We sit down with Tennessee Rep. Andy Ogles and discuss how the events of the last few days have galvanized his party. Get facts first with Morning Wire.
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Morning Wire
Congress’ New Voice: Andy Ogles | RNC Extra
(upbeat music) The Morning Wire team is here all week at the Republican National Convention, the significance of which has elevated dramatically after the attempted assassination of Donald Trump. We'll be dropping some extra episodes throughout the week that feature key figures discussing the biggest issues and developments here at the event. In this first RNC extra, we sit down with a relatively new voice on the national stage, Tennessee's Andy Ogles. We talked to him about how the events of the last few days have galvanized his party and given Trump a chance to make history. I'm Daily Wire editor-in-chief, John Bickley. It's Monday, July 15th, and this is an extra edition of Morning Wire. College is expensive, but being a man shouldn't be. Score 60% off Jeremy's razors one year of shaving and dominate campus life. While others conform, you'll stand out. Clean, shaving, and unapologetic. The Precision 5 delivers an exceptionally smooth and close shave, designed with a precision trimmer for keeping your edge in an ergonomic handle for superior control. Major in masculinity@jermysrazors.com today. - Joining us now at our Morning Wire booth here at the RNC in Milwaukee is Republican Andy Ogles of our home state, Tennessee. Congressman, thank you so much for joining us. So we're in a whirlwind of major events over the last few days. The attempted assassination of Trump and tragic murder of a Trump rally goer. We've seen the documents case against Trump being dismissed. And now we're here at the RNC. The result is an energized Republican party. So first question, how are you feeling as a new Congressman coming into this week? - Well, you know, obviously this moment in time is a bit surreal. You know, I had just left the president of voicemail just a couple of hours before he was shot. And in fact, I was on an airplane with my daughter. We landed, and the moment I had cell signal, I'm getting messages, you know, official messages from the sergeant of arms to my chief to friends and remember, you know, people in the district. And you're like, what the heck is going on? And then I reach over and I put my arm on my daughter's elbow and I was like, honey, 'cause she's pulling out her phone. Is the president's just been shot. I don't know anything more about that. And so that's how you kick off this convention week. Now look, there's a lot of people that would have been paying attention anyway, but now President Trump has this historical moment, this historic moment. Think about that moment of tear down this wall, you know, Gorbachev. Think about, you know, I have a dream. In the timeline of history, there's those moments that stand out. This speech by Donald Trump, this moment right after this assassination attempt by a troubled individual that in my opinion was prompted by the dangerous rhetoric of the progressive Democrat. We've heard some messaging already from the president and the word unity is coming out a lot from not just him, but a lot of leaders. Do you expect to hear a message of unity this week? You know, we're stronger together, absolutely. So I think what you're gonna see is this unified coalition of Republicans from a broad spectrum of districts and political makeup and opinion. So as a member of the House Freedom Caucus, I'm actually on the board of the Freedom Caucus. I'm ranked as one of the, literally, the fourth most conservative member of Congress. I'll do better next year. I'm gonna be in the top three. - Well, that too. - Yeah, exactly. But that being said, is that you have individuals, Republicans in blue or Democrat leaning districts, and we've all got to come together and find a pathway to these solutions. Because I truly, look, when you have mayors of blue cities, whether it's Chicago or Dallas or New York, saying please close the border, please do something about this economy. Please help me with this crime epidemic that's sweeping the nation. The Democrats, this Biden administration, doesn't have the solutions. They've had four years and they failed. They've miserably failed. Donald Trump is going to be the next president of the United States. And you have an opportunity, and when I say you, I mean the listener, to reach out to your House of Representatives, your member of Congress, and let your voice be heard. We wanna hear from you, because we are your representative. John Quincy Adams, he was a member of the House in the Senate, and he was an ambassador, he's a president. He retired to the House of Representatives, why? Because it was the people's House. It's where you do the people's work, and we're here fighting for you. - You mentioned the House Freedom Caucus. You're running for chair, I understand. Can you tell us about why are you putting your name in the hat, and what do you hope to accomplish? - Well, so to be clear, I didn't put my name in the hat. So it was last week, and I think it was Wednesday night. It was late in the evening, a reporter reaches out to me, and she's like, "Hey, we just wanna confirm "that you're running for chair of the Freedom Caucus." And I was like, "What are you talking about?" And she's like, "Yeah, no, we've heard it "for multiple sources that people keep mentioning "your name to be the future chair." And I said, "Well, let me be clear. "I support our current chairman. "I support our past chairman, "though it would be an honor to be the chair "of the Freedom Caucus." And look, I'm a freshman, this is my first term. It was honored to be elected to the board of the