The Daily Signal - How Rep. Debbie Lesko Is Fighting For the Rights of All Women

Episode Date: October 1, 2020

Rep. Debbie Lesko, R-Ariz., is a powerful voice for conservative women across America. Lesko, the only female member of the House Freedom Caucus, joins “Problematic Women” to explain how she is working to defend women’s sports from the agenda of radical LGBTQ groups. Lesko also share her own journey into the pro-life movement and why she fights to protect the lives of the unborn.  We also cover these stories:  The Senate Judiciary Committee questions James Comey, the former FBI director, about his knowledge of the beginning stages of the Russia investigation.  Senator Tim Scott says he believes the President misspoke when he did not directly condemn white supremacists during Tuesday night’s first presidential debate.  Daniel Cameron, the attorney general of Kentucky, asks for more time before releasing the recordings of the grand jury during the Breonna Taylor hearing.  Enjoy the show! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Nothing else is Rees. This is the deal. Daily Signal Podcasts for Thursday, October 1st. I'm Rachel Del Judas. And I'm Virginia Allen. Today, we are pleased to welcome Representative Debbie Lesko to the show. Representative Lesko joined Lauren Evans and I on problematic women this week, and we wanted to share that conversation here with you all today. Representative Lesko discusses how she is fighting for American values from the halls of Congress and what it is like serving as the only woman on the House Freedom. Caucus. Don't forget, if you're enjoying this podcast, please be sure to leave a review or a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and encourage others to subscribe. Now onto our top news.

On Wednesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee questioned James Comey, the former director of the FBI, about the extent of his knowledge and about what the FBI did in the beginning stages of the Russia investigation. Under discussion was a report from the Justice Department Inspector General, which found that, the application for the warrant and following applications for renewal of surveillance of Carter Page, a former advisor to the Trump campaign, contained inaccuracies and omissions, and relied on the steel dossier despite evidence that it was unreliable, according to Fox News. Asked by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Senator Lindsey Graham about the FBI trying to verify the dossier, Comey said, I don't know. Comey also did show hesitation with his call to approve surveillance warrants of

page. Here's the exchange between Comey and Graham via C-SPAN. Knowing then what you know now about all the things that we've come to find, would you have still signed the warrant application against Carter Page in October, January, and April? No, I would want a much more complete understanding of what we were. Thank you very much. Senator Tim Scott says he believes that President Trump misspoke when he told the group Proud Boys to stand back and stand by instead of directly condemning white supremacists during Tuesday night's first presidential debate. When questioned by ABC News on Wednesday, Scott said, I think he misspoke in response to Chris Wallace's comment. I think he misspoke. I think he should correct it. If he doesn't correct it, I guess he didn't misspeak.

Senator Mike Rounds, Republican of South Dakota, told the press that President Trump, should have made it very clear that there's no room for people on the far left or the far more far right. When it comes to either an Antifa or these white supremacist groups should have been very clear. Daniel Cameron, the Attorney General of Kentucky, has asked for more time before releasing the recordings of the grand jury for the Brianna-Taylor case to be able to redact personal information. Taylor was killed in her home on March 13th by police as they were searching her home, having a search warrant for a drug case. Taylor's ex-boyfriend, Jamerica's Glover, was a suspect in the search, ABC News reported, and was arrested 10 miles from Taylor's home that night.

After law enforcement got to Taylor's residence, they fired 22 bullets into her residence, ultimately killing her. The city of Louisville announced September 15th a $12 million settlement to Taylor's family. Now stay tuned for my conversation with Representative Debbie Lesko about how she is furthering conservative values in Washington, D.C. Conservative women. Conservative feminists. It's true. We do exist. I'm Virginia Allen, and every Thursday morning on problematic women, Lauren Evans and I sort through the news to bring you stories and interviews that are a particular interest to conservative leaning or problematic women. That is women whose views and opinions are often excluded or mocked by those on the so-called feminist left. We talk about everything from pop culture to policy and politics. Search for problematic women wherever you get your podcast.

Welcome back to the show. We are joined by Representative Debbie Lesko of Arizona. Representative Lesco, thank you so much for being on the shell. Thanks for having me. It's exciting. You are definitely, I mean, if you look up, problematic woman in the dictionary when eventually it'll be in there. Like, it'll, your face, I think, will be right underneath it. I don't know if that's good or bad. It's good. It's definitely good. So how did you first gain an interest in policy and what led you to want to run for Congress?

