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Tucker - "Ep. 25 Liberals like Karl Rove just tried to annihilate Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. It didn't work. Paxton just joined us for his first interview since his acquittal." Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton says he is "re-energized" after his months-long suspension from office following his May impeachment by the Texas House. He went on the attack during a blitz of media interviews.

It's highlighting an apparent growing civil war within the Texas Republican Party.

Paxton sat down for his first interview following his impeachment acquittal with former FOX News host Tucker Carlson.

The interview covered a wide range of topics, including Paxton's problems with the impeachment process, how the attorney general views the political state of Texas and his displeasure with Texas Senator John Cornyn.

Paxton claimed, without evidence, that Republicans who supported his impeachment worked with the Biden administration to try and remove him from office.

"It became political completely, and I didn’t know how it was going to turn out on the political side," Paxton said. "The Senate is great. They're very conservative. They've done great things for Texas, but they get blocked. A lot of my stuff gets blocked by the Texas House because Dade Phelan, the speaker, is controlled by the Democrats.

The Republican-controlled House impeached Paxton in May with 60 of the body's 85 Republicans voting in favor of impeachment.

But Paxton and hardline Conservatives have been critical of Phelan for bipartisan efforts, including his decision to honor the longtime bipartisan tradition of appointing Democrats to chair some House committees.
Ken Paxton sits down with Tucker Carlson after acquittal

In the first interview since his acquittal, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said he is "re-energized" after his impeachment-based suspension from office. He also hinted at a potential run for higher office.

Paxton also took aim at other Republicans who spearheaded the impeachment, including Plano Republican Jeff Leach, who spoke during the closing arguments.

"In voting to impeach General Ken Paxton, my dear friend, a political mentor, a brother in Christ and a once trusted advisor, this has not just been a hard vote. This has been one of the most difficult things I’ve ever had to do in my life," he said.

Texas senators voted to acquit Paxton on 16 articles of impeachment.

Ken Paxton has been acquitted of all 16 articles of impeachment by the Texas Senate.

Only two Republicans voted to convict Paxton on any of the impeachment articles. Nine Republican votes were needed to remove Paxton from office.

Paxton was immediately reinstated to his role as attorney general. He said he is ready to get back to work.

"I've been thinking about what I want to do when I get back since the day I left. So, I'm re-energized to do the things that I think the voters sent me to do," he said.

