8-12-25: Rep Mark Harris Talks Israel

Tune in here to this ​Tuesday's edition of Breaking With Brett Jensen!

Jensen has an exclusive one-on-one interview with Congressman Mark Harris to discuss his recent trip to Israel and the rising concerns about public safety in Washington, D.C. Harris, fresh off a bipartisan congressional delegation to Israel, shares powerful observations from the ground — including visits to the October 7th attack sites and conversations with families of hostages. Harris reflects on the lasting trauma and the country’s commitment to remembrance. The conversation then shifts to domestic issues, where Harris defends Donald Trump’s proposed federal intervention in D.C. policing, citing rampant crime and recent attacks near Capitol Hill. He argues the nation's capital must set the standard for law and order.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
Welcome back to breaking with Brett Jensen on this Tuesday night. Well,
rainy said, Gusson County got three inches of rain and
we got zero point eight inches of rain. Interesting. All right,
joining us now is Congressman Mark Carris. It's been a
while since I've spoken to him, and always enjoyed talking
to him. So first of all, Congressman, thank you for
joining me tonight. And second of all, are you in

(00:27):
DC or are you here locally?

Speaker 2 (00:30):
Well, Brett, it's great to be with you this evening,
and I'm actually local tonight, just having returned from Israel.
And we've been in Israel since I left a week
ago this past Sunday and actually got back into Charlotte
last night, and so we've been kind of recovering today
and from that trip. It was a congressional delegation that

(00:54):
was part of it, and so we're local here with
you tonight.

Speaker 1 (00:58):
Well, first of all, welcome back and glad that you're safe.
But you know what you just this is all like,
you know, spur of the moment and off the cuff stuff. Well,
one of the places I've been thinking about taking my
vacations is actually Israel. You know, I've gone to Ukraine
a couple of different times, and I like to go
to odd and unique places. So what's it like over
in Israel right now?

Speaker 2 (01:19):
Well, you know it is. It is. It was a
war area, no question when you get down in parts
of the country where we went down toward Gaza. But
Israel is an incredible, incredible place to visit, and I
would recommend it to anybody. I've been over there. Probably
that's and I we're talking the other day. I think

(01:40):
I've been over there about six different times. Four of
them were trips of taking groups over just as two
of the Holy sites and see those. And then this
was my second what might be called a geopolitical trip
in the sense of learning and seeing the land and
terms of the policies and the battles. And of course

(02:02):
this trip was actually a number of the freshmen congressmen
were invited to. The Israeli American Israeli Education Foundation puts
together an opportunity for freshmen to go, and so there
were Republicans, there were Democrats. It was a bipartisan experience
as well, and so we were able to see we

(02:25):
visited some of the holy sites, but we certainly were
able to take in the very important areas and get
an idea of what was happening when before I went,
my goal was to get clarity of the situation because
we hear so much, and I feel like I did
come back with a great deal of clarity about what

(02:46):
was actually happening there on the ground, what we were
able to see. We visited some of the kibbutzs, the
kabuses where Hamas came in and on October seventh of
twenty three and just did speakable things in those living
situations and those communities, and you know, it was tragic,

(03:07):
and much of it is still in the same situation
it was that day because one thing that the folks
in Israel do quite well is they put an emphasis
on remembering and not forgetting, and they want people to
see and to understand and to know what really happened
there that day, and it was a very very painful,

(03:31):
very powerful moment. We went to the area where the
festival was being held that morning when at six twenty
nine am they launched their attack Kammas did on the
Israeli people.

Speaker 1 (03:43):
Speaking of Congressman Mark Harris, who just returned last night
back to Charlotte from a trip to Israel congressional trip
to Israel. So you heard, and obviously I know you're
well aware of this because now you're a part time
resident of Washington, DC that the federal government and specifically
Donald Trump, talking about taking over the federal or taking
over the police department. They're in Washington, d C. Because

(04:06):
of the safety and it's i think the fourth highest
murder rate I think going on right now. And I Congressman,
I literally just saw on CBS News how they're trying
to downplay saying, oh, violent crimes down in Washington, d C.
Robbies are down in DC. They put all these stats
up there saying there was basically no reason for Donald
Trump to do this. What were your thoughts about the

(04:26):
whole situation involving d C, a place that you now live.

Speaker 2 (04:31):
Well, I think it was a very smart mood by
the president. I think it was a very necessary move
that the President took. And to be honest, I mean
I've heard all of the different press things that have
come out, and the media's you know, it's head spinning
and saying, as you point out that crime rates are
actually down and this is wrong. But if you listen carefully,

(04:53):
I mean even the mayor of Washington, d C. Made
the statement that you know it was concerning to her.
I think, Matt maybe the words you used, but that
they were going to cooperate. When you listen to folks
that have been part of the Washington d C Police union,
chiefs talk, totally understands why the President took this action,

(05:14):
and to the point that you just made folks forget
that in DC in twenty twenty four they had the
fourth highest homicide rate in the entire country, with a
homicide rate, I might add, of nearly six times higher
than New York City. And you know, I'm just a
freshman in the US House, have been up there eight months,

