On "Forbes Newsroom," Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-WY) shared her reaction to the assassination attempt against former President Trump.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Hi, everybody. I'm Brittany Lewis with Forbes Breaking News. Joining me now is Congresswoman
00:06Harriet Hageman. Congresswoman, thank you so much for joining me.
00:10Well, it's wonderful to be with you again.
00:13It is wonderful to have you. But this weekend was really sobering. It was really harrowing.
00:19Former President Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt during a political rally
00:24in Pennsylvania. What is your reaction to the whole situation?
00:29Well, I'm absolutely stunned and I'm incredibly angry. I'm incredibly angry that we are at
00:35this point in time where there are people who believe that that is the solution to the
00:41political discourse that we're having. And I'm angry for a lot of reasons. As we were
00:47talking before we went on air, the last time that we were confronted with this as a nation
00:52was in 1981 when Ronald Reagan was assassinated. And I still remember that day extremely vividly
01:01and clearly. And I was in shop class. And I will never forget the moment that our teacher
01:06came running out where we were working, I think in the pay corner, and came running
01:12out and said that the president had been shot. And it was just a stunning circumstance. And
01:17I had some of the feelings on that day when I learned that Trump had been shot. I am so
01:22angry at the fact that we are demonizing, that there are people among us who are demonizing
01:29their political enemies to the point where you take somebody like this young man, this
01:3420 year old, probably believes or believes that he can be a hero like Donald Trump. That
01:41is absolutely wrong. And the rhetoric and the likening him to Hitler and that if he's
01:48elected, it's going to be the third reich and he's a fascist. None of that's true. You have to stop saying it.
01:54I want to first talk about how do you think this happened? Because since the shooter was
02:00outside of the perimeter of the event, does this fall on local law enforcement? Were there
02:05massive security issues from Secret Service? I mean, what questions do you have here?
02:11So I think that there are a lot of questions that need to be answered. And I am glad that Jamie
02:16Comer, the chairman of the Oversight Committee will be starting hearings a week from next
02:21Monday, when we return to Congress when we return to Washington, DC. I don't know where the
02:27failures came in, or if it were there was a failure on a variety of levels. I did hear that
02:33there was a local law enforcement person who was aware that he was on the roof, attempted to go up
02:38there, the guy turned around pointed his gun at him. And then immediately when the guy went back
02:42down the ladder, he immediately turned around and shot at President Trump. So if that is the
02:48case, they were well, someone was aware that he was there that and we just need to get to the
02:54bottom of it. I'm not going to speculate as to what happened or where the failures may be.
02:58There's a lot of questions that need to be asked. One of the things we need to be doing is hiring the
03:05best qualified people, physicians. It's just too incredibly important not to make sure that we have
03:13the most people. We got to get away from this idea that diversity is our strength. I know the new
03:19head of Secret Service said that she's got these goals, she's going to hire a number of Native
03:23Americans, a certain number of women and a certain number of LGBTQ. I don't care if it was security,
03:32those kinds of attributes are entirely relevant to me. All I care about is to work with the best
03:38qualified and we need to get back to that.
03:42When you go into these investigations, you know, what specific questions are you going to be
03:47asking? Because right now, a lot of people have questions for the head of Secret Service, Kimberly
03:53Tito.
03:55Well, again, I want to know that we are not reducing or lowering our standards because we are pursuing
04:03this equity and inclusion type of mantra and agenda. I want to make sure that we're hiring the best
04:11qualified people to protect our president, our vice presidents and other members of the political class,
04:19I guess you would say. So the question is, making sure that we're hiring the best qualified people,
04:27they have enough hands. Were they shorthanded for some reason? What was that? Did they have any kind
04:33of pre information about whether there was going to be something like this happening? I think all of
04:39those questions need to be asked and answered.
04:42So we don't know much about the suspected shooter. But here's what we do know. His name was Thomas
04:47Matthew Crooks. He was a registered Republican who did give a small donation to a Democratic
04:52leaning group. And in the wake of the shooting, Republicans have criticized Democrats for their
04:58central messaging be that Donald Trump is a threat to democracy. What do you make of all of this
05:03information that's coming out a and that blame on Democrats?
