Full interview: Colorado Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert

[0:00] Republican Congresswoman Lauren Bovert, welcome back to Next. [0:02] Thanks so much for having me, Kyle. It's been a while. [0:04] It has been a while. Last time you were in the studio for an extended conversation, it was December 2019. [0:10] It was the day after you announced a primary challenge to Republican Congressman Scott Tipton. [0:15] You said that he was insufficiently pro-Trump. [0:18] You won on that argument and knocked him out of Congress. [0:21] Now, here we are, seven years later, and Donald Trump is threatening to endorse a primary challenger against you. [0:27] Life comes at you fast, huh? [0:28] It does, yes. A lot has changed over the years. [0:31] My support for the president has not changed, and my position that my predecessor in the 3rd District was not Trump enough still stands. [0:39] He was very much in support of amnesty and voted for that, and he wasn't doing enough of what he promised back home while he was in D.C. [0:49] So apparently the voters believed me, trusted me, and elected me, and I have done my best to campaign and govern the exact same way. [1:00] So, of course, President Trump never just disagrees with people, right? [1:03] He has to disagree and insult people. [1:06] President Trump called you dumb. [1:08] If one of my friends called me dumb, that would bother me. [1:11] Did it bother you? [1:13] Well, I think it was low IQ. [1:15] He used the word dumb. [1:16] Did he use dumb? [1:18] Well, I mean, not usually. [1:18] He said weak-minded and dumb. [1:20] Weak-minded, that's right. [1:21] I'm sorry, I didn't memorize that tweet. [1:23] That wasn't one I've read multiple times. [1:25] But, yes, the president is always going to come up with something like that. [1:29] I was actually curious as to what name he was going to give me, because I was expecting him to say something publicly when he found out I was campaigning for Congressman Thomas Massey, and something that I don't regret and I stand by. [1:41] I can be for President Trump and support him and also stand by my allies and my friends. [1:47] I have very few in Congress, so the few that I have I want to support when needed. [1:51] But I've been called much worse. [1:54] You know, I mean, he could have thrown in there that I only have a GED, and that would have been okay and completely factual. [1:59] But I'm still going to continue to support him and the promises he and I have both made on campaign trails to ensure that we keep those promises. [2:10] Why are you and other Republicans willing to take so much abuse from him? [2:13] Interesting. [2:14] I don't see it as abuse. [2:16] I think it's part of the D.C. nature. [2:20] Nothing happens in D.C. without force. [2:22] I have said words on the House floor that I would never say in church or in front of my mother. [2:28] And, you know, sometimes the frustrations are very real and you want to apply pressure. [2:35] I have accomplished most things by applying that same pressure, not necessarily attacking someone's character or calling them names, [2:45] but being very forceful in what is being demanded at that time. [2:50] Instant fact check. [2:51] I actually don't think your mother would be offended by any of those words. [2:53] Oh, she doesn't like the bad language? [2:58] Oh, no, I said you're not wrong. [2:59] Oh, you're not wrong. [3:00] Okay, again, okay. [3:02] So how is this going to work out? [3:04] Are you going to end up like a Bill Cassidy in Louisiana or a John Cornyn in Texas where you're a Trump ally one minute and then the next minute you get trucked by a primary challenger of his? [3:12] Is that how this is going to turn out for you? [3:13] I don't believe so. [3:14] And also our primaries are locked in. [3:16] I do not have a primary challenger. [3:18] I wish someone and his staff would have informed him of that before the post went out. [3:23] But this is our ballot. [3:27] I do not have a challenger. [3:28] Neither does my Democrat opponent. [3:29] So it is she and I all the way until the November election and I intend to win that election. [3:37] And I'm not one of the politicians who thinks about the next, next election. [3:41] I think that's very disingenuous and it doesn't fulfill what you promised voters that you were going to do for this term that they elected you for. [3:49] Yeah, he can't get your primary challenger this time around. [3:51] Correct. [3:52] You think he's not going to be mad at you by 2028? [3:54] I think the president has a great ability to get over things. [3:57] There are many people that he has been upset with, even Kevin McCarthy. [4:01] I have got personal phone calls from the president telling me exactly what he thinks