Congress STRIKES BACK against Trump amid BALLOT SEIZURE

I'm joined now by the ranking member of. the House Intelligence Committee, Jim. Heims. Thanks so much for joining me. >> Great to be with you, Brian. >> So, Congressman, we watched as the FBI. executed a search warrant to seize. ballots from the 2020 election in. Atlanta. Uh, curiously, Tulsi Gabber, the director of national intelligence. was there. First and foremost, can you. give us some indication of what Congress. is doing to get some answers on this, recognizing that the administration. isn't willing to give any? >> Yeah. Yeah. Uh let's start why this is. such a big deal because you know the. deputy attorney general of course uh you. know his his his approach to when asked.

was uh well nothing to see here folks. this is just normal course of business. It is anything but normal course of. business. There is a very bright line uh. between the intelligence community which. has massive uh surveillance power, operational capabilities, you know, guys. with guns. Um there there is a very. bright line between what they do uh and. the borders of the United States. um and. the participation of a very high-profile.

the director of national intelligence uh. uh IC individual in a bizarre law. enforcement action um is I'm not going. to say unprecedented because there is. the narrowest of areas where there there. there might be a role for the. intelligence community but a very high. high-profile figure um is a very very. big deal and so you asked what do we do. about it the moment this broke and. needless to say nobody in the. intelligence community felt like they. had to inform uh either the chairman of. the ranking member of the Senate and the. House Intelligence Committee. But the.

moment we learned about it, we wrote a. letter and, you know, demanding answers. on this issue. Now, you know, I suspect. I know the answer, right? Um, Tulsi. Gabbard has watched in the last 3 months. as the administration of which she is a. part has done everything that she spent. a lifetime despising in terms of. intervention abroad. And of course, the. Oval Office knows that. And so, she was. sidelined. Not a single presentation in. which Tulsi Gabbard was present. That's. an existential threat to Tulsi Gabbard's. uh uh uh self-image, right? Uh and so I.

think this is partly an effort to get. back on the president's good side. because we know that this president will. be very very happy to mess in an. election uh if it go if it doesn't go. his way. Um but it is also just a. remarkable showing of disdain for this. bright line between the actions of the. intelligence community and law. enforcement actions. In terms of. actually getting some answers here, I. would presume there needs to be some. degree of buyin from your Republican. counterpart, the chairman of the House. Intelligence Committee, does it does it.

seem based on your your interactions. with them that there's any interest from. your Republican colleagues to get some. answers on this issue? Look, I I mean. you you know you you see the same thing. that I see, which is that there is no. limit to the rationalizations. uh which Republicans will uh employ to. avoid having. >> conversations or doing things that might. piss off Donald Trump, right? So, you. know, there'll be some story, and I.

haven't spoken to either Tom Cotton uh. or Rick Crawford, but there'll be some. story that is consistent with what the. deputy attorney general said, like, "Oh, well, we didn't know. We didn't see it. I don't know what the facts are." You. know, if this, of course, had been Joe. Biden's uh director of national. intelligence, Ael Lev, um uh you know, Ael Haynes, uh you know, uh we would. have already seen articles of. impeachment. the building would be. burning and you know right-wing media. would be going out of their minds over. the fascist takeover of the United.

States. So look, that's the reality in. which I work. But we're um we're going. to get to the bottom of this. >> You had mentioned uh the deputy attorney. general Todd Blanch earlier. He was. actually asked about this issue and he. was asked to explain Tulsi Gabbard's. role in DOJ activity given that she's. not in the DOJ. She's the director of. national intelligence. I'm going to. throw to a clip right now of of how Todd. Blanch responded to that question. Could. you please explain Tulsi Gabard's role. in DOJ activity regarding the Fulton. County search? >> What do you mean her role?

>> Uh, it was reported that. >> she was she happened to be present in. Atlanta. I mean, yes, I'm I I saw the same photos. you did. I mean, she's not she doesn't. work for the Department of Justice or. the FBI. She's an extraordinarily. important part of this administration. Um, this administration coordinates um. everything we do um as a group. And so I. think her presence shouldn't be um there. shouldn't be questioned of course and. that's that's a big part of her of her. job. And so the fact that she was um.

present in Atlanta that day um you know. is is is something that shouldn't. surprise anybody. >> Okay. So that was the deputy attorney. general saying that Tulsi Gabber just so. happened to be present in Atlanta. because who among us doesn't just find. ourselves in the middle of an FBI search. warrant being executed. Can I have your. reaction to that statement from Todd. Blanch? >> Yeah, I mean it's just absurd, right? I. mean, I I I think Todd Blanch is a. lawyer, right? I mean, it used to be. that if you were the number two at the. Justice Department, you probably had.