Freedom Caucus. I'm polite, but I'm very outspoken. And so to earn that opportunity, that respect, if you will, and then to have your name mentioned as a possible chair, you know, I'm really humbled by that, by my fellow colleagues. We'll see what happens, what I serve, but I step up to that role absolutely, if I was wanted, and if it was needed, so to speak. But, you know, right now I have a primary, and I'm focused on my race, I'm focused on winning that race, so that I continue to fight for the good people of Tennessee's fifth congressional district. - If you do indeed win, and President Trump ends up winning as the polls are suggesting he is going to, what can Congress do to support him in his first year in office? - That's a fantastic question. So I was on another radio program, about six weeks ago, it was Hannity, we talked about immigration, we talked about crime, he goes, "Now, Congressman Ogle said, "be kind of the intro of how his producers stumbled upon him." He goes, "But you've been setting records," I said, "Sir." He goes, "Well, we've done a little research, "and as a freshman, you've offered more pieces of legislation "than any other freshman in congressional history. "Also, you've passed more legislation as a freshman "than any other member in congressional history "as a freshman." And so, to the point of your question is, we are working through real problems with real solutions. House Bill 1, that was Scalise's energy bill that makes us energy independent again. You want inflation to go down? Part of that solution is we have to be energy independent. House Bill 2, which secures our border. I have a bill, and the President Trump has talked about the fact that we're gonna have to deport people that are here illegally, they don't love our country. And so I have a bill that would actually be the vehicle to deport individuals who are here illegally. So that being said, is we're working on policies today so that when we win the Senate and the House and the White House, that we can immediately bring that legislation back up. We've already have the conversation, we've already passed them in the House, and so we can have it incredibly productive first 100 days. So that first three months, when we have all three branches, which we will have, are gonna be critical for the future of this nation. And like you said, their key is winning the Senate. Do you feel pretty hopeful that the Republicans are poised to do that? Yeah, if you were to take betting odds, if you will, I think the Senate is, would be ranked first, most likely. I think the White House and the House of Representatives, we're gonna win the House back. Then it becomes an issue of, do you have a six-seat majority or do you have a 12-seat majority? If you had asked me before the shooting, I would say it would have been between four and six. I think now after what's happened and the kind of the layers have been peeled back on the progressive Democrats and their dangerous language, when they're talking about putting Trump in a bullseye and all this other nonsense, is that we could have an eight, 10, 12-seat majority as we come out of this election. And so we're gonna win now as a matter of how much. And if you look at the polling, you have blue states that based off of the current polling are now shifting to purple, and that's because of Donald Trump and his leadership. The final question, we just learned that Judge Eileen Cannon has dismissed the classified documents case against Trump. What's your response to that decision? Well, I mean, so I was one of the members of Congress that went to New York. I was in the courtroom with President Trump. I was there to support him. And when you look at these court cases in New York and Georgia and Florida, it's not a prosecution, it's a persecution. So these are AOCs words, not "Andy Ogles," not yours, right? Is AOC said, in her own words, that the New York trial was an ankle bracelet around his leg. Why? Because they didn't want him on the campaign trail. Because they know Joe Biden can't win. And they know that Donald Trump is the president that the American people want. So they're doing everything and anything they can do to interfere. You want to talk about election interference? It's on full display by these judges. It's happened with the Florida case, the Georgia case, now the New York case. And so kudos to this judge for throwing out this case, dismissing this case. In this one moment, justice was blind, although in some cases, it hasn't been. Any other thing that you feel like you need that is worth highlighting going into this really momentous week? Yeah, I would say when you have these moments like 9/11, like the attempted assassination of a president, I think it's understandable to have fear. But what I would tell you is, going back to what I said earlier, we are stronger together when we're unified. So I'm here today, my wife is with me together. We're showing the American people that we're not afraid, that the future of America is at stake and we're here to lead. And just as you should go out and be involved in your community, you should go to church, you should go to your kids ballgame, you should live your life and stand up and say that we will not cower in the face of fear, that we will stand strong because we are the United States of America and we don't back down. It was important to hear. Congressman, thank you so much for joining us. Absolutely. That was Congressman Andy Ogles of Tennessee, and this has been an extra edition of "Morning Wire." (bell chimes)
We sit down with Tennessee Rep. Andy Ogles and discuss how the events of the last few days have galvanized his party. Get facts first with Morning Wire.
Lumen: Get 15% off your Lumen at http://go.lumen.me/Wire