ICYMI—Hagerty Joins Andrea Mitchell Reports on MSNBC to Discuss Democrats’ Fake Hysteria Over Trump Cabinet Picks

WASHINGTON-United States Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee and former U.S. Ambassador to Japan, today joined Andrea Mitchell Reports on MSNBC to discuss Democrats' fake hysteria over President Donald Trump's cabinet picks.

Partial Transcript

Hagerty on Trump's selection of Matt Gaetz and the weaponization of government against President Trump: "It's amazing to me that people are reacting the way they are and what you just showed, because there has been no one better at channeling the American public's frustration with the weaponization of the Department of Justice than Matt Gaetz. You can understand the President's frustration with the DOJ. During his first campaign, they used a fake Clinton dossier to spy on him. Look at what happened in the first Trump Administration, this whole fake 'Russiagate' hoax. The DOJ investigated him for years doing that. In 2020, the DOJ went to Big Tech and had them censor Hunter Biden's laptop to throw the election toward Joe Biden. And if you think about what just happened in 2024, the DOJ, their colleagues around the country, they brought five different cases to try President Biden's top opponent, President Trump. I can understand his frustration and wanting to put an agent of change in place. I'm not surprised at all […] I think the American public spoke louder than anybody. They gave him the strongest mandate we've seen in 36 years in reaction to all of this."

Hagerty on the American people calling for change: "Andrea, you said it yourself. These are allegations. It's amazing that you're more upset about allegations than you are about the weaponization of the Department of Justice. The American public has completely lost faith in the DOJ. Think about it: The DOJ sending their agents to spy on parents who go to the school board meetings. It's just amazing [that] as the American public has seen all of this, they see somebody, like Matt Gaetz, who's willing to stand up and call it wrong, and President Trump's willing to put somebody in place that will change all of this. That's what the American public voted for."

Hagerty on the DOJ's weaponization against President Trump: "If you think about what this Justice Department did in 2020, they reached out and got Big Tech to censor that Hunter Biden laptop. This is the letter that was put together, by [Secretary of State] Antony Blinken, by the way. You think about the political dirty tricks that have gone on with the Biden Administration, Antony Blinken got 51 so-called intelligence experts to sign a letter saying that the Hunter Biden laptop was Russian disinformation, and the DOJ cooperated with them to go out and basically pre-broker a deal with Big Tech to censor the laptop. They threw the election toward Joe Biden as a result of that. This DOJ has got huge problems."

Hagerty on the need to confirm Trump's appointees quickly: "I want see President Trump's cabinet appointed quickly. Look, I went through the process of being jammed up by the Democrats when I went through confirmation. I turned my paperwork in on the 21st of January, 2017. I didn't get through the process until late July. An important post, we couldn't fill it, because of obstruction. We need to allow President Trump, particularly in this circumstance, when the American public has spoken so clearly, we need to allow him to fill his cabinet and get to work, bringing our Department of Justice, and other departments, back in line to stop the weaponization, and take control from the bureaucracy and bring it back to the people […] I got 86 votes [in my confirmation], but I was held up for months because [of] obstructionist Democrat [Senators]…I think President Trump needs every tool at his disposal to get his cabinet appointed as quickly as possible."

Hagerty on why Pete Hegseth is more qualified than Biden appointees: "Pete is a graduate of Princeton, a graduate of Harvard. He's my constituent in Tennessee; he's an inspirational leader. If you think about some of the people that we have, look at [Defense Secretary] Lloyd Austin right now, refusing to hold anybody to account for what happened in Afghanistan. The Department of Defense has been enormously mismanaged under the current regime. It needs to change dramatically. They need to stop working on pronouns and get back to lethality, and someone like Pete can lead that […] I don't have to agree with everything that Pete says to vote for him […] I have voted for certain Biden appointees. I don't agree with them on every point, certainly not every point at all. But they need to have a chance to be heard. They need to have a chance to serve."

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