We have Congressman Chris Stewart on With us Uh hello Chris always good to have you On Good morning Glenn Beck Um you are of course a national Award-winning author you're really good I try to hire you as a as a writer and Then you're like no I think I should go To Congress what a mistake that was uh Your world record uh Air Force pilot uh You are a former owner and CEO of a Small business and now you're in Congress and I'm sorry for that Um Chris Um you were on all kinds of uh Committees and uh and I've got all kinds Of questions so let me start with the Latest did you read the Washington Post Today Uh not yet this morning what did I miss So they say that well they have one Source uh and it's a kid but they did Talk to his mom before they put him on Record uh a kid says that he knows who The leaker is he was a guy in this group Of about a dozen kids and uh he worked On a military base Uh and would go in and just leak these Documents to the kids Uh uh I find that a little strange Um but I wanted to ask you because he Worked on a military base and he said he Had access to documents and servers that
He could get in and see all these Secrets Um how hard is that with the documents That you know and I know have come out How hard would what kind of Classification would you have to have And do we have those kinds of Skiffs on Military bases that would allow access To anything Yeah well a couple things then if I Could number one is you said that I read The Washington Post this morning I gotta Tell you I don't read The Washington Post most mornings Right okay I had adjusted source of Information so you know let's let's at Least consider that yeah but the other Thing too is that I I think there's Probably two elements of this that are Worth commenting on number one is that Most of the stuff that we've seen in Fact all of it is is classified top Secret Which is actually one of the lowest Classifications so it probably there's Thousands of people who probably had Access to a lot of these documents right And the second thing Glenn is that the Whole presumption of the classification Number one is we overclassify a lot of Things and that's another topic but some Of these things if you read them you Think well that doesn't seem terribly Classified and it seems actually fairly
Obvious and I think that's the case with Some of these documents although not all Of them but my point is is that the Whole whole process only works if There's a presumption of of trust And of course there's some people that You can't trust and you shouldn't trust But it seems to me like there was a Breakdown more broadly and that is uh Someone somewhere had enormous access And and uh over a long period of time And it seems like with just Extraordinary ease was able to have Access to these documents and then walk Out of the building with them They didn't you know they didn't You know break down through computers And get electronic access it looks like They had physical access things and Actually were walking around with them That is actually quite surprising to me So we're seeing now with China some of The leaks are about China Um and us not being able to uh have war With them Um the the Taiwan thing where are we Headed on that is is China I mean if I were China with this President and this Pentagon man I would I would if it looks like somebody else Is going to win the White House man I Would make my moves right now on Taiwan Um well and they yeah yeah well they're They're close to that
They're not quite where they want to be Militarily but militarily isn't it Military isn't the only consideration They have one of the primary Considerations of course is what you Just indicated What do they estimate the United States Will do what do they estimate the Response of the leadership in the President United States would be and It's very very clear and everyone talks About Afghanistan but you really just Can't over emphasize The importance of that Glenn I mean as I've traveled around the world since and I hear it all the time and not just from Our friends but from our adversaries as Well I mean they look at that and they Just go think what what fickle naive Weak leadership that was and by the way Every it's not just President Biden it's General milley it's General Austin oh I Know they're the ones who presided over That I know so there's no question that President XI looks at that and goes well Maybe now is the time and if I could Share one one personal experience I had I was on another interview and I and They asked me you know well what's the Timeline so it's hard to say the Analysts of course predicting the future But I said I think it's probably four to Six years And and that weekend I was called by a
Former the former National Security Adviser Robert friend of mine then he Said no Chris I think it's probably Closer to two years and then an hour Later I got a phone call from another a Very very senior military officer who Called me and said Chris I think you're Wrong I think it's closer to two years Having been in the region recently this Much is very very clear China is preparing for war against the United States in in over Taiwan in the South China Sea they're preparing Urgently and I don't think the timeline Is a j is a a decade for sure it's Probably not five years it probably is Sometime between now and the next Election That what does that mean for us Chris What what does a world with the United States at war with China and most likely With Russia what does that look like Yeah and that's then that really is a Key question what does that mean to us I Was in Ukraine last week and and you Know left there Well it was an interesting interesting Trip I'll tell you that Glenn but one of The Impressions I left her with was to Those of us here in the United States Who who we've sent them as you and I Have talked about tens per perhaps more Than a 100 billion dollars But most Americans you know they they
May say okay well we want to support That it's a lot of money but as far as It affects how we live day to day it Does not I mean we we're completely Unaware of it now President Biden will Blame the price of fuel on the war in Ukraine but that's nonsense that's not The reason for that's because of his own Policies but When when and if there is a war in the In over Taiwan Every single one of us will feel it Every single day and I'll give you one Illustration there's recent analysis That said we would have a nine percent Reduction in our GDP the first year From only from the inability to access The chips and expecially the Exquisite Chips nine percent the the Great Depression reduction in GDP the first Year was 7.5 oh my gosh and Glenn that Doesn't count because we haven't yet Finished the analysis on the reduction In GDP from the fact that you're not Going to have container ships leaving China and coming to the United States or Coming to the West we're just simply not Going to continue to trade at them so When you ask what does it mean I mean The Economic Consequences of this are Hard for us to imagine Chris why are we Not having these conversations Why why is it it just seems like Everything just happens they just
