Fox News "Hannity" - Transcript Interview with Matt Gaetz
Interview
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Here with reaction, Congressman Matt Gaetz from the great state of Florida. And the Atilis Gym owner Frank Trumbetti is with us.
Let's see -- so you open your gym. You got handcuffed. You're not forcing customers. You're not dragging them out of their homes and forcing them into the gym. They are choosing to go.
My understanding is that you put a lot of PPE, a lot of, you know, sanitation within the place. You're sanitizing everything. People are even wearing masks I understand.
You opened your business and you're actually happy because now, this forces the issue. What do you mean by that?
FRANK TRUMBETTI, CO-OWNER OF ATILIS GYM IN BELMAWR, NJ: Well, this has been going on since May 18th. May 18th, we initially opened up against the governor's unconstitutional executive orders. And we had people show up. And then we were illegally shut down by the board of health. They change the locks on our doors on May 22nd.
We got the doors back up on June 16th. And since June 16th, we have actually done our own contact tracing just to show we proof and actually through midnight last night, we've had 13,009 people show up for business to our facility where we actually have them check into a biometric scanner which takes their temperature. They fill out a health questionnaire which is time stamped and we do a lot of other PPE things around.
But the key there is we actually have no positive cases. Nobody sick out of 13,009. And at this point, we truly believe we are being singled out not just as an industry but as, you know, an entity. Governor Murphy has actually listed for some reason, labeled all gyms as equal, and they're not.
OK, they don't do any guidance over any protocol. To this day, they still don't have a protocol. They asked for 14 days. It's now day 132. What do they expect us to do? How do they expect us to make a living?
As you said, people -- we're not dragging people in. Our gym has become a sanctuary for a lot of veterans, people that suffer from PTSD, had anxieties, actually are recovering drug addicts or alcoholics or dealing with anything like that, just things that actually make their life better.
HANNITY: Well, I've got to tell you.
TRUMBETTI: And they're trying to take that away from all these people.
HANNITY: Frank, I have a dojo in my own basement and we're using the same thing -- we are doing the exact same things you do.
Matt Gaetz, this is not the United States of America that I know.
REP. MATT GAETZ, R-FLA.: Yeah, the government should actually be working with business owners like Frank to extend safety and ensure sanitation and contact tracing, not working against them. It sounds to me like there are plenty of dumbbells in Frank's gym and in the New Jersey government if they're acting this way.
Look, if you evaluate the challenge more briefly, China birthed this virus on the world through their lies, to their negligence, through their corrupt relationship with the World Health Organization.
But through Operation Warp Speed, the Trump administration can provide hope within our country, to our business owners and to everyone in the world because we are right now engaged in the fastest development of a vaccine that the world has ever known and we're already putting vaccine candidates in production so that when we finally get over the final hurdle in the regulatory process, we will have tens of millions that are available to bring that vaccine and to bring that hope for a normal life to a neighborhood near you.
HANNITY: The president's Operation Warp Speed.
Frank, I'm sorry this is happening to you. I wish you the best. If we can help, let us know.
Congressman, great analysis. Thank you.
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