Speaker 1: And we are back with another edition of the Federalist
Radio Hour. I'm Matt Kittle, Senior Elections correspondent at the
Federalist and your experienced Shirpa on today's quest for Knowledge.
As always, you can email the show at radio at
the Federalist dot com, follow us on x at FDR LST,
make sure to subscribe wherever you download your podcast, and
of course to the premium version of our website as well.
Our guest today is Congressman Tom Tiffany, representing Wisconsin's fighting
seventh Congressional district and Republican candidate for governor the nation's
dairy land. We have much to discuss, shut down politics,
the Epstein files, the bluing of Wisconsin, and what's up
with those Green Bay packers. Congressman Tiffany, thank you so
much for joining us in this edition of the Federalist
Radio Hour.
Speaker 2: Matt happy to join you, and just for your listeners,
we go back aways, don't we, Matt. The lawfare that
is happening in the United States of America that people
have seen we experience in Wisconsin well over a decade
ago with the John Doe and we got a trial
run of what happened nationally in Wisconsin.
Speaker 3: A while back. Yeah, we sure did.
Speaker 1: Listeners of the show know that I have mentioned you
on many of an occasion when I have mentioned the
John Doe and I remember very distinctly talking to you
as President Trump was beginning his first term in office
in January of twenty seventeen, and you said, Matt, what
we have just seen with the John Doe investigations in
Wisconsin are about to be writ large nationwide, and I
want to start there because the weaponization of justice is
exactly what happened, but not just in Washington, d C.
Not just against federal Republicans members of Congress as we
know now being spied upon, and certainly the brage of
weaponization against President Trump. But it's back in Wisconsin again,
is it not.
Speaker 2: Yes, it is in a variety of ways. And I mean,
I'll let you tick off a few of them.
Speaker 1: Yeah, definitely so. But I think the one that comes
to mind is the very leftist Attorney General Josh Call
for the state of Wisconsin, a guy who used to
work in circles with Mark Elias. The Democrat fixer, as
they call him, is lawfare tactics. But Josh Call as
you well know, is still holding on very stubbornly to
what I believe is an extremely abusive investigation against attorneys
who represented President Trump trying to protect his legal position
following some very suspect things that happened in the twenty
twenty election. And now you have a great legal mind
and just an excellent person in Jim Troops, former Dane
County judge who served as an attorney. He is involved.
He is the subject of this hideous, politically driven witch hunt.
Where have we seen this movie before?
Speaker 3: Tom, Yeah, without Adell. And that case.
Speaker 2: Came to light in twenty twenty four, and it was
clearly done for political purposes, right. They wanted to highlight
something from twenty twenty and try to project that onto
the twenty twenty four elections to diminish President Trump. It
was all about defeating President Trump in Wisconsin, and of
course they failed at it. But they also did other
things besides the most high profile one of going after
attorney Jim troopis they went after the mayor of Warsaw
who removed an illegally situated ballot dropbox that was out
in front of city that was sitting out in front
of city Hall, and he has made it into a
major case which has been completely unnecessary. And so when
you talk about people creating chaos the attorney general in Wisconsin,
he's pretty good at it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he wants another term too. I hope the people
of Wisconsin think hard about his previous two terms and
what he's doing right now with the weaponization of justice
as they go to the polls.
Speaker 2: And by the way, twenty twenty six, yeah, yeah, And
by the way, Matt, I mean, this is the same
guy who ran back in twenty eighteen saying that there
was this terrific backlog of rape kid cases that were
not completed and may have won the election on that issue,
and he's actually made it worse. He's not solved it.
So while he's off on these witch hunts with the
mayor of Warsaw or Jim troopis he hasn't solved the
problem that he ran on back in twenty eighteen.
Speaker 1: Isn't it interesting Democrats promising to make things better and
then making them dramatically worse. The dumpster fires of cities
we've seen across this country led by the left, places
like Milwaukee, places like Chicago and Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland.
The list goes on and on and on. As we
take a look at the state of things in Washington,
d C. Today, I wanted to ask you about shut
down politics. There is no doubt Americans clearly understand that
the Democrats were responsible for the longest shutdown in American history.
