The Daily Beast Podcast - Rep. Swalwell: GOP Is Turning Their Back on Cops

Episode Date: May 23, 2021

When it comes to the Jan. 6 commission, Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) feels the Republicans who are against it are turning their backs on the officers who saved them—and even their own staff. Plus! He tells Molly about the Democrats’ midterm strategies, and they don’t include a “potpourri of grievances” like Mr. Potato Head and Dr. Suess. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello and welcome to another bonus episode of the new abnormal. Today, we are so excited to have returning guest Congressman Eric Swal, who represents California's 15th district, and sits on the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the Committee on the Judiciary and Homeland Security. And he's going to talk to us all about the January 6th Commission as well as what Democrats are going to do to win in the midterms. Welcome back to the new abnormal Eric Swallow. Thanks for having me back. We needed to talk to you. right away about the January 6th commission and how Kevin McCarthy threw his colleague under the bus.

Yeah, hey, go negotiate this deal, get everything we want, bring it back, and then let's reject it. I mean, that's a hell of a game plan. If this is any preview of how they would govern, I think it's good reason not to let them anywhere close, you know, to the majority. But also, I think when you look at, law and order, you're starting to see, you know, a party that can do both hold the cops accountable when they make mistakes and put reforms in place, but also a party that can stand by them when they act honorably. And here you see just completely blowing it and walking away from the Republicans when it comes to standing up for the cops that protected them. Yeah, I thought that was kind of an amazing moment there. I mean, I don't understand.

And Republicans are a united front behind Trump, except they're not. Well, there are Republican colleagues of mine who I think look these officers in the eyes, recognize that these are the people who take care of us. And this is the one opportunity to show them that you're taking care of them and saying a meaningful thank you to them. And I think some of them can see a little bit beyond where we are right now at Trumpism, you know, maybe even beyond a Trump indictment if that's coming. We're talking about 80% went the other way, right?

So don't get them too much credit. Yeah, no, I was heartened to at least see 35 of them. It is almost like a real case for the Problem Solvers Caucus. This was a big win for them. And actually, you know, Brian Fitzpatrick, who serves on the Intelligence Committee with me, former FBI agent, you know, I appreciated, you know, his resilience in this to try and get a bipartisan vote out of that caucus. Again, when you're on the Intelligence Committee, when you worked for the FBI, you know, no one can question, you know, your ability to look at evidence

and say that we need this commission. So what happens now? Because there's no world in which there are 10 Republican senators who come along with us. That's crazy, right? Yeah. We also thought there was no world where we even get seven Republican senators to vote with us for impeachment. But we did. And this, I mean, geez, on the courage meter, it seems, like this doesn't take as much courage as voting, you know, to impeach and remove or prohibit someone from running for office ever again. So I would hope there's three more. I would hope the seven that voted to remove Donald Trump for causing the insurrection would at least want to understand what an independent commission said about the insurrection. And then, you know,

perhaps find three more. I wouldn't give up on it yet. But I hope Leader Schumer puts us up for a vote so we can see, you know, just where they stand. Do you think about the staffers? Like, I mean, it's one thing to have Mike Pence's brother vote against investigating a group that wanted to hang him. But the staffers who, like, lived through this, I don't understand how you do this to Republican staffers. Well, especially when you conveniently were able to, you know, Mitch McConnell, you know, conveniently was able to go to a secure location, right? Most of his staff, they didn't have that luxury. They stayed back. They heard the shouting, the pounding, the pounding, the smashing of glassing.

class, the chance to kill Mike Pence, to kill Nancy Pelosi. Yeah, you're walking away from not only the cops, but the custodial staff, the food staffers, the people that keep that building running. And again, this is just an effort to find the truth, that it makes no conclusion in the creation of a commission. Prior commissions, I think we would all agree that we're freer from terrorism in the sky because we had the September 11 commission. And we have not, you know, knocking on wood here, have not had a serious terrorist attack in the United States, you know, anywhere near the scale of September 11.

And a lot of reforms were made. So it's not just, Molly, what does the commission tell us about what happened? Commissions make recommendations. And almost every recommendation from the September 11 commission was put into place so that we would be safer. And so if we can't do that, who's to say that this couldn't happen again? And a select committee is not the preference. Can you explain why? Well, to have recommendations that can become law, they carry more weight when it comes outside of Congress, right?

When you take statespersons and scholars and experts who are not in the political arena but have their own credentials and it's bipartisan. And they look at it and say, this is what happened and here's what you have to do so it doesn't happen again. You know, that has, you know, I would say that the highest, that's the gold standard right there. Now, Congress, of course, Congress had select committees during after September 11. They were important. But I think the gold standard is an independent commission that makes recommendations so we never live this again. Do you think that select committees have just been forever tainted by Benghazi? No one wants a repeat of Benghazi, right?