of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy. [4:08] And and then they are seen together, working together and communicating to to get wins for this administration and for our country. [4:16] In the second Trump term, you have taken him on in a couple of very direct ways. [4:20] And I want to talk about that. [4:21] First and foremost, the Epstein files. [4:23] You are among a very small group of Republicans, along with Democrats, who forced the release of those files. [4:29] Other Republicans came along at the last minute, but only because you and others kicked down that door. [4:34] You withstood incredible pressure from the president to not drop that, to stay with it. [4:40] Why was it worth risking your political career to release the Epstein files? [4:45] Well, first of all, I'm not here for a political career. [4:48] I'm elected two years at a time. [4:50] And if the voters disagree with me, then they have an opportunity to replace me and vote me out, fire me, essentially. [4:57] But in that moment, this was one of those promises that I made and that President Trump made. [5:03] There was not enough that was coming out. [5:05] I said on the Oversight Committee, we had about 30,000 emails that were given to us, and they were very insufficient. [5:11] And I immediately co-sponsored this piece of legislation, not thinking that it would have to be forced to the House floor for a vote. [5:20] But when we saw that this was something that would never come to the floor for a vote by the Speaker or the Leader in the House, [5:28] I decided to sign my name to that discharge petition and enforce it. [5:33] Now, it's very regrettable that we didn't allow another co-sponsor, Republican co-sponsor, and I choose the word allow, [5:42] to sign that petition before a Democrat was sworn in and was that 218th signature. [5:50] We should have taken that win. [5:51] We should have said every Republican sign on to it. [5:54] We're going to vote on it anyway. [5:56] And ultimately, we did, with only one member of the House voting against it. [6:01] And then, of course, it passed the Senate and was signed into law by the President. [6:04] And now, this is a big deal because this isn't just a task force. [6:08] This isn't a special select committee or a hearing that we're going to have. [6:12] This is law. [6:13] And so now, 10, 20 years from now, if someone is sitting in the DOJ and comes across a stack of files [6:19] that are labeled Epstein or whatever it may be, [6:22] they have 30 days to hand that over to Congress or they will face the penalties for not doing that. [6:30] So this is something that will outlast me in Congress. [6:33] And it's something I'm very proud to do for the victims in an attempt to get them justice. [6:37] People here in Colorado asked me why I thought you did that, [6:43] why you took that stand, even when it made Trump so angry and put you at risk. [6:49] And my best guess was it seems like from observing your work over the years [6:54] that the idea of women and children being exploited or abused is a hard line for you. [6:59] Is that fair to say that things change in politics, right? [7:07] There's negotiations, there's politicking, right? [7:10] But that is a hard line for you. [7:13] Why? [7:14] Well, I think preserving innocence and having justice should be a hard line for all of us. [7:20] I'm here to serve people. [7:21] And when I see someone who is being abused or someone has not faced justice, [7:27] I feel some obligation to act on that. [7:31] Now, they don't give me handcuffs when I'm sworn in, [7:33] so I can't physically lock these people up. [7:35] But I can expose what is going on and make referrals to those who do have the handcuffs. [7:40] You feel like it's the thing you can do. [7:42] Yes. [7:44] Okay, but then here's something that also makes me question this, right? [7:49] So you take a hard line against women and kids being abused, [7:54] but yet you're a staunch ally of President Trump, [7:57] who is held civilly liable for sexual abuse. [7:59] And you know the way that he brags about the way he treats women. [8:02] And you've been close friends with Matt Gaetz. [8:04] A House investigation found evidence that he had sex with a 17-year-old girl. [8:09] Why is it that abuse against women and kids is a hard line? [8:13] You'll put your career on the line to get the Epstein files out. [8:16] But you're friends with Trump and you're friends with Gaetz. [8:17] Explain that to me. [8:18] Yes. [8:18] Well, first of all, with President Trump, he has been to court. [8:22] And he has faced his accusers. [8:25] That's where he was found civilly liable for sexual abuse. [8:27] Right, exactly. [8:28] And also, I mean, there was so much in that that wasn't really credible. [8:32] I mean, yes, it was a jury