Washington, D.C. – House Republican Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik joined The Kimberly Guilfoyle Show to discuss Joe Biden’s failures and lack of mental acuity as President, House Republicans’ priorities in Congress, the rise of antisemitism, and much more.
Watch her full interview here.
View highlights of her interview below:
On Joe Biden’s Failed, Far Left Policies:
“My reaction is it’s not just Republicans and Independents who understand that Joe Biden is an unfit President. It’s now Democrats as well. And New Yorkers, we have experienced the crises caused by single-party, Far Left, failed, Democrat rule from Joe Biden to Chuck Schumer to Kathy Hochul and to Eric Adams. The number one issue for New Yorkers, Kimberly, is the border crisis which has been caused by Joe Biden’s executive action: where we had the most secure border in modern history under President Trump, and, yet, on day one, Joe Biden signed executive actions to open the border wide open. He got rid of the ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy. And he allowed ‘Catch and Release’ to take place, and we’ve seen over eight million illegals, at a minimum, cross our border. And it’s not just the Southern Border, Kimberly. In my district, I represent a large swath of the New York-Canadian Border, and we’ve seen over a 250 percent increase in illegal crossings there as well. So, New York, you just played the footage, illegals are assaulting and attacking our brave law enforcement officers. And it is clear to New Yorkers that Joe Biden has failed, and he is unfit. And while Joe Biden, Kathy Hochul, and Eric Adams, and Democrats attempt to pass the buck, people are smart. They know that it’s their policies, whether it’s the ‘Sanctuary City’ policies, whether it’s the 15,000 dollars of taxpayer funds going to debit cards for illegals in New York City, this is a catastrophe. And that’s why you are seeing just a bottoming out and a continual decline in Joe Biden's approval ratings. He has the lowest approval rating of any modern day president since Jimmy Carter, and, yet, at the same time, people know what worked. President Trump had the most secure border in modern history, and that’s why President Trump is enjoying historic support even in places like New York which are traditionally blue states.”
On the Rise Of Antisemitism and Holding Colleges and Universities Accountable:
“This is a moral crisis, and it’s a crisis that people are looking for moral leadership. And we need to condemn, clearly, antisemitism, and we’re not getting that from today’s Democrat Party. And we certainly did not get that from university presidents, two of whom are now former university presidents in the case of Penn and my alma mater, Harvard. Just remember, Kimberly, I asked a very straightforward, moral question. And that question was: ‘Does calling for the genocide of Jews violate your university’s code of conduct when it comes to bullying and harassment?’ And their answers shocked the world. One after the other after the other said, ‘It depends on the context.’ People know it does not depend on the context. And that's why you saw the forced firing of those two university presidents. Two down one to go, and we have so much work ahead. So after that hearing, we launched an official investigation. And already, we have had to issue subpoenas because Harvard has refused to turn over documents and respond to our congressional requests. We will use all of our responsibility as members of Congress, and it's our responsibility to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars and have oversight when it comes to higher education laws. And these schools are failing to protect Jewish students. They are failing to protect members of their community who have been assaulted by pro-Hamas radicals, pro-Hamas sympathizers of terrorists. So the subpoenas were issued just last week, and we are going to make sure that we continue moving forward. There are other universities that will be called in to testify as well. And there is a lot of work we need to do legislatively, Kimberly, in addition to holding them accountable in the committee hearing room. We need to look at the U.S. taxpayer funds that go to these institutions that are propping them up. We need to address the foreign funding piece where you have anti-Israel, foreign dollars flowing in with conditions on the type of curricula and the professors which are part of this pro-Hamas, anti-Israel, antisemitic movement that we're seeing on these college campuses. So again, this was a moral question. Those university presidents failed, and I will continue to stand up and be a leader to specifically condemn antisemitism.”
On Republicans Keeping Control Of The House and Supporting President Trump:
“You know, we feel very strongly that we're in a strong position not only to keep the House but to gain seats, win the Senate, and elect President Trump. And I will tell you, having been one of the Republicans on the ballot in both 2016 and 2020, despite what the chattering class and the media says, President Trump has long coattails, and we are stronger as a unified party. And he turns out votes more effectively than any other candidate on the ballot when it comes to Republican candidates. So I'm very optimistic that we are going to pick up seats, and we have to. We need to make sure that we flip the Senate from Democrat to Republican and elect President Trump. Because we've seen, as House Republicans, we've passed good, strong legislation, whether it's the Secure the Border Act, whether it's energy independence, whether it's the Parents’ Bill of Rights. And this legislation just dies because Chuck Schumer doesn't bring it up, and Democrats refuse to bring up these America First policy items that we have delivered. So I feel very optimistic. But we are going to work very hard every day, Kimberly, and we can't take it for granted. And that's why I'm tireless. I'm proud to be a top surrogate for President Trump. And I'm proud to be one of the leaders in the country standing up and communicating our record of results as House Republicans, how Democrats have failed, and how we will be effective and make America great again with President Trump at the top of the ticket.”
