NASHVILLE, TN—United States Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today joined Mornings With Maria on Fox Business to discuss his legislation to hold the White House accountable for colluding with Big Tech to censor Americans, the Biden Administration weighing a deal with China to lift sanctions in exchange for help with the fentanyl crisis, and the Biden Department of Justice’s (DOJ) lawsuit against the state of Texas for installing a border barrier to stop illegal immigration.
Partial Transcript
Hagerty on his legislation to hold the Biden Administration accountable for colluding with Big Tech to silence Americans: “It’s an absolutely amazing fact that this Administration wants to continue suppressing American speech, continuing to censor us. I put forward legislation to address this, to force the Administration to disclose the fact when they censor American speech, when they cooperate with Big Tech like Meta. Meta again is refusing to disclose this fact because I think there’s something very deeply wrong there. We need to continue to press here. I saw Robert Kennedy’s interview with you. I think it’s incredibly, incredibly depressing to Americans to find out that this White House thinks that they ought to be able to just step in and force these Big Tech companies to silence Americans with whom they disagree. Always, it seems to be those that oppose this White House, that oppose their position, and particularly conservative positions, here in America […] If we would put my legislation in place, if I could get Democrats to join me on this—and again, they’ve blocked my legislation now four times on the floor of the United States Senate—but this would force the Administration to disclose any time that they cooperate and collaborate with Big Tech to censor American speech. There may be certain occasions, and my legislation allows for this, where national security interests are involved, that it should be allowed, but we’ve got to have a full disclosure when this should occur. That would allow Americans to actually step up and protect themselves. You know, you look at the legislation that I [want to] put in place, it’s very simple. It’s a light touch, and it would address what we found out through the course of litigation…On July 4th, a judge in Louisiana just put forward a ruling that would block this type of behavior, this type of censorship of American speech. The Biden Administration immediately appealed it, but going through the disclosure process there in that court, we found multiple occasions where the Biden Administration has worked with Big Tech to suppress American speech. It’s got to come to an end.”
Hagerty on the Biden Administration’s potential deal to lift sanctions against a Chinese police agency accused of committing human-rights abuses: “[The Chinese Communist Party is] killing more than a hundred thousand Americans a year with drug overdoses. They’re shipping fentanyl into this country. And the fact that [Secretary of State Antony] Blinken is willing to offer to back off of rightfully imposed sanctions against humanitarian violations that the Chinese Communist Party is putting forward in exchange for stopping the killing of American youth, it’s just preposterous. You have been right about this. Secretary [of State Mike] Pompeo is absolutely right about this. We should be standing strong right now. I’ve dealt with the Chinese Communist Party, as did Secretary Pompeo when we both served in the Trump Administration dealing with them in Asia. They only respect strength. The Biden Administration is projecting anything but strength. They’re projecting weakness at every turn. And when I hear that they’re offering again to basically lift sanctions in exchange for asking for—begging, I should say—the Chinese Communist Party to stop killing American youth is preposterous. We should be standing strong right now, pushing back, not lifting sanctions, but imposing more sanctions for their violations of our own sovereignty here in America.”
Hagerty on the Biden Administration suing Texas for attempting to stop illegal immigration: “It is an absolute tragedy that most of the media will not cover the Biden Administration stepping in and stopping the Governor of Texas from trying to protect his own state, and frankly, from protecting America against the constant violations of our own sovereignty, violations from massive criminal cartels that are invading our country at every turn, working in cooperation with the Chinese Communist Party, again, to send fentanyl into the country. The fact that [Governor] Greg Abbott is stepping up and addressing this should be applauded here in America. Rather, the Biden Administration wants to step up, and the only laws they want to enforce are against Americans trying to protect America as opposed to cartels trying to invade America. It’s absolutely shocking, and again, I just think it shows the depravity of this Administration.”
###