Speaker 1: Feel free to text in at five six six nine zero.
Speaker 1: We've been having some awesome dialogue here. Well, I'm so
Speaker 1: honored to introduce our guests joining us today from DC
Speaker 1: Congressman Jeff Crank from Colora's fifth Congressional district. Jeff, thank
Speaker 1: you so much for joining us today. I appreciate it.
Speaker 2: Debra, It's great to be with you. You're doing an
Speaker 2: awesome jeffassen for.
Speaker 3: A little bit, of course, I would expect nothing less
Speaker 3: from you.
Speaker 1: Well, thank you, sir. Coming from someone else who has
Speaker 1: been on the radio a fair amount, I take that
Speaker 1: as a compliment. It was great to see you in
Speaker 1: Firson last week in DC, and thanks for joining us today.
Speaker 1: There's so much going on and I just want to
Speaker 1: jump right into it. I appreciate you, know, your leadership
Speaker 1: both in our state and in our country. And you
Speaker 1: posted something on X on Twitter that I think a
Speaker 1: lot of people need to know, and it was about
Speaker 1: the Boulder terrorist suspect Mohammed Sabrey Sulomon and about what
Speaker 1: happens in states like Colorado where they're is a bit
Speaker 1: of leeway, shall we say, with those who may not
Speaker 1: be here legally. Can you talk about what happened versus
Speaker 1: his visa and a driver's license.
Speaker 3: Yeah, sure, Debra.
Speaker 2: So the assailant was here on.
Speaker 3: A visa, had a visa here to be in the
Speaker 3: United States, that visa expired, and then after it expired,
Speaker 3: over a year after it expired, the state of Colorado
Speaker 3: gave him a driver's license right and issued him a
Speaker 3: driver's license. In addition to that, we now know that
Speaker 3: he tried to buy a handgun, and both the police.
Speaker 2: Colorado Beer of Investigation and.
Speaker 3: The FBI under Joe Biden.
Speaker 2: Knew that he was not a citizen because he has.
Speaker 3: Denied the purchase of a handgun. But they didn't do
Speaker 3: anything with that information. They just said, oh, great, well
Speaker 3: we can't give him a gun. But they could have
Speaker 3: taken that information and given it to Ice.
Speaker 2: Ice could have gone and got this guy and deported him,
Speaker 2: and this whole thing never would have happened.
Speaker 3: He wouldn't had the opportunity to do this. So that's
Speaker 3: the real crime of it. And you know the problem
Speaker 3: with this is it's a breakdown of the rule of
Speaker 3: law when governments don't work together.
Speaker 2: And the example I use I just I love.
Speaker 3: Going on ride a launch with our law enforcement, and
Speaker 3: some with the Colora Springs Police Department, some with the
Speaker 3: Alpaco County Sheriff's office. And you know, when I'm out
Speaker 3: there with them, they're going along and they see someone
Speaker 3: and they pull them over for an expired.
Speaker 2: Tag, him a ticket. And the reason they're doing.
Speaker 3: That is because the State of Colorado.
Speaker 2: Needs their money. So, you know, I sort of asked
Speaker 2: the question toy in Chek, I guess what would happen
Speaker 2: if to the State.
Speaker 3: Of Colorado, which doesn't seem to want to.
Speaker 2: Work with our local law.
Speaker 3: Enforcement and certainly doesn't want to work with ice.
Speaker 2: What would happen if the El Paso.
Speaker 3: County sheriff for the Douglas County sheriff or whatever sheriff's
Speaker 3: office just decided, you know what, we don't want to
Speaker 3: do that anymore. We're not the tax collectors for the
Speaker 3: state of Colorado. We're just not going to do it.
Speaker 3: They wouldn't get their money, and government collapses, right, And
Speaker 3: that's what happens when we have these sanctuary communities. I
Speaker 3: think they know immigration better than the federal government, and
Speaker 3: you know, I think the American people expect better than
Speaker 3: that from their government.
Speaker 1: Well, and we started the entire show talking about what
Speaker 1: is a civilization If we do not have a set
Speaker 1: of laws and a structure that define who we are,
Speaker 1: what our values are. We've got I think the best
Speaker 1: guidelines in the United States of America of any country.
