In a must-see appearance on MSNBC, Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN) went toe-to-toe with Andrea Mitchell, dismantling her far-left narratives with a calm yet relentless barrage of facts.
The former U.S. Ambassador to Japan and staunch Trump ally delivered a masterclass in exposing the weaponization of the Department of Justice (DOJ) and highlighting the hypocrisy of the left-wing media.
Mitchell, attempting to corner Hagerty on the controversial nomination of Matt Gaetz as Attorney General, found herself struggling to keep up as Hagerty systematically dismantled her talking points.
Addressing Gaetz’s nomination, Hagerty didn’t shy away from defending Trump’s bold decision, tying the move directly to the American public’s frustration with the DOJ’s politicization.
Andrea Mitchell:
What is your reaction to Matt Gaetz as Attorney General? Right now, would you support him?Bill Hagerty:
Listen, Andrea, it’s amazing to me that people are reacting the way they are to what you just showed, because there has been no one better at channeling the American public’s frustration with the weaponization of the Department of Justice than Matt Gaetz. You can understand the President’s frustration with the DOJ.During his first campaign, they used a fake Clinton dossier to spy on him. Look at what happened in the first Trump administration—this whole fake Russiagate hoax. The DOJ litigated him for years over that.
In 2020, the DOJ went to big tech and had them censor Hunter Biden’s laptop to throw the election toward Joe Biden. Think about what just happened in 2024: the DOJ, with their colleagues around the country, brought five different cases to try President Biden’s top opponent, President Trump. I can understand his frustration in wanting to put an agent of change in place. I’m not surprised at all.
Andrea Mitchell:
I don’t want to litigate everything that happened with Donald Trump because there’s a lot of evidence to support many of the allegations and, in fact, the indictments—Mar-a-Lago, the sloppy intelligence handling.Bill Hagerty:
I think the American public spoke louder than anybody. They gave him the strongest mandate we’ve seen in 36 years in reaction to all of this.Andrea Mitchell:
But a Trump-appointed judge cut all of that off, and it wasn’t fully vetted. Let’s just say that was the legal system at work, no question.Bill Hagerty:
It was not working. It was weaponized.
Mitchell attempted to pivot, bringing up allegations against Gaetz. But Hagerty didn’t flinch, pointing out the media’s fixation on unproven accusations while ignoring the DOJ’s overreach.
He detailed how the DOJ, in coordination with Big Tech, suppressed the Hunter Biden laptop story ahead of the 2020 election, ultimately swaying public opinion in Biden’s favor.
Andrea Mitchell:
Well, what about this nominee?Bill Hagerty:
As I said, this nominee has actually been an outspoken critic.Andrea Mitchell:
This nominee has a record himself. There are questions about him. He was on the House floor sharing photos of women, bragging about his sexual exploits and the drugs he used. The ethics investigation has not been released yet. It was supposed to be voted on tomorrow, but his resignation has aborted that. But what about all the questions and allegations against him? His co-conspirator and friend is serving an 11-year jail term for sex trafficking. I mean, there was plenty to investigate there.Bill Hagerty:
Andrea, you said it yourself—these are allegations. It’s amazing that you’re more upset about allegations than you are about the weaponization of the Department of Justice. The American public has completely lost faith in the DOJ. Think about it—the DOJ sending agents to spy on parents who go to school board meetings. It’s just amazing.As the American public has seen all of this, they see someone like Matt Gaetz, who’s willing to stand up and call it wrong, and President Trump is willing to put somebody in place who will change all of this.
Andrea Mitchell:
That’s what the American public voted for. It’s the same Justice Department that indicted and prosecuted Hunter Biden.Bill Hagerty:
Well, if you think about what this Justice Department did in 2020, they reached out to big tech to censor the Hunter Biden laptop. This is the letter that was put together by Antony Blinken, by the way. Think about the political dirty tricks that have gone on with the Biden administration.Blinken got 51 so-called intelligence experts to sign a letter saying that the Hunter Biden laptop was Russian disinformation, and the DOJ cooperated. They went out and basically pre-brokered a deal with big tech to censor the laptop. They threw the election toward Joe Biden as a result of that. This DOJ has huge problems.
The exchange highlighted Mitchell’s inability to counter Hagerty’s well-documented examples of DOJ misconduct.
Hagerty didn’t stop there. When pressed on Pete Hegseth’s nomination as Secretary of Defense, Mitchell attempted to diminish the Fox News commentator’s qualifications. But Hagerty swiftly defended Hegseth, citing his Ivy League education, combat experience, and inspirational leadership.
Andrea Mitchell:
Let me ask you about two other choices. Pete Hegseth, a Fox News commentator, is a decorated Iraq and Afghanistan combat veteran, but he’s never run an $800 billion operation, overseeing 1.3 million active-duty service members. Does he have the management experience from being a Fox News anchor on weekends to run something as important as the Pentagon in the midst of two wars?Bill Hagerty:
Pete is a graduate of Princeton, a graduate of Harvard. He’s my constituent in Tennessee. He’s an inspirational leader. If you think about some of the people we have right now, like Lloyd Austin, who’s refusing to hold anyone accountable for what happened in Afghanistan. The Department of Defense has been enormously mismanaged under the current regime. It needs to change dramatically. They need to stop working on pronouns and get back to lethality. Someone like Pete can lead that.Andrea Mitchell:
Do you agree that women should not be in combat?Bill Hagerty:
We have a lot of women pilots in combat. I have voted for certain Biden appointees. I don’t agree with them on every point, but they need a chance to be heard and to serve.
Mitchell’s attempts to steer the conversation toward speculative topics, like Hagerty’s potential cabinet ambitions, fell flat. Hagerty made it clear that his focus remains on representing Tennessee and advancing President Trump’s agenda.
Andrea Mitchell:
Now, you’ve taken yourself out of contention for Secretary of State, for which you had reportedly been considered.Bill Hagerty:
Andrea, I never put myself in contention. This is just speculation.Andrea Mitchell:
What about Secretary of Treasury? That job is still unfilled, and arguably, you have a lot of experience in that area.Bill Hagerty:
Again, Andrea, I’ve avoided speculation in this regard. President Trump is going to make these decisions, and they’ll be very personal to him. He’s going to put a team around him that he’s comfortable with and can work well with. In whatever role I have, I’m going to be here to try to move the agenda forward and respond to the mandate that the American public delivered last week.Andrea Mitchell:
But you certainly wouldn’t rule out wanting to be in the cabinet.Bill Hagerty:
Again, I’ve never speculated on whether I wanted to be in or out of the cabinet, and I’ll continue to avoid that. I’ve had a great career in business, as you mentioned. It was my honor to serve as the U.S. Ambassador to Japan in President Trump’s previous administration. There’s no greater honor than I have right now than representing the people of Tennessee in the United States Senate.
WATCH:
It’s rare that I post a 7 minute video, but this entire interview is fantastic.
Sen. Bill Hagerty drops truth bombs on MSNBC about the weaponization of the DOJ and obliterates every single BS narrative Andrea Mitchell throws at him, even causing her to freeze and stumble over… pic.twitter.com/pCw5riZONU
— Patri0tsareinContr0l (@Patri0tContr0l) November 14, 2024
