendous event that took place on that October
seventh just kind of leaves you without even words to
describe it.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
Speaking with Congressman Mark Harris is in studio with us
for the entire hour tonight. Here I'm breaking with Brad Jensen.
Were you able to speak to any just regular civilians,
just the regular Joe's on the street, or did did
you have did they have you Corndolph Cordondolph or like?
Were you able to speak just to normal people about
how things are going or what they think we were?
Speaker 1 (07:26):
I mean as far as folks that were in the hotel,
we would visit with them from time to time or
talk to folks mostly. I got to tell you our
schedule was so jam packed. You were literally going from
one event to the next. You were going from one
meeting to the next. We would leave out that morning
and we would get on the bus and we would
travel and they would take us to all the different aspects.
(07:49):
It was interesting when we went to where the festival
was held, and what was really fascinating was the folks
that they had sharing with us. This was actually the
guy that had been serving as a policeman there that
actually was Muslim, and actually though his family had been
(08:10):
in Israel all those years since nineteen forty eight, and again,
if you didn't leave the country in nineteen forty eight
and you remain there, you were a citizen. And he's
talked about just the whole event that night and the
opportunity and he found himself rescuing nearly two hundred to.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
Some people that he was going back and.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
Forth because the highway that led into the festival was
something that they were able to when the terrorists came across,
they actually shut that down and they were coming in
and as folks were scattering and trying to get out,
they literally became sitting ducks. When they got in their
cars and headed up that highway and that highway became
(08:54):
a highway of death that they were just killing people
as they were going there. To mention the slaughter, we
did have an incredible event where there are trees that
are planted out there all around that festival. They have
been planted in memory of folks and the whip Tom
Emmer actually planted a tree while we were there with
(09:17):
all of us gathered around, and that was a very
very moving ceremony that was part of our time there.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
When we returned with Congressman Mark Harris, I'm going to
ask him what did he learn that he did not
know when he went over there? Did what was he
able to gather about the Israeli government, the Israeli military,
just the scene of Israel. So we'll talk about that
when we returned, talking about with Brad against him. On
(09:53):
this Monday night, Congressman Mark Harris is in studio with
us for the entire hour and we're continuing our conversation
about Israel, because just about five six weeks ago or so,
Congressman Harris was in Israel for a full week. So
when you went there, what did you learn, whether it's
from the government, the Israeli government, the military, whatever the
(10:15):
case may be. What did you learn that you can
share with us?
Speaker 1 (10:19):
Well, you know, obviously one of the things that was
most impactful was when we actually were taken down to
the border with Gaza and we actually went into the
kibbutz's that had been attacked that day. In fact, we
were broken into groups and several different buses and mixed
together and some Democrats and Republicans that were on my bus,
(10:41):
and we went to one kibbutz, there was another group
that went to a different one. Going in there, Brett,
it was just eerie. I mean it was because one
thing that Israel does quite well is they know how
to never forget and to always remember. We were told
as we rolled in there that things were exactly the
(11:05):
same way they were on October seventh, twenty twenty three.
So here we are in August of twenty twenty five,
and nothing had been shifted, nothing had been moved. Everything
was the way it had been that day. And as
we walked through there and it was amazing to see
(11:26):
the just the way these folks had operated. One thing
that still stuck in my mind there were eighteen thousand
Palestinians that came through that border every day to work
in Israel. And I think that that was one of
the things that was the most painful for the people
of Israel is that when they came over on that
(11:50):
morning and began to go through, and we'd come into
the kibbuchers. And keep in mind, they came by land,
they came by air, they came by sea. I mean,
they just massively came across the border and in this
pre planned attack and just caught all of these people
(12:12):
at a place early on a Saturday morning. And when
you think about it, the thing that stood out to
me the most is that in those kibbutz's, the terrorists
stood outside those homes and called the people by name
to come out. It was as if there had been
(12:33):
a spy operation and pre planned notes taken on who
lived where and who was in these homes. And the
people of Israel heard their names being called out by
the terrorists to come out, and as they were invading
their community. And I think that that just I mean,
(12:56):
I can't imagine how that made these folks feel on
the back side of this, knowing that this was so
pre planned and they had absolutely little ability to respond.
And the one kibbutz went into. They had a building
where the weapons were kept, and people were trying to
(13:20):
get to where they got to their guns to be
able to protect and they were just mowed down instantly.
And in this kibbutz out in this area where we were,
you could see the trees and the gun battles were
going and it took hours for the IDF to actually
get there and to get in position. That was one
(13:40):
thing that quite honestly, there were a lot of failures
on the IDF's part, and those have been acknowledged by
the government in Israel that there were some things that
failed on certain levels that day, no question as far
as security was concerned. But it was really unbelievable as
(14:01):
you saw and could live out and these houses that
we would go in, you could see where really people
would bust through the door and then just with automatic
weapons just fire and just load up the walls, shoot
through the walls. There were these safe rooms. That was
another interesting thing. A safe room was built for more
(14:23):
like a bomb shelter. But the thing they never thought
about in a safe room is that the door could
be open from the outside, so you had people inside
a safe room that were having to hold with everything
they had and grip to try to hold it as
these terrorists were trying to get into those rooms.
Speaker 3 (14:45):
And I mean it was just tragic at every level.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
Speaking of Congressman Mark Harrison Studio with this tonight, beabing
ut in Yahoo, what are your thoughts about him and
everything that's happened over the last two years.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
I have a great deal of respect for Prime Minister
net Yahoo, I really do. The position that he has
been in has been an incredibly challenging position. He has,
I believe, wanted to continue to protect his nation and
guide his nation in this war. As they have moved
(15:21):
into Gaza. He has wanted to protect the hostages at
all costs to try to make sure that they are
kept safe as they are.
Speaker 3 (15:31):
Planning this war.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
I think when we were there in August meeting with him,
it was very clear that he had no desire or
intention to occupy Gaza.
Speaker 3 (15:43):
Their desire was to get rid of Hamas.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
And that's the big thing that I think everybody's got
to understand.
Speaker 3 (15:49):
You go back to things that I learned.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
I think the American public has got to be educated
on who Hamas really is. And I think don't think
that gets emphasized enough. In fact, they are a jehattest
terror group, and I'll quote you, they're nineteen eighty eight
Charters preamble states and I quote Israel will exist and
(16:12):
will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it in
quote article thirteen states and again I quote, peaceful solutions
are in contradiction to the principles of the Islamic resistance
movement and the only solution to the Palestinian question is
(16:32):
jihad en quote. So their definition of itself is that
it exists to fight and destroy Israel until all of
that area is under the control of Islam. And so
I just think it's important any listen, it's worth noting
that any Arab country that normalizes relations with Israel, that
(16:57):
enters in to these abraham accords becomes an enemy of Hamas.