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Transcript
00:00 [BEEP]
00:01 Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
00:04 Ken Paxton.
00:04 Ken Paxton.
00:05 Impeachment.
00:06 Impeachment.
00:06 Impeachment.
00:07 Impeachment.
00:08 You went to the FBI on September 30th without any evidence.
00:12 That's right.
00:12 We took no evidence.
00:13 Allegations of bribery, unfitness for office,
00:16 and abuse of public trust.
00:18 He's being attacked by his own employees.
00:20 Did you gain any after that?
00:22 I don't recall.
00:23 About Ken Paxton and how bad Ken Paxton is.
00:26 The board of managers presented overwhelming evidence.
00:29 A finding of acquittal is entered as to Article 1.
00:33 Well, this is a resounding victory.
00:35 Ken Paxton has survived 16 votes on articles of impeachment.
00:41 You're the most aggressive legal opponent
00:43 of the Biden administration in the United States.
00:46 You're a Republican elected with a big margin
00:48 in a Republican state.
00:50 But it was Republicans who tried to take you out.
00:52 How can you be removed from your job
00:53 without being convicted of something?
00:55 We are a huge problem for the Biden administration.
00:57 Take away your job.
00:58 They take away your money.
00:59 And they took away my ability ultimately to even speak.
01:01 Well, that doesn't really sound like the way
01:03 democracy is supposed to work.
01:04 If you can do impeachments like this
01:05 and you can have mail-in ballots,
01:06 we don't have democracy.
01:07 Feels like Texas is gonna be a democratic state pretty soon.
01:10 I think that's the goal.
01:11 We lose Texas, we lose everything.
01:13 Ken Paxton is the Attorney General of the state of Texas
01:18 and one of the primary checks against federal power.
01:23 So far in the Biden administration,
01:25 Paxton's offices filed 48 lawsuits
01:28 against the administration.
01:30 This past November, he was elected overwhelmingly
01:32 to his third term.
01:33 But then within months, he was impeached
01:37 in the state of Texas on a bunch of different counts
01:39 of pretty complicated case against him,
01:41 alleging that he gave special favors to a donor.
01:44 He was just acquitted in that trial
01:47 in the Texas State Senate.
01:49 Kind of an amazing spectacle,
01:51 but it raises a bigger question,
01:53 which is how did this happen?
01:55 Why did it happen?
01:56 And maybe most interestingly,
01:57 who actually runs the state of Texas?
02:00 In his first interview since his acquittal,
02:02 Attorney General Ken Paxton joins us on the set.
02:05 Mr. Attorney General, thanks so much for joining us.
02:06 - Glad to be here, what a great place.
02:08 - So congratulations on your acquittal.
02:11 But I'm fascinated by the fact that you were impeached
02:14 in the first place.
02:15 How did this happen?
02:16 - First of all, let me just say,
02:17 it was, as you've read through this, very complicated.
02:20 - It is complicated, yes.
02:21 - It was crazy, but I truly believe it became very political
02:25 and I am sitting here because of my Lord
02:26 and Savior Jesus Christ.
02:27 And I was delivered because it wasn't just about the law.
02:31 It became political completely.
02:34 And I didn't know how it was gonna turn out
02:35 on the political side.
02:37 - But it's just interesting because, you know,
02:40 your fans and your detractors, I think,
02:43 would both acknowledge that you're the most aggressive
02:45 legal opponent of the Biden administration
02:47 in the United States.
02:49 You're a Republican elected with a big margin
02:51 in a Republican state, but it was Republicans
02:54 who tried to take you out.
02:56 - Yeah, that's what it looks like.
02:57 But in reality, I believe the Texas House,
02:59 a lot of people don't understand this.
03:00 I spent 10 years in the Texas House.
03:02 - Yes.
03:03 - And we have 150 members of the Texas House
03:05 and 65 of them are Democrats.
03:08 And those 65 Democrats always vote the block
03:10 and they pick the Republican they want
03:12 and they deliver those 65 votes.
03:13 And that Republican then has to come up with 10 votes
03:15 'cause their own vote's gonna count.
03:16 - For the speaker. - For the speaker.
03:18 For the speaker.
03:19 So whoever gives those Democrats the most,
03:21 whatever Republican agrees to the most, gets elected.
03:24 In this case, I believe, and I think that the--
03:27 - Wait, so you're saying that the Republican speaker
03:30 of Texas is chosen by the Democrats?
03:32 - Pretty much, yeah, 'cause that 65 is hard to overcome.
03:34 All he has to do then is find 10 Republicans
03:36 'cause he's got his own vote.
03:37 And usually he can find 10 Republicans
03:39 who are either his friends or who he gives
03:41 big committee assignments to, like appropriations
03:43 or state affairs or something big.
03:45 It's pretty easy to put together.
03:47 - Wait, so you can have a big majority
03:48 within the Texas House
03:49 but still not control the Texas House?
03:50 - That's exactly what has been happening
03:52 over the last, say, 14 years, 16 years.
03:54 - That's crazy. - It is crazy.
03:56 And people don't, and of course,
03:57 the media doesn't tell people about that.
03:59 That's literally what happens in the Texas House.
04:01 So we have a really hard time.
04:02 The Senate is great.
04:04 They're very conservative.
04:05 They've done great things for Texas,
04:07 but they get blocked a lot of times.
04:08 And a lot of my stuff gets blocked in the Texas House
04:10 because Dave Phelan, the speaker,
04:13 is controlled by the Democrats.
04:15 - You really believe, yeah, so I was in the House.
04:17 I saw it at work.
04:18 - And I didn't push towards that.
04:18 I actually ran against the speaker,
04:20 a Republican speaker for that reason
04:22 because I could not vote for a speaker
04:24 controlled by the Democrats.
04:25 Now, I couldn't win 'cause I didn't have the Democrats.
04:27 - Well, that doesn't really sound
04:28 like the way democracy's supposed to work.
04:30 - It's how it's working in Texas right now.
04:31 And that's why this is an opportunity.
04:33 My impeachment actually becomes the opportunity, I think,
04:35 to speak to this issue I'm gonna be out talking about.
04:38 I have a pretty concrete example of why this doesn't work.
04:41 And here's my argument.
04:42 There were two of the four House investigating lawyers
04:46 that worked at the Department of Justice in Washington.
04:49 And that's no random, that's not random.
04:52 - Explain that a little bit for those who haven't followed.
04:54 - So the House investigating committees,
04:55 there's five members.
04:56 There's three Republicans, two Democrats.
04:58 - It's Texas House. - Texas House.
04:59 They are responsible for,
05:00 they were the ones that investigated me,
05:02 and they hired, I think it was four lawyers.
05:05 Two of them came from the Biden DOJ.
05:07 That's not an accident.
05:08 They were sent there.
05:09 - But you had filed 48 suits
05:12 against the Biden administration.
05:13 - Yes, and I think that was the motivation.
05:15 We were causing a lot of trouble
05:16 for the Biden administration.
05:18 Even if we didn't win, we slowed 'em down.
05:20 We were winning, I think our number is 77% of our cases.
05:23 So we are a huge problem for the Biden administration,
05:26 and that was the way to get me out of the way.
05:28 And obviously that had an impact on the lawsuits
05:30 being filed by Texas and other states.
05:32 - So you think that the effort to remove you from office
05:37 really came from the Biden administration?
05:38 - I really do.
05:39 I think that's where it was instigated,
05:41 and then there were other groups in Texas
05:43 that we can talk about
05:44 that I think were largely participating.
05:47 - Interesting, and some of those are Republicans.
05:49 - Some of them are Republicans, yes.
05:51 - So how did, just to your case really quick,
05:53 how did you find out you were being impeached
05:55 and what happened?
05:56 - I literally had no idea.
05:57 It was a committee meeting
05:59 of the House Investigating Committee,
06:00 I think it was three or four days before Memorial weekend,
06:03 the end of session.
06:03 So they were busy trying to pass all these big bills,
06:06 and they decided they're gonna spend
06:08 one day investigating me.
06:09 Of course, they'd done secret investigation
06:11 for three months that we didn't know about,
06:12 behind closed doors with no transparency,
06:14 no due process.
06:15 - Which almost immediately after you're reelected
06:18 to a third term, they begin investigating you.
06:20 - Yes, but I don't know that.
06:21 They started in March,
06:22 is what they said, like March 1st,
06:24 and they investigated secretly,
06:25 behind closed doors with no one knowing.
06:27 Even the House Investigating Committee,
06:29 not all of them knew.
06:30 I knew for sure that one of the Republicans
06:31 had no idea until they got to that day
06:34 that it was me,
06:35 and he was told to vote for impeachment
06:38 without knowing anything about the case
06:40 and actually disagreeing with doing it.