(05:35):
week in and week out, and yet I can point
you back to May when we were actually having one
of those all nighters voting on a bill, and it
was just down the street where two Israeli embassy staffers,
young people that were engaged to be married, were murdered
in cold blood. And then a month later, one of
my colleagues had a Congressional intern that was fatally shot

(05:58):
just a short distance from the White House. And then,
of course we all saw on the news just a
few days ago where Trump administration staffer was just beaten
by a violent mob, just thugs, and the President has
said enough is enough and it's time to step in
because the bottom line is, we've seen the left agenda

(06:19):
in our cities. They're sought on crime policies have left
Washington with really a violent crime rate that's higher than
some of the most dangerous third world countries. And I
just think the President did what he needed to do.
He has certainly been a president that has stood on
law and order. When he sees the situation that needs

(06:39):
a touch to step in. He did it in la
when we saw all the riots beginning, he sent the
National Guard in to step in and protect. They did
what they were sent there to do. They got the
job done, and I have no doubt that we're going
to see the same thing occur here in Washington to

(07:00):
bring things in order and listen, I think it's a
perfect place to start. The nation's capital ought to be
a role model for folks around the country to see.

Speaker 1 (07:10):
Speaking of Congressman Mark Cars for a couple more minutes
here on breaking with Brett Jensen. Congressman, you know, is
there anything that specifically that you'd like to say just
to the listening audience. It's not just the people in
your district about just whatever was whatever you want to
talk about, whether it's like what's going on in DC,
what bills are getting ready to come down the pipe,
or some more things that you witnessed in Israel, about

(07:31):
what you know, maybe the way you know people in
the EU are looking and condemning Israel, like just anything
in general that you'd like to discuss.

Speaker 2 (07:40):
Well, let me just say this because I've obviously had
about a ten hour flight back home last night and
really reflected on a number of the things that I
saw and I knew. One of the things I wanted
to share with people when I got back is folks
are asking because you watch the media and you watch
the news, and you can get a whole skewed view

(08:02):
of what's really happening over there. But after we spent
the time, you know, talking with the brother of the
young man who is a hostage who was used as
propaganda just last week when they they're starving him to
death and they put out that video and had him
digging his own grave and things like that, when you

(08:24):
spend time there and you see what's really happening and
having an opportunity to talk to the Gazi Humanitarian Fund
Initiative and realizing that President Trump played a key role
in launching this nonprofit and they're just getting started and
they've already delivered one hundred and ten million meals, They
secure their own supply chain, they've had zero percent of

(08:47):
their aid diverted, unlike the United Nations, which has been
a disaster and what they've been trying to do. And
AMAS is just running a misinformation campaign that has left
people just can fused and everything else. So I thought
about Brett, what would I want to say to folks

(09:07):
of how they can help civilians in Gaza, And I
would say this number one, stop echoing Hamas's own slogans
and educate yourself, really come to understand what has happened
over there, and that every point since the UN tried
to partition Palestine in nineteen forty seven, as the British

(09:28):
government gave up control, Israel as the one that's been
given up land for peace and Hamas refuses to even negotiate.
I would also say stop assuming that Hamas operates according
to the standards of Western democracies, because you're getting played
if you believe that, and I would also say stop

(09:48):
blaming Israel. I mean the six twenty nine am on
October seventh, four thousand rockets started to rain down. Six
thousand terrorists came by land, through tunnels, by sea, by air.
Paragliders started just butchering men, women, children, and old people
just indiscriminately. And it listen, it was tragic and we've

(10:11):
got to recognize that. And then fourthly, I would just
encourage people, if you learn more about the Gazi Humanitarian
Fund initiative, support it. You will support it if you
learn more about it. And as I've already mentioned, they've
they've already delivered one hundred and ten million meals. They
do it right. Samaritan's Purse, I believe, is also taking aid,

(10:32):
and I'm hearing reports that are recent shipment that the
UN again continues to do, may have been diverted stolen
by Hamas. That's the UN action. But learn more about
the Gazi Humanitarian Fund initiative, because I think it's going
to be a key, a key help if you really
want to make a difference in civilian lives there in Gaza.

Speaker 1 (10:52):
Well, Congressman Airas, again, I really do appreciate you coming
on tonight. And if I do decide to go to
Israel in about a month or two, I'll be reaching
out to you as a personal travel guy.

Speaker 2 (11:03):
Please, I will you reach out to me. I will
connect you the right people and you'll have the listen.
It'll be better than running with the bulls. Go there
and have the full experience, I promise you.

Speaker 1 (11:16):
Congressman, again, thank you so much, and welcome back. And
I'm glad you were able to enlighten me and our
audience about things going on in Israel. And again, thank
you so much, sir for joining us tonight.

Speaker 2 (11:26):
It's always a pleasure to be with you. Thanks so much,
Thank you, sir.

Speaker 1 (11:29):
That is Congressman Mark Harris, who again is just on
his way back from Israel. And it's pretty amazing. And
you hear a lot of things and not everything zacky.
Remember the Hamas was putting out all these things, or
these journals are putting out all these photos of starving
children and then found out, oh yeah, those were actually

(11:49):
babies in Italy. Yeah that wasn't Gaza. Remember that was
only like two weeks ago. Yeah, okay,