Hamas has stated that, and I think we need to
just recognize they're not going to be stopped by trading
land for peace. And I think Prime Minister Netanyahu has
recognized who he's dealing with, and he is determined that
they have got to be stopped completely. And so I
(17:20):
think it's very interesting as we're seeing now these plans
being made this cease fire being agreed to, the hostages
being released plan going forward. President Trump has put forth
this twenty point plan that is on the verge of
being agreed to. I've been out of pocket some today,
(17:42):
so I don't know what kind of news has come
out of the talks in Egypt, but I know that
this morning they started meeting in Egypt to work out
the details. And as we say, the Devil's into details
that of what this is going to look like.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
Way and we return, we'll continue our conversation with Congressman
Mark Erris. Welcome back to Frankie with Brad Jenson here
was tengas and Mark Harris, who's been in the studio
kind enough to sit in studio with me all night
(18:15):
tonight up until seven o'clock tonight. And you know, real
quick before we get to the government shut down and
some other things that we're going to ask you about
a lot of people. The one good thing about WBT
is that people listen and always want to help or donate.
And you can ask David Chadwick about that because you
(18:35):
know he you know, he's has had a lot of
great success with fundraisers here and you know, helping people out.
So if people are still interested, because it still is
a thing, If people are interested in trying to help out,
how do they help out?
Speaker 3 (18:49):
That's a great question.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
And one of the things that I jotted down with
some notes when we were flying home. You know, you
had about a twelve hour flight to get back home,
and I was jotting down on a lot of things
that we had heard throughout that week. And I even
just made a couple of things I jotted down that
on that flight that said, how can I communicate that
Americans can help people in this situation? And here we are,
(19:15):
and that again, I'm grateful that you've invited me on
this eve of the second anniversary. I mean, tomorrow will
be another day that I think all of us have
got to stop and remember where we were when we
saw all of that breaking. But one of the things
that I jotted down four things, just real quick. Number one,
stop echoing Hamas's own slogans and educate yourself. And I
(19:40):
say that because at every point since the UN tried
to partition Palestine in nineteen forty seven, as the British
gave up control, Israel is the one who has been
given up land for peace and Hamas really refuses to
even negotiate.
Speaker 3 (19:57):
So I tell.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
People stop echoing Ama his own slogans and educate yourself
on the real history. The second thing I jotted down,
stop assuming that Hamas operates according to the standards of
Western democracies, because if you really believe that you're getting played,
and you're getting played every single time, stop blaming Israel
(20:21):
for what has happened. You cannot forget.
Speaker 3 (20:24):
At six point.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
Twenty nine am on October seventh, twenty twenty three, four
thousand rockets began to rain down on western and southern Israel,
and six thousand terrorists came by land, through tunnels, by sea,
and by air and paragliders and started murdering men, women, children,
and the elderly indiscriminately. And we just need to know that.
(20:49):
And then not only stop blaming Israel, but it was
the third thing. But then fourthly, support the Gaza Humanitarian
Fund initiative. That's the thing that I think is so important.
We heard a lot about what was happening over there
with humanitarian needs. Israel's only country I know of that
actually stopped their war in order to try to help
(21:13):
get humanitarian supplies into Gaza, but there is a difference
between what the UN has done. And President Trump played
a key role in launching this nonprofit again. It's called
the Gaza Humanitarian Fund Initiative, and they've been delivering boxes
of food that are scaled for one family. And when
(21:34):
we were there in August, they had already been able
to deliver one hundred and ten million meals. And here's
the real key bread. They secure their own supply chain
and they've had zero percent of their food diverted. That's
critically important. And Samaritan's Purse is also taking aid. And
(21:57):
I've been hearing reports about shipments the UN has done.
By the way, the UN has eighty seven percent of
their truckloads of food actually diverted or stolen by Hamas.
And listen, I tell folks all the time. To understand
the issue, you've got to know that of these two
(22:18):
million that are living in Gaza, that you've got about
four hundred thousand that are all wrapped up. And I
guess you could say they're either hardcore Hamas or they
are sensitive to Hamas. But then you've got one point
six million that are not that's sensitive to Hamas, but
(22:39):
they are being held hostage by Hamas themselves. They're told
if you go to the Gaza Humanitarian Fund to get
your food, will kill you.
Speaker 3 (22:49):
And you know they mean that. They're not just.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
Saying well, we'll kill you, they really mean it. So
those are the terrorists that we're dealing with, and I
think we've just got to realize it. So again, stop
echoing Hamas's on slogans, stop assuming that Hamas operates according
to the standards of Western democracies, Stop blaming Israel they
were the victim on October seventh, And support the Gazi
(23:14):
Humanitarian Fund initiative. Those were the four takeaways I jotted
down on the flight home.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
Well, I mean in Samaritan's perst, like said, you know,
when I was in Ukraine, you know there they were
on the front lines absolutely, and also they were also
in you know, back in Kiev and Leviv, you know,
with people were fleeing the you know, the areas and
at the bus stations. So they would set up at
the bus stations knowing that all these I don't know
(23:41):
if you call them refugees since they were all Ukrainian,
but they were leaving. It would be like you're forced
to leave North Carolina and you're having to move to Kentucky, absolutely,
you know. And so they were taken into all these
people that were displaced and had nowhere to go. And
so when they would get off the get off the buses,
that's where.
Speaker 3 (23:58):
They were at.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
And they had all their kitchen and all the food
and everything else. And so yeah, like I said, you know,
Samaritans purse, they were everywhere, absolutely every absolutely everywhere. All right,
So we got about ninety seconds or so before we
have to get to a break. But I want to
ask you real quick, can you sum up the government
shut down in ninety seconds?
Speaker 1 (24:18):
You may want to do the government shut down the
next segment, just to give it adequate time. But let
me say this about in closing on that chapter, which
is it's so important, and I urge all the listeners
that are people of faith pray for these hostages. I
wear a yellow ribbon that's on my code. If you
see me in interviews or ever, you always want to
(24:39):
what's that yellow ribbon for. That's to remember the hostages.
It was given to me by a brother of a
brother who is being held as a hostage right now.