06:42 But he was told his career would be affected
06:43 if he didn't vote for impeachment.
06:45 So those five members had an investigation for one day.
06:48 They did a four-hour hearing,
06:49 and within less than 48 hours from that,
06:52 I was impeached on Saturday Memorial weekend
06:55 without an opportunity to present my side,
06:57 without an opportunity to have any sworn testimony,
06:59 which is required by law.
07:00 They are required to have witnesses
07:02 sworn in under oath.
07:03 No one was sworn in under oath.
07:05 They didn't even have witnesses.
07:05 They brought in investigators
07:07 who had talked to witnesses,
07:08 which is obviously hearsay and wrong.
07:10 So that's how it all got done.
07:12 It was done in-
07:12 - So this was a total shock to you?
07:14 - I had no idea.
07:15 They didn't come talk to me.
07:16 They told me nothing about it.
07:16 They didn't tell anybody.
07:18 - So what happens once it was announced you're being impeached?
07:21 What happens to you?
07:22 - It was horrible.
07:23 I was immediately suspended.
07:24 So I lost my office.
07:26 I couldn't do any more lawsuits against Biden or anything.
07:29 - What do you mean you were suspended?
07:30 - Suspended means I can't be in the office anymore.
07:32 I can't direct what's going on in the office,
07:34 even though I'm elected,
07:35 even though they proved nothing,
07:36 even though they had no testimony, no-
07:38 - You hadn't been convicted.
07:39 - Hadn't been convicted.
07:39 They had presented no evidence.
07:40 They presented no witnesses,
07:42 and I'm out.
07:42 - How, okay.
07:44 That's a very weird process.
07:46 So you don't even know you're being investigated.
07:49 The moment you find out you're being investigated
07:51 and impeached, you're suspended from your job?
07:53 - Yes.
07:54 It's the way that I think it's constitutional.
07:56 And I think it needs to be changed
07:57 because they should have to prove something
08:00 before the will of the voters is overridden.
08:02 And that's what happened.
08:03 The will of the voters,
08:04 I was in four and a half months.
08:05 Now I've been out of office,
08:07 suspended for almost four months.
08:08 So half my time of my term now,
08:10 I've spent not being able to do
08:11 what the people of Texas elected me to do.
08:13 - How can you be removed from your job
08:15 without being convicted of something?
08:16 - It seems pretty crazy,
08:17 but that's the way the law is.
08:18 And I know that the Dan Patrick,
08:20 Lieutenant Governor,
08:21 has suggested now that that be changed.
08:23 They should have to prove that you did something wrong
08:25 before they remove you from operating
08:27 as someone who was-
08:28 - So you just wake up in the morning,
08:29 and they're like,
08:30 "You think you're an elected official."
08:33 - Yes.
08:34 - And now you're not.
08:35 You're just in limbo.
08:36 - I walked out of,
08:37 when they did it that day,
08:38 that Saturday,
08:39 I walked out of the office,
08:40 and I haven't been back a day since,
08:41 not a minute since.
08:43 And I was unable to do anything.
08:45 I can't direct any of our legal operations.
08:48 So, you know,
08:49 I have to go now,
08:50 figure out what's going on in my own office.
08:52 And a lot of people have left.
08:53 They created a lot of harm to the state of Texas
08:56 by doing it this way.
08:58 - Did you think the voters were in charge?
09:00 Before?
09:01 - I used to.
09:01 I used to think like election,
09:02 I'm like very sufficient now.
09:03 If they can do this to me,
09:05 I mean,
09:06 they can do this to Lieutenant Governor.
09:06 - So they take you out of office,
09:09 do they pay you?
09:10 - No,
09:10 well,
09:11 they're supposed to.
09:12 By law,
09:13 I am the Attorney General.
09:14 It's in statute that I'm getting paid.
09:15 The comptroller,
09:16 Glenn Hegar,
09:17 for some reason decided,
09:18 you know what?
09:19 I'm not gonna pay you.
09:20 I'm taking it.
09:20 Go sue me.
09:21 And he knows that if I sue him in Austin,
09:23 I have a hard time winning any case in Austin.
09:25 - So they take away your job.
09:26 They take away your money.
09:27 What do you do?
09:28 - And they took away my ability,
09:29 ultimately,
09:30 to even speak.
09:31 - What do you mean?
09:32 - We had a gag order put in place on both parties,
09:34 somewhere,
09:35 I think in June.
09:35 So I could no longer even defend
09:37 what was being leaked by the House team
09:40 to reporters.
09:41 - A gag order?
09:42 - A gag order.
09:43 So I could not respond to any--
09:45 - So you've been convicted of nothing.
09:47 - That's correct.
09:48 - You've not been able to bring your side
09:51 of the story to the investigators,
09:54 I guess.
09:55 - They refused.
09:56 We tried to even send somebody their little,
09:57 you know,
09:58 sham hearing that lasted less than four hours.
10:01 And they said,
10:02 no,
10:03 we don't want to hear your side.
10:04 - And then you can't speak in public about it?
10:06 - That's correct.
10:07 This is the first--
10:08 - But don't you have a first amendment right
10:09 to say what you think?
10:11 - That's my opinion.
10:12 But the problem is I can't really challenge it
10:14 because the very people that put it on,
10:15 and it was done by the Senate,
10:17 the Senate put it in place.
10:19 And so there's nothing I can do about it
10:20 because they're my votes for acquittal.
10:23 So I can't go challenge the people that,
10:25 you know,
10:26 ultimately are responsible for whether I get acquitted.
10:27 I can't start,
10:28 you know,
10:29 attacking them on legal issues.
10:30 - Well,
10:31 if there was a gag order,
10:32 then why was I reading about the details every day
10:34 in the media?
10:35 - The House didn't follow the gag order.
10:37 They leaked everything to the Austin American Statesman
10:39 or the Houston Chronicle or Dallas Morning News.
10:41 So I just had to take it.
10:43 I mean,
10:43 there was nothing I could do.
10:44 - But why wouldn't they impose a gag order
10:46 on those media outlets,
10:47 which for the record,
10:48 hate you.
10:48 - Yes.
10:49 - I think it's fair to say for ideological reasons.
10:51 But so they're allowed to talk about you,
10:53 but you're not allowed to talk about your position on this?
10:55 - That's correct.
10:56 Specifically told,
10:57 they were specifically said,
10:59 of course this doesn't apply to the media.
11:00 So then the House knows,
11:01 we just have to get it to the right place.
11:03 We,
11:04 the gag order is fine for us
11:05 'cause we can leak it to a sympathetic press.
11:08 I have,
11:09 we can-
11:10 - So why would the media be allowed to attack you,
11:12 but you're not allowed to defend yourself?
11:13 That's insane.
11:14 - That's the way the rules got set up.
11:16 It was very difficult to deal with
11:18 'cause it was every day a new story
11:20 that I couldn't say anything about.
11:23 And then people assume you're-
11:23 - It doesn't sound American at all.
11:25 - It wasn't fair.
11:26 - Well, that's,
11:28 is that,
11:29 I mean,
11:30 you are an attorney general,
11:30 chief law enforcement officer of the state.
11:32 Is this common?
11:34 - Well, you know,
11:35 we see gag orders in certain cases,
11:36 but I'm in a political position
11:37 and this became extremely political.
11:40 And, you know,
11:41 I felt like I was,
11:43 you know,
11:44 two hands taut behind my back
11:45 and I felt like I had a constitutional right
11:46 to be able to speak.
11:47 - Well, you do have a constitutional right
11:49 to be able to speak,
11:50 period.
11:51 That's what I thought,
11:52 the Bill of Rights guaranteed.
11:54 - Me too. - First Amendment.
11:55 - Me too.
11:55 - But,
11:57 doesn't,
11:58 that should apply to everybody.
12:02 How can it only apply to their enemies?
12:05 - Look,
12:06 it's got to apply to everybody,
12:07 including people I disagree with.
12:09 They are,
12:09 they should be free to speak.
12:11 They should be free to criticize me.
12:12 I should be free to respond.
12:14 So I do not fault them for having the ability to speak.
12:17 - Well, so if you're not getting paid
12:19 and you're not allowed to talk
12:21 and you're being impeached,
12:24 how do you pay for your legal defense?
12:26 - So that was the other thing.
12:27 So we have a more trauma
12:28 in raising money during session.
12:29 It starts 30 days prior to session.
12:31 So it started December 10th, I think.
12:33 And then through the governor's veto period,
12:35 which was like June 20th, I think, or 21st,
12:37 I was able to raise money.
12:38 And I spent almost all my money on my campaign
12:41 'cause I had a primary, a runoff, and a general.
12:44 I spent 16, 17.
12:45 - Who'd you run against in the primary?
12:46 - George P. Bush and a few others.
12:48 Yeah.
12:49 So I spent all my money.
12:50 So they knew when they did the impeachment,
12:52 I didn't have any money.
12:53 And so they kicked me out.
12:54 Then they have taxpayer dollars
12:56 to pay for every lawyer they want.
12:57 I think they had 14 to 17 lawyers.
12:59 And I had to go hire my own team.
13:01 I had no help.
13:03 I had no money.
