Fox News "Hannity" - Transcript Interview with Mike Parson

Interview

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The governor of Missouri joins us now.

Governor, good to see you, sir. Thank you for being with us.

By the way, you have 22 years in law enforcement, is that correct, sir?

GOV. MIKE PARSON, R-MISSOURI: That's right, Sean. I have.

HANNITY: Thank you for your service protecting and serving. It's an honorable profession. The 99 percent that put their lives on the line deserve our heartfelt appreciation.

There were no police this night. The gate was broken down. The McCloskeys described in detail specific threats made against them. They were protecting their home and their property. They've already gone in and taken their weapons away and now, they're going to charge them.

Will you pardon them?

PARSON: Without a doubt, Sean. I will do everything within the constitution of the state of Missouri to protect law-abiding citizens and those people are exactly that. They are law-abiding citizens, and they're being attacked frankly by a political process that's really unfortunate.

It's a sad day for us here in Missouri. They had every right to protect their property, their home, just like any of us would. If you had a mob coming towards us, whether they tore down a gate or not, when they come on your property, they don't have a right to do that in an aggressive manner.

And people have a right to protect their selves, their families, and their property. That's the Castle Doctrine in the state of Missouri and this is why this is such an important case. The prosecutor we're talking about --

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: Yes, go ahead, sir. I'm sorry. Go ahead.

PARSON: The prosecutor in St. Louis, I think it's important to realize, we had 135 homicides in St. Louis since the first of the year. Of that, she's filed 30 cases of 135, around 20 percent, and says she doesn't have the time, she doesn't have resources.

And yet, she go out here and charged innocent citizens, private citizens that have -- our law-abiding citizens, haven't violated the law. You charged people like that. I mean, it just defies common sense why any elected official would do such a thing.

HANNITY: When you combine your experience in law enforcement and you mention the Castle Doctrine and I'll cite Missouri law -- by the way, Missouri and I had cousins, Missouri -- Missouri, Missouri, that was a big argument in my family.

But you can use physical force to stop stealing, property damage, or tampering in any degree. There were no police there governor that night. The gate was broken down. The family described in specificity and detail, very -- that's going to be my room, and we're going to kill your animals and -- you know, very threatening.

The legal -- the weapons were legal. I don't know what people are supposed to do under those circumstances. We see this now happening around the country.

My question to you as the governor, why do these governors in, for example, Portland and the governor of Oregon, the mayor of Portland, the mayor of Chicago, governor of Chicago, New York's mayor and governor, the president keeps offering help to restore law and order. People are dying. Cops are, you know, 1,300 cops hurt.

Why would they reject that opportunity to be helped?

PARSON: Yes, because they have a total socialist agenda. What they are trying to do is why they're not doing that. I mean, the president of the United States reached out to me and says, hey, governor, how can I help you and what fashions can I help? We had a great conversation.

He sent over 200 FBI agents to the state of Missouri to help us with some of the violent crime problems we have.

Defunding the police, getting rid of the police is just the opposite. We need to be doing is we need to be backing up our men and women out there sacrifice their lives every day. We need (ph) to put more officers on the ground to attack violent criminals in the state.

And we can see these, quote, peaceful protesters, they quote (ph) to be, but we know there's violence behind them. We know there's people involved in crime almost everywhere we see a protest. And we've got to stand up for that and the president is trying to do that.

We, governors, that understand how important it is, me personally because I've spent in law enforcement for 22 years, I'm going to step up for the -- I'm going to stand up for these men and women every day that risked their lives for me and all the other Missouri citizens.

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: And that -- when I was going after the deep state and those that abuse their power, I always made a distinction, the 99 percent. That's that button.

Last question, is -- I had a source telling me that when the protesters went back to the McCloskeys' home, that there was -- there was no local police present, but the president had sent in some support. Is there any truth to that?

PARSON: Well, I think the president -- the conversation I had with him last week was really about what we do if they do file charges? What do we do with his rogue prosecutor? I think that was a conversation I had last week.

HANNITY: Yes.

PARSON: I think the resources are there to help the McCloskeys or anybody else in the state of Missouri. It was unfortunate the way that all unfolded, but here's one thing I just want to make sure everybody knows, they had every right to do that under the law of Missouri, under the Constitution and frankly of the United States. They have every right to protect their selves and their property and their families, whatever that might be.

And again, you just got a mob mentality out there night after night going across this country. And at some point, it's got to end. At some point, people's got to stand up for the every day citizens.

HANNITY: Governor, thank you for your service, number one. Serving and protecting, number two. Thank you for standing up for the rule of law, and we appreciate you taking time and explain it to us tonight.

Thank you, sir. You're making the right decision.

PARSON: Thank you, Sean. Keep up the good work.

HANNITY: Thank you.

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