In fact, a couple weeks before we were there. They
used this particular young man for a propaganda video. He
looked like they were starving him to death, and he
was told to dig his own grave. And his brother
(25:02):
gave me this yellow ribbon. And I am praying that
his brother is one of these twenty, and that he
is going to come out before the week's end. That's
what we need to be praying for in this time.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
You think the hostages are still living, I hope there's
what twenty of them.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
I'm told that that basically out of fifty hostages, that
maybe thirty have passed away and the remains, and that
twenty are thought to still be alive. And I've got
three of the young men whose families I have visited
with out posted outside my office door, and we pray
for them daily, and I pray that they will be
(25:38):
three of the twenty that come out alive. I have
no way of knowing what Hamas will say, what they
will do. Well, I'm just holding out hope.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
I tell you what, if they do these negotiation deals,
those hostages, there aren't any left, or very few of
them left, I'll go well for Hamas.
Speaker 3 (25:57):
It will not go well. This Israel will finish this
one way or the other.
Speaker 2 (26:01):
Congressman Mark Harrison studio with us for one more segment.
Welcome back to.
Speaker 3 (26:18):
Working with Fred Jensen as Congressman.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
Mark Harris has been in studio with me for the
first forty nine minutes and we've got about ten to go.
So first of all colleges, and again, thanks for doing this.
I think you've only been a little bit busy. I mean,
you're only a congressman for goodness sakes, you know, so
bouncing around all over the country, all over the world,
all over the state, all over your district. So I
do appreciate your time taking the time to talk with
us tonight.
Speaker 3 (26:40):
Well, thank you.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
It's always great to be here at WBT. And again
it's just an extra bonus to be in the studio
with you tonight.
Speaker 3 (26:46):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
Okay, so let's talk about the government shut down. Your
initial thoughts on that? You know, the Democrats are keeping
it shut down as we speak. You know, a couple
of votes have failed. What are your thoughts about that?
Is the government shut Now? Let me ask a weird question.
I don't know if this has ever been asked. Is
the government shut down a bad thing at all? Is
(27:08):
it a good thing or is it just a neutral thing.
Speaker 1 (27:11):
Well, that's a great way to I guess pose that question,
and I think it all depends on a person's perspective
at the moment.
Speaker 3 (27:19):
All I know is that two weeks ago.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
This past Friday, the US House of Representatives had the
opportunity to pass a bipartisan bill that simply took a
continuing resolution that said that we need a little more
time to move appropriation bills in regular order through the
US House of Representatives. We passed that two weeks ago.
(27:45):
This pass Friday, well in advance of the thirtieth, which
was going to be the deadline. And that was the
idea was that we were going to pass this. It
was clean as a whistle, there were no frills added
to it, and it was.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
Going to send it over to the Senate.
Speaker 1 (28:02):
That any thinking person would have thought that Chuck Schumer,
who by the way, had voted for one of these
thirteen times under the Biden administration a continuing resolution, would
simply look at this clean bill and say, Okay, we've
moved three appropriation bills in the Senate, just like they've
moved three in the House, and we've got more that
we need to move Let's pass this and keep the
(28:24):
government open. Let Congress finish doing the work that they
need to do, and let's get this done. Unfortunately, what
has ended up happening is Chuck Schumer has seen an opportunity,
quite frankly, to try to make political hay and in
my estimation, I think it's backfiring. I certainly hope that
(28:45):
it's backfiring. But he sees an opportunity. I look at
this a couple of ways, Brett. I think he either
sees an opportunity to try and please his left flank
who was very, very mad at him back in March
when they didn't feel like he fought President Trump at
every corner, and he's somehow trying to reclaim his manhood
(29:08):
he thinks in attacking Donald Trump, and that maybe that
was one thought of what he's doing, or he just
flat out couldn't care less. And this is a hell
Mary because they can't win. The Democrats are in such
disarray right now. They do not have any leadership. Nobody
(29:28):
can identify for you who is leading the party. They
have no issues that really seem to be winning, and
so look, they picked this issue that they claim is
about healthcare. And we've said all along you want to
talk about the subsidies of Obamacare, there's going to be
time to have that conversation over the next several months.
(29:49):
They don't expire till December thirty first. But if you're
going to try to shut the government down and hold
it hostage and say no, we want to have that conversation, now,
I'm telling you a President Trump says no, Mike Johnson
says no. Senator Thune has said no. Our Republican conference
is as unified as I have ever seen them in
(30:10):
saying we are going to do this right. And I'm
telling you the American people recognize it. And I don't
know how many of your listeners tonight are being directly
affected by it. It's never a good thing to shut
the government down, I don't believe, especially when it's done
as a pure political tool to try to force or
(30:33):
create some kind of political advantage. But in this particular case,
I've told folks all week, Donald Trump is not an
average politician. He is a businessman. He has an agenda.
He is moving that agenda forward. If he were an
average businessman, I mean an average politician, he would have
loaded this cr up with three, four or five little
(30:53):
things that we could have negotiated about. But he doesn't
play games. Mike Johnson doesn't play games. Thune doesn't play games.
They put a clean c R out there, then said
this is what we need to do. Let's just get
it done so we can get back to doing the
people's business. And again Chuck Schumer's rejected it, and we're
(31:16):
going to see they've taken another vote I guess right now,
or maybe of just taken it. And if they don't
get it done tonight, I'm told they're going to vote
again tomorrow, and then they don't vote on Wednesday. I
have no way of understanding these Senate rules that they've created.
I mean, God only knows how they do it. But
on Thursday, I think it'll be their next chance to vote.
Speaker 3 (31:36):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (31:37):
Well, you bring up a really really good point and
one that I completely forgotten about. But you I believe
to be one e percent correct on that it's Schumer
trying to save face because of what happened six months ago,
where everyone talked about how AOC was going to challenge
him for Senate because of what he had done last time,
and However, all the Democrats were so ticked off at
(31:59):
Chuck Ship that now here he is trying he wants
to die on this hill and when he didn't say
faced the last time, and I think you are one
hundred percent correct in that.
Speaker 3 (32:09):
Oh, I agree.
Speaker 1 (32:10):
I think that's got to be one of the considerations
that has brought him to this point.
Speaker 3 (32:16):
But again, the American people don't.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
Like their government being held hostage, and that's exactly how
this feels.
Speaker 3 (32:23):
That they're saying, if you don't.
