Scottie Nell Hughes appeared on 99.7 FM WTN’s Dan Mandis Show with guest host Pamela Furr Monday to discuss a wide range of topics from vote fraud and Voter ID, to President Trump’s ongoing battles with the media elites (most recently, on Twitter), and her future in the Trump Era.
Hughes opened with a strong response against the mainstream media’s assertion that President Trump’s Vote Fraud Commission – lead by Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach – is an attack on minority voters, or an attempt to suppress anyone’s vote.
She pointed out that in the first place, the information being sought by the Commission is data that is already publicly available, upon request.
“The number-one piece of information that is being twisted and used to make it look like our government is wanting to be a bigger government under President Trump is that if a State does not already release that information,” Hughes said. “In Tennessee’s case, we do it for a paid price, a signed affidavit, and it has to used for political purposes only – then the national, they don’t want that to be a part of the national registry.”
She added:
This is all about transparency. So for those of the Left, those in opposition, that are claiming this is being used as a possible way for voter suppression going forward – I hate to break it to you: This is information that is already available to politicians and rich people who are in politics, anyways!
So let’s just make it available to everybody to guarantee we have authenticity.
But perhaps the most powerful moment in the the vote fraud discussion was when Hughes asked rhetorically, “If we’re fighting for the integrity of elections, what is the opposition fighting for?”
From there, Pamela Furr turned to the mainstream media’s dismay at President Trump’s level of engagement with regards to fighting back on false narratives and outright ‘fake news.’ Unlike previous Republican presidents, President Trump has a long history of a counter-puncher. And although as a candidate, Donald Trump warned the media elites repeatedly that he is a fighter and will not change, they have nonetheless lost their minds when he recently tweeted this amusing moment from a 2007 WWE appearance:
#FraudNewsCNN #FNN pic.twitter.com/WYUnHjjUjg
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 2, 2017
Hughes responded, “Well, first of all, you have to remember in November, those who elected President Trump to be our president elected a fighter. And all along I said he was ‘a bully to the bullies.’
She continued:
For so long, those of us in the conservative grassroots, even the libertarian, movement were literally bullied into quiet. We were made out to be ignorant. We were made out to be backwards, and we had tin-foil hats and duct tape around our windows. And so President Trump came out swinging, and he has shown time and time again that if you hit him, he’s going to hit you back. And he’s going to hit you back ten times harder, and will go place nobody else would.
Concluding, “I might not necessarily use those tactics, but I’ll tell you this, Pamela, I tell my children: ‘You better not start the fight; but if you get in it, you better finish it.’ And I think that’s exactly what President Trump is doing.
Hughes went on to make the point that this fighting spirit doesn’t end with the occasional tweet. President Trump, she told Furr, takes that same, leading perspective when it comes to policy, adding:
That is exactly what America needs right now, after the last eight years to the progressive agenda we do not need people who negotiate or cow-tow, cower, or use the word ‘compromise.’ We can work ‘with’ – but that doesn’t mean we need to compromise our values. That’s one thing we are finding with President Trump, and his supporters, and the American people, thank him for that because of the agenda he continues to accomplish.
In the final segment of the interview, Pamela Furr asked Scottie Nell Hughes about her future, beginning with a Congressional run, inquiring directly: “Are you running for office in the state of Tennessee somewhere?”
Hughes answered:
You know what? I’m a fighter. And we have a fight in the country that is continuing after the eight years of President Obama and the agenda he put in. I have amazing family and a community here in the 6th [US Congressional] District that has raised me, and so wherever President Trump needs me to continue that fight – whether it’s still within the media or possibly in the halls of Congress – wait for God, my family, and my community to continue to lead me down that path.
Furr replied, “Gotcha – so you haven’t decided yet, is what it sounds like to me…”
Hughes jumped in and said, “Well, I’m going to respect Congresswoman Black right now. She has a major burden on her right now with our federal budget. This is a strong task for a very strong woman to handle – whether you disagree with her point or not – it doesn’t matter. Right now, she is in charge of our federal budget and making sure that it goes along with President Trump’s agenda. I’m not going to add to her pressure.”