Speaker 1: I do believe that. But the minute we begin.
Speaker 4: To selectively choose which laws we follow and which ones
Speaker 4: we don't, which ones are government enforces and which one
Speaker 4: it doesn't that this is what happens and how Colorado
Speaker 4: goes from one.
Speaker 1: Of the safest states to being I think it is
Speaker 1: the most violent amongst the most populated cities in America,
Speaker 1: higher now than Chicago under these different policies that are
Speaker 1: going on. You know, Jeff, I know, I know that
Speaker 1: it's divided, to say the least in the House of
Speaker 1: Representatives and in DC. But there's something I would have
Speaker 1: thought everybody could have agreed to. And Representative Gabe Evans
Speaker 1: of Color's a new eighth Congressional District introduced a resolution
Speaker 1: condemning the Boulder attack, and one hundred and thirteen Democrats
Speaker 1: voted against it simply because it outlined what you just shared,
Speaker 1: that this individual was here illegally and if he'd been arrested.
Speaker 1: This never would have happened. Talk about that for a moment.
Speaker 1: First of all, good for Gabe for doing that, Congressman Evans,
Speaker 1: but what is the justifiation. What are conversations that you
Speaker 1: have with with those on the other side of the
Speaker 1: aisle about things like just condemning the Boulder attack.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, yeah, I thought it was shameful, you know
Speaker 3: that we even had this, had this fight and this
Speaker 3: discussion on the House floor. There were at least three
Speaker 3: resolutions that were presented. I was a co sponsor of
Speaker 3: the one that Gave Evans introduced, Yeah, you bet, and of.
Speaker 2: Course I supported it as well, and.
Speaker 3: It condemned the anti Semitic attack, and then it also
Speaker 3: talked about the importance of local law enforcement working with
Speaker 3: the federal government and others to coordinate our response.
Speaker 2: And then the last thing it said was that.
Speaker 3: You know, it was it's important that Colorado's understand that
Speaker 3: we're working together, the governments, working together to solve this problem.
Speaker 3: That's essentially what the resolution said.
Speaker 2: I don't know how.
Speaker 3: Anybody could vote against that, but there are some who
Speaker 3: wanted it to not include anything about the sanctuary Polly's
Speaker 3: policies of the state. It didn't say Colorado was a
Speaker 3: sanctuary state. It just said that, you know, Colorado hasn't
Speaker 3: been working with immigration on.
Speaker 2: Some of these things.
Speaker 3: So this kind of turned into a little bit of
Speaker 3: a floor fight. But at the end of the day,
Speaker 3: Jonah Goose had a separate resolution that he wanted to
Speaker 3: vote on. I actually co sponsored his great resolution too.
Speaker 2: And I did because his resolution.
Speaker 3: Called out how terrible that anti Semitic Hateful Act was.
Speaker 2: It's just that Gabes went a little farther because it also.
Speaker 3: Talked about the aspect of working governments working together. I
Speaker 3: co sponsored both of them. Had Jonah Goose has been
Speaker 3: on the floor, I would have voted for it, but
Speaker 3: many Democrats decided to not vote for Gabe Evans. Now,
Speaker 3: I will give Jonah Goose credit. He did end up
Speaker 3: voting for the resolution that Gabe put out there. All
Speaker 3: of the Republicans did who were there.
Speaker 2: And then jo Nah Goose, But then we had, you know, Diana.
Speaker 3: To get Britney Patterson, Jason Crowe all decided to not
Speaker 3: support that.
Speaker 2: I don't understand it.
Speaker 1: I don't either, because, particularly when you add the element
Speaker 1: of the fact that the perpetrator, the terrorists basically who
Speaker 1: did the horrible attack and Boulder could have been stopped.