Speaker 1 (32:25):
And look, we were able to do something historic when
we went into this one hundred and nineteenth Congress. We
believe that this was an opportunity that the American people
had elected the majority in the House, they had given
us a majority in the Senate, and they had put
Donald Trump back in the White House. They wanted government
done differently. So what did we do. We passed the
(32:47):
Working Families Tax Cut this summer, previously known as the
One Big Beautiful Bill, and that listen, for the first
time in American history, we were able to cut one
point six trillion dollars in mandatory spending that had never
been done.
Speaker 3 (33:06):
And we were able to do that. If you look
at the.
Speaker 1 (33:08):
Hard numbers of what Chuck Schumer and his folks are
using to hold hostage. They're saying, we want one point
five trillion dollars in new spending attached to hours in essence,
unravel whatever you just passed. Well, I'm sorry, Chuck. The
American people gave us the majority in the House, gave
(33:31):
us the majority in the Senate, and put Donald Trump
in the White House, and we have a job to do,
and we're gonna finish our job, and we're gonna keep
working real quick.
Speaker 2 (33:41):
Totally want to shift gears because we've got about a
minute and a half or so. There's no Smith transition,
So I'm just gonna jump into it. One week ago today,
you were part of the the Senate or excuse me,
the the House Judiciary Committee at the Federal Courthouse in Charlotte.
Just to take away away from that, And what were
your thoughts about that? I mean, I were exactly one
(34:03):
week out. What are your thoughts about that?
Speaker 1 (34:04):
Well, first of all, Brett, let me thank you for
your coverage. I know that you've been on top of
this ever since Irena. You know, her horrific murder that
all of America witnessed in that video when it was released.
You've done a yeoman's task of keeping this in front
of the people of Charlotte and really the entire extended
(34:26):
area of North Carolina. And what came out of that
hearing to me is we gathered there obviously because of
the horrific murder of Arena, the failures that had taken
place in the process from the magistrate that had set
mister Brown free to be walking on the streets, which
(34:48):
again is beyond me. How somebody who has been arrested
fourteen times, somebody that has spent five years in prison
in the North Carolina system, somebody that is known to
have mental health issues, and how you put him back
out on the streets where by signing a promisory note
that he's going to show up for a hearing, and
that was a month before he murdered Irena and coldblood
(35:11):
on that train. We gathered to talk about those kind
of things, and to be honest with you, when mister
Federico began to speak and began to tell Logan's story
that I think in many cases a lot of folks
were not familiar with, and suddenly where IRENA's situation had
(35:32):
someone been arrested fourteen times. We're looking at Logan's murder
thirty nine times, twenty five felonies, And all I can
say is the whole hearing accomplished what we wanted to
in many ways. It shined the spotlight on some real,
real problems that we have in our justice system, and
(35:54):
I pray to.
Speaker 3 (35:54):
God that we're beginning to take action.
Speaker 1 (35:56):
I know. I've got two bills that we put in
that we've introduced since in the last week that is
trying to One is going to hold accountable that we're
not going to be giving government grants from the federal
government to jurisdictions that are having cashless bail type of things.
We're going to be able to deal with that. And
(36:17):
another is simply transparency, and that is taking a Trump
executive order and codifying it where our Department of Justice
will be bringing and listing all of the jurisdictions that
have cashless bail so that people can check and see
if their own communities are falling into this trap.
Speaker 2 (36:36):
Well, Congressman, we've got about thirty seconds here, Max, So again,
thanks for coming in here tonight. Again, it was an
honors of privilege and a pleasure for you to come
in here because I know you're one busy man, So
thank you so much for coming in here tonight.
Speaker 1 (36:48):
Well again, it's an honor to be with you. Thank
you for all you do and all of the folks
at WBT for keeping this community informed.
Speaker 2 (36:56):
All right, that's going to do it for us tonight.
Speaker 3 (36:57):
TJ.
Speaker 2 (36:58):
Richie Show, I believe is coming up next. A right
there you go special TJ. Richie Show on Monday Night.
My name is Brett Jensen, and you have been listening
to Breaking with Brett Jensen
Hi, Oh, Let's go oh, Let's go oh, Let's go oh,
Let's go.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
News Talk eleven ten and ninety nine three WBT Brett
Jenson here with you on the special edition on this
Monday Night of Breaking with Brett Jenson as we go
up until seven o'clock tonight. Seven oh four or five
seven oh is the telephone number as always, but that
is also the WBT text line, which of course is
driven by Liberty Buick GNC. And I say this all
(00:53):
the time. You should be following me on X at
Brett Underscore Jensen to get all the letters to breaking
news in and around the Charlotte area. If you follow
me on X then you would know well in advance
who my special guest is in studio tonight for the
full hour, and that of course is Congressman Mark Harris,
who represents District eight Matthews Midhill, parts of Caparis County,
(01:14):
all of Union County going east Anson County, parts of
Stanley County as well. Man what other counties am I missing? There?
Speaker 1 (01:21):
Congo go all the way down the spine of seventy four,
Like you said, Mecklenburg's where we start, and you know
to Union, Anson Richmond, Scotland, and then Robinson County all
the way down to ninety five.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
That's kind of where the line is.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Oh okay, all right, yes, So there's a lot that
we're going to get into tonight. And I actually had
this conversation with someone while driving here to the studio tonight,
and it wasn't that long ago. It was twenty three
months ago, twenty three and a half, yeah, twenty three
twenty two months ago that we had protesters pro Palestinian
(02:01):
and Hummas protesters outside protesting our station, specifically me and
Brett Warnable, and there were about about one hundred or
so that showed up. And at the words that came
out of my mouth tonight were I can't believe it's
been two years since October seventh. It doesn't seem like that.
(02:22):
It actually seems like this should be the one year anniversary.