05:09One of the other questions that I think needs to be asked is what kind of medications was this young
05:13man? Was he on prescription medication? Was he on anti-sex? Was he on? I believe that anytime we have
05:22events like this, whether it is some kind of a mass shooting, or a terrorist act, or this kind of a
05:27situation, we're going to have to start getting to the bottom of what kind of meds these people are
05:31on. The other question that I think is absolutely legitimate for Republicans and Democrats for their
05:39rhetoric, they have been escalating it and escalating it and escalating it. And what I mean
05:44by that is just this last week, there was a magazine that had Donald Trump on the cover as
05:50Adolf Hitler. I'm going to say this again. And I'm going to I'm going to keep repeating this.
05:55Donald Trump is not Adolf Hitler. There is only one Hitler. There is only one Third Reich. There
06:01is only one government was like the Nazis during the Second World War and prior to when it started.
06:09When we equate people to Hitler, I think we are inviting this kind of action because I would bet
06:16that this kid perhaps thought that he was going to be a hero by taking out what the Democrats are
06:22describing as a Hitler. That's one of the problems. But the other problem is that when we equate a
06:28disagreement in politics, a disagreement in governing, I am a conservative that doesn't
06:34make me a fascist. In fact, it's just the opposite. I believe in a limited government.
06:39I believe in liberty. I believe in freedom. I believe in possibility. I don't want the government
06:44telling me what to do, what car I can drive, where I can go, how I can travel, what I can eat,
06:50and how I can eat my home. Yet that's exactly what the Democrats do. But they turn around
06:56and they claim that Donald Trump is Adolf Hitler. And if you're a conservative, you're a fascist.
07:01And then you turn around and you have people like this who tried to kill Donald Trump. The
07:07Democrats and their rhetoric are to blame for the escalation of this kind of situation, political
07:16situation in our country. They need to knock it off. But in addition to that, equating Donald
07:22Trump or myself or any other conservative or Republican to a fascist or being like Hitler
07:29completely downplays what happened with Hitler in the Third Reich. Hitler was an evil, evil,
07:36evil man who killed over 6 million Jews. And just because I believe in limited government
07:44or Donald Trump believes in limited government, wait, it's crazy. But it completely downplays
07:51what happened with Hitler in World War II. So people need to knock that off. That magazine
07:59should be forced out of business tomorrow for putting that picture on the cover and having an
08:05article that electing Donald Trump is going to be like electing the Third Reich in the United
08:10States of America. It's ridiculous. Congresswoman, it is no secret that we are currently in a highly
08:18politicized, highly partisan time. The temperature really seems to be at an all-time high right now.
08:24And this weekend was a really terrifying example of political violence. So there have been calls
08:31for unity from both sides of the aisle. So what's your message to your constituents
08:35and to Americans, regardless of party? Look at the form of government that we have
08:43and recognize that the reason we have had this constitution is 248 years. And the reason that
08:52our constitutional republic has survived is that foundational document, the constitution,
08:59what it does in terms of separation of powers, what it does in terms of limiting the power of
09:04the government as per the individual. Our First Amendment rights, our Second Amendment rights,
09:09our Fourth Amendment rights, our Fifth Amendment rights to equal protection and due process.
09:14We have the legal framework in place. We have the political framework in place to last for another
09:20250 years or more. But people have to understand that it's that foundational theory, that
09:27foundational, I guess you'd say, mores that we have in this country that have allowed us to thrive
09:37the way that we have. And I'm going to say the Democrats will tear that down. They want a fundamentally
09:43different form of government. And we have seen it. We saw it with Barack Obama, and we're seeing it
09:48in spades with Joe Biden. They want to be able to tell us what kind of a car we can drive. They want
09:53to take away our freedoms. They want to limit what we can consume in terms of food. They want to
09:59restrict our ability to travel. They want to turn us into a lot of the fifties around the world.
10:07As long as we have the constitutional foundation and we adhere to it, that is enough to ensure that we are
10:14adhering to the rule of law, equal protection, as long as to that constitution, we can, we'll not only
10:20survive this, but we will thrive. I agree that the rhetoric is way too hot, but you know, when I walk
10:27back and forth between my office and the Capitol, I'm not being confronted by torporists screaming in my
10:33face about, you know, how bad Israel is or how we fund, we cannot continue to give money to Israel.
10:42I'm confronted by the pro Hamas people. I'm being, those are the kinds of people
10:46where the rhetoric is getting completely out of control and they're not aligned.
10:55Then how do you think that it will be turned down? I mean, what do you think the solution
11:00is? I want to read part of president Biden's statement to the nation. He said this, he talked
11:06about quote, the need for us to lower the temperature in our politics and to remember
11:10while we may disagree, we are not enemies. We're neighbors, we're friends, coworkers, citizens,
11:15and most importantly, we are fellow Americans and we must stand together.