Wow, this was a long journey and I've come a long way. So I used to be married to an abusive ex-husband and who threatened my life multiple times. And so thankfully, I left that relationship and married a great new husband who I've been married to for a long time and had more children. But it was rough. It was rough along the way. And the last thing on my mind was being a congresswoman, I'll tell you that. I was just trying to make a living and support my young daughter because I was a single mom.

So, you know, one thing led to the other. I started getting involved in my kids' schools. Then I started getting involved in my city as a volunteer community worker. Then I started getting involved in the Republican Party as a volunteer. And before you know it, I was elected an officer of the district, then the county, then the state. And then an opening came up in the state House of Representatives in Arizona. And people suggested I run. So I ran and I won.

served their six years, got into a leadership position and chair of Ways and Means Committee, then went over to the state Senate, got into leadership, and I was going to run for a Senate president. And then all of a sudden, my congressman resigned. People encouraged me to run for Congress, and here I am. Now I'm flying on Air Force One and was one of eight members in the U.S. House of Representatives to serve on President Trump's impeachment defense team. So life is good and God has blessed me. Wow. Amen.

I love that. It's always, I think it's just so special to hear someone's personal story and how you come from just kind of wild circumstances and then where you are now, it's just really awesome to see all the different seasons of life that as women we can experience and go through. Within Congress, you serve on a number of different, committees and caucuses, including the House Freedom Caucus. Can you just tell us a little bit about the

work of the House Freedom Caucus? Sure, I'm the only woman in it. So, you know, hey, good thing, like, at least one woman is a representative in it. You know, it's a good caucus. It talks, it goes more in depth into legislation, which I find very valuable. So to me, I want to learn everything about different pieces of legislation. So I go to the conference meetings, and learn about it there. And of course, my staff teaches me or guides me on what the legislation does. But I like hearing all different perspectives.

And the Freedom Caucus is very much for conservative fiscal values, conservative social values, and free markets. And so it's a good group to belong to. Well, Representative Lesko, I'm such a fan of the House Freedom Caucus. And I get to cover them with the Daily Signal, a lot. And when Virginia told me about this interview, like my first gut was like, I want to break

down. Why are you the only woman on the House Freedom Caucus? Like, why don't women, you know, value kind of these like principles and, you know, thinking about economics, you know, just as much of the soft issues, you know, such as abortion and things like that? Well, I don't know why I'm the only woman, but I imagine it's a factor. There's only 13 of voting Republican women in the entire U.S. Congress, right? So it's all about numbers, I think. And also, it's hard. It's hard to raise money when you're in the Freedom Caucus. So when I first got here, I had committed to being a member of the Freedom Caucus before, even back to the primary, Republican Special Election primary, because all of the Republicans in Arizona are members of the Freedom Caucus,

right? And my predecessor was a member of the Freedom Caucus, and I believed in it. But it was tough. I got some from other Republican members that weren't really excited about the Freedom Caucus. They kind of gave me a glare and I and wondered, what is this lady all about? And also, it was hard to get donor money, quite frankly. And so, you know, I guess the reason that there aren't more women in it is because there's only 13 of us, right? But I hear that we're going to have more women members very soon after the election. So it's good to have some more women in the group. Well, and you also co-chair the Congressional Caucus for Women's Issues. Women's issues tend to be some of the most contentious, I think, at times. So what is it like representing the female

conservative perspective on that committee? Well, I'm totally outnumbered. So I'm the Republican co-chair of the Women's Caucus. And usually when we go to meetings, there's maybe 30 Democrat women in the room, and sometimes I'm the only Republican woman because of the scheduling. And there's only 13 Republican women in Congress, right? And so, you know, sometimes they have really liberal issues that I totally don't agree with, but I sit through them and bite my tongue sometimes and listen. I try to have an open mind, but other times I can agree with them. So I've become, I would say that I am pretty good friends with the co-chair, Brenda Lawrence, and she introduced me to Karen Bass. We went out to dinner one time, and Karen Bass serves on the Judiciary Committee. So those relationships

have gotten me to do bipartisan legislation with Karen Bass. I mean, we just introduced one that passed out of Judiciary Committee that protects pregnant women that are incarcerated. And I'm a pro-life women. So to me, that was a win-win. So one of the biggest issues right now for women is, you know, women sports. The transgender issue where men who are biologically men now identify as women and, you know, want to play sports with people who are biologically women. You have a bill called the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act.