But it's been two years and there's still hostages and
it's it hasn't resolved itself. The fact that you were
just in Israel not long ago and got special tours
and special information and everything, and I know we talked
(02:43):
about it at the time, but I want to really
go in depth about it tonight. Because we've got a
full hour, And I just want to know, when you
knew that you were going over there with other representatives
from the United States, what did you think you were
going to see? What were the expectations that you were
having about Israel when you got there.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
I bet that's a great question. And first of all,
let me just say thank you for letting me be
with you tonight. It's always an honor to talk with you,
and being in studio tonight's an extra bonus, and I'm
very grateful to have the opportunity to talk. When I
was invited to be a part of this trip back
in August, it was actually a trip that they invited
(03:23):
the freshman congressman from the US House of Representatives, Republicans
and Democrats were invited to be a part of this
trip with Apak. We traveled over to Israel as part
of the education program so that we could see just
what was going on. I had had the privilege of
taking a trip similar to this back in twenty fifteen
(03:45):
when I was a pastor at First Baptist Church Charlotte,
and so that was kind of the first what I
would describe as a geopolitical trip. It was actually the
sixth time that I've been to Israel as this trip
came up, but I had been as a tourist, if
you will, to see the Holy Sites, leading folks from
our church to go and be a part of that trip.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
So I went on this trip thinking.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
This is going to be emotional, this is going to
be eye opening, and this is hopefully going to give
me some insights into what went down. I still recalled
seeing all of the news breaking on October seventh. I
still remember on that Saturday for us, as you got
(04:31):
up that morning and this news was breaking, and as
the day went on, you continued to see everything that
was the reports that were coming out, and it was
absolutely horrendous. And then as the videos began to be
released and people were saying, don't watch them, I mean,
they were so gruesome. And yet at the same time,
(04:53):
in the midst of that, I felt like this trip
was going to be an opportunity to see and hear
what really happened on October seventh of twenty twenty three.
And then of course we were going to have the
opportunity to meet with the Prime Minister and hear from him.
On this trip, we were going to meet with the
President of Israel and meet with him. On this trip,
(05:15):
we were also going to be meeting with a number
of dignitaries and leaders from all walks of life within Israel,
and so it was it was going to be an
important trip. So the expectations I had were probably all
over the map, but I really did believe that I
would have an opportunity to see for myself, and quite frankly,
(05:38):
we did. We're able to see the things that had
happened on October seventh?
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Did with part of the time you were there? What
a week?
Speaker 3 (05:48):
We were there a week?
Speaker 2 (05:49):
So during the time that you were there, did they
take you outside of Tel Aviv, like down to where
the area where they were having the festival where all
those people got slaughtered? Did they show you all these
different areas or were you pretty confined into one area?
Speaker 1 (06:02):
Oh? No, we covered the country. We actually stayed in Jerusalem.
That's where our trip. We landed in Tel Aviv, and
then we went up to Jerusalem. We stayed there throughout
the week. We traveled to various sites throughout the time
that we were there. During that week we were receiving
briefings from the military. We did have an opportunity to
(06:24):
go to a military base. We were able to see
the weapons that Israel is able to use. We actually
met with a number of different folks and heard briefings
on really how this came to be. I mean, let's
face it, October seventh was ten years in the making,
quite frankly, that Iran was putting these folks in place,
(06:47):
from Hamas and Hesbellah and all of them were involved
in a ten year plan that they pulled off. In
the horrendous, horrendous event that took place on that October
seventh just kind of leaves you without even words to
describe it.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
Speaking with Congressman Mark Harris is in studio with us
for the entire hour tonight. Here I'm breaking with Brad Jensen.
Were you able to speak to any just regular civilians,
just the regular Joe's on the street, or did did
you have did they have you Corndolph Cordondolph or like?
Were you able to speak just to normal people about
how things are going or what they think we were?
Speaker 1 (07:26):
I mean as far as folks that were in the hotel,
we would visit with them from time to time or
talk to folks mostly. I got to tell you our
schedule was so jam packed. You were literally going from
one event to the next. You were going from one
meeting to the next. We would leave out that morning
and we would get on the bus and we would
travel and they would take us to all the different aspects.
(07:49):
It was interesting when we went to where the festival
was held, and what was really fascinating was the folks
that they had sharing with us. This was actually the
guy that had been serving as a policeman there that
actually was Muslim, and actually though his family had been
(08:10):
in Israel all those years since nineteen forty eight, and again,
if you didn't leave the country in nineteen forty eight
and you remain there, you were a citizen. And he's
talked about just the whole event that night and the
opportunity and he found himself rescuing nearly two hundred to.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
Some people that he was going back and.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
Forth because the highway that led into the festival was
something that they were able to when the terrorists came across,
they actually shut that down and they were coming in
and as folks were scattering and trying to get out,
they literally became sitting ducks. When they got in their
cars and headed up that highway and that highway became
(08:54):
a highway of death that they were just killing people
as they were going there. To mention the slaughter, we
did have an incredible event where there are trees that
are planted out there all around that festival. They have
been planted in memory of folks and the whip Tom
Emmer actually planted a tree while we were there with
(09:17):
all of us gathered around, and that was a very
very moving ceremony that was part of our time there.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
When we returned with Congressman Mark Harris, I'm going to
ask him what did he learn that he did not
know when he went over there? Did what was he
able to gather about the Israeli government, the Israeli military,
just the scene of Israel. So we'll talk about that
when we returned, talking about with Brad against him. On
(09:53):
this Monday night, Congressman Mark Harris is in studio with
us for the entire hour and we're continuing our conversation
about Israel, because just about five six weeks ago or so,
Congressman Harris was in Israel for a full week. So
when you went there, what did you learn, whether it's
from the government, the Israeli government, the military, whatever the
(10:15):
case may be. What did you learn that you can
share with us?
Speaker 1 (10:19):
Well, you know, obviously one of the things that was
most impactful was when we actually were taken down to
the border with Gaza and we actually went into the
kibbutz's that had been attacked that day. In fact, we
were broken into groups and several different buses and mixed
together and some Democrats and Republicans that were on my bus,
(10:41):
and we went to one kibbutz, there was another group
that went to a different one. Going in there, Brett,
it was just eerie. I mean it was because one
thing that Israel does quite well is they know how
to never forget and to always remember. We were told
as we rolled in there that things were exactly the
(11:05):
same way they were on October seventh, twenty twenty three.
So here we are in August of twenty twenty five,
and nothing had been shifted, nothing had been moved. Everything
was the way it had been that day. And as
we walked through there and it was amazing to see
(11:26):
the just the way these folks had operated. One thing
that still stuck in my mind there were eighteen thousand
Palestinians that came through that border every day to work
in Israel. And I think that that was one of
the things that was the most painful for the people
of Israel is that when they came over on that
(11:50):
morning and began to go through, and we'd come into
the kibbuchers. And keep in mind, they came by land,
they came by air, they came by sea. I mean,
they just massively came across the border and in this
pre planned attack and just caught all of these people
(12:12):
at a place early on a Saturday morning. And when
you think about it, the thing that stood out to
me the most is that in those kibbutz's, the terrorists
stood outside those homes and called the people by name
to come out. It was as if there had been
(12:33):
a spy operation and pre planned notes taken on who
lived where and who was in these homes. And the
people of Israel heard their names being called out by
the terrorists to come out, and as they were invading
their community. And I think that that just I mean,
(12:56):
I can't imagine how that made these folks feel on
the back side of this, knowing that this was so
pre planned and they had absolutely little ability to respond.