All of that said, do you think you think voters
will remember that come the twenty twenty sixth election.
Speaker 3: It's a really good question.
Speaker 2: I mean, when you have almost half the voters of
in this country who get their news from sources that
do not give them the facts, that played purely on
politics and personality rather than the policy that.
Speaker 3: Is best for the American people.
Speaker 2: You know, we're always skeptical whether we're going to be
able to break through with the truth because we have
to pay for it. The Democrats get it on the
nightly news every night for free. And so yeah, there's
a whole lot of work that we're going to have
to do in regards to that. But I think people
understand to a certain extent that Democrats caused this. I mean,
I voted to keep the government open in September, I
voted in November to keep the government open, and so
we did our job. What I'm hoping is the silver
lining that came out of this. Chuck Schumber used the
predicate of the Obamacare subsidies as the reason to shut down, right,
he said, we have to have a bill passed in
regards to Obamacare subsidies in order for us to open
the government. And to the credit of our leadership, and
I give Speaker Mike Johnson and Majority Leader John Thune,
I give a lot of credit through this. They did
the right thing, and they stood firm, and I think
ultimately this is going to redound it to our favor
and more importantly, to the American people's favor. But this
highlighted the failures of Obamacare, that it has not reduced
the cost of health care. In fact, for a family
of four, it's up about ten thousand dollars in the
last fifteen years as a result of Obama's Cares failure.
Speaker 3: You're going to be able to keep your doctor.
Speaker 2: I hear all the time from friends, relatives, and constituents that, boy,
we have to wait longer and longer in order to
get an appointment with our doctor. So it's clear after
fifteen years it's failed, and we're going to get an
opportunity to make it better. And I think them highlighting
them being the Democrats highlighting the failures of Obamacare actually
could be a good thing for the country as a whole.
Speaker 1: Oh, it seems to have backfired on them to a
great extent. Obviously they didn't get what they wanted. They
wanted to die on the hill of giving a half
trillion dollars of Obamacare subsidies to people who were earning
you know, a high middle income level. You know, people
who certainly could afford insurance. This is all based on,
you know, the emergency that they created with the whole
COVID situation. And I don't know too many people who
think we should still have COVID assistance years after the
COVID emergency has passed. Do you think that that issue
translated with the American people.
Speaker 3: Yeah, when it's been delivered one.
Speaker 2: This was supposed to be the additional the enhanced subsidies
came about during COVID.
Speaker 3: So COVID's over.
Speaker 2: Why would we continue these enhanced subsidies and why would
we continue enhance subsidies when they're going to people who
in some cases make five hundred thousand dollars a year.
Why in the world would you the taxpayer want to
or have to subsidize somebody like that.
Speaker 1: Or to illegal immigrants, which is another issue.
Speaker 2: And then you have the illegal immigrants that were getting this.
So it is clear that what they were trying to
do is bring system down and simply by simply by
breaking it. But they also did the thing where or
the fix to this, Matt is one of the keys
is to get to what they call enhance benefits. And
the enhanced benefits are what are driving the cost of
health insurance at this point. So you got the health
insurance companies that are getting tens of billions of dollars
of subsidies.
Speaker 3: Remember the same Democrats that.
Speaker 2: Routinely at campaign time rip on the health insurance companies,
they're bailing them out. At this point, they're enriching the
health insurance companies while you have to pay more for
your health insurance. We can fix that by getting rid
of many of the mandates. For example, a pregnancy coverage
is mandated in any Obamacare policy. Well, if you're a
twenty five year old male, why in the world would
you need pregnancy coverage, Or if you're a sixty five
year old female. Why would you need that you don't?
And what it does is it drives up the cost
of health insurance with these mandates, let's stop with that.
We've experienced high cost health insurance and high cost healthcare
with Obamacare. How about if we try low cost health care.
Speaker 1: For a change, that would be nice. I mean, that's
a big issue in the big affordability question. That seemed
to be what was on the minds at least we
see in a sample of the election earlier this month
in New Jersey and in Virginia. By the way, are
you at all concerned about the results from those deep
blue states and how they may portend what happens in
twenty six midterms?