of his peers, kind of. [8:35] Really, they were enemies of him. [8:38] And so in all of this, it's the credibility. [8:41] And I'm not calling anyone directly a liar. [8:44] But also, the American people have put their trust in him. [8:47] They've seen beyond that and have elected him. [8:50] And many have voted for him three times. [8:53] And so President Trump stands alone there. [8:56] I stand by him still. [8:58] And even within the Epstein files, while Democrats are scouring them for his name and anything that he may have done wrong, [9:04] every person that we talk to say that President Trump never did anything. [9:07] And they corroborate his stories of kicking Jeffrey Epstein out of Mar-a-Lago. [9:13] We recently had a victim turned groomed to be a recruiter come before our oversight committee. [9:20] And this woman staunchly says that President Trump never did anything inappropriate and corroborated these stories. [9:26] So with him, I think there are plenty of people that have said, no, none of this is true. [9:32] This has not happened. [9:33] And with Matt Gaetz, that was political retribution. [9:35] This was something by former Speaker Kevin McCarthy. [9:39] He wanted to get rid of Matt Gaetz. [9:40] Matt Gaetz was ultimately the one who filed the motion to vacate. [9:45] And Kevin had it out for him and wanted him out. [9:47] The DOJ dismissed the cases because there was nothing there. [9:51] And then there was this fake investigation in the House Ethics Committee. [9:55] Yeah, so Gaetz was never criminally charged. [9:56] House Ethics Committee came to a separate conclusion. [9:58] And House Ethics is a joke. [9:59] Usually, that is where we kick stuff off to die. [10:03] Because we know it's not going to properly be investigated and there's not going to be any accountability. [10:08] Take the Congressional Slush Fund. [10:09] How many members just voted to send all of that to the Ethics Committee because they didn't want anything to do with it? [10:16] They wanted this small committee to meet and discuss it and maybe do something. [10:21] And they probably won't. [10:22] They sent it there to die. [10:23] But if the Speaker of the House, the one who selects the members on that committee, says, [10:28] go after this one, well, then they're all hands on deck and they're going to fulfill those obligations. [10:36] Details of this topic aside, you know a hell of a lot more about Congress this time than the last time you were sitting here. [10:41] You were pretty furious when President Trump vetoed the unanimous bill out of Congress to fund the Arkansas Valley Conduit Clean Drinking Water Project in your district. [10:49] Is that ultimately going to get passed, going to get completed? [10:52] Yes. [10:53] I promised that my work was not over when it comes to the Arkansas Valley Conduit Act. [10:57] There was funding that I got approved earlier this year, right around the same time my bill was vetoed. [11:03] But also this bill has been placed into the Agriculture Appropriations Bill, which I expect to pass sometime June or July, certainly before the August recess. [11:12] And hopefully this is an individual appropriations bill that gets passed as a standalone appropriations and not combined into a large omnibus. [11:23] We are already seeing how dangerous that is now with these bills. [11:27] Democrats are picking out pieces like Department of Homeland Security. [11:31] And we're having to find other ways to fund them. [11:34] So this should be signed into law. [11:36] This is not something that the president can veto. [11:38] And I am going to finish the Arkansas Valley Conduit Act. [11:42] Do you think that he is going to lean on other Republicans to take that out? [11:46] Because he was mad enough at the beginning, either over Epstein or over Tina Peters or something. [11:50] He was mad enough at you that he got it killed the first time. [11:53] You don't think he's going to do that again? [11:54] I do not. [11:54] So while we were negotiating the farm bill and other bills, you know, usually it takes us four days to name a post office in Congress. [12:02] And we thought in four days we were going to pass FISA and the Department of Homeland Security funding and the farm bill. [12:09] To the speaker's credit, we did. [12:11] But there was a lot of negotiation that happened in that time. [12:15] And there was a commitment made from the Speaker of the House and our House Whip and funny name when you say it in a news station. [12:23] But anyway, him and then some other chairman who agreed to put this into the ag appropriations bill because I was not able to get a vote on an amendment in the farm bill for it. [12:34] So that day it was put in. [12:36] And this is not something that is going to come out. [12:38] This