Speaker 1: I mean, as you said, Colorado and the CBI and
Speaker 1: the FBI both knew he was here illegally, which is
Speaker 1: why he didn't get a gun. But it isn't just
Speaker 1: this instance if we don't call out the cause. It's
Speaker 1: not just what happened in Boulder, which was horrific, it's
Speaker 1: also Lake and Riley. So yes, it's good to call
Speaker 1: it the nearly nine hundred percent increase in anti Semitism,
Speaker 1: but we've also got to call out that there are
Speaker 1: many who were whose murders could have been prevented. To
Speaker 1: say the least, thank you for your leadership on that
Speaker 1: something I want to up in a good positive way
Speaker 1: because obviously in your district, and if you're just tuning in,
Speaker 1: this is Deborah Flora sitting in from Mandy Connell. My
Speaker 1: guest is Congressman Jeff Crank of Colorado's fifth Congressional district.
Speaker 1: The Air Force Academy is in your district. My dad
Speaker 1: served in the Air Force, and I actually, at twelve
Speaker 1: years old, got to watch walk down the aisle of
Speaker 1: the Air Force Academy Chapel as my sister married a
Speaker 1: graduated cadet. But one of the things that's really positive,
Speaker 1: and you serve on the House Armed Services Committee, there's
Speaker 1: record enlistment happening over the last few years. Under the
Speaker 1: previous administration, there was a challenge meeting any limits. The Army,
Speaker 1: for instance, has already met its recruiting goal of sixty
Speaker 1: one thousand four months early. Can you talk about what
Speaker 1: you see is this change in the military culture, because
Speaker 1: I think it's a positive thing for our country.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it really is. It's very heartening to see.
Speaker 2: You know, obviously, when you have and I'll be honest,
Speaker 2: I think we've.
Speaker 3: Had an administration for four years.
Speaker 2: Prior that really blamed America. It was kind of the
Speaker 2: blame America first crowd that was running the show. And
Speaker 2: when you do that, there's not a lot of pride
Speaker 2: to run out and join the military and go fight
Speaker 2: what to be blamed for all of the world's ills,
Speaker 2: you know. And this is one of the great things
Speaker 2: we saw we saw when Ronald Reagan got elected, right,
Speaker 2: we saw this resurgence of patriotism.
Speaker 3: And you know, this is a debate we have in
Speaker 3: our country. I believe in American exceptionalism. I know you
Speaker 3: do as well. And I think most people take for
Speaker 3: granted what we have in the United States and how
Speaker 3: great we have it here. We didn't take it for
Speaker 3: granted because we live in the greatest country in the world.
Speaker 3: We have all these freedoms and liberties and we don't
Speaker 3: even think about them. But I think sometimes we have
Speaker 3: you know, as with President Trump coming in, it is
Speaker 3: you know, I know people sometimes on the left get
Speaker 3: triggered by the phrase, you know, America First or make
Speaker 3: America great again. I think most Americans understand what that means. Yeah,
Speaker 3: America is a great country. We're great because we have
Speaker 3: the Constitution, we have the Bill of Rights that protect them,
Speaker 3: and we ought to be helping export that to the world.
Speaker 3: America is not a bad thing, it's a good thing,
Speaker 3: and I think people are signing up for the military
Speaker 3: because they want to be a.
Speaker 2: Part of that.
Speaker 1: I agree, I agree, and I'm really glad to see that,
Speaker 1: particularly with the instability we're seeing in the world right now. Well,
Speaker 1: unfortunately have a limited time today, Congressman, but thank you
Speaker 1: so much for joining in. And this will just be
Speaker 1: the first of many times we'll hopefully get to do
Speaker 1: this again. Thank you for all you're doing. I greatly
Speaker 1: appreciate it.
Speaker 3: Debra, it was great seeing you last week, and thanks
Speaker 3: for all you're doing in Colorado. And we'll talk to
Speaker 3: you soon.
Speaker 1: That sounds great. Thanks so much. I appreciate it. Well,
Speaker 1: that was my guest, Congressman Jeff Crank. Were heading through
Speaker 1: a break. When we come back, I got a question
Speaker 1: for you, and that I'm gonna tell you. Why how
Speaker 1: do you take your coffee? Some good news for you.
Speaker 1: Ahead five six six nine zero. How do you take
Speaker 1: your coffee? If you drink coffee, I do up. We'll
Speaker 1: be right back. I'm Debborah Flora, sitting in for Mandy Connell,