That's... Right. But, I mean, I feel like ultimately the problem with Democrats is they never would do something like that. The problem with Democrats, right. If the opposite is, you know, a serious committee that seeks to explore the truth, I mean, I mean, that would be okay, but you're right. That was clearly, as Kevin McCarthy said, take his word for it. He said that was created to tear down Hillary Clinton.

And you're right, we would not create a select committee to tear down the Republicans in the midterms. Our own consciences would guard against that. Yeah, that's a mistake. But, I mean, I know that's we love who we're with. Are you concerned about the midterms and do you feel like Democrats have a plan? No, I'm not concerned about the midterms. You can't take it for granted. But here's what's going on.

The economy continues to grow. We've seen the most growth in the economy since 40 years ago. Unemployment rate could be as low as 4% by the end of the year. America's getting vaccinated. So schools and pews and main streets, you know, are opening up again. And I would rather run on that than running on grievances that the Republicans have, right? Just this Pope-Pourri of grievances that they call. out every day, whether it's, you know, Dr. Seuss or...

Mr. Potato Head. Mr. Potato Head. Yeah, I mean, that's not a plan. And also Donald Trump's not on the ballot. So, you know, I tell my colleagues, let's carry our heads high because confidence begets confidence. And we should do all we can, you know, to inspire confidence among the American people and ourselves to believe that this majority can be expanded. There was reporting in the Washington Post that Kevin McCarthy is actually his district would benefit from this child tax credit. you know, he has something like 90% plus children who would qualify for this child tax credit.

And yet he's like pretty stuck on trying to stop the Biden agenda. Do you feel like Democrats don't talk about this enough? Don't Kevin's constituents want that money? They do. And Kevin will probably even post how they can get it so he can take credit, right? Because Kevin is, you know, the master of, you know, trying to have it as many ways as possible by paying as little of a political price as possible. So here's what we have to do, going back to the midterms.

I think we're getting close to having a message for what the midterms will be about. And I think it's coming into focus with the America Rescue Plan and the family plan and the jobs plan. But part of it also has to be can't go back, right? Like the country knows what back looks like. It's, you know, steep in a pandemic, you know, dismissing science, politicizing the solutions, and competence and governing, you know, cruelty and policies. So if we show them rescue plan working, jobs, family plan, you know, emerging and hopefully passing or show them why it doesn't pass, then you have a real message of,

here's what we have done in this short period of time. Let's not go back. And back is still fresh in the mind. And that may be the message. You know, let's keep the progress going. Yeah, that's a really good point. What is the plan now for this Democratic Congress? We've got to get the infrastructure legislation passed, right?

I mean, this is about connecting the disconnected, whether it's connecting you closer to your family, so you're spending less time in your car and more time at home, or connecting you through broadband, you know, to your work or your kids to school. Or, you know, just making sure that, you know, those family connections and bonds are there because we have, you know, family leave or, as you said, a child care or not only the child tax credit, but also, you know, child care credits or tax deductions, ways for families. to be able to work and have their kids taken care of. So that is really what's ahead. Now, again, the question is, does the Senate take it up? Or is there a budget reconciliation vote that they could take to get as much of it done as possible? But showing the American people that, you know, governing is cool again, I think is the plan for the summer.

Right. I just don't understand. Like, every time we have an issue, it's like you can't negotiate with terrorists, right? I mean, like, you have now a senator from West Virginia who's trying to do infrastructure, more capital. And you did have a representative from New York, right, who was a Republican who was trying to do the January 6th. But you know that there's no world in which the leadership goes along with these people. So, like, how do you even negotiate with these people? Well, I think with the commission, you know, the fact that, yes, we had to give up some to get 35 Republicans.

votes. I understand the knock that, you know, if the majority are going to pan it and vote against it, why not just go with the commission that you want? I still think 35 is enough to say to the American people, look, this had legitimate buy-in. We showed that we would collaborate. And when recommendations are ultimately made, if a commission's passed, doing that work will be worth it. Same thing with infrastructure. I think you have to, you know, Biden is wired to want to collaborate. That's just who he was as a senator. And I think that's how he's leading. But I think if they walk a or we can't get 10 votes, you know, Leader Schumer putting up these bills

and showing who is against it, where the obstruction is. Hopefully that's building the book, making the case for why we need to just throw out the filibuster because we did try in earnest and they were never interested. Yeah, I mean, this is sort of wild, wild stuff. I hope your optimism, I hope you're right. Thank you so much.

Of course, of course. On that note, we'll wrap this episode of the new abnormal from The Daily Beast. In future episodes, we'll be talking to smart folks from The Daily Beast and beyond from media, culture, politics, and science. We'll help us understand what's happening to our country and the world. We hope you'll subscribe to us on your favorite podcast app and share the show on social media. Thanks so much for listening, and we'll see you again on the next episode. Want more great listens?

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