GOP Rep. French Hill on Stephen Miller promotion and possible Pete Hegseth impeachment

[0:00] We turn now to Republican Congressman French Hill. He is currently the chairman [0:03] of the Financial Services Committee, and he joins us from Little Rock, Arkansas. [0:08] Good morning to you, Congressman. You survived a tough race down in Arkansas, usually ruby red. [0:16] You finished just over 4,000 votes ahead of your Democratic rival. [0:21] What went wrong for so many other of your Republican colleagues here? [0:26] Well, Margaret, it's good to be with you. It was a very complicated, tough election cycle this year. [0:35] Look, we told the American people in 2024 that we'd secure the border. We'd make our [0:41] communities safer. We would lead in the world. But we also told the American people that we would [0:48] continue to fight to lower costs. And I think what we saw, no matter how many efforts that we made in [0:54] the Republican House, that Americans are still concerned about the impact of 20 percent [1:00] inflation that they experienced during the Biden administration. And that while it's down from [1:06] 9 percent to 3 percent, it has not gone lower. And that, I think, was a principal issue, [1:11] the costs that the American people are having and experiencing in all of our families. [1:16] So we have more work to do there. Yeah. Costs eating into wage gains, [1:19] particularly over the past six months. But let's talk about what's possible now. [1:23] President Trump has changed his chief of staff, as you know, Stephen Miller now in that role. [1:30] Your Republican colleague, Don Bacon of Nebraska, said Miller is not a good choice because he's [1:35] antagonistic. He hurt Republicans during the election, saying he, quote, [1:39] took the immigration issue for President Trump from a two to one favorable to a two to one unfavorable. [1:45] Do you agree with him? I mean, what does putting Miller in the chief's role signal? [1:51] Well, first, I think Susie Wiles is leaving. President Trump has the right to [1:59] promote Stephen Miller to be the chief. That responsibility means that during this 120th [2:04] Congress, he'll be the point person for the president in discussing policy matters with Congress. [2:10] I'll tell you, though, on the immigration issue, I think we should focus on immigration reform, [2:15] which I voted for twice back in 2018, to resolve the issues about how to seek asylum in this country, [2:21] how we handle temporary protective services, and how we deal with children in this country [2:27] that are here with legal green card holders like our engineering community that's across the country, [2:33] as well as those who've come in the country legally, but their kids are legal. We do need to resolve it. [2:39] I think it's a place where President Trump can leave, and this is an area that Stephen Miller [2:43] is keen on, which is secure the border, yes, but can we now reform the immigration system [2:50] and make it better for our country? And that will, I believe, answer the questions about the deportation issue. [2:55] Well, I understand the aspiration, but credibly, [2:58] you believe Stephen Miller can persuade Democrats and be persuaded himself to go for the kind of asylum [3:03] you just spoke about? Well, look, this is what President Trump has said for years, that if the [3:10] border was secure, he wanted to try to reform our broken immigration system. And that was an issue [3:17] that came up in his first term. This is an opportunity that perhaps we can, on a bipartisan basis, [3:22] find that solution in the next Congress. There's a lot of business for you all to get done. [3:28] Your Republican colleague Thomas Massey is spearheading an effort to impeach Pete Hegseth, [3:33] the secretary. There is action expected this week. Some of your colleagues, like James Comer, [3:39] has said with a high level of confidence, there's a lot of questions about Hegseth, [3:43] and Republican voters are upset. Should Hegseth be impeached? [3:47] Well, the question is for the president, should he continue to serve as the secretary of war? [3:53] You're going to be asked to answer this, though, by Representative Massey. [3:56] Yeah, that's right. Well, you know, I want to hear the debate on it to see if it merits impeachment [4:03] versus some other disciplinary action or action by the president if he's not getting the job done [4:09] in leading the department of war. I think that's the issue. [4:12] Are you satisfied with how the war has been handled? [4:15] No, but I mean, I think the commander-in-chief has to take the responsibility [4:22] for the strategy of conducting the war and how it's been conducted. But I'll tell you one thing, [4:27] there's nobody in America that wants Iran to have a nuclear weapon. Of course not. [4:30] This has been a goal of the United States for five decades. Well, look at the 1990s, Margaret. [4:35] President Clinton had the opportunity to prevent North Korea from having a nuclear weapon, [4:39] and it didn't happen. And that's a big issue for North Asia and for the U.S. [4:43] And CENTCOM just put out a $20 million reward offer for information about Iran's nuclear program. [4:48] So it's clear the U.S. government doesn't have clarity, nor has it completely obliterated the [4:53] program. But just to go back to Hegseth, do I hear you right? You don't necessarily approve of [5:01] how the war is going, but you're undecided about whether he has committed an impeachable offense. [5:08] Are you open to considering impeachment? Right, right. Here, look, look, this is, [5:13] no, this is the issue. If you don't think he's done a good job conducting his job, [5:17] that doesn't mean per se that he's committed an impeachable offense. He's an executive officer of [5:22] the executive branch. And if he's not conducting his mission in the right way, then the president [5:28] ought to make a change there. The question is, are we leading at the Pentagon in the right way [5:34] or not the right way? That's very separate from whether or not somebody's committed an impeachable [5:39] offense. And you don't want to commit on how you'll vote today. Have you reached a conclusion [5:44] on whether you'll vote for Steve Scalise or Jim Jordan for a Republican leader? These are two excellent [5:50] leaders. They both could lead the conference successfully. We have, as you know, new members. [5:57] We have about 60, 65 members of our 170 majority that have only been in Congress [6:05] two years or less. And I think we need to have our family meeting and discuss it. [6:10] But both Steve Scalise and Jim Jordan are fully capable of leading in the minority. [6:14] And I'll look forward to our discussion in conference this week. [6:17] All right. Well, we will see who ends up. And we look forward to seeing how you end up [6:24] voting on Secretary Hegseth as well.