13:04 And I was starting from scratch.
13:05 They had already done investigations.
13:06 - So they get to use taxpayer dollars to prosecute you,
13:09 but you can't use taxpayer dollars to defend yourself.
13:11 - I was not afforded legal representation
13:13 by the state while I was out.
13:15 (laughs)
13:16 - I mean, even rapists get legal representation
13:19 paid for by the state.
13:20 - Think about how many people survive just that.
13:21 You have no money.
13:22 You have no lawyers.
13:23 You have no ability to speak.
13:25 And you're up against a force
13:27 that's already done an investigation.
13:28 They already have information.
13:29 And you don't have any of their information.
13:31 You don't even know really what the charges are
13:33 because even the articles were very vague.
13:36 They didn't identify elements of a crime.
13:38 So then we have to like figure out like,
13:40 what is it?
13:40 Some of them were so vague,
13:41 we didn't even know what they meant.
13:42 - But if I go kill someone,
13:44 which I don't plan to do,
13:45 but if I did,
13:46 and I'm indigent,
13:46 I have no money,
13:47 the state pays for my legal defense, correct?
13:49 - If you can't afford it, yes.
13:51 - Yes.
13:52 And I get to defend myself if I want.
13:54 I get to say I'm innocent
13:55 of what I'm being charged with, right?
13:57 - That's correct.
13:58 - And I'm accused of murder.
13:58 - Yes.
13:59 - And you were accused, I think,
14:02 of getting like a new countertop in your house
14:03 from a developer or something.
14:04 - Yes.
14:05 Other things like that, yes.
14:06 - Yeah.
14:07 Huh.
14:09 So how did this happen?
14:10 So again, I want to get back to the central mystery here,
14:13 which is how does a conservative state,
14:16 conservative enough to reelect you three times,
14:19 how does this happen in a state like that?
14:21 - So there's,
14:22 I told you about the Biden piece of this.
14:23 Then there's a group called Texans for Lawsuit Reform.
14:25 They have spent,
14:26 they spent a lot of money to bring in another candidate,
14:29 Eva Guzman, who was on the Supreme Court,
14:32 to be part of running against me.
14:34 And they thought that if they got enough people
14:35 running against me,
14:36 they could take me out of a primary
14:37 or run me out of money by putting me into a runoff.
14:41 And this group has spent a lot of money.
14:43 And they were certainly not only part
14:45 of trying to get me defeated,
14:46 but they were also very much a part of this effort.
14:48 We have emails where they've written articles
14:51 and they send them to Karl Rove.
14:53 And then Karl Rove gets them published
14:54 in the Wall Street Journal.
14:55 Whereas we couldn't get anything published
14:56 in the Wall Street Journal,
14:57 even before the gang war,
14:57 we were turned down for our editorial
14:59 by the Wall Street Journal.
15:00 'Cause we had a guy that tried to submit one.
15:02 They said, "We can't do yours."
15:03 And the next day they did Karl Rove.
15:05 - So Karl Rove wrote a piece this summer,
15:08 I believe in August,
15:09 saying that you were gonna be convicted.
15:11 - Yes. And that was-
15:12 - Gloating.
15:13 - Yes.
15:14 - And calling you a bad person.
15:15 - Yes.
15:16 - So Rove is obviously a huge liberal.
15:19 Why would Karl Rove have the sway that he does
15:23 at the Wall Street Journal and in Texas?
15:25 It's confusing.
15:26 - I don't know why he has sway at the Wall Street Journal.
15:28 And I don't think he has that much sway in Texas.
15:31 I mean, his candidates typically lose.
15:33 I mean, he's backed my opponents in every AG race
15:36 that I've been in.
15:37 First one, and then the last one with the Bush.
15:39 Very tied in with the Bushes,
15:40 but he's definitely also tied in
15:42 with this Texas for Lawsuit Reform.
15:44 And they were communicating.
15:46 And he was also communicating with some of the employees,
15:48 some of my staffers that had made these charges.
15:51 We have text messages with him communicating
15:53 with them as well.
15:54 So there was, I knew this was going on.
15:55 I didn't have proof, but during this process,
15:57 we got some of the proof that I thought existed.
16:00 - So Karl Rove gets straight a piece
16:01 in the Wall Street Journal,
16:02 which I think is the biggest circulation paper
16:04 in the country or close anyway,
16:06 calling you immoral and saying that you're gonna be convicted
16:08 in this trial and that you deserve it.
16:10 You should be destroyed.
16:11 And you go to the Wall Street Journal and say,
16:13 "I'd like to kind of give my side of it."
16:15 And they say, "No."
16:16 - One of my friends did, and they said,
16:17 "No, we're not gonna publish yours."
16:19 And they were very vague about why they couldn't do it,
16:22 that they were not letting my side of the story be published.
16:26 - So just to Karl Rove, who again is an activist,
16:30 liberal working effectively for the Biden administration,
16:32 who shares their views and their ideology.
16:35 I mean, he's a liberal, big time.
16:37 Hangs out in Aspen, got it.
16:41 But how would Karl Rove still be a force in Texas politics?
16:45 Are most Texas voters kind of on board
16:47 with the Rove program?
16:48 - No, I think he tries to be a force.
16:50 The numbers, it's, you know,
16:52 I think my numbers in the primary show, I got 68%.
16:55 George P got 32.
16:56 He has some influence with that 32%,
17:00 but not so much with that 68%.
17:02 But they thought if they buried me in negativity,
17:04 of course you remember, I can't speak.
17:07 And I'm trying to just raise enough money
17:08 to have some type of legal defense.
17:10 They felt like they had all the advantage.
17:12 So he just starts pounding me with bad stories.
17:15 It was a strategy.
17:17 - So describe, Rove is famous,
17:20 not as an intellectual, hardly,
17:21 but as a political strategist, as a tactician.
17:25 Describe his method of politics.
17:29 - There's nothing he won't do, I believe.
17:32 He doesn't mind if destroying a person's life.
17:35 I mean, what this effectively potentially could lead to,
17:38 one is not only I'm out of office,
17:40 but I can never run again.
17:41 It affects my reputation,
17:43 potentially puts me in legal jeopardy.
17:45 Any strategy is open to Karl Rove.
17:47 He is good with it as long as he gets his way.
17:49 - So destroying the person, his family, his marriage.
17:52 - No problem for Karl Rove.
17:54 - What's interesting is that
17:56 when George W. Bush was president, I mean, I was there,
18:00 Rove was relentlessly attacked by the media
18:03 as a vicious person.
18:05 Now Karl Rove is defended by the media.
18:09 How did that happen?
18:10 - I think they realize he's not conservative.
18:12 He's more in line with, I mean,
18:14 Bill Clinton and President Obama
18:16 than he is in line with our voters in Texas.
18:19 And so the media is very sympathetic
18:21 and doing things like this only encourages the media
18:24 to support Karl Rove.
18:26 - Interesting.
18:28 So to the house speaker of Dave Phelan,
18:33 who led the charge against you,
18:37 I wanna, it got personal.
18:40 And at one point you suggested or your allies suggested
18:42 that he had been drunk on the floor of the Texas house
18:46 in your famous building.
18:49 We have the video.
18:50 He apparently was outraged that you said that he was drunk.
18:53 Here's the video and maybe our viewers can assess
18:54 whether you were right.
18:56 - Campbell, the amendment is accepted by the author.
18:59 Is there objection to the opposite amendment?
19:01 And the chair has done, amendment is adopted.
19:04 The chair recognizes Mr. Johnson of Harris.
19:14 - Mr. Johnson of Harris to speak in opposition to the bill.
19:19 The chair recognizes Ms. Nyave-Criado
19:29 to speak in opposition to the bill.
19:31 - Thank you.
19:36 - So what language is that?
19:37 Is that Hungarian Esperanto?
19:39 I didn't understand, like, what was that?
19:41 - Your guess is as good as mine.
19:43 I mean, I don't think there's any doubt.
19:45 I mean, he was definitely drunk and they tried to say-
19:47 - Well, he was, or on something.
19:49 - He was very tired or whatever.
19:51 - He was tired.
19:53 Is it, so you said he served 10 years in the Texas house.
19:56 Is there, were you shocked by that?
19:58 - No, I've seen lots of alcohol on the floor.
19:59 I've seen lots of people drunk.
20:00 I mean, it's, but it's really unusual
20:03 for the speaker to do that.
20:05 And I don't, I think we have other clips of him
20:07 where it looks like he's drunk.
20:08 That was, that one was probably the most clear.
20:10 It was at the end of session.
20:11 And I just thought it was unbecoming of a speaker
20:13 that he should not put himself out in public,
20:16 you know, have somebody, he doesn't have to be-
20:18 - If he worked in a factory, he'd be fired.
20:20 - Absolutely.
20:20 - Like you're not allowed to be drunk at work.
20:22 - And I was horrified. - Are you?
20:23 - No, I was horrified that the house members didn't respond.
20:26 I asked them to look into him.
20:27 Like, why don't you see if he's drinking on the floor?