11:19So what do you think the solution is here?
11:23I think he needs to apologize for that fake was in front of the red and black backdrop that he
11:29did a year ago where he screamed at us and screamed at Republicans and screamed about
11:36extremists. I think he needs to apologize for that speech and say it was a terrible mistake.
11:41I think he needs to apologize for standing in front of us in the well of the house of
11:46representatives during his state of the union address earlier this year, where he screamed at
11:51us. I mean, he was, he was like a deranged old man yelling at us about how extreme we are and,
12:00and, and how we're going to take away everybody's rights if we're elected. I mean,
12:05you've got an extremely, you've got an extreme party in the Democrats right now in terms of what
12:12their policies and what their philosophy is. I think if he wants, he really does need to
12:17tone things down, but he's been a large part of the problem. I'm not going to apologize.
12:25I think that I'm not saying that this is equal on both sides because it's not.
12:30I know a lot of people want to say, well, both sides need to calm things down a bit,
12:33but I'm not going to do a, well, both sides are to blame here because that's not the circumstance.
12:39The Republicans are not taking this approach. We are not, we don't call the Democrats, the Nazis
12:46and, and Hitler and put them on, put, you know, Joe Biden on the front of a magazine,
12:51equating him to that, despite the fact that what he did a year ago was a pretty frightening
12:56backdrop and message that he gave to the American people. It had nothing to do with unity.
13:02And right now the rhetoric we're getting from the Democrats has escalated this situation
13:08where we almost had our front runner and the former president of the United States assassinated.
13:15I hear you that you're not both sizing this issue. Do you think then President Biden,
13:21he is a, the president, be the top of the Democrats ticket.
13:25Do you think he's to blame here for what transpired Friday or Saturday?
13:30What happened on Saturday was a deranged young man who took a rifle up on top of a building
13:34and attempted to assassinate the front, the Republican front runner
13:38and the former president of the United States. When we're talking about rhetoric and the messaging
13:43that I am going to place the blame on where, where I believe that it belongs. And again,
13:48that is with the Democrats and that is with Joe Biden. But at the same time,
13:54But when we're talking about when you have the president of the United States,
14:05equating his opponent to here and saying, if he is elected, he is going to do what hit.
14:13You can see some deranged would perhaps do what this young man did. That's all that I
14:19That's why I think that it is absolutely horrible. I have said for years and years and years,
14:25whoever invokes Hitler first will always lose the argument because there is only one Hitler.
14:33There's only one. And anybody who uses that imagery, anybody who attempts to equate
14:39our, their political opponents with someone of that level of evil.
14:45They themselves are engaging in rhetoric that really should have no place in our form of
14:52government. Congresswoman, obviously before the RNC, before Saturday, no one could imagine
14:59the events that happened on Saturday unfolds, the attempted assassination of a former president,
15:04the head of the Republican Party. You're currently in Milwaukee right now at the RNC.
15:10What is the mood there?
15:14People are excited. People are excited about the convention. People are excited about President
15:19Trump. We're excited to learn about who his VP pick is. You know, this was a tragic event that
15:25happened on Saturday, most specifically for that hero, that wonderful man who lost his life and
15:31other people who were injured. And we simply cannot forget them. And my heart just absolutely
15:36breaks for them. Breaks for them. They went to something that they were excited about. They
15:40wanted to be there. They wanted to see the president and it changed their life forever.
15:44And in many ways, it changed all of our lives forever. At the same time, we have to move
15:50forward. We have to be able to move forward. We're going to be nominating and are hopefully
15:59the next president of the United States on Thursday evening. There's a lot of excitement
16:04in the air. People are very upset. People are very hurt. People are very emotional about what
16:10happened on Saturday. Yet at the same time, we're very resilient. And I think that President Trump
16:17has been just absolutely masterful in his messaging, in his show of strength, in his
16:24willingness to fight and continue to fight, and his message to all of us to keep fighting for
16:30America. A very strong America First attitude. A very strong sense of optimism here. Obviously,
16:39if things had gone differently on Saturday, it would be utterly devastating. But it didn't.
16:45God's hand was in that crowd that day. And as a result, our candidate survived and it wasn't worse.
16:52And so there's a lot of excitement surrounding what's going on in Milwaukee right now.
16:58Congresswoman, I always appreciate our conversations.
17:01Thank you so much for coming back on. You're welcome anytime.