And the one kibbutz went into. They had a building
where the weapons were kept, and people were trying to
(13:20):
get to where they got to their guns to be
able to protect and they were just mowed down instantly.
And in this kibbutz out in this area where we were,
you could see the trees and the gun battles were
going and it took hours for the IDF to actually
get there and to get in position. That was one
(13:40):
thing that quite honestly, there were a lot of failures
on the IDF's part, and those have been acknowledged by
the government in Israel that there were some things that
failed on certain levels that day, no question as far
as security was concerned. But it was really unbelievable as
(14:01):
you saw and could live out and these houses that
we would go in, you could see where really people
would bust through the door and then just with automatic
weapons just fire and just load up the walls, shoot
through the walls. There were these safe rooms. That was
another interesting thing. A safe room was built for more
(14:23):
like a bomb shelter. But the thing they never thought
about in a safe room is that the door could
be open from the outside, so you had people inside
a safe room that were having to hold with everything
they had and grip to try to hold it as
these terrorists were trying to get into those rooms.
Speaker 3 (14:45):
And I mean it was just tragic at every level.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
Speaking of Congressman Mark Harrison Studio with this tonight, beabing
ut in Yahoo, what are your thoughts about him and
everything that's happened over the last two years.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
I have a great deal of respect for Prime Minister
net Yahoo, I really do. The position that he has
been in has been an incredibly challenging position. He has,
I believe, wanted to continue to protect his nation and
guide his nation in this war. As they have moved
(15:21):
into Gaza. He has wanted to protect the hostages at
all costs to try to make sure that they are
kept safe as they are.
Speaker 3 (15:31):
Planning this war.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
I think when we were there in August meeting with him,
it was very clear that he had no desire or
intention to occupy Gaza.
Speaker 3 (15:43):
Their desire was to get rid of Hamas.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
And that's the big thing that I think everybody's got
to understand.
Speaker 3 (15:49):
You go back to things that I learned.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
I think the American public has got to be educated
on who Hamas really is. And I think don't think
that gets emphasized enough. In fact, they are a jehattest
terror group, and I'll quote you, they're nineteen eighty eight
Charters preamble states and I quote Israel will exist and
(16:12):
will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it in
quote article thirteen states and again I quote, peaceful solutions
are in contradiction to the principles of the Islamic resistance
movement and the only solution to the Palestinian question is
(16:32):
jihad en quote. So their definition of itself is that
it exists to fight and destroy Israel until all of
that area is under the control of Islam. And so
I just think it's important any listen, it's worth noting
that any Arab country that normalizes relations with Israel, that
(16:57):
enters in to these abraham accords becomes an enemy of Hamas.
Hamas has stated that, and I think we need to
just recognize they're not going to be stopped by trading
land for peace. And I think Prime Minister Netanyahu has
recognized who he's dealing with, and he is determined that
they have got to be stopped completely. And so I
(17:20):
think it's very interesting as we're seeing now these plans
being made this cease fire being agreed to, the hostages
being released plan going forward. President Trump has put forth
this twenty point plan that is on the verge of
being agreed to. I've been out of pocket some today,
(17:42):
so I don't know what kind of news has come
out of the talks in Egypt, but I know that
this morning they started meeting in Egypt to work out
the details. And as we say, the Devil's into details
that of what this is going to look like.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
Way and we return, we'll continue our conversation with Congressman
Mark Erris. Welcome back to Frankie with Brad Jenson here
was tengas and Mark Harris, who's been in the studio
kind enough to sit in studio with me all night
(18:15):
tonight up until seven o'clock tonight. And you know, real
quick before we get to the government shut down and
some other things that we're going to ask you about
a lot of people. The one good thing about WBT
is that people listen and always want to help or donate.
And you can ask David Chadwick about that because you
(18:35):
know he you know, he's has had a lot of
great success with fundraisers here and you know, helping people out.
So if people are still interested, because it still is
a thing, If people are interested in trying to help out,
how do they help out?
Speaker 3 (18:49):
That's a great question.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
And one of the things that I jotted down with
some notes when we were flying home. You know, you
had about a twelve hour flight to get back home,
and I was jotting down on a lot of things
that we had heard throughout that week. And I even
just made a couple of things I jotted down that
on that flight that said, how can I communicate that
Americans can help people in this situation? And here we are,
(19:15):
and that again, I'm grateful that you've invited me on
this eve of the second anniversary. I mean, tomorrow will
be another day that I think all of us have
got to stop and remember where we were when we
saw all of that breaking. But one of the things
that I jotted down four things, just real quick. Number one,
stop echoing Hamas's own slogans and educate yourself. And I
(19:40):
say that because at every point since the UN tried
to partition Palestine in nineteen forty seven, as the British
gave up control, Israel is the one who has been
given up land for peace and Hamas really refuses to
even negotiate.
Speaker 3 (19:57):
So I tell.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
People stop echoing Ama his own slogans and educate yourself
on the real history. The second thing I jotted down,
stop assuming that Hamas operates according to the standards of
Western democracies, because if you really believe that you're getting played,
and you're getting played every single time, stop blaming Israel
(20:21):
for what has happened. You cannot forget.
Speaker 3 (20:24):
At six point.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
Twenty nine am on October seventh, twenty twenty three, four
thousand rockets began to rain down on western and southern Israel,
and six thousand terrorists came by land, through tunnels, by sea,
and by air and paragliders and started murdering men, women, children,
and the elderly indiscriminately. And we just need to know that.
(20:49):
And then not only stop blaming Israel, but it was
the third thing. But then fourthly, support the Gaza Humanitarian
Fund initiative. That's the thing that I think is so important.
We heard a lot about what was happening over there
with humanitarian needs. Israel's only country I know of that
actually stopped their war in order to try to help
(21:13):
get humanitarian supplies into Gaza, but there is a difference
between what the UN has done. And President Trump played
a key role in launching this nonprofit again. It's called
the Gaza Humanitarian Fund Initiative, and they've been delivering boxes
of food that are scaled for one family. And when
(21:34):
we were there in August, they had already been able
to deliver one hundred and ten million meals. And here's
the real key bread. They secure their own supply chain
and they've had zero percent of their food diverted. That's
critically important. And Samaritan's Purse is also taking aid. And
(21:57):
I've been hearing reports about shipments the UN has done.