agreement has been made. [12:39] The pressure was applied. [12:41] Nothing happens without force. [12:42] And I forced that into this piece of legislation. [12:45] And that's where it's staying. [12:46] Your flock camera bill, your surveillance camera bill, this would restrict government agencies from maintaining and searching the license plate reading databases without a warrant. [12:57] Is there a bipartisan consensus around civil liberties in America to pass something like that? [13:03] I certainly hope there is. [13:05] This is something that the ACLU has even championed. [13:08] And now here you have Lauren Boebert leading the charge on a bill for it. [13:12] The flock cameras are very, very disturbing because it's not just license plates that are being read and recorded. [13:18] This is actual tracking and monitoring of people, even in neighborhoods. [13:23] A neighborhood can purchase a flock camera and have that. [13:25] And I know you've reported on these. [13:27] But it is an egregious overreach of our Fourth Amendment rights. [13:31] Now, it's one thing for a private company to do this. [13:33] But when the federal government can partner with them and or purchase this data and use it against American citizens, it's a huge problem. [13:43] The Fourth Amendment should not be for sale. [13:45] And it's something that even if my law enforcement officers, who I greatly support, are against it, I'm going to work to ensure that they have to have a warrant and a dang good reason to surveil American citizens. [13:58] What do you think of President Trump's $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund? [14:04] He wants to give payouts to political allies who feel that they were persecuted, prosecuted under the Biden administration. [14:09] Do you support that idea? [14:10] I do, actually. [14:12] There have been many justice funds that have been created by Democrat and Republican presidents. [14:18] And this is a fund I am supportive of. [14:20] There are many people who lost their livelihoods because of federal overreach, being wrongfully persecuted and prosecuted. [14:28] And so I do believe that there should be some sort of reprieve for them. [14:33] And, you know, the details are within the Department of Justice. [14:37] The Biden administration wanted to give out $500,000 checks to families who were separated at the southern border. [14:43] And that's something that I led the charge and stopped even in the minority. [14:47] And that would have come from a justice fund. [14:50] And so I think that this does. [14:53] Wait, hold on. [14:53] Did you just say there's precedent for these justice funds? [14:56] Here's a previous justice fund that I tried to stop. [14:58] Correct. [14:59] We're not giving illegal aliens money from American tax dollars that they get to come into our country and just say, I am entitled to $500,000. [15:08] Sure. [15:08] How about somebody who beat up a cop on J6? [15:10] So I don't I think that it has to be just I think that there has to be a just reason. [15:15] I have talked to many of the folks or some of the folks, I should say, that said, hey, I was guilty. [15:22] Like, I am grateful for the pardon. [15:24] I, you know, I served my time. [15:25] There were some that were already released and they said, I absolutely did wrong that day. [15:30] I don't think those people are going to go after this fund and say that I was wronged by the federal government after absolutely admitting their guilt. [15:40] But what about somebody, regardless of what they say about their own case, who physically attacked a police officer? [15:46] Should they be off limits for this restitution? [15:48] I haven't read the fine print, but yeah, I don't think if you are wrong and actually engaged in a violent attack against a police officer or anyone for that matter, that you should get this. [16:00] But also, let's look at how they were sentenced, how they were treated in jail. [16:04] That might qualify them for some portion of this fund. [16:07] Even if they did attack a police officer? [16:09] Well, depending on, I'd have to look at an exact case. [16:12] However, if they were unjustly held, if they were not given due process, if their sentence was too long or whatever that may be, there may be some course for a compensation. [16:24] Now, I'm not agreeing with folks who are attacking police officers by any means. [16:29] And it's really frustrating that so much still goes back to January 6th. [16:33] I mean, we had senators, this should be the bigger story. [16:35] We had senators earlier this year that created their own justice fund, nine of them, Republicans, saying that the Biden DOJ went after our phones, they looked into our lives, they investigated us, we should get a million dollars