Live from Music Row, Friday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn to the newsmaker line to comment upon Penn Biden doc scandal and the truth about what is happening at our southern border and its effects on American cities and towns.
Leahy: On the newsmaker line, our good friend, the senior senator from Tennessee in the United States Senate, Marsha Blackburn. Good morning, Senator Blackburn.
Blackburn: Good morning. I’m so pleased to join you. Thank you.
Leahy: Senator Blackburn, do you have any thoughts on the news of the week where top secret classified documents were just discovered in the offices of Joe Biden at Penn Biden Center, in his private library, at his home in Delaware, and in a box in his garage where he keeps his Corvette?
Blackburn: We will see what House Judiciary and House Oversight come forward with on this. But my initial thought is probably the Biden crew knew these documents were there. They did not want this to come out during a House-led investigation.
They know that the House is going to look into not only Hunter Biden and Biden Incorporated but Joe Biden’s knowledge and/or participation with Biden Incorporated. So I think they probably thought, oh, we better go ahead and reveal this now.
But we will see what comes out. We will see what they find. But I find it so very interesting so far, what it confirms to me is there are definitely two tiers of justice that is alive and well in this country. There are rules for thee; there are rules for me.
The Democrats think they can abide by one set of rules, and one standard and another standard applies to Republicans. And if Joe Biden had had an (R) by his name, he would be flogged in the media right now and accused of all sorts of things, like they did President Donald Trump when they carried out a raid on Mar-a-Lago.
Leahy: Crom Carmichael has a question for you, Senator Blackburn.
Carmichael: Senator, what do you make of the particular person who’s been appointed as a special counsel?
Blackburn: I think it fits that there are career diplomats or career DOJ personnel that are appointed for these Crom. You’re never going to find someone who is going to be as conservative as you or me. I do know that Robert Hur was a U.S. attorney during the Trump administration.
And other than that, I have not looked at his background. I’m out in West Tennessee working, and I haven’t taken the time to look at his background or to look at any specific instruction that may have been given to him by Merrick Garland.
Carmichael: Quick question, but the House will do its work, and I would expect the House to do work much more quickly than the special counsel would, regardless of whether the special counsel is doing a good or a bad job.
And it seems to me that if we have classified documents in three different locations that are all, frankly, unsecured locations, isn’t that a criminal offense or a high crime?
Blackburn: It certainly could be, should be. This is the thing they were accusing President Trump of it being a crime. And there again, having a special counsel, having the House do its investigation, and Crom, I think in this, it’s important to realize or to remember that members of Congress cannot indict or convict anybody.
They can conduct an investigation. They can bring their information forward to the public, and they can make criminal referrals to the department of justice.
Carmichael: But if they decided to, they could impeach President Biden and send the trial to the Senate.
Blackburn: Yes, indeed. Absolutely.
Leahy: So just to change the topic a little bit. President Biden went down to El Paso for what we call a Potempkan border visit. In other words, they cleaned it up before he came. You went down to the border. You had a little different experience than he did. Tell us about your trip to the border.
Blackburn: Oh, yes, I did. I went right into Eagle Pass and got in the truck with the border patrol. I had two members of Congress with me. We were focused on the humanitarian plight that is happening at that border and what is happening with people that are being human trafficked, sex trafficked, drug trafficking, and the gangs that are coming across, and what is happening to those individuals, parents that are never going to see their children again.
They thought they were sending them to America for a better life, and they find out they’re in a gang or they’re in a sex trafficking ring. We met with some of the victims. We met with people that are trying to deal with this issue.
We worked with local law enforcement, sheriffs, and mayors, and met with ranchers and business owners because what is happening there makes its way to our streets.
And in West Tennessee, I was visiting with a couple of police chiefs and sheriffs yesterday and they say the majority of the drugs that they’re apprehending on the streets here are their fentanyl and meth are coming over the border from Mexico.
These are things that are being illegally trafficked. People are losing their lives. It’s disrupting families. Our rural counties are beginning to see human trafficking and having to deal with that. They’re beginning to see sex trafficking.
They’re having to deal with that. And one of the things I think is so important for us to realize is the criminal element that is coming across this border and these countries that are emptying their jails and sending people in our direction.
In the first quarter of fiscal 2023, in Eagle Pass, Texas, they apprehended 143 criminals, people that had committed serious offenses of manslaughter, rape, burglary, robbery, and armed robbery, and they’re catching these criminals.
Now, the problem with this is the known got aways or the unknown getaways, not the ones they caught, but the ones that are out there that have slipped back into the country after they’ve committed these crimes and they’ve been deported.
They’re slipping back in. And you know what? They’re not stopping at the border. They’re coming back to your communities.
Leahy: Senator Marsha Blackburn, we thank you so much for coming and joining us today. And we’re here on Music Row. We have to have you come in studio sometime.
Blackburn: I would love that.
Leahy: I make really okay coffee. Come on in here.
Blackburn: No. The coffee has got to be good.
Leahy: All right.
Carmichael: For you, we’ll bring Starbucks.
Leahy: I will get you a really good cup of coffee. Thanks so much for joining us today. (Laughter)
Blackburn: Got it. Thank you.
Listen to today’s show highlights, including this interview:
– – –
Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
Marsha will you follow the house with open voting for the public to see on leadership and rules for the senate next term?
Is there a reason you don’t publicly call out Mitch McConnell as he continues to support Biden with borrowing more money ?