Continue on with their I think Diabolical plans Um and and nothing nothing happens I Mean Merrick Garland I know you're on The weaponization uh committee Merrick Garland has lied lied to the committee Uh about you know who they're surveying Or surveilling and who they're trying to Rope in as uh as FBI informants he said We're not doing this with Catholics We're not targeting and now we find out That yeah yeah they they are targeting Catholics Um and he's not going to pay a price When does someone pay a price for any of This stuff Yeah Glenn I've been asking myself that Question for six years Because you go back to the initial Russian hoax and the fact that uh Director Comey lied to Congress again And again and again and then listen when He was finally put on a oath under Deposition you may remember something Like 257 times he says you know I don't Remember That's nonsense of course he remembers I Mean that would that's a non-responsive Witness if that would have been anyone Else they would have been charged with Perjury for saying that uh what about McCabe what about Lisa strzok what about Uh I mean uh or Peter Stark I mean you
Go down the list it just keeps going and All the time we're asking where is the Accountability Now there is some good news and I don't Want to be pollyanish about this but it But it is actually I think a positive Step forward and that is we have to we Have to reauthorize 702 and fisa this Fall So we're simply not going to do it and And it's and as strong as an advocate as I am for National Security is is someone Who understands the value of Intelligence I would rather lose the Tool than have the tool continue to be Uh weaponized and continue to be used Against the American people there's a Number of us in Congress who are saying We simply won't reauthorize this unless There's enormous reforms put in place First and it's one of the primary things We're concentrating right now on the Intelligence committee oh man I I hope You're I hope you guys stand firm on That and I mean it would have to be Enormous reforms uh because that that That whole thing is a cesspool Um and with these leaks the story out Today is that uh Biden is looking again At uh you know different ways he can Monitor and capture all of the Information on the web and surveil uh I Mean we know what they're doing against The United States the people of the
United States Two two talks Glenn if I could number One is you may know that we subpoenaed Uh you know the director and others Yesterday on the weaponization committee Regarding this absurdity of targeting Catholic Diocese Catholic congregations I mean if you show me any reasonable Person in the country who thinks that One of the one of the threats to our Security are believing Catholics for Heaven's sakes it's it's beyond absurd Um and and that's that's good I mean we We need to bring them in under oath once Again and have an ability to question Them but the second Point Glenn that you Bring up is this you know the United States has has extraordinary powers to Surveil by themselves But they also have brought in the entire Industry around them yes uh you know Facebook Twitter etc etc as a partner And if for example it's illegal for the United States to assassinate someone They can't Target a foreign leader for Example and and tell the CIA go and Assassinate that person that's illegal They can't do it But if they hired someone to do that and They did it for them it would be exactly The same thing and it would still be Illegal and that's what the government Has done essentially with surveillance And with suppression of free speech with
With a weaponization of many of these Tools is they don't do it themselves They go to these tech companies and say We want you to do it for us and we're Going to compel you we're going to Intimidate you we're going to threaten You now they don't have to threaten them Very often or very hard because it turns Out these tech companies are more than Willing to do this in the United States Government but the fact they come that They work with a partner is still is Still offensive and wrong as much as if They had done it themselves and once Again it's one of the things that we're Trying to address and trying to expose So one one more question I've only got About 90 seconds Max on this but Um tell me are we standing firm on Congress Bringing back the power of the purse are We going to fold again Yeah we'll we'll see Glenn I mean you've Got a republican house and many of us Are saying that is the only tool that we Have and in fact it is the only tool That we really have and that is to say We're just not going to fund you uh but We don't control the Santa so the house Is going to push a lot of these things For example I'm not going to give a Penny to the New FBI headquarters until Uh Christopher Ray comes in and answers A boatload of questions
In a way where he has to go to jail you Know you know uh you just said Comey Answered you know I don't remember when He was under oath well he was under oath In Congress but nobody cares nobody Cares about that oath it seems Yeah it does it it is it is seems like That's something different but back to The original question Glenn is the house Is gonna is gonna defend some of these Efforts and and I think we're going to Be Broad and deep in some of those but Of course then that that budget goes to The Senate and we'll see what Schumer Does because well you know what what He'll do and he won't and that's where The fight is going to take place and That's well you know we won't know the Answer to that until sometime this Summer or this fall when we actually Have to fund the government and we'll See how strong Republicans will stand Chris thank you very much I can't Imagine being any of you guys who are Trying to do your best uh in Washington I just can't imagine the frustration but Thank you and I should I should I should Have taken a job and come and worked With you I know you should have a huge Mistake I told you uh all right Chris Thank you so much