20:29 Because we shouldn't allow a speaker,
20:31 especially our party, to present himself like that in public.
20:35 And they did nothing about it.
20:36 Instead, they came after me.
20:38 - So he was annoyed when you pointed out
20:40 he was drunk on the floor.
20:41 - I'm sure he was.
20:42 I mean, I'm sure he was.
20:43 It seemed like bad things started happening right away.
20:46 - I'm gonna watch that again when we get off the air,
20:48 because I'm kind of sympathetic.
20:50 You're not, probably not that drunk at work
20:53 unless you've got a problem.
20:54 I mean, I can't, normal people don't act like that.
20:56 So do you believe that his, the speaker,
21:02 Dave Phelan's opposition to you is ideological as well?
21:07 - Yeah, I think it's more about power for him.
21:10 I don't think he particularly has an ideology.
21:12 I think his is like, I wanna stay in power.
21:14 I've cut this deal to be speaker with the Democrats.
21:16 I have to deliver.
21:18 The Biden administration goes to the Democrats.
21:19 I don't think the Biden administration went to Phelan.
21:21 I think they went to the Democrats.
21:23 And the Democrats said, this is what we want.
21:25 We want him out.
21:26 'Cause that was causing so much trouble
21:27 for the Biden administration.
21:28 And then you had these other forces come in
21:30 with the Roe and the TLR,
21:32 Texas for Lawsuit Reform Group, and that was the power.
21:35 And by the way, Texas for Lawsuit Reform
21:37 gave lots of money to House members.
21:40 And lots of members to senators.
21:41 So they have a lot of influence.
21:42 They give more money to Republican members
21:45 than any other group or any other single donor.
21:47 Almost every single one of those Republicans
21:49 that voted against me got money
21:51 from Texas for Lawsuit Reform, a lot.
21:53 - How much time approximately,
21:55 what percentage of his time does Karl Rove spend
21:57 trying to destroy Republicans?
21:59 - I think a good part.
22:00 I mean, obviously he makes money on Fox
22:02 and he has other things he does.
22:04 But I mean, my view is that his PACs
22:07 have gone after conservatives for a long time
22:11 under the guise of being a PAC that goes after Democrats.
22:13 But I don't view him as an ally of Republicans.
22:16 - Well, no, that's for sure.
22:18 But why is it so threatening?
22:19 So if a Republican stands up and says,
22:21 you know, maybe we should have real borders, for example.
22:26 Why is that so threatening?
22:28 - The only thing I can think of,
22:29 you look at guys like Dick Wakely,
22:30 who's a home builder, and he's one of the leaders of TLR.
22:33 I mean, I think they think illegal immigration
22:36 is a good thing.
22:36 It's our business.
22:37 And obviously I don't agree with that.
22:39 I think it's devastating to my state.
22:41 And if we wanna have a program
22:43 where we're gonna bring workers in from other countries,
22:45 let's get some legislation, do it the right way.
22:48 Instead of just opening our borders to who knows who.
22:51 - Well, you've had millions of illegal aliens
22:54 cross your border into Texas.
22:56 - Every year.
22:57 - Right.
22:58 And a lot of them have gone to other parts of the country.
23:00 I mean, they're kind of destroying New York City right now.
23:04 But they're completely changing the country
23:05 and its political balance too.
23:07 - Yes.
23:08 - Republicans in Texas, are they aware of that?
23:11 - I think it's probably the number one issue,
23:14 other than maybe voter fraud.
23:15 I think that's probably right up there with that issue.
23:18 It's affecting, obviously our border communities
23:21 are devastated.
23:23 You have towns that have 36,000 people,
23:24 you got more than that, more illegals coming through there
23:26 than people that live there.
23:28 So it's definitely--
23:29 - I don't understand if you're John Cornyn,
23:31 who's your senator.
23:33 - Yep.
23:34 - And you live in Texas,
23:36 or at least part-time live in Texas.
23:37 How can you not be outraged and upset about that?
23:42 How can you allow this to happen?
23:43 - Look, I have no idea why he doesn't seem to address this
23:46 on a regular basis.
23:47 Thank God that Ted Cruz has,
23:48 but John Cornyn has been basically vacant on this issue.
23:51 He's not taking--
23:53 - Why?
23:54 - Look, to me, he's been in Washington too long.
23:56 He's been there, what, for 14 years or so.
23:59 And I can't think of a single thing he's accomplished
24:02 for our state, or even for the country,
24:04 let alone the fact that we have a massive invasion
24:07 into our state, and he doesn't speak out against it.
24:10 He doesn't do any, I've never seen him propose legislation
24:12 that significantly affects it,
24:14 or at least push hard for it.
24:15 I haven't seen him in that fight.
24:16 - No, and in fact, if you were to go through
24:19 every public statement John Cornyn has made
24:21 in the last two years,
24:23 and compare the amount of time he spent
24:25 talking about the invasion of his own state
24:27 by the rest of the world,
24:28 with the time he spent talking about
24:30 the invasion of Ukraine by Russia,
24:32 he's far more concerned about what's happening in Ukraine.
24:36 So how can a guy like that be your senator?
24:38 - You know what, I don't,
24:39 I think he's never really had competition.
24:42 - Why don't you run against him?
24:43 - Hey, look, everything's on the table for me.
24:45 Now that I've been through this,
24:46 and I've seen how guys like John Cornyn
24:48 have represented the state of Texas and not represented us,
24:52 I think it's time somebody needs to step up
24:54 and run against this guy that will do the job
24:56 and do it the right way, and represent us,
24:58 and worry about what's going on at the border.
25:00 - So, sincere question,
25:01 I don't think if you were to do public opinion polling
25:05 in Texas, particularly of Republican voters,
25:08 you would see that Cornyn has the same views that they have.
25:11 He doesn't, at all.
25:12 - I totally agree.
25:13 - So who's his constituency?
25:15 - You know, he's just been fortunate
25:17 because he has never really had,
25:20 because of the money from DC,
25:21 the support from guys like Mitch McConnell,
25:23 I think he has, he's been able to stay there.
25:26 I think those days are over.
25:27 - He seems like a puppet of the Bush family.
25:29 That's just an outsider perspective.
25:30 - He is absolutely, if you go back and look at his history,
25:33 he was on the Texas Supreme Court, appointed by Bush,
25:35 he's the guy that pushed through our Robin Hood plan.
25:38 He did it judicially, by judicial activism for the Bushes,
25:40 instead of passing legislation,
25:42 because they didn't want to pass legislation
25:44 because President Bush was running for president.
25:46 - And that would have required a tax raise.
25:48 - Yes, and so he did it, Cornyn did it judicially,
25:52 I think completely illegally,
25:54 and turned our schools into very mediocre prospects
25:58 because it took the rich school district,
26:02 took their money and put it with the state,
26:04 and then the state was supposed to give that
26:05 to the poor school district.
26:06 The problem is, it made all of them mediocre.
26:08 Instead of letting the good school districts be good,
26:10 and focusing on the ones that needed more help,
26:13 John Cornyn created a socialistic network,
26:16 and really, I think he hurt our schools.
26:17 - That empowered the educrats.
26:19 - Yes, and hurt our ability to educate our kids,
26:21 and he got away with it, no one ever talks about it,
26:23 but he did that for the Bushes, and for that,
26:25 he made sure he was AG of Texas for one term,
26:28 and then a US Senator, so he got paid off,
26:29 and now, whenever they ask him to speak,
26:32 criticize me when I'm running against George P. Bush,
26:34 or criticize me when I had this happen,
26:35 he does what they ask him to do.
26:37 He is a puppet of the Bush and Karl Rove team.
26:40 - Do you think the majority of Texas Republican voters
26:43 are on board with that?
26:44 - I do not think so.
26:45 He's just never had real competition,
26:48 no one's ever gone out there and highlighted,
26:50 and exposed his lack of a record of supporting our state,
26:54 and I don't think he has a record.
26:56 I wonder myself, what would he point to
26:58 that he's done for our state in the last 40 years?
26:59 - Zelensky loves him.
27:01 - Yeah, of course he does.
27:03 - So, is there, if you're not living in Texas,
27:08 and you just look at Texas, and see these trends going on,
27:10 particularly the immigration trends,
27:12 it feels like Texas is gonna be
27:14 a democratic state pretty soon.
27:16 - I think that's the goal.
27:18 I think that's why it's so important
27:19 that we fix things like the Texas House,
27:21 and we have a message that resonates with the voter,
27:24 which we do have that message,
27:25 but when you have this civil war inside the party
27:28 that Dave Phelan and Karl Rove have created,
27:31 'cause they don't control it,
27:33 I think it leads us down a very bad path.
27:35 And we also have a voter fraud issue,
