CNN Newsroom: Interview with Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN)

Interview

"Ken is a former prosecutor. He's an honorable guy and he's a dear friend. As a matter of fact, we were sitting side by side on January 6th when all that went down. So I would -- I listen to what he says. He doesn't speak often, but when he does, he does it with a great deal of class and intellect.

So I take everything he says seriously, Jim, honestly. I wouldn't brush it off because he makes some valid points. He's stated how does that tie -- you know, when he was vice president, all this criminal activity, how does that, you know, forward into being president? And there's a gap there. And so I think that's what -- you know, honestly, I think that's what part of the inquiry -- I'm not an attorney, but I think that's what the inquiry will do, will allow for more of that activity. I just wish we could --

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Oh, I don't have any reservations about it. It's an inquiry. It's not an impeachment. And if you think we're going to get the votes to do it, 60 votes in the Senate, even if we get it in the House, the impeachment, I think it's a pipe dream. But I believe the basis is not requesting. You know, they're demanding it. Everywhere I go somebody will say something about it and say we need to get on with it. You know, as I've stated Speaker McCarthy and Jim Comer --

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No, no. I think it's being done because people are -- you know, we live in a democracy. To say anything in Washington is political, you know, the soft drink you drink in the committee room, it's political. You know, we have Chick-fil-A for lunch, it's political. Not a lot of tofu on the Republican side at luncheons. So yes, everything we do down there is political. It's a political town. We're political officers. So in the sense it is, but it's just we're doing our duty. It's what we're asked to do.

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It might, and that's why I've encouraged us to move ahead with the budget situation. We're $32 trillion in debt. The conservative proposals out there are spending -- you know, all estimates show we're going to take in around $5 trillion, and we're going to spend around $7 trillion. Now where is that conservative in any shape, form, or fashion? I think we need to, as has been stated, walk and chew gum at the same time.

We've got separate committees. I think Jody Arrington is a very capable chairman of the Budget Committee. I wish I was still on the Budget Committee because, you know, in 30 years or so, we haven't passed a budget in Congress, and I would like to see his committee move forward with a budget that would, in fact, balance our budget in a reasonable amount of time.

And I think they can do that. I think that's one of the concerns, and it's a valid concern, is that we just stay focused on one issue. But I think if we're allowed to play this out, I think that the other committees will go ahead with their job and move ahead with that because that's what's going to sink this country.

You know, the conservatives, on one hand, they're saying we need to kick Joe Biden out of office, and I say, do you want Kamala Harris as your president? And they, oh, no, no. And I said, well, that's what's going to happen. So I said you better have you a plan. And that's why I've stated we need to move ahead with some budget talks because that's I believe down deep, that is why the Republicans have a majority. We know we're out of control spending, and we've got to get control of it.

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Possibly. Possibly. I saw the --

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Well, if we don't have -- if we're not reducing the amount of money we're spending, I would support it because we're in a situation -- you know, they're saying it could cost us $3 billion to shut down, well, let's put that in perspective. We've sent basically $114 billion unchecked to Ukraine. We spent -- you know, I think the conservatives and frankly some of the moderates are concerned about the border situation, the fentanyl.

I mean, you've seen the numbers. It's ridiculous. And there's no other reason to do that other than to say we've made a mistake at the border. And that mistake is multi-presidential, and it continues on into the Biden administration exponentially. So I think there's a lot of things tied into that.

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Well, I'd need to go back and watch. I don't watch "Meet the Press," so I wouldn't know exactly what he said, I wouldn't know if that was a cut-up clip or not. But I suspect what he's saying was he does not believe that he lost that election, and in his heart, he doesn't believe he lost that election, and a lot of folks do, and a lot of the base do. All I can tell you is in Tennessee --

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Well, our secretary of state Tre Hargett runs a clean election in Tennessee, and we've had -- received very few complaints. And that's really all I ever comment on Tennessee. But, yes, I think we need to get --

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Let's get on with --

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No. No. I won overwhelmingly, so I sure hope it wasn't. And I'm usually the most underfunded candidate out there. So I'm doing something right, I guess. But no --

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I do. I do.

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Well, he's Trump. I mean nobody told George Bush -- either Bush what to do, and I suspect nobody told President Obama what to do. Ultimately they have big egos, and they do what they're going to do, and they're going to say what they want to say. And that's the problem with leadership. That's one problem I do not have. I've got people around me all the time that tell me what I don't do right.

In my household, I get that quite a bit, and I'm generally wrong when they tell me that. But, you know, I'm not president of the United States.

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Well, Dan Bishop and I who was newly elected at special election were walking up the steps to the Capitol running a little late. And there was one Capitol Hill policeman there on the gates, and they had all the fencing up and everything. And they made us to go around and go through the tunnel. And I said to Bishop, I said, that's kind of odd, you know. Usually they have more people here when they have a veterans or a biker rally or a Right to Life rally.

I think there was a complete failure all the way around. They did not see it. Speaker Pelosi was doing a documentary with her daughter that covered all of her activity. Frankly, Jim, I would love to come on and I tried to talk to the January 6th Commission about what I saw on January 6th. I was the last House member to leave the House floor, literally, and I could not -- and I saw somebody filming in the tunnel, and I couldn't get them to call me back. I've called them twice. And then finally I went and viewed the camera.

Had to go -- Rodney Davis took me in, and we viewed the cameras ourselves, the film. So I think there was a lot at fault there. A lot of people were at fault.

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And human error.

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If Trump had -- well --

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Well, if Trump had gone earlier on --

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Well, I'm still --

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I'm still waiting on their call.

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Listen, if President Trump had gone on the news and said, y'all cool it, it would have stopped. You're right there, absolutely, 100 percent. It put people's lives at risk, and I thought it would have been a great opportunity for him to make press, but he didn't. Nobody else did either. And it just went on and it went from bad to worse.

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Jim, it's always a pleasure. I look forward to your special on regular folks tonight. And thanks for looking after those dogs. I got three rescues and I'm a rescue. And we've got three dogs, four cats, and a couple of horses. So I appreciate anything that you do on those grounds.

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Thank you, brother.

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Sure.

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