Furr asked about the rumors that Hughes was being considered for the position for Press Secretary, prompting her to respond:
I am blessed to have excellent communications with the White House and with President Trump, and he knows that wherever he needs me to serve; I will serve. And that includes a Press Secretary position, on the outside, or going in the the halls of Congress. He knows I will fight for him, and I will fight for his agenda.
Listen to the entire interview here.
In June, Hughes told The Tennessee Star she would consider a run for the Sixth Congressional District seat currently held by Rep. Diane Black in the event Black chooses to run for governor.
Last week, State Rep. Judd Matheny (R-Tullahoma) announced that he is running for the Republican nomination in the Sixth Congressional District whether or not Black decides to run for governor.
Transcript of  WWTN’s Pamela Furr  interview of Scottie Nell Hughes:
FURR: President Trump has formed a Commission to take a look at voter fraud because – as he has stated accurately – there was a lot of voter fraud going of during, not only this past election, but in elections past, and it’s time to clean that up. So the Commission is asking the States to turn over voter information. But that’s no what’s getting spun here.
The headlines are: “California Defying Orders to Turn Over Voter Information,” and “Tennessee Defying Orders,” and that Tre Hargett is saying, ‘Heck with you Mr. President…’
And that’s not exactly accurate.
HUGHES: Absolutely not; and let me say this: First of all, I have a lot of respect for Secretary of State Tre Hargett and what he has done to restore voter integrity here within Tennessee. Consider just a few years ago, we were a mockery of this country because we has dead people voting in Memphis. So Secretary of State Tre Hargett had a very difficult job – I think he’s done and amazing job with it – and now, you have the President on the federal level…
This is not about looking back to justify President Trump’s claims that millions of people illegally voted. This is about looking forward and making sure that we have very accurate voter rolls.
But the number-one piece of information that is being twisted and used to make it look like our government is wanting to be a bigger government under President Trump is that if a State does not already release that information – and in Tennessee’s case, we do it for a paid price, a signed affidavit, and it has to used for political purposes only – then the national, they don’t want that to be a part of the national registry.
FURR: So they’re not asking for what you can’t legally turn over anyway.
HUGHES: And that’s for across the states – all the States – so there’s nothing new.
You know, I was looking at the Secretary of State of Missouri. His comment was that this falls under the Sunshine Law.
This is all about transparency. So for those of the Left, those in opposition, that are claiming this is being used as a possible way for voter suppression going forward – I hate to break it to you: This is information that is already available to politicians and rich people who are in politics, anyways!
So let’s just make it available to everybody to guarantee we have authenticity.
FURR: I think Kentucky’s Secretary of State is being very defiant and saying this is just Donald Trump trying to justify the comments that he made that there was a lot of voter fraud going on in Kentucky. I think that’s one of the comment she made over the weekend.
HUGHES: Well, each state has to deal with their own. But here in Tennessee – I have to give a lot of credit to our Secretary of State for handling this very, very classy. But also, you can tell, he wants to make sure that he is fighting first for the citizens of Tennessee and for our rights. So he’s doing a great job with that.
And so now, let’s just have some better communications from the Commission that was set up by Vice-President Mike Pence and let’s get the information that already made public out there and guarantee that what we don’t have is…
One of the main examples of corruption – well, I don’t know that it’s corruption – is between Florida and New York, where resident of New York are voting in both states: New York and Florida!
Let’s make sure we have authentic, “one vote, one citizen” voter rolls going forward in 2018 and 2020.
FURR: How is that voter suppression? When you’re asking for every vote to be counted? Of course, that’s not voter suppression.
HUGES: No; and this is where I think the conservative movement can really make some gains. This is something we had here in Tennessee – the arguement over Voter ID laws. This justifies why we need a Voter ID law across the board for every state. And it’s not hard to get a Voter ID. It can be a Drivers License – anything that is state-issued. That’s not voter suppression.