On Holding the Biden Crime Family Accountable:
“Well, first of all, we need to continue to uncover the absolute, I think this is the most scandalous corruption crisis in our nation's history. And those are the hearings and the depositions related to the Biden Crime Family with the impeachment inquiry. We continue to see bombshell reports of Biden family members, whether it's Joe Biden's brother, James Biden, or his son Hunter Biden relying on Joe Biden's name and influence peddling using Joe Biden to fill their family's coffers with hundreds of thousands of dollars from adversaries, whether it's Communist China, or whether it's other adversaries around the world. And some of that money, Kimberly, hundreds of thousands of dollars of that money went directly into the bank accounts of Joe and Jill Biden. Again, this is the most scandalous corruption scandal in our lifetime.”
On House Republicans’ Priorities:
“Well, you see the double standard in how the mainstream media act like sycophants and loyal stenographers for Joe Biden. And, you know, we see them continue to try to brush these scandals under the rug. The other piece here, Kimberly, is we're going to continue fighting and standing up for legislation that we've passed on border security. You're seeing Joe Biden desperately trying to convince the American people that the border crisis is not his fault. It's offensive that he's saying that. The American people are smart. They know that we had a very secure border under President Trump and that it was Joe Biden's executive actions that have led to this wide open border. House Republicans passed our Secure the Border Act. We have legislatively passed so many key, conservative bills, again, that Chuck Schumer has failed to take up. Another priority for House Republicans is support for Israel. We have seen our most precious ally under attack. And Israel faced the bloodiest day since the Holocaust for the Jewish people after the October 7th vicious, barbaric atrocities committed by Hamas, backed by Iran. And for the first time, Kimberly, this White House, Joe Biden issued a veto threat for the actual number that he requested for Israel aid that we were proud to put on the House Floor. The Democrat White House under the leadership of Joe Biden, threatened to veto that. So we're going to continue to work tirelessly as House Republicans to support our strong ally Israel, and to focus on the border, and also make sure that we have conservative policy wins when it comes to appropriations. And we will continue to block Joe Biden's socialist policies that are destroying America.”
On Democrats’ Unraveling Democracy:
“This is really unraveling our Democracy. We see that the Left is attacking who we are as a Constitutional Republic. They are trying to literally remove President Trump from the ballot. We see that in multiple states, and these are radical Leftists who know that they are struggling. They will struggle to win at the ballot box with Joe Biden whose poll numbers continue to plummet. But take my home state of New York as well, we are seeing a mass exodus of businesses on top of the already mass exodus because of the horrific economic policies and the crime crisis because we see a New York Attorney General, Tish James, who ran on going after President Trump, she should be disbarred. There was no victim. There was no crime committed, and people see through this for what it is that it was a witch hunt on top of other witch hunts. This has been a continual story among Democrats going back to 2016, Kimberly, and the unprecedented attempt whether it was the perpetration of the Russia hoax, whether it was sham impeachment one or two. But I've called for Tish James to be disbarred. She does not meet the standards of judicial ethics. And you have higher standards when you were Attorney General of New York State. I've also challenged the judicial ethics of multiple judges who are, again, colluding with Democrats with the Radical Left to go after President Trump, really to do Joe Biden's bidding. And what I think is most powerful, Kimberly, is President Trump when he speaks to the American people, the Department of Justice is weaponized after him. But that means they can go after everyone, and they have gone after Catholics, Conservatives, even parents at school board meetings. So this is really a shredding of our Democracy that we're seeing in today’s Far Left, Democrat Party.”
On Joe Biden’s Lack of Mental Acuity:
"My opinion is this White House and the Biden campaign are so desperate. They are just trying to get through every single day. They are trying to get him through press conferences, and it has been an abysmal failure. You saw, Kimberly and the American people saw just two weeks ago when he did that press conference after the damning Special Counsel Report, that not only said that he illegally kept classified information but that they weren't going to prosecute him and have selective prosecution because of his lack of mental acuity. And it goes back to the poll you showed: 70 percent of New Yorkers and certainly the majority of Americans, the large majority, believe that Joe Biden is unfit for office. They can't get Joe Biden through the day, but I do think they are desperately trying to just prop him up. And that's why you're seeing this law fair to try to remove President Trump from the ballot. Let's show that in stark contrast to President Trump. I mean, I see him on the campaign trail as I'm a surrogate for him. He is all over the country, and yet, the Left is forcing him to be in these courtrooms. He is doing that. He's going to Iowa, to South Carolina, to New Hampshire. He had a sweep of the early primary states. He is going on offense, speaking to the American people. And that's why he's going to win this November. But I don't think Democrats, you know, we'll see how it plays out. I still think Joe Biden, they're going to try to limp over the finish line, but they're going to lose because he is unfit to serve as President of the United States.”