for each infraction against us. [16:52] And we were able to end that and strip that. [16:55] But that should be the real outrage of Americans when nine senators said us and us alone are entitled to this money from the Department of Justice. [17:04] So by that logic, the House is looking at whether you were improperly investigated by the Biden administration. [17:10] Do you want to check? [17:12] Well, so with this, I think... [17:14] That's a yes or no question. [17:15] Do you want to check out of the fund? [17:17] I don't think that I was financially harmed by this, right? [17:21] That's fair. [17:22] Let me ask you somebody else. [17:23] Tina Peters. [17:23] Should Tina Peters get a check? [17:24] So this is a federal fund for federal charges. [17:28] Right, and she wasn't prosecuted by the feds. [17:29] But you've got Vice President Vance out there saying that she's like the poster child for the fund. [17:32] She wasn't prosecuted by the feds. [17:33] I think that Colorado should make it that right because Tina Peters' life has been ruined by the time that she has served. [17:40] And I'm so grateful to Governor Polis for commuting her sentence and reducing that time. [17:46] But yeah, when it comes to me and others, if a member of Congress, if one of the nine senators want money from this fund, [17:55] they should be last in line to get it. [17:57] I don't think that there should be a precedent or a priority set for them. [18:02] But you're right. [18:03] I just learned that I was investigated for over a year without warrants wrongly by the Department of Justice and the FBI. [18:11] You were one of the very first people that I heard of that endorsed Ministry Leader Victor Marks for Governor of Colorado. [18:16] I want to ask you a question that I asked him yesterday, and I'm not sure he really had an answer prepared. [18:22] This is not the question about how many people he's killed. [18:23] That's not for you to answer. [18:24] I want to ask you another question I asked Victor Marks. [18:27] What qualifies him to be governor? [18:29] So I think right now in Colorado, we need a motivator who can then lead. [18:35] Motivation has to be key in any of our Republican races, especially in a non-election year. [18:40] I believe that Victor Marks will get qualified people in positions. [18:45] I stand ready to help him or whoever is our Republican nominee to circle them and surround them with qualified people to fill these positions. [18:56] And really advice that I have learned both from the federal government and working with local and state governments. [19:02] But I need somebody who can really motivate folks to get out and vote. [19:07] It's an uphill battle regardless for Republicans in a statewide race in Colorado. [19:13] And I am not disparaging any of the other candidates. [19:17] I have endorsed Victor Marks, but that's not something that I've turned the volume way up on. [19:22] I want candidates to be able to professionally run their own race. [19:26] I do not like the hateful back and forth that I see with Republicans. [19:30] I am continuously trying to create unity within our state because our state is worth saving. [19:36] It's worth fighting for, and we don't need to be fighting each other. [19:39] A couple minutes left, a couple more questions. [19:41] Colorado Republicans are about to elect a new chairperson. [19:44] Leading candidate, maybe podcaster Joe Oltman, who has called for the execution by hanging of the governor, the attorney general, secretary of state. [19:51] He says that they are a, quote, synagogue of Satan Jews. [19:54] Are you comfortable with Joe Oltman leading your party? [19:56] This is not a race that I even want to get involved in. [20:01] I'm so frustrated with the state party. [20:04] I have been for the past couple of chairs that we've had on both sides of the party. [20:10] Those comments are not something I would ever associate myself with, and I think that they should be condemned. [20:17] Is the state party cooked if he's in charge for the next two years? [20:19] I don't have a lot of optimism for the state party as a whole, regardless. [20:24] We have got to start working on a local level and bring this back to our county parties and get them strong, and strong enough that the state party is pretty much irrelevant. [20:34] We don't need someone in our state party who is going to be the face of the party or the figurehead. [20:39] I want someone who will quietly do the work and support Republican candidates, support local parties, and unfortunately, we haven't had that. [20:46] We have had chairs who want to be in front of the camera and make it all about themselves rather than the candidates. [20:53] Let the candidate be the face for their own race and be their own star. [20:58] So