FURR: No; exactly. And you know, I’m from the state of North Carolina, and that is where the big fight has been over Voter ID. And I never understood the argument of how this would supress the minority vote. I didn’t realize that minorities “were not able to get any state-issued ID” – it just made no sense to me, whatsoever. None! The argument
HUGHES: You’re right. And if they have the ability to register to vote, you know Democrats have these massive voter drives – they’re really good at that – then why don’t they just go on and have government officials there to sign them up to get Voter ID so that their voter registry matches their Voter ID? It’s NOT rocket science, folks!
And you have to ask the question: If we’re fighting for the integrity of elections, what is the opposition fighting for?
FURR: Right.
FURR: Well, while I have you, I have to ask you about the tweet. Now, I laughed when he released the tweet. I happened to be online when the President released the tweet [Saturday?] of his pummeling someone with the CNN logo on his face. I laughed; I thought it was funny. I had actually seen that somewhere before – I don’t recall where it was – but I remember seeing that before – and it wasn’t thirty minutes, and the ‘talking head’ shows kind of lost their minds and said that “the President was inciting violence against reporters.”
You’re a part of the committee to defend the President. What do you say?
HUGHES: Well, first of all, you have to remember in November, those who elected President Trump to be our president elected a fighter. And all along I said he was “a bully to the bullies.”
For so long, those of us in the conservative grassroots, even the libertarian, movement were literally bullied into quiet. We were made out to be ignorant. We were made out to be backwards, and we had tin-foil hats and duct tape around our windows. And so President Trump came out swinging, and he has shown time and time again that if you hit him, he’s going to hit you back. And he’s going to hit you back ten times harder, and will go place nobody else would.
I might not neccessarily use those tactics, but I’ll tell you this, Pamela, I tell my children: ‘You better not start the fight; but if you get in it, you better finish it.’ And I think that’s exactly what President Trump is doing.
FURR: I think I’ve said a couple of times when I’ve filled in, I would heve hoped he’d take the high road. BUT, we knew this when we elected him. And this is probably a huge reason why he was elected – because he doesn’t back down.
HUGHES: And that is exactly what America needs right now, after the last eight years to the progressive agenda we do not need people who negotiate or cow-tow, cower, or use the word ‘compromise.’ We can work ‘with’ – but that doesn’t mean we need to compromise our values. That’s one thing we are finding with President Trump, and his supporters, and the American people, thank him for that because of the agenda he contimues to accomplish.
FURR: Alright – now I have to ask you think before I have to let you go. Are you running for office in the state of Tennessee somewhere?
HUGHES: You know what? I’m a fighter. And we have a fight in the country that is continuing after the eight years of President Obama and the agenda he put in. I have amazing family and a community here in the 6th [US Congressional] District that has raised me, and so wherever President Trump needs me to continue that fight – whether it’s still within the media or possibly in the halls of Congress – wait for God, my family, and my community to continue to lead me down that path.
FURR: Gotcha – so you haven’t decided yet is what that sounds like to me…
HUGHES: Well, I’m going to respect Congresswoman Black right now. She has a major burden on her right now with our federal budget. This is a strong task for a very strong woman to handle – whether you disagree with her point or not – it doesn’t matter. Right now, she is in charge of our federal budget and making sure that it goes along with President Trump’s agenda. I’m not going to add to her pressure.
I want her to make her decision whether or not to run for Governor or stay in Congress – for what’s best for her family and what she feels is best for her constituents. Not because others are jumping in the race.
FURR: Are you being considered for the Press Secretary position? I’ve been seeing some…
HUGHES: You’re just going to keep going down the line…!
FURR: I am! This is the last one. I had forgotten this and somebody just popped up and said, ‘ask her about this.’ There’s been some speculation on some of the publication out there that you might be considered for that position.
HUGHES: I am blessed to have excellent communications with the White House and with President Trump, and he knows that wherever he needs me to serve; I will serve. And that includes a Press Secretary position, on the outside, or going in the the halls of Congress. He knows I will fight for him, and I will fight for his agenda.