27:37 because we now can't prosecute voter fraud in Texas,
27:39 because the Court of Criminal Appeals in Texas
27:41 struck down a statute from 1951
27:44 that directed the Attorney General,
27:45 I wasn't there in '51,
27:46 but we would prosecute voter fraud,
27:48 because these local DAs who are controlled by Soros
27:50 in the big counties, like Travis, which is Austin,
27:53 or Harris, which is Houston,
27:54 or Bayer, which is San Antonio,
27:55 they are not gonna prosecute.
27:56 So we were doing it.
27:57 We had 900 cases, so this whole idea
27:59 there's no voter fraud, complete fabrication,
28:01 we were prosecuting.
28:02 I only had one lawyer when I started to prosecute this.
28:04 I got the legislature to give me more.
28:06 We were fully busy prosecuting voter fraud.
28:09 And then suddenly the Court of Criminal Appeals,
28:11 all Republicans said, "Nope, that's unconstitutional
28:14 "for the Attorney General to be in court,
28:15 "because he's in the executive branch."
28:17 That was their reasoning.
28:18 - To be in court, I thought--
28:19 - I'm not lying, because they said
28:21 that was a judicial function,
28:22 so I no longer could be in court.
28:24 Now, if they're right, the Court of Criminal Appeals,
28:26 they're the final court in our state on criminal matters.
28:28 So they're like the Supreme Court in that.
28:30 The Supreme Court is the final say on civil matters.
28:33 So they were able to strike down one area of law for us.
28:37 If they're right, the Supreme Court should tell me
28:39 that no, I shouldn't be allowed to be in court
28:41 on civil cases either, because I'm in the executive branch.
28:43 And if that was right, every Attorney General
28:45 in the country should no longer be allowed to go to court.
28:46 - I'm confused.
28:48 So the Attorney General of the state of Texas
28:50 is not allowed to prosecute voter fraud?
28:52 - That's correct, even though the legislature directed it.
28:54 It's one of the things that,
28:55 I'm told to do four things in the Texas Constitution,
28:58 and one of those things is such things
29:00 as are required by law.
29:02 Who makes the laws?
29:03 The Texas legislature.
29:04 The legislature passed a law in '51
29:05 that's directed the Attorney General
29:07 to prosecute voter fraud, largely because I think
29:10 that they didn't trust the local DAs to get that done,
29:12 'cause it's very political.
29:14 And so that's what we did.
29:15 We prosecuted voter fraud, and we had plenty of it.
29:17 And now, guess what?
29:18 There's no prosecution for voter fraud.
29:19 - But that's the core defense of democracy
29:21 is prosecuting voter fraud.
29:22 - If we don't fix this, if the Court of Criminal Appeals,
29:24 who I am concerned was put there by George Soros,
29:27 'cause no one knows who they are.
29:28 They're all Republicans, but we don't.
29:29 Even Republicans don't know who they are.
29:31 If I go to a room of Republicans, I say,
29:33 can you name one person on the Court of Criminal Appeals?
29:35 I'm lucky if I can get one.
29:37 And so I think it was a genius move
29:39 by getting the right people on there.
29:41 We now have no defense, 'cause the local DAs won't do it,
29:44 and now I'm supposedly not allowed to do it.
29:45 So I tried to get the legislature to pass a law
29:48 to reauthorize it.
29:49 The Senate overwhelmingly passed it.
29:51 And guess what I was told in the Texas House
29:53 by Dave Phelan's team?
29:55 We don't have time for that.
29:56 We're not gonna do it.
29:58 - We don't have time to prosecute voter fraud?
30:00 - We don't have time to reauthorize that statute
30:03 so that I can go back and start prosecuting voter fraud
30:05 and go change the makeup
30:06 of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.
30:08 I was told by the Speaker, we don't have time for that.
30:12 In my opinion, most important issue we have,
30:14 'cause every other issue falls
30:16 on whether we can elect the right people.
30:18 - Of course, and whether voters have the power
30:21 to send their choice into office.
30:25 I mean, do voters have power is the real question.
30:27 - Exactly, and if you think about it,
30:28 if we lose the state, the laws are gonna change.
30:32 All the voter laws are gonna change.
30:33 You're gonna be like California
30:34 where you can just mail in ballots.
30:35 What I know from mail-in ballot,
30:37 having fought this for, in the last election,
30:39 winning 12 cases on mail-in ballots,
30:42 that unfortunately other states like Georgia did not fight,
30:45 I know that mail-in ballots are completely unreliable.
30:47 If you just mail them out to everybody,
30:48 you have no idea who's sending them back.
30:50 There's no verification.
30:51 When they say you can't prove voter fraud, they are right.
30:53 'Cause normally what you have to do,
30:54 if you're gonna mail-in ballot,
30:56 you have to satisfy the laws under certain categories.
30:58 You're over 65, you're out of state, you're disabled.
31:01 You sign an affidavit and you send it in
31:03 with your application that this is my signature.
31:06 And then when you send your ballot back,
31:07 they send you a ballot and an envelope,
31:08 you sign that envelope with your signature,
31:11 stick the ballot in, and they verify the signature.
31:12 It's not the best, not as good as photo ID
31:14 that we have for all other voting,
31:15 but it still is something.
31:16 But when you change it to mailing it out to everybody,
31:19 we have no idea, we have no signature verification,
31:22 we have no idea who's voting.
31:23 So when they say, you can't prove voter fraud,
31:25 that's the system that they like,
31:26 because we can't prove voter fraud
31:28 if we set up a system that's completely open.
31:30 And that's what's happening in America.
31:32 - So that's why Georgia,
31:35 which most of us thought was a kind of conservative state,
31:38 became one of the most left-wing states in the country,
31:40 you believe 'cause of mail-in ballots.
31:41 - I sat there on election night.
31:43 So I told the president,
31:45 and I think it was May,
31:47 I said, "Mr. President,
31:48 I have 12 lawsuits in the most liberal counties.
31:50 I'm losing in every county
31:51 because they sued in liberal counties
31:53 where all the judges are liberal.
31:54 Court of Appeals are liberal.
31:56 I'm gonna have to find a way to get to the Supreme Court
31:58 or the Fifth Circuit before it's too late,
32:00 before they mail those ballots out,
32:01 or you won't win Texas.
32:02 I guarantee you, if Harris County
32:04 can send out 2.7 million ballots,
32:07 you won Texas by 600,000, you will not win.
32:10 And if we have multiple counties doing that,
32:12 they'll just figure out how many votes they need.
32:15 We won every single lawsuit, all 12.
32:18 And I told him, "We lose one, you're done."
32:20 He didn't believe me.
32:21 I said, "You've gotta watch this in other states
32:23 because if this is happening in Texas,
32:24 which it looks like it's a national program,
32:27 I can only focus on Texas.
32:28 You better make sure this doesn't happen in other states."
32:31 And sure enough, Georgia,
32:32 which had the same margin of victory for Trump
32:34 four years prior, they don't stop it.
32:36 The governor, the AG,
32:38 they just let, they sign a consent decree,
32:41 and they have mail-in ballots with no signature verification.
32:43 They have drop-off boxes.
32:45 And they allow all these mail-in ballots.
32:47 And guess what?
32:47 Now, Georgia that had the same margin of victory for Trump,
32:50 now suddenly we have a eight or 9% win for Trump
32:54 by protecting the ballot box.
32:56 In Georgia, he loses by what, 14,000?
32:58 I don't know, but it was a small amount.
33:00 And I knew when they stopped counting votes
33:01 on election night, I'm sitting there watching,
33:02 I'm going, "This is what they would have done in Texas."
33:05 And all the-
33:05 - What was that about?
33:06 - What's that?
33:08 - They stopped counting votes on election night?
33:10 - Because what they needed to figure out
33:12 was how many real votes there were
33:13 so they could figure out how many mail-in ballots
33:15 to apply to the election.
33:16 That's what they would have done in Texas.
33:17 I'm convinced.
33:18 - So you think that was fraud?
33:19 - Right.
33:20 I have no doubt, having been through that whole process-
33:22 - It wasn't just a water leak?
33:23 - It was definitely planned.
33:26 I mean, it would have happened in Texas.
33:28 I promise you.
33:29 - But can you just stop counting ballots on election night
33:31 when everyone's watching TV?
33:32 Oh, I know!
33:33 - Have you ever seen that before, ever?
33:34 For three years?
33:35 - Well, you tell me, you're the one who's,
33:36 you're the politics.
33:37 - I've never seen it before in my life.
33:39 I was like, I knew it when they stopped.
33:42 And it was, and Trump is leading in all these states.
33:46 I knew exactly what they were doing.
33:47 'Cause there's no way to know
33:48 where those mail-in ballots came.
33:49 Anybody could have filled them out.
33:50 Anybody.