some legal understanding. So Todd Blanch. understands what is involved when uh an. enormously powerful entity, a spy. entity, the intelligence community, uh. is operating inside the US and how. completely unacceptable that is. Um, you. know, again, the fact that he sort of. fidabbed it, nothing to see here, you. know, suggested to me that he wasn't. going to be the one, you just asked me. about Republicans, he wasn't going to be. the one to say, "Yeah, that's a good. question. We ought to we ought to look. into that." Um, and uh, but but but it's. not just, let's let's back up a second.

here. Um, the intelligence community. does have a role in sussing out foreign. interference in our elections. Now, by. the way, the Trump administration is. completely opposed to that notion. because they're so allergic to the fact. that Russia intervened twice to try to. elect Donald Trump. Uh, three times. actually, twice successfully. Um, so, you know, we've seen people who do. election integrity work, who monitor. elections, who look for foreign efforts. to uh alter our elections, fired,

sidelined, taken out of the equation. But nonetheless, if you were going to. give the uh benefit of the doubt to this. administration, which you are not going. to do because we know that Donald Trump. will pull out all the stops to alter the. results of elections that he doesn't. like, you would say, well, maybe Telsey. Gabbard and the uh and the intelligence. community was looking for foreign. interference. Well, you know, if you. were doing that, um you know, you'd be. doing cyber work. You'd be talking about. intelligence collection. You'd be. talking to the NSA. You would not be. physically showing up in Fulton County,

Georgia. Is there some concern that by virtue of. bringing Tulsi Gabbard in and trying to. kind of shoehorn this idea that this is. part of some broader international. criminal conspiracy? I mean, Trump. himself had amplified a tweet or a post. on Truth Social. And and I'm going to. read a little bit of it to give you an. idea of of, you know, the the mental. gymnastics that they're jumping through. to try and to try and manifest this into. reality. Maria Zach testified about the. stolen 2020 election operation connected. to Obama when he diverted $400 million.

from the infamous pallets of cash sent. to Iran, funneling through the Dubai. embassy to operatives in Italy and Meil. Lynch in Geneva, Switzerland. In return, Italian officials at Leonardo spa use. military satellites to help hack US. voting machines, flipping votes from. Trump to Biden using CIA developed tools. like Hammer and Scorecard along with. numer numerous other methods of fraud. and manipulation. goes on to invoke. China, the CIA, the FBI, Joe Biden. So, this is the kind of stuff that they're. dealing with. And that was amplified not.

by some underling or lackey. That was. amplified by Donald Trump himself, the. president of the United States. And so. is there some concern that that Tulsi. Gabbard being there is an effort to. shoehorn into into reality this idea. that um there was some foreign. interference to try and and prove. election, you know, that that the. election was rigged in 2020. All so that. as we head toward 2026, they can say, "Well, look, we were right about the. election being rigged in 2020." And so.

now recognizing all of this crime that's. happening right under our noses that was. hidden by Joe Biden and the and the. communist Marxist Democrats, we have to. take extraordinary steps to really. secure our elections. And that means we. got to send the military and that means. we need to seize voting machines. So all. basically using this as a pretext to be. able to to um you know engage in these. voter suppression efforts or or efforts. to undermine our elections. >> Yeah. I mean ex exactly right. Right. I.

mean, all that was missing from that. post was, you know, Elvis coming back. from the dead to bring back Richard. Nixon or I mean, you know, just the. sheer insanity uh of the conspiracy. theories. And that was like 15. conspiracy theories wrapped up in one. Um, and remember, none of these. conspiracy theories turned out to be. anywhere close to accurate. In fact, some of the stuff that wasn't even crazy. didn't turn out to be accurate. the 60. attempts, you know, lawsuits that. Giuliani and his merry band of lunatics.

brought, every single one of them turned. back. So, um, what worries me here, and. you put your finger on it, is that, you. know, what the Trump administration does. is they try to make us comfortable over. time with outrageous things, right? So, border patrol agents masked without. insignia, um, kitted up as though they. were about to fast into Fallujah to. capture an al-Qaeda terrorist, you know. No, let's get used to the notion that. these guys are just wandering around our. city streets. Two years ago, we would. have said that's not our country. That's. Chile under Pinocha, right? Um, but they.

get us used to these things because, you. know, folks are busy and they get they. get comfortable with stuff they should. never get comfortable with. So, what's. the next step now? Are we going to be. asked to get comfortable with the idea. that the CIA is going to pay visits to. the local registars of voters? I mean, that directionally is where they want to. take this. And yes, of course, it's in. the service of these conspiracy theories. which more often than not come back to. bite him in the ass, right? It's the. Epstein syndrome. You know, let Tulsi. Gabbard investigate the insane Italy.

theory and and you know, at some point. she bumps into the fact-based universe. where it turns out that there's nothing. there and then she's got a choice, right? She can either say that there's. nothing there, that in fact, you know, there's not a pizza place in Washington. DC where they're Hillary Clinton is. coordinating the kidnapping of young. children. They can either say that, oh, you know, we were just lying like Don. Bonino basically did when he was deputy. at the at the FBI. Um or uh they can. continue to, you know, bump into a court. of law where a judge is going to say,