Can you let us know kind of what that will do have passed and kind of what the trajectory of that looks like? Yes, thank you so much for bringing that up. My bill, which I co-sponsored, will basically protect women and girls. I mean, women and girls have fought so long for rights. And the Democrats are really pushing to prioritize transgender. So their Equality Act, which they passed through the U.S. House of Representatives, which I voted no on and was quite vocally against, is called the Equality Act. Sounds good, right? But it's not equal.

It's giving priority to transgender and saying, okay, let's say you're a teenage girl. You're a minor, right? And you think all of a sudden you wake up one day and say, you know what, I really feel like a guy, and I want to get a mastectomy, or I want to get a mastectomy, or I want to get hormone therapy, their bill actually prevents the parents from stepping in for their minor child and saying no, the parents could actually be reported to child protective custody just for stepping up and trying to protect their daughter from these radical agenda that she may change her mind. And so this is another thing that was in the Equality Act. The Equality Act that the Democrats pushed through the U.S. House of Representatives basically said under mandate of federal law,

schools, organizations, churches, any public organization has to take in biological males that still have male body parts. And if they say they're a woman that particular moment and they relate to a girl or they say they're a girl, they have to be allowed into girls and women's sports. That's wrong. That's discriminatory against women and girls. It prioritizes transgenders over women's and girls. I think it's wrong, and that's why I stood up to fight against it. And why is this issue so critical beyond, let's say, just high school girls that obviously want to compete fairly?

But how does this issue truly affect all Americans? In the Democrats version of the Equality Act, which they push through the U.S. House of Representatives, and I voted against, and I was vocally against it, it enshrines into law and forces under government federal law for organizations to put biological men in the same shower as girls and women if they say that they happen to feel like a girl that day or, you know, they identify. identify as a woman or a girl. It under mandate a federal law, it says that domestic violence shelters have to take in biological males. And some of these domestic violence shelters don't have separate facilities for guys and women. You know, and so this is just wrong.

This is discriminatory against women. And so quite frankly, this is a subject that is uncomfortable for a lot of people. uncomfortable for Republicans to talk about. But I'm going to talk about it. And I talk about it in business groups too. So let's say I have different trade organizations. And so first I talk about their subject. And then I bring this up.

And it's uncomfortable to them. But I bring it up and I said, this is going to affect you because you're going to be put as an employer in these uncomfortable positions where you're going to have a woman that says this isn't right, but the federal law says you can't do anything about it because you have to accept a biological male who identifies as a woman and put them right next to a woman or whatever. This is just wrong, especially the part where it says that parents, parents can't even have a say over their minor child if the minor child just decides, you know what, I feel like the opposite sex and I want a surgery to change my sex and there are minor. This is craziness.

Wow, that is, it's just, oh, what does this world come to? You know, what's going to be next? Well, that's why I stand up and fight. There's too many people uncomfortable about talking about it, quite frankly. And so I'm on the Judiciary Committee. I'm on the Rules Committee. I'm the woman here that's willing to speak up about it. So I'm the one that speaks up about it because somebody has to. You know, Representative Lesko, I think we have a lot of problematic listeners who definitely appreciate and value you standing up. Another issue that we know you're very passionate about is, you know, being a pro-life voice in Washington. Where does that passion come from? Oh, man, because I would lie to. I wasn't that I was pro-life. I mean, I was, as you'd call it, the left call

pro-choice. I call it, you know, for abortion, I guess, or anti-life. But, you know, I used to be like that, so I can relate to it. I was lied to by Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood said, oh, it's just a clump of self. I think they said it looks like a tadpole. And so it was actually when I got involved in the Republican Party, and there was a woman in the Arizona Republican Party who was very pro-life. And then I volunteered to register voters at the Arizona State Fair and there was a booth very close to our Arizona Republican Party booth that was Arizona Right to Life and then have little miniatures of fetuses inside the womb and I was like that's not a clump of cells those are little babies and so I was converted

was converted and it was like they lied to me and so now I'm very vocal about this because it's wrong and Planned Parenthood continues to lie. Do you know that the chairman of the Arizona Planned Parenthood Political Action Committee, their arm just recently put out a tweet. It was outrageous. In Arizona, we put out a blue alert, the Department of Public Safety, which is law enforcement, state law enforcement, put out a blue alert because a law enforcement officer was attacked in Phoenix. And this Planned Parenthood Chairman put out a tweet, ask the whole word, ask, blue alert, your blue alert. What is wrong with these people?