Speaker 2: You know, every election is an individual election. And are
we concerned. We're always concerned, especially in Wisconsin. We are
always we have really tight races, so always concerned. But
we're going to have an opportunity in twenty twenty six
to be able to win, especially if we paint the
race with clear contrasts, because we see the Democrats and
where they stand and with their march towards socialism. If
we paint the clear contrast with them, we will be
able to win the election.
Speaker 1: Speaking of things that have backfired on Democrats, the shutdown
being one of them, I think this Epstein file cause
celeb will be turn out to be and already has
a detriment to Democrats who have pushed this now, when
of course they did not push the release of these
files during an opportunity which they had. The Justice Department
under Joe Biden had four years to do this. In fact,
you mentioned that as you voted for the release of
the Epstein files through the Transparency Act, you said, regardless
of the issue, the American people deserve full transparency. Only
through complete transparency can we restore trust in institutions. For
years under President Biden, Democrats kept these files sealed, and
today I voted to release the Epstein files and give
the American people the sunlight they deserve. With all of
that said, where do you think this whole thing lands?
Because you know, you have both Houses of Congress that
have now voted for this.
Speaker 3: What's next?
Speaker 2: If I have to predict, the information is going to
continue to come out that has been coming out, and
I believe it's going to go away because it's not
going to go in the Democrats favor. I mean, remember
Epstein gave almost all of his political donations to Democrats.
There's a reason for that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And so.
Speaker 2: The Democrats tried to turn this on President Trump, and
to a certain extent, they were a little bit successful.
Speaker 3: In doing it.
Speaker 2: But we're going to find out that Democrats are deeply embroiled.
I mean, look at Representative Plasket. I mean, we're going
to find that they were the ones that were deeply
embroiled in this. And consequently, I think you're going to
see it become an afterthought in the not too distant future.
Speaker 1: Old Larry certainly regretting the release of the files. Larry Summers,
of course.
Speaker 2: Yeah, But Matt, Matt doesn't this highlight the American people
have always been suspicious of Washington, DC and just all
the stuff that goes on out here, you know, the swamp,
and I found that it's deeper and wider than even
what I expected. This confirms for the American people that
there's something seriously wrong out here. And that is why
I fight every day, First of all, for transparency. Like
you said, give the people information. I don't care who
it affects, whatever, whoever was involved, just put the information
out there. Let the American people see it. But it's
also why we have to take power away from Washington,
DC and return it to states and local governments, because
when Washington has too much power, it does it does
not serve the interests of the American people.
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Speaker 4: Check out the Watch Dot on Wall Street podcast with
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Speaker 1: Our guest today is Congressman Tom Tiffany, representing Wisconsin's fighting
seventh Congressional district and Republican candidate for governor of the
nation's dairy land. All of that said, transparency, well, let's
face it, there was no transparency for years, and what
happened in the weaponization of justice nationally as we talked
about before. What the Biden Justice Department and their henchmen
have done to justice is absolutely and excusable. We're learning
more and more about things like arctic frost. We know
more and more about the Russia collusion hoax, all of
this stuff that we have seen play out over the
last several years. We're getting much more information. And part
of that is the Judiciary Committee. You serve on the
Juditiary Committee, what do you think about what has been
released so far and where do you see all of
that going.
Speaker 2: Well, this will be up to the Department of Justice.
Now that we've passed this bill, they have a timeline.
I believe that they have to release all the information,
and I think that's important to do that. And by
the way, they should protect a victim because there were
quite a few victims in this old Epstein scenario, and
so it's important that they are protected. But otherwise just
provide it for the American people. We'll be following through
it as the Judiciary Committee if there is any stonewalling,
if there's any delays, and we will try to get
that information out because it is important to provide it
to the American people. But I'm really encouraged with what
the Department Justice and the FBI in particular has been
doing here.
Speaker 3: To take.