33:51 There's no way to know where those ballots came from.
33:54 - That's not a dangerous conspiracy theory?
33:56 - It's, I watched it happen.
33:59 I was a part of it.
33:59 So they tell me I'm crazy whenever I talk about it.
34:01 They tell me that I should shut up.
34:03 As a matter of fact,
34:03 they're going after my state bar license right now
34:05 for going after election fraud in the overall election.
34:08 So on top of all of this, you know,
34:10 I've got to deal with the-
34:11 - But why wouldn't Karl Rove be upset about that?
34:13 I mean, he's a defender of democracy, right?
34:15 - Very good question.
34:16 Why is Karl not worried about that?
34:18 He doesn't seem to care.
34:19 - Well, so if you're Karl
34:20 and you're taking all this money from billionaires,
34:21 some of whom I know who are nice people,
34:23 and I think they think it's helping,
34:25 or Karl's convinced them that he's helping somehow.
34:28 Why wouldn't preventing voter fraud, mail-in ballots,
34:31 which abet voter fraud, be your number one priority?
34:34 - I think for anybody that cares about democracy,
34:37 whether you're a Republican or a Democrat,
34:39 that that should be the number one thing.
34:41 And for the media to constantly
34:43 shut down the conversation about this,
34:45 and for social media companies, technology companies,
34:48 to shut down the conversation,
34:49 tells me that there's a reason
34:51 they don't want us talking about it.
34:52 It's insane how you get treated for even bringing it up,
34:56 when in reality, I don't think there's a more important
34:58 issue, even than immigration, anything,
35:00 because all those other issues will be affected
35:03 by whether we have real elections that we can trust.
35:05 - And you think it comes down to,
35:07 or the most important issue is mail-in ballots?
35:10 - For what I know, like I don't know the machine stuff.
35:13 I've tried to get people to bring stuff to prove it,
35:15 and I've never seen proof.
35:17 So I would-
35:18 - I haven't either.
35:19 - If they- - Open-minded,
35:20 but I haven't seen it. - I'm open-minded,
35:21 but I have never had anybody bring me proof.
35:23 But I do know 100% that they cheat with mail-in ballots.
35:26 I know that for a fact,
35:27 and we have prosecuted people for that.
35:29 We had a lot of cases.
35:30 It wasn't just like, oh, well, this,
35:32 you know why they can tell the narrative
35:34 that there's no pro-voter fraud?
35:34 'Cause no one prosecutes voter fraud in the country,
35:36 except us.
35:37 We used to.
35:38 Now there's no cases.
35:39 - Who prosecute?
35:40 Can you name cases in our state?
35:41 You know what?
35:42 They don't prosecute it.
35:43 The prosecutors do not prosecute it,
35:45 even though it's a violation of law,
35:46 and it affects the fundamental basis of our democracy.
35:49 - Well, it ends democracy.
35:51 - We don't have it.
35:52 If you can do impeachments like this,
35:53 and you can have mail-in ballots, we don't have democracy.
35:55 We have control by a few people.
35:57 - Can you just walk us through,
35:58 since you prosecuted cases, voter fraud cases,
36:02 how exactly does the fraud work with mail-in ballots?
36:05 - So what these registrars do,
36:07 or these people that control the election offices,
36:11 election administrators in each of these counties,
36:13 so they decided, because of COVID,
36:15 so they got around a lot.
36:16 In Texas, we have a law that says
36:17 you can only mail-in ballot if you're out of state
36:21 at the time of the election,
36:22 or you have a disability, or you're over 65,
36:24 or you're in jail, but you're not a felon.
36:26 - Right. - That's it.
36:28 That's fairly broad.
36:29 I don't even like that broad,
36:30 'cause it still opens up voter fraud.
36:32 But that's what the legislature said, so that's the rules.
36:35 Well, so what they said, these judges,
36:37 these local administrators,
36:37 were gonna send out millions of ballots.
36:39 I would have guessed seven or eight million ballots
36:41 going out in Texas to everyone,
36:43 just everybody that's in the county.
36:45 Well, so if the election administrator
36:48 is colluding and telling people where those ballots are,
36:50 they just pick 'em up, fill 'em out, sign 'em,
36:52 and they mail 'em back in, you would have no idea.
36:55 And if you have a program for that,
36:57 there's no way to know.
36:59 I can't ever prosecute this,
37:00 because I don't know who signed the ballots.
37:03 I can't prove it wasn't real.
37:05 It becomes nearly impossible.
37:07 And that's what I think they were trying
37:09 to accomplish in Texas.
37:10 And then when I saw it happen in these other states,
37:12 Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan,
37:14 it affected our elections, because guess what?
37:16 We all vote for president.
37:17 We all have national elections
37:18 that relate to the Senate and Congress.
37:19 And that's why I sued.
37:20 I sued because I said, wait a minute,
37:22 these states are required by the Constitution
37:25 to follow their own laws,
37:26 and they didn't follow their own laws.
37:28 I can't prove voter fraud.
37:29 Even they probably can't prove voter fraud,
37:31 because of the way it was done.
37:33 But I did argue that they didn't follow their own laws,
37:35 and they are required to.
37:37 In the Supreme Court, we lost seven to,
37:40 I think they should have heard our case.
37:42 And that's what the state bar said,
37:43 that was a frivolous lawsuit.
37:44 And even though two Supreme Court justices agree with you,
37:46 you should be punished for filing that case.
37:49 Of course, they're not elected, I am.
37:51 - So you think that was the third rail?
37:54 That's what you did that brought impeachment on your head?
37:57 - There's no doubt about that.
37:58 Of course, we're also,
37:59 we have lawsuits against Google, Facebook, tech companies.
38:03 We were starting to invest big pharma on the vaccine,
38:06 because as you know,
38:07 the vaccine manufacturers are not liable for any damages.
38:11 They're completely immune under federal law,
38:12 if it's a vaccine.
38:13 So they don't have to,
38:14 we were already finding out
38:15 they hadn't tested these vaccines,
38:17 and they weren't disclosing some of the consequences.
38:19 So we were looking at potentially,
38:21 we were investigating them to see if we had causes
38:24 of action or deceptive trade practices in Texas.
38:27 And as soon as I did that, man, that blew up my world.
38:30 And I became, I think, a target of some big pharma,
38:33 big tech, and obviously the Biden administration.
38:37 - Why would that be controversial?
38:38 - Look, big pharma gives a lot of money, and-
38:42 - But if they make everyone take the vaccine,
38:44 but they haven't fully tested it, which is true,
38:46 and they have liability,
38:48 doesn't somebody need to-
38:50 - I was doing it because the federal government has this-
38:53 (scratching)
38:55 (scratching)
38:58 (scratching)
39:00 they don't have to, we were already finding out,
39:05 they hadn't tested these vaccines,
39:10 and they weren't disclosing some of the consequences.
39:34 So we were looking at potentially,
39:36 we were investigating them to see if we had causes
39:39 of action or deceptive trade practices in Texas.
39:42 And as soon as I did that, man, that blew up my world.
39:46 And I became, I think, a target of some big pharma,
39:49 big tech, and obviously the Biden administration.
39:52 - Why would that be controversial?
39:54 - Look, big pharma gives a lot of money, and-
39:58 - But if they make everyone take the vaccine,
39:59 but they haven't fully tested it, which is true,
40:01 and they have liability,
40:03 doesn't somebody need to-
40:05 - I was doing it because the federal government
40:07 has this immunity for them.
40:09 And I'm like, this is wrong.
40:10 They didn't test this thing,
40:11 and then they didn't tell us about the side effects.
40:14 They had an obligation to test it,
40:16 even if they weren't liable.
40:17 And they had an obligation to tell my people,
40:22 "Hey, there's some risk here.
40:24 You should decide whether you want the vaccine,
40:26 but here are your risks."
40:27 Instead of saying, "Oh, everything's good.
40:29 It prevents it, you won't spread it."
40:30 All that was untrue.
40:32 And that's a deceptive trade practice.
40:34 If they did that,
40:35 and we were starting to get that information-
40:36 - Seems like they did that.
40:37 - It seems like they did that.
40:38 I had to leave office,
40:40 so I don't know what's going on with that investigation.
40:42 I will be finding out this week,
40:43 but we are gonna be back on that case.
40:46 And I think that the people of Texas and the country
40:49 have a right to know what happened.
40:51 - Well, of course they do.
40:53 Is Rove not on that either?
40:55 - I have never heard him speak against anything
40:58 related to that, never.
41:00 - So it's interesting, people,
41:01 I've interviewed a lot of people
41:03 who go through traumatic experiences.
41:05 This has obviously been a traumatic experience
41:07 for you and your family.
41:08 And they either are kind of broken by it
