NASHVILLE, TN—Today, United States Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN), a member of the Senate Appropriations and Foreign Relations Committees and former U.S. Ambassador to Japan, joined Mornings With Maria on Fox Business to discuss President Donald Trump’s leadership in restoring public safety in Memphis, strengthening America’s partnership with Japan, and exposing the Biden Justice Department’s partisan overreach.

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Partial Transcript
Hagerty on President Trump’s Leadership and the Memphis Crime Crackdown: “President Trump has been wonderfully supportive of our efforts to clean up Memphis. I can’t thank him enough, along with the leadership of the White House, [U.S. Attorney General] Pam Bondi, and [Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation] Kash Patel. We’ve been working for months to get this situation under control, and Memphis is now one of the safest cities in America thanks to President Trump’s efforts. I think Gavin Newsom should look at that.”

Hagerty on Public Safety as a Bipartisan Duty: “I’ve said this with the local mayor in Memphis–who’s a Democrat–with our governor, and certainly with the White House: it doesn’t matter whether there’s an ‘R’ or a ‘D’ behind your name. As public servants, our job is to deliver public safety. That’s a fundamental premise of government. And I’m glad to see this taking hold in Memphis. The city’s been overwhelmed by crime for too long, and we are sending some very hardcore criminals way out of our state.”

Hagerty on Strengthening the U.S.–Japan Alliance: “President Trump has always enjoyed a strong relationship with Japan’s leaders. When I was Ambassador, he had a great relationship with Prime Minister [Shinzo] Abe. We’ve got a great new ambassador now, George Glass, who’s coming at a very tough time. Think about what happened over the past four years under Joe Biden; that neighborhood has gotten much more difficult. Look at what China’s been doing there: aggression in the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait. North Korea is back at it again. So, we’re going to have a strong presence in that area. [Sanae] Takaichi is becoming the new leader of the LDP [Liberal Democratic Party], which will be decided very soon. She’s going to make a great partner for President Trump. It’s a very important alliance, one that’s becoming more important every day.”

Hagerty on DOJ Surveillance and Biden’s Abuse of Power: “It [surveillance] seems to be a Democrat playbook move. It happened to me back in the Clinton administration. I’d served a fellowship under Vice President Quale for a short period of time. My personnel files wound up in Hillary Clinton’s office. And then, I worked as one of President Trump’s finance chairs. I came in to help him in Trump Tower the day after the election was won, and was there for a couple of months. We were surveilled there in Trump Tower by [James] Comey and the Obama White House. And here we go again. I’ve been surveilled by the Biden DOJ [Department of Justice] and FBI [Federal Bureau of Investigation] under Jack Smith. This is unbelievable partisan activity going on. Republicans have no idea what the predicate would be except for the fact that we’re all allies of President Trump. We stand with President Trump, and they have just been way beyond the pale in terms of their overreach. We’re going to get to the bottom of it. I’ve reached out to Verizon, which disclosed my records without acknowledgement or informing me. I want to know why. I’m looking at every legal angle as well. I think there’s going to have to be great accountability here. And I’m looking forward to getting to the bottom of this.”

Hagerty on Schumer’s Shutdown Theater: “We’ll be back tonight, voting on this again. We’ve already gone through this ten times, and the Democrats have voted to keep the government shut down ten times over again. We’re on our twentieth day. [Senator] Chuck Schumer is playing Russian roulette with America’s safety. Our nuclear arsenal, our customs and border patrol, and our law enforcement around the country are still working, in Memphis and across the nation. We’ve got to really think hard about what the Democrats are trying to do here. Chuck Schumer is staging this. It’s political theater. They want a $1.5 trillion ransom to reopen the government. This is so beyond the pale. Think about whose interest he’s putting first–free healthcare for illegal immigrants or people who are able-bodied– ahead of the interests of our military, our law enforcement officers, and of people who are risking their lives every day. It’s a shame.

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