By the way, the UN has eighty seven percent of
their truckloads of food actually diverted or stolen by Hamas.
And listen, I tell folks all the time. To understand
the issue, you've got to know that of these two
(22:18):
million that are living in Gaza, that you've got about
four hundred thousand that are all wrapped up. And I
guess you could say they're either hardcore Hamas or they
are sensitive to Hamas. But then you've got one point
six million that are not that's sensitive to Hamas, but
(22:39):
they are being held hostage by Hamas themselves. They're told
if you go to the Gaza Humanitarian Fund to get
your food, will kill you.
Speaker 3 (22:49):
And you know they mean that. They're not just.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
Saying well, we'll kill you, they really mean it. So
those are the terrorists that we're dealing with, and I
think we've just got to realize it. So again, stop
echoing Hamas's on slogans, stop assuming that Hamas operates according
to the standards of Western democracies, Stop blaming Israel they
were the victim on October seventh, And support the Gazi
(23:14):
Humanitarian Fund initiative. Those were the four takeaways I jotted
down on the flight home.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
Well, I mean in Samaritan's perst, like said, you know,
when I was in Ukraine, you know there they were
on the front lines absolutely, and also they were also
in you know, back in Kiev and Leviv, you know,
with people were fleeing the you know, the areas and
at the bus stations. So they would set up at
the bus stations knowing that all these I don't know
(23:41):
if you call them refugees since they were all Ukrainian,
but they were leaving. It would be like you're forced
to leave North Carolina and you're having to move to Kentucky, absolutely,
you know. And so they were taken into all these
people that were displaced and had nowhere to go. And
so when they would get off the get off the buses,
that's where.
Speaker 3 (23:58):
They were at.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
And they had all their kitchen and all the food
and everything else. And so yeah, like I said, you know,
Samaritans purse, they were everywhere, absolutely every absolutely everywhere. All right,
So we got about ninety seconds or so before we
have to get to a break. But I want to
ask you real quick, can you sum up the government
shut down in ninety seconds?
Speaker 1 (24:18):
You may want to do the government shut down the
next segment, just to give it adequate time. But let
me say this about in closing on that chapter, which
is it's so important, and I urge all the listeners
that are people of faith pray for these hostages. I
wear a yellow ribbon that's on my code. If you
see me in interviews or ever, you always want to
(24:39):
what's that yellow ribbon for. That's to remember the hostages.
It was given to me by a brother of a
brother who is being held as a hostage right now.
In fact, a couple weeks before we were there. They
used this particular young man for a propaganda video. He
looked like they were starving him to death, and he
was told to dig his own grave. And his brother
(25:02):
gave me this yellow ribbon. And I am praying that
his brother is one of these twenty, and that he
is going to come out before the week's end. That's
what we need to be praying for in this time.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
You think the hostages are still living, I hope there's
what twenty of them.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
I'm told that that basically out of fifty hostages, that
maybe thirty have passed away and the remains, and that
twenty are thought to still be alive. And I've got
three of the young men whose families I have visited
with out posted outside my office door, and we pray
for them daily, and I pray that they will be
(25:38):
three of the twenty that come out alive. I have
no way of knowing what Hamas will say, what they
will do. Well, I'm just holding out hope.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
I tell you what, if they do these negotiation deals,
those hostages, there aren't any left, or very few of
them left, I'll go well for Hamas.
Speaker 3 (25:57):
It will not go well. This Israel will finish this
one way or the other.
Speaker 2 (26:01):
Congressman Mark Harrison studio with us for one more segment.
Welcome back to.
Speaker 3 (26:18):
Working with Fred Jensen as Congressman.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
Mark Harris has been in studio with me for the
first forty nine minutes and we've got about ten to go.
So first of all colleges, and again, thanks for doing this.
I think you've only been a little bit busy. I mean,
you're only a congressman for goodness sakes, you know, so
bouncing around all over the country, all over the world,
all over the state, all over your district. So I
do appreciate your time taking the time to talk with
us tonight.
Speaker 3 (26:40):
Well, thank you.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
It's always great to be here at WBT. And again
it's just an extra bonus to be in the studio
with you tonight.
Speaker 3 (26:46):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
Okay, so let's talk about the government shut down. Your
initial thoughts on that? You know, the Democrats are keeping
it shut down as we speak. You know, a couple
of votes have failed. What are your thoughts about that?
Is the government shut Now? Let me ask a weird question.
I don't know if this has ever been asked. Is
the government shut down a bad thing at all? Is
(27:08):
it a good thing or is it just a neutral thing.
Speaker 1 (27:11):
Well, that's a great way to I guess pose that question,
and I think it all depends on a person's perspective
at the moment.
Speaker 3 (27:19):
All I know is that two weeks ago.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
This past Friday, the US House of Representatives had the
opportunity to pass a bipartisan bill that simply took a
continuing resolution that said that we need a little more
time to move appropriation bills in regular order through the
US House of Representatives. We passed that two weeks ago.
(27:45):
This pass Friday, well in advance of the thirtieth, which
was going to be the deadline. And that was the
idea was that we were going to pass this. It
was clean as a whistle, there were no frills added
to it, and it was.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
Going to send it over to the Senate.
Speaker 1 (28:02):
That any thinking person would have thought that Chuck Schumer,
who by the way, had voted for one of these
thirteen times under the Biden administration a continuing resolution, would
simply look at this clean bill and say, Okay, we've
moved three appropriation bills in the Senate, just like they've
moved three in the House, and we've got more that
we need to move Let's pass this and keep the
(28:24):
government open. Let Congress finish doing the work that they
need to do, and let's get this done. Unfortunately, what
has ended up happening is Chuck Schumer has seen an opportunity,
quite frankly, to try to make political hay and in
my estimation, I think it's backfiring. I certainly hope that
(28:45):
it's backfiring. But he sees an opportunity. I look at
this a couple of ways, Brett. I think he either
sees an opportunity to try and please his left flank
who was very, very mad at him back in March
when they didn't feel like he fought President Trump at
every corner, and he's somehow trying to reclaim his manhood
(29:08):
he thinks in attacking Donald Trump, and that maybe that
was one thought of what he's doing, or he just
flat out couldn't care less. And this is a hell
Mary because they can't win. The Democrats are in such
disarray right now. They do not have any leadership. Nobody
(29:28):
can identify for you who is leading the party. They
have no issues that really seem to be winning, and
so look, they picked this issue that they claim is
about healthcare. And we've said all along you want to
talk about the subsidies of Obamacare, there's going to be
time to have that conversation over the next several months.