Speaker 2: Significant assets that the FBI has that they've been deploying
in Washington, d C. And they're putting them out in
the rest of America. So you had people like James
Comey who are consolidating power in Washington, D C. Turning
this into almost a praetorian guard for President Biden, and
Director Patel is now saying we are here to fight
crime around America, and I believe he's redeployed thousands of
FBI staff outside of Washington, d C. Now as it
should be.
Speaker 1: Do you think there will ever be any accountability for
the James Comers of the world, the John Brennan's, the
Jim Clappers, all of the deep staters who quite frankly,
were involved in a soft coup of an administration for.
Speaker 2: Years, Probably the greatest concern of conservatives is that they
are not going to be held to account criminally for
what they did. I hope that happens, you know, our
experience is that it's probably not going to. I mean,
look at Hillary Clinton and what she did in breaking
the law and was really never held fully to account.
But there is also the thing of basically being shamed
of having your work as a career law enforcement person
like James Comy, having it be discredited in such a
fashion that may be the harshest That may be the
harshest penalty that can be given to them, is that
they end up discredited in the history books. And if
that happens, then I believe there is some justice because
I mentioned Hillary Clinton earlier and people, my conservative friends
will say to me, she was never held to account
for what she did in breaking the law, And I
just say to them, you could not have put a
harsher penalty on Hillary Clinton than her losing the twenty
sixteen election to Donald Trump.
Speaker 3: She will go to her.
Speaker 2: Grave living with deep regret that she was not able
to win the presidency. And part of the reason she
didn't is because people knew they could not trust her.
Speaker 3: She was a little bitter about that, wasn't She still
is a little bitter.
Speaker 1: Well, with all of that said, I point to something
you'd mentioned at the outset of the conversation, something you
and I had talked about many, many years ago. Gosh,
it's hard to believe that coming up on fifteen plus
years that we saw in Wisconsin the infamous John Doe investigations.
And for those who are not familiar with what happened
in well early from twenty ten through twenty thirteen or
twenty fourteen, you had a basically a star Chamber, a
prosecutors far left prosecutors in Milwaukee and Dane County, a
prosecution that was partnered with aureocracy called the Government Accountability
Borthhouse Orwellian is that they weren't holding government accountable. In fact,
they were conducting an investigation that involved raids, early morning
raids on people's homes, the confiscation of millions of documents,
private possessions, all targeting conservatives that at the time were
allies of then Governor Scott Walker. I bring all of
this up because while the State Supreme Court did ultimately
find this investigation unconstitutional and a perfect storm of wrongs
committed against a number of Wisconsin residents, nobody was really
ever held accountable for that. As you well know now,
you helped change the John Doe law in that case,
and I know your colleague in the Assembly at that time,
Dave Craig and others were doing much to get rid
of the government accountability board. But in many cases, what
we've seen in Wisconsin is meet the new boss, same
as the old boss. You've been down this road before,
So accountability it is kind of hard to come by,
isn't it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure, that was a true weaponization of justice
when they went after conservatives who were just practicing their
First Amendment rights of free speech, and they came in
and raided their homes and terrorized their children with pre
dawned swat raids. And it was a sad chapter in
Wisconsin political history. Hopefully we will never see it again.
It is the one regret that I have is that
a couple of the leaders of that process, not unlike
James Comy and Brennan and others who weaponized justice, that
they were not held fully account fully to account. But
at least we got the law change so it cannot
be used in the same way again.
Speaker 1: Wisconsin is still a swing state, obviously a very important
swing state. Has it proved to be in twenty twenty four,
But it has bleed quite a bit. I think it's
still purple, but you know, there has been a certainly
a dynamic shift. You are running for governor, and boy,
my goodness, I'm looking at some of the press releases.
The Democratic Party of Wisconsin sure is interested in you
and all that you're doing these days. That must mean
something about this. But as you run for governor, how
do you bring back conservative leadership to Madison, which, of
course is just one of the most Marxist far left
cities in the country. It happens to also be the
capital of Wisconsin. Wisconsin common sense values. I'm a lifelong
resident of Wisconsin. I'm just an average Wisconsin guy. And
that's a message we're going to deliver, is that we
are not crazy. We do not believe that there should
be sanctuary cities in Wisconsin. We don't think we should
have the highest energy prices, which we're headed towards in
the Upper Midwest. We do not believe that our education
system should be failing as it is currently with only
one in three fourth graders being able to read at
grade level. We do not think we should be in
the bottom ten states that for job creation because of
the incredible amount of We're a high tax state, but
we're also a highly regulated state, and so people know
these things are wrong with our state. It's just providing
a vision.