"You people are out of your minds." So, um, you know, again, it's what really. worries me here is that over time they. want us to get used to the idea that the. vast surveillance powers and the. capabilities and the authorities of the. CIA and the NSA, well, maybe it's okay. if they operate inside the United States. because we're going to lose our country. otherwise. >> Can you talk a little bit about what you. would be able to do in Congress if the. Democrats are able to regain a majority. uh after November? like what what does.

what does the the efforts to kind of. quash Trump's overreach look like um. from you know from the actual majority. >> right right so I mean a couple of things. um you know number one Mark Warren and I. wrote a letter uh to the uh office of. the director of national intelligence. asking for a specific explanation I know. what we're getting back if anything it's. going to be something like what Todd. Blanch said nothing to see here um well. you know what if we're in the majority.

and I have subpoena power or we have. subpoena power. The director of national. intelligence is coming in for a hearing. to be questioned by us and by our. council, right? And um you know uh lie. to us. Please lie to us because lying to. the Congress of the United States uh you. know will first of all indicate your. character uh and and and and you know. really create a problem or don't lie to. us, right? which is of course the. preferable outcome and in the majority. we'll have that much more control over.

the resources and so call me crazy but. we might just say hey Tulsy you can have. a little bit more money if you're going. after terrorists or spying on the. Chinese or the Russians but you get no. more money for um performative MAGA make. the president feel good about me. theatrics you know when when you were. alluding to the idea of hauling these. people in front of Congress and and. basically challenging them to lie to. you. Practically speaking, if they lie, I mean, yes, it's a crime lying to.

Congress, but it's up to the DOJ to be. able to enforce it and this DOJ isn't. going to enforce it. And so, in a way, don't they kind of have a get out of. jail free card if they want to lie to. Congress recognizing that Pam Bondi is. never going to hold them to account? >> Sure. And I mean, look, let's just be. very straight and honest about this. Not. only is it that, but um, you know, thank. you, John Roberts. Thank you, John. Roberts, because I'll tell you what. we're going to see over the course of. the back half of the Trump. administration. Everyone from Tulsi. Gabbard to the guy who, you know, arrested Don Lemon uh in uh in.

Minneapolis to the folks who shot the. two people, every single one of them is. getting a pardon, right? That is a. unappealable thing. And thank you, John. Roberts, for saying that the president. himself in the performance of his. official duties is completely. unaccountable. you know, in the way. Emperor Maxmillian or Pinocha or Stalin. would have dreamed of. So, yeah, I mean, thank you this. Thank you to John. Roberts and the Supreme Court for. setting up a system where an.

unaccountable president can use an. unappealable mechanism to basically. create a Ptorian crime wing that is. completely uh unadressable. Now, we're. going to try to do something about that. because there will be a different. justice department at some point down. the line. And you know again barring a. full pardon which I would expect for. somebody like Tulsi Gabbard or anybody. else involved in this stuff you know we. will work for accountability. Last. question here and that is that that you. you had noted that you sent this letter.

um in an effort to like push back. against against the [clears throat] idea. that a strongly worded letter is ever. sufficient. Is there anything that that. can be done beyond the letter? Again, recognizing the limitations that we have. by virtue of Democrats being in the. minority, but also kind of, you know, pushing back against the idea that the. only thing that we could ever do is just. to send strongly worded letters. >> Yeah. Yeah. And and I mean, I I I. appreciate the question and the answer. is that even in the minority, um I have.

tools. We have tools that are important. um you know to pass a budget to get the. intelligence authorization act which is. what determines the authorities and the. budget for you know the entire. intelligence community you basically. need sign off from what they call the. four corners the chairman and the. ranking members that's an example and. you know what if they keep showing the. kind of disdain that they are showing. that will be involved that will be there. will be implications in their budget. much more so if we're in the majority. than if we're in the minority but they.

will be there and secondarily you know. They have goals. Um, and I'll give you. one example, right? Eventually, the. administration is going to wake up to. the fact that they need to reauthorize. FISA 702, right? This is an a. surveillance authority targeted at. foreigners. And we don't need to get. into all the ins and outs of 702, but. it's controversial, right? And um at. some point they're going to wake up and. realize, oh my god, we have to. reauthorize this authority that. basically provides 60% 60% of the. intelligence that goes into the. president's daily brief. we haven't done.

a damn thing, unlike the Biden. administration which mobilized people. months in advance. And they're going to. say, "Hey, Heims, we need your help. reauthorizing this authority without. which Donald Trump is going to get. pinned with a terrorist attack." And at. that point, I'm going to say, "Well, that's funny, you know, because you have. shown me nothing but disdain for the. last two years." So, tell me again why. uh why I should work in partnership with. you after you have done, you know, politicized and weaponized and shown. Congress utter disdain. That also is a. tool. >> All right. Okay. Well, we we'll leave it. there. Congressmans, thanks so much for.

taking the time. >> Thanks a lot, Ryan. [music].