41:11 and decide to obey,
41:12 or they become more ferocious.
41:15 Where would you say you are?
41:16 - Like, I am so excited about going back.
41:19 I've been thinking about what I wanna do when I get back
41:21 since the day I left.
41:22 And so I'm re-energized
41:26 to do the things that I think the voters sent me to do.
41:30 I ran again 'cause I was in the middle of so many big things.
41:32 I mean, our Google lawsuit, our antitrust lawsuit
41:34 is the, I think the largest the world's ever seen.
41:37 And it will have an impact
41:38 on whether we have free speech on the internet,
41:40 whether they can control all advertising on the internet
41:43 by one company.
41:44 The things that I was working on,
41:45 like this big pharma stuff,
41:46 and the fact that we're trying to stop
41:48 the Biden administration from ignoring the constitution
41:51 and just ramrodding things through
41:52 outside of the legislative process,
41:54 these are all things that fundamentally affect,
41:57 and the voter fraud issue,
41:58 fundamentally affect whether we are going
42:00 to be a free country.
42:01 And so, I mean, that excites me to go fight for that.
42:04 And even if they keep taking shots at me,
42:06 which I assume Karl Rove and that group,
42:08 and they'll continue to do it.
42:10 But to me, it's worth it,
42:11 because if we don't fight now,
42:13 we're gonna lose our freedom.
42:14 We lose Texas, we lose everything.
42:16 - Well, yeah, I mean,
42:19 the country's a completely different country if Texas goes.
42:22 There's no balance at all.
42:22 - We cannot depend on Maine to save us.
42:24 - It's a one-party state at that point.
42:26 So what do you think they'll,
42:27 I mean, presumably, you got what,
42:29 800 lawyers in your office?
42:31 - Somewhere around that.
42:32 I'll have to go back and check,
42:32 'cause I've been in that office.
42:34 - So it's a four.
42:35 I mean, you are a force.
42:37 - Yes, we are the largest Republican
42:39 attorney general's office in the country.
42:40 And I know that, we've got resources
42:41 that other states don't have,
42:42 so we can do things they can't do.
42:43 And a lot of times, other states will work with us
42:46 to increase our ability to have an impact,
42:50 but we are the most important Republican state
42:52 just because of size and resources.
42:53 - Of course, massive scale.
42:55 So they're trying to put Trump in jail.
42:57 What do you think they're gonna try to do to you next?
43:00 - You know what?
43:01 I think if they could, they'd put me in jail.
43:04 I don't think they're gonna stop.
43:05 They've realized that this law issue works
43:09 because there are lots of judges who are political
43:12 more than they are following the law.
43:15 And so you're exposed.
43:16 I'm exposed.
43:17 He's exposed, depending on what court you end up in.
43:19 And you know if you end up in certain courts,
43:21 you got almost no chance of winning.
43:23 So it's a scary prospect for people like us,
43:26 but if we don't keep going, we concede, we lose.
43:30 I mean, we all lose.
43:31 My kids lose, my grandkids lose.
43:33 I mean, I'm 60.
43:36 I'm only gonna be around for what, 20, 30 years?
43:38 I don't wanna walk away from this
43:40 and leave my kids and my grandkids in a spot
43:42 where I just gave up and said, fine, let them do this.
43:45 I'm not gonna, even if they punish me for it, so be it.
43:49 - You hear conservatives complain
43:51 about George Soros' effect on our judicial system.
43:56 But you know, you've been in Texas a long time.
43:59 You've seen it.
44:00 - It is dramatic because he's so smart.
44:02 I mean, I think he's outsmarted us on this stuff.
44:05 I watched DAs who I worked with, Democratic DAs,
44:09 who I worked with, didn't agree with on every issue,
44:11 but they would prosecute cases,
44:13 whether it was in Travis County,
44:15 we worked with the DA there.
44:17 I even tried to help her get money
44:18 to prosecute certain types of cases.
44:21 The Bexar County, which is San Antonio,
44:23 I thought that guy was doing a great job.
44:25 George Soros put up candidates to take those two out.
44:29 Why?
44:30 Because he wanted people that wouldn't prosecute real crime
44:33 and focus on political crimes.
44:35 Instead of going after shoplifters and drugs
44:39 and all the things that you'd expect a prosecutor
44:41 to go after, George Soros, and voter fraud,
44:44 they're not gonna do it.
44:45 It was a great strategy, so that leaves only me.
44:47 - But why would he want that?
44:49 I mean, why would anybody want to encourage violent crime?
44:55 - It's a mystery to me.
44:56 I don't understand it,
44:58 unless you want to destabilize the country, which that does.
45:00 I think it creates lack of confidence.
45:02 People don't feel safe.
45:03 - Right, they don't trust their institutions.
45:05 - I think you can look at the big cities,
45:06 whether it's Austin or go to Seattle, go to San Francisco.
45:09 I mean, you know San Francisco.
45:11 I think the results speak for themselves, right?
45:14 I mean, crime rates have gone up.
45:15 People feel less safe.
45:17 And I think it's had its intended effect
45:19 and continues to have its intended effect.
45:20 So that was a smart move by George Soros.
45:23 And it's really hard for us to do much about it
45:25 because we can't elect,
45:27 we don't control Democratic primaries.
45:28 So that means we have to be smart.
45:30 We have to make sure our Court of Criminal Appeals,
45:32 which is all Republican,
45:33 that we elect the right people there.
45:34 We have to be sure that the Attorney General
45:35 is gonna go fight for this stuff.
45:37 'Cause if we lose some of these other pillars,
45:38 we have nothing left to fight with.
45:40 - Are there, I mean, again,
45:41 I hate to keep going back to Karl Rove,
45:43 but he raises probably more money
45:46 than anybody in the state for politics.
45:48 Is this a concern of his?
45:51 I mean, are Republican groups trying to get prosecutors
45:54 who care about the law elected?
45:55 - I've never seen it.
45:56 I've never seen it from Karl Rove.
45:57 I wish Karl Rove cared about some of these things,
46:00 but I've never seen him concerned
46:02 about the things that I'm talking about,
46:03 things that dramatically affect the future of Texas
46:06 and the future of our country,
46:08 which I have said are linked.
46:10 I've never seen Karl Rove ever step forward to do that.
46:13 I've seen him attack Republicans,
46:14 conservative Republicans,
46:15 who are trying to do that, like me,
46:17 but I've never seen him help us.
46:18 I've seen him work with the other side,
46:20 but I've never seen him help us.
46:22 - I mean, a lot of people get murdered
46:24 as a result of these policies.
46:25 Like people die.
46:26 A lot of people die.
46:27 - There's no doubt that we have higher crime rates
46:29 in all categories because of policies from DAs.
46:33 I mean, look at what Austin did.
46:35 They cut their police force, I think it was by 34%.
46:37 Well, now, I mean, with crime rates going up
46:41 and you're cutting the police force,
46:43 they did that in Austin.
46:44 I know they've done that in other cities.
46:45 How does that make any sense?
46:46 And by the way, they keep saying,
46:47 they kept saying to my trial
46:49 that I was against law enforcement.
46:50 That is not true.
46:51 I'm against corrupt law enforcement.
46:52 I'm not against law enforcement.
46:53 I believe in law enforcement,
46:54 and I think cutting the police force is a bad idea.
46:56 So this whole notion that they tried to present in the trial
46:59 that I was against law enforcement is absolute false.
47:03 And I think more law enforcement is actually better
47:05 as long as they're doing their job the right way.
47:07 And in any profession, you have people that,
47:10 you know, don't do the right thing.
47:11 - I've noticed.
47:12 - Yes.
47:13 - Wouldn't it be interesting though,
47:14 to try and figure out how many people have been murdered
47:18 as a result of these policies?
47:19 I mean, Austin got a pretty famous serial killer
47:21 once they started pulling back on law enforcement.
47:23 - Obviously, as time is going on,
47:25 we're gonna get more,
47:26 we should be able to get more and more of those statistics.
47:28 And we already have probably at least a year or two's worth
47:31 to look at.
47:32 And that's something I'm gonna be super interested in
47:34 and talking about as I go around the state,
47:36 'cause I'm gonna be going around the state,
47:37 talking about all of these issues
47:38 over the next couple of years.
47:40 - Amazing.
47:41 Amazing.
47:42 Well, that's quite a story.
47:44 Congratulations.
47:44 - Hey, thank you.
47:45 - Thank you for coming.
47:47 - Well, thanks for having me.
47:47 I really appreciate it.
47:48 It's my first chance to at least tell some of the story
47:51 and obviously I'm gonna keep doing that.
47:52 I really appreciate you having me here.
47:54 - Congratulations.
47:55 - Thank you.
47:56 - By the way.
47:57 Thank you. - Thank you.
47:58 (electronic music)

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