Speaker 2: For the people of state of Wisconsin that we can
do so much better because we have a choice in
twenty twenty six. Are we going to be the woken
broke like Minnesota and Illinois? Is that who we want
to become Minnesota and Illinois? Or do we want to
be one of the prosperous states of America, Because that's
the choice states are making at this point. I choose
freedom opportunity, which leads to prosperity. And I think that
vision is going to carry the day because I'm going
to provide the leadership that will bring real results for
the people of the state of Wisconsin with our in
line with our common sense values. And I think that's
what people are looking for and I can't wait to
deliver the message through this campaign.
Speaker 1: Well, there's a national story coming out of Wisconsin I
think is important for all states. And you have commented
on this. You've raised some deep concerns about what's happening
in the public education sector, particularly as it relates to
teachers who have been convicted of sexual assaults on children,
on students and convicted of grooming students for those sexual abuses.
So many of those teachers, according to great investigative work
I'll tip my hat to the Liberal Capital Times. They
did a great job and uncovering the story and looking
at the documents involved. But this is very concerning because ultimately,
at the end of the day, what the Department of
Public Instruction has done has been to allow these teachers
who have been involved in these crimes against children to
continue to teach. There's a question of accountability there. But
yet every four years you get the voters of Wisconsin
putting back these union liberal interest politicians running the Department
of Public Instruction. As governor, what would you do to
change what is happening at that institution.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So what's really unusual in Wisconsin is the head
of the Department of Public Instruction, basically the Secretary of Education,
is a constitutional officer, so they get elected on the
statewide ballot and it's given them a lot of authority.
But I think where the ability to get reform is
with the state budget, because the state budget does lie
with the legislature and the governor, and I think that's
where you get the accountability, where you say, if you're
going to teach DEI, you're not going to get more
money if you're not going to set higher standards and
give parents honest report cards.
Speaker 3: We're not going to give you more money. Now.
Speaker 2: We are going to give money or more money to
good teachers in the classroom that are doing a good job.
We're going to give more money to those schools that
have administrators that are going to uphold the highest standards
and are going to educate, not in doctrinate children. We're
going to give them more money. But we have to
have accountability. And that's going to be the key thing
that I will emphasize is we're going to have accountability
to the voters, and then you're going to get more
money when you get results for the people of the
state of Wisconsin.
Speaker 1: Final question for you, what's going on with the Green
Bay Packers? Can any of it be solved by a
cold lining googles.
Speaker 3: Go pack goal?
Speaker 2: And you know, it's just it's the middle of the season.
Speaker 3: I mean, you want to peek at the end.
Speaker 2: And Christian Watson certainly gave us some high highlight reel
plays last weekend. If he can continue at that level
giving Jordan Love that type of target, the Packers will
have a real shot because clearly their defense is improved
this year. We get some offense, and we could be
dangerous in the playoffs.
Speaker 1: He knows it all in Wisconsin, Tom Tiffany, who's been
doing it for a long time as a state senator
there for a long time, a congressman from the seventh
Congressional District, and now a candidate for governor for the
Badger's state. Sarah, thank you so much for joining us.
I do appreciate the perspective from the heartland.
Speaker 3: Matt. It's always good to join you and keep up
the good work at the Federalist. Thank you.
Speaker 1: Thanks to our guest today, Congressman Tom Tiffany from Wisconsin's
fighting seventh Congressional District. You've been listening to another edition
of the Federalist Radio Hour. I'm Matt Kittles, Senior Elections
correspondent at the Federalist. We'll be back soon with more.
Until then, stay lovers of freedom. I'm anxious for the fray.
Speaker 3: I hearn the fame, boy the reason, and then it
faded away.