Not only do they want to kill innocent babies, we have gone on the floor, Republicans have gone on the floor, including me, asking for a motion to say, okay, if a baby is born alive because the abortion didn't work, didn't work, it was a botched abortion, the baby's born alive, you need to give medical care to the baby. It's called the Born Alive Act. The Democrats will not hear the bill. So now they're not only for killing innocent babies in the womb, they want to let babies that are born alive from a botched abortion die. Now this chairman in Arizona is going after law enforcement and thinks it's totally

find to kill law enforcement officers. This is insane. These people have to be stopped. It is insane. It makes zero sense. The logic doesn't follow. But I am thankful for the fact that representative like yourself, it seems like more and more Americans are having that revelation of waking up to the fact that an unborn child is a life and is deserving of life. But it still seems like overall, we need a cultural shift to where we as a society can get to a point where we say an unborn child has rights, mainly the right to life. What do you think needs to happen in America for us as a society to be able to say that, that an unborn baby deserves the right to life? President Trump has been so vocal about protecting life and enacting rules and regulations

that protect life. I mean, people have said, over. and over and over again that he is the most pro-life president in modern history. Also, because he is about to nominate the next Supreme Court justice, well, this is a huge issue for pro-life issues. We need another conservative justice on the court, and this is just, you know, this is a great opportunity for pro-life supporters. Representative, looking forward, can you tell us about any of the legislation that you're working on right now that you're particularly passionate about and really excited to put forth.

Boy, there's a few pieces of legislation I'd really love to put forth. Unfortunately, in the U.S. House of Representatives, Republicans are in the minority, so the Democrats set the entire agenda. So I did a bunch of immigration bills. I've introduced a bunch of immigration bills, which are very important for the state of Arizona. In fact, it's, you know, under coronavirus, it's probably the number one issue in Arizona is that we invite people to come here legally, but we're not a big fan. Majority of Arizonaans do not believe in illegal immigration. And I have, since I'm on Homeland Security Committee and they have authorization over the border

patrol and over the wall and those type of things, I talked to Customs and Border Protection officials and DHS officials and said, what do you need in order to fix the broken immigration system? And they gave me a list of things. So I introduced bills. Well, they were sent to Judiciary Committee. Unfortunately, Jerry Nadler, who's the Democrat chairman, he's not going to hear him because he doesn't believe in that. Democrats believe in open borders. So that's one of the things. The other thing is to continue to create legislation that grows jobs in the economy. This is a huge difference between Republicans like myself and Democrats who want to raise our taxes and stifle the economy, raise more regulations. Republicans want lower taxes and less regulations, and it works.

You saw it. President Trump signed into law, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, and we had the greatest economy going until coronavirus hit. Unemployment was at record low levels for everyone. whites, blacks, Hispanics, Asians, everyone. It doesn't matter what race. And so President Trump and the Republicans are the ones that can get it back to that. I also want to improve education. I really, really think that our students are falling behind in the United States. We need to up the game.

We need to increase the standards. We need to give more flexibility to the states and local governments. And we definitely need more school choice. And that's why I co-sponsored a bill that says the money follows the child. That's what I believe in. Parents should be able to choose what's the best education for their child because they know their child best. Wow. Well, we could talk all day representative.

Let's go. But before we let you go, we ask every one of our guests here, this question on the show, because everybody has such an interesting answer. And the question is, do you consider yourself a feminist? Why or why not? No, I don't think I would consider myself a feminist, but I do consider myself someone that believes in women's rights, women's and girls' rights. And that's why I stand up so strongly against giving transgender's priority over women. Everyone should be equal.

I believe in equal treatment of everyone, not prioritizing one group of people over another group of people. I stand up for women and equal rights, but I don't want to do it the Democrat way. That's for sure. Representative Lesko, thank you so much for your time today. We just have loved having you on the show and talking with you, and we so appreciate all the work that you're doing on the Hill and for America. Thank you. I really appreciate it.

And that'll do it for today's episode. Thanks for listening to the Daily Signal podcast. You can find the Daily Signal podcast on Google Play, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and IHeartRadio. Please be sure to leave us a review and a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and encourage others to subscribe. Thanks again for listening and we'll be back with you all tomorrow. The Daily Signal podcast is brought to you by more than half a million members of the Heritage Foundation. It is executive produced by Kate Trinko and Rachel Del Judas, sound design by Lauren Evans, Mark Geinney, and John Pop. For more information, visitdailysignal.com.