(29:49):
They don't expire till December thirty first. But if you're
going to try to shut the government down and hold
it hostage and say no, we want to have that conversation, now,
I'm telling you a President Trump says no, Mike Johnson
says no. Senator Thune has said no. Our Republican conference
is as unified as I have ever seen them in
(30:10):
saying we are going to do this right. And I'm
telling you the American people recognize it. And I don't
know how many of your listeners tonight are being directly
affected by it. It's never a good thing to shut
the government down, I don't believe, especially when it's done
as a pure political tool to try to force or
(30:33):
create some kind of political advantage. But in this particular case,
I've told folks all week, Donald Trump is not an
average politician. He is a businessman. He has an agenda.
He is moving that agenda forward. If he were an
average businessman, I mean an average politician, he would have
loaded this cr up with three, four or five little
(30:53):
things that we could have negotiated about. But he doesn't
play games. Mike Johnson doesn't play games. Thune doesn't play games.
They put a clean c R out there, then said
this is what we need to do. Let's just get
it done so we can get back to doing the
people's business. And again Chuck Schumer's rejected it, and we're
(31:16):
going to see they've taken another vote I guess right now,
or maybe of just taken it. And if they don't
get it done tonight, I'm told they're going to vote
again tomorrow, and then they don't vote on Wednesday. I
have no way of understanding these Senate rules that they've created.
I mean, God only knows how they do it. But
on Thursday, I think it'll be their next chance to vote.
Speaker 3 (31:36):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (31:37):
Well, you bring up a really really good point and
one that I completely forgotten about. But you I believe
to be one e percent correct on that it's Schumer
trying to save face because of what happened six months ago,
where everyone talked about how AOC was going to challenge
him for Senate because of what he had done last time,
and However, all the Democrats were so ticked off at
(31:59):
Chuck Ship that now here he is trying he wants
to die on this hill and when he didn't say
faced the last time, and I think you are one
hundred percent correct in that.
Speaker 3 (32:09):
Oh, I agree.
Speaker 1 (32:10):
I think that's got to be one of the considerations
that has brought him to this point.
Speaker 3 (32:16):
But again, the American people don't.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
Like their government being held hostage, and that's exactly how
this feels.
Speaker 3 (32:23):
That they're saying, if you don't.
Speaker 1 (32:25):
And look, we were able to do something historic when
we went into this one hundred and nineteenth Congress. We
believe that this was an opportunity that the American people
had elected the majority in the House, they had given
us a majority in the Senate, and they had put
Donald Trump back in the White House. They wanted government
done differently. So what did we do. We passed the
(32:47):
Working Families Tax Cut this summer, previously known as the
One Big Beautiful Bill, and that listen, for the first
time in American history, we were able to cut one
point six trillion dollars in mandatory spending that had never
been done.
Speaker 3 (33:06):
And we were able to do that. If you look
at the.
Speaker 1 (33:08):
Hard numbers of what Chuck Schumer and his folks are
using to hold hostage. They're saying, we want one point
five trillion dollars in new spending attached to hours in essence,
unravel whatever you just passed. Well, I'm sorry, Chuck. The
American people gave us the majority in the House, gave
(33:31):
us the majority in the Senate, and put Donald Trump
in the White House, and we have a job to do,
and we're gonna finish our job, and we're gonna keep
working real quick.
Speaker 2 (33:41):
Totally want to shift gears because we've got about a
minute and a half or so. There's no Smith transition,
So I'm just gonna jump into it. One week ago today,
you were part of the the Senate or excuse me,
the the House Judiciary Committee at the Federal Courthouse in Charlotte.
Just to take away away from that, And what were
your thoughts about that? I mean, I were exactly one
(34:03):
week out. What are your thoughts about that?
Speaker 1 (34:04):
Well, first of all, Brett, let me thank you for
your coverage. I know that you've been on top of
this ever since Irena. You know, her horrific murder that
all of America witnessed in that video when it was released.
You've done a yeoman's task of keeping this in front
of the people of Charlotte and really the entire extended
(34:26):
area of North Carolina. And what came out of that
hearing to me is we gathered there obviously because of
the horrific murder of Arena, the failures that had taken
place in the process from the magistrate that had set
mister Brown free to be walking on the streets, which
(34:48):
again is beyond me. How somebody who has been arrested
fourteen times, somebody that has spent five years in prison
in the North Carolina system, somebody that is known to
have mental health issues, and how you put him back
out on the streets where by signing a promisory note
that he's going to show up for a hearing, and
that was a month before he murdered Irena and coldblood
(35:11):
on that train. We gathered to talk about those kind
of things, and to be honest with you, when mister
Federico began to speak and began to tell Logan's story
that I think in many cases a lot of folks
were not familiar with, and suddenly where IRENA's situation had
(35:32):
someone been arrested fourteen times. We're looking at Logan's murder
thirty nine times, twenty five felonies, And all I can
say is the whole hearing accomplished what we wanted to
in many ways. It shined the spotlight on some real,
real problems that we have in our justice system, and
(35:54):
I pray to.
Speaker 3 (35:54):
God that we're beginning to take action.
Speaker 1 (35:56):
I know. I've got two bills that we put in
that we've introduced since in the last week that is
trying to One is going to hold accountable that we're
not going to be giving government grants from the federal
government to jurisdictions that are having cashless bail type of things.
We're going to be able to deal with that. And
(36:17):
another is simply transparency, and that is taking a Trump
executive order and codifying it where our Department of Justice
will be bringing and listing all of the jurisdictions that
have cashless bail so that people can check and see
if their own communities are falling into this trap.
Speaker 2 (36:36):
Well, Congressman, we've got about thirty seconds here, Max, So again,
thanks for coming in here tonight. Again, it was an
honors of privilege and a pleasure for you to come
in here because I know you're one busy man, So
thank you so much for coming in here tonight.
Speaker 1 (36:48):
Well again, it's an honor to be with you. Thank
you for all you do and all of the folks
at WBT for keeping this community informed.
Speaker 2 (36:56):
All right, that's going to do it for us tonight.
Speaker 3 (36:57):
TJ.
Speaker 2 (36:58):
Richie Show, I believe is coming up next. A right
there you go special TJ. Richie Show on Monday Night.
My name is Brett Jensen, and you have been listening
to Breaking with Brett Jensen
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