President Trump kicked off this redistricting battle all around America, right? [21:02] He tells Texas, find some more red seats, so then California, find some more blue seats, and now Colorado Democrats want to redraw the congressional map here. [21:09] And there's a scenario in which you could be the last Republican standing in the congressional district. [21:14] Your seat could become even more safe. [21:15] You become like the Queen of Magaland, and then you get all these Democrats around you. [21:19] Do you wish that President Trump had not kicked off this gerrymandering battle? [21:23] I think a lot of it, as we're seeing from the Supreme Court, was just. [21:26] I mean, there was gerrymandering that was taking place. [21:31] And, you know, I mean, the term gerrymandering, it comes from a governor named Jerry who drew a district that looked like a salamander, you know? [21:38] I mean, so, I mean, this started really with Democrats. [21:41] And I think in Colorado, we have a decent way of doing things. [21:46] We have an independent commission, and I think our districts are fair. [21:52] We have four Republicans and four Democrats. [21:54] And is this a 50-50 state? [21:57] It is. [21:58] It's a 50-50 state. [21:58] Oh, no, no, no, no. [21:59] You mean for the voters? [22:00] I mean the voters. [22:01] Is Colorado still a 50-50 red-blue state? [22:04] It's not. [22:04] I would love for it to be 50-50 at the least. [22:07] It's not. [22:08] I would love for it to be. [22:08] It's not. [22:09] But I think that does give good balance at a federal level to have four and four. [22:13] And truly, I work well with my four Democrat colleagues. [22:17] And, you know, I would hope that they could say the same for me and the other Republicans that are in office. [22:22] And we want Colorado to succeed. [22:24] We just don't always have the same vision to get there. [22:27] But to make Colorado take our eight congressional seats and have seven Democrat seats and one Republican, maybe your viewers should answer the question, do you really want Lauren Boebert to be the only Republican representing Colorado at a federal level? [22:42] I think that our map is fair. [22:45] And I wouldn't want to go through this process. [22:47] I would rather wait until our independent commission can come together again at the appropriate time and draw new maps if necessary. [22:56] We have two minutes left, so I have one question. [22:58] The last time that you were here, seven years ago, you did not know a lot about how Congress worked. [23:03] In fact, that was kind of your calling card. [23:05] And I think that that helped get you elected because you had this outsider image. [23:08] I imagine that that led to a steep learning curve when you got there. [23:12] What is one thing that you wish you had known before you got into Congress? [23:15] And what is one thing that you wish that you had not learned about Congress once you got there? [23:21] Yes. [23:21] Well, one thing I wish I had known, I guess it's more of the leadership and the party structure because that's really what makes Congress broken and inefficient. [23:33] This pay for play and having to raise campaign funds to have a committee seat and all of this. [23:38] I truly thought that if I went there, I could get a seat on the House Natural Resources Committee because I had a district that had a lot of federal lands and these were huge issues. [23:49] But then I learned I had to find a donor to write me a big check to get me on that committee. [23:52] And I would have talked about that more in my first campaign. [23:56] And I certainly talk a lot about it now. [23:59] The nothing happens without force in D.C. [24:01] I was not aware of that. [24:03] I thought you can go and politely ask and people would want to deliver for your district. [24:09] My freshman colleagues on the Republican side, they have learned that this year and they are now starting to apply force. [24:15] And one thing that I wish I would have never had to learn is that in D.C., one of the roles is apparently being the bedroom police because there are so many misdeeds that happen between members and their offices and their personal lives that we should never have to deal with. [24:34] And when I have to call on a Republican member to resign and a Democrat member to resign because of their horrendous personal lives and what they're doing with their staff, I mean, that is is not what I went to Congress for. [24:46] But also, I'm happy to try to provide justice for the people that they have wronged. [24:51] We're out of time. [24:52] Congresswoman Lauren Boebert, thank you for your time. [24:54] Let's not wait another seven years. [24:55] All right. [24:56] I'll be back. [24:57] Appreciate it. [24:57] Thanks, Kyle.