President Donald Trump and his
administration have moved fast,
signing a flurry of executive orders
starting day one.
They include everything from a tough
clampdown on immigration, energy
policy and
the federal workforce.
Attorneys general from 22
states, including Wisconsin,
have sued to block Trump's
executive order that moves to end
a century old immigration policy
known as birthright citizenship,
guaranteeing that US born
children are citizens regardless
of their parents status.
Wisconsin Republican U.S.
Senator Ron Johnson is here.
And this the first week of the
Trump presidency.
And Senator, thanks very much for
being here.
Fredricka, thanks for having me on.
So what is your overall reaction
to week one of President Trump
and his administration?
Well, I'm. I'm happy to see him move
fast
honoring the promises he made during
the campaign. You know, from my
standpoint, too, I'm focusing on
reducing spending to
some reasonable pre-pandemic level.
It's gotten completely out of
hand. In 2014, we were 2018,
we spent $4.4 trillion.
Then we had the pandemic spent
almost 6.6.
But, you know, a normal family would
if they had medical bills and they
had to borrow $50,000 for for
a medical bill the next year.
If their family remember that, well,
they wouldn't keep borrowing $50,000
and spending to that level.
But that in the fact is what we've
done in the federal government,
we've averaged $6.5 trillion
over the last five years.
Last year we spent 6.9.
So it's unjustified.
It's unsustainable.
It's really absurd.
And we need to return to some
some level of pre-pandemic spending.
And that's really what I'm working
on right now.
What's your reaction to President
Trump's pardon of January 6th
defendants, including 11 people
from Wisconsin?
Well, first of all, I think there
was a grotesque miscarriage
of justice throughout the Biden
administration.
Really a lawless administration.
But as relates to January 6th, I
think so many of these people were
were persecuted, weren't
offered speedy trial.
So there was there were many harms
that needed to be rectified there.
Personally, I probably would have
done it in different stages.
Been a little more selective.
But I think in the end, President
Trump apparently just decided
pardon them all. And I truthfully
don't have
any problem with that.
I don't think anybody is really a
true danger to society.
How do those pardons, though, square
with respect for police,
many of whom were beaten or tased
or repelled with pepper or
bear spray?
I think most of those people have
engaged in acts of violence, did
serve jail time.
You take a look at again, you just
need to compare the jail time they
spent versus, for example, the jail
time, murders and rape to spend in
New York.
So, again, I think you have to weigh
it all. I think President Trump, you
know, I would have been a little
more selective. Done it in different
batches. But he decided just to
pardon them all. And honestly, I
don't have much problem with it.
Just one more question on this, and
that is just this week you
introduced a bill called the Thin
Blue Line Act that would increase
penalties for targeting
law enforcement.
How do the pardons and that
introduction of that Bill Square.
Again, the miscarriage of justice
in terms of January 6th.
Defendants, I think, had to be
rectified. And that's what President
Trump did.
What's your response to former
President Biden's preemptive pardons
for January 6th?
Committee members, members of his
family and Anthony Fauci.
Thinks that's a very dangerous
precedent for for a president
to potentially direct a members of
his administration to commit
crimes with the guarantee
of a pardon afterwards.
I think it's very dangerous
precedent.
It's it's a double edged sword for
those that are going to
obtain those pardons, though,
because now they have no Fifth
Amendment protections.
If we decide to call them in front
of Congress and testify, they have
to testify fully and truthfully.
Do you expect to do that?
I will. Some of them, I think almost
certainly.
Like who?
We'll see how.
We'll see what documentation we get
and who we have
justification for for calling in to
testify on immigration.
How do you expect President Trump's
orders to play out?
What will we see at the border, in
our cities and on our farms?
Well, I think you'll see a secure
border.
I think you'll see an immediate
return to the
remain in Mexico policy.
You'll you'll see departing
deportations, you know, focusing
primarily on criminals and people
who are a real danger to society.
And that's that's what President
Trump ran on.
It's what a large majority
the American public supports.
And he's moving swiftly to honor
that promise as well.
Do you think that the president's
call to end birthright citizenship
will survive legal challenges
as it's written, into the 14th
Amendment of the US Constitution?
I certainly support his attempt to
get this adjudicated.
And I think it's, you
know, quite honestly, absurd policy.
We're one of very, very few nations
that allow that.
I think it had its,
you know, justification at
one point in time.
And I understand why why the 14th
Amendment was passed, but it really
should not be applying to the
current circumstance right now.
And I think it really incentivizes
people.
I mean, there's there's birthing
tourism.
There's there's all kinds of abuses
as a result of that.
I think we need to end that.
What do you say to insulin dependent
people who may now see their costs
rise above the $35 a month
cap with a Trump
order rescinding a Biden order
on lowering prescription drug costs?
I don't think that'll happen.
The fact that drug costs
would go up.
These people I mean, people still
be able to
being insulated with those types of
pricing.
And so what do you think
about the rescinding of
the order that was
designed to lower prescription drug
costs?
Again, I don't really like
government price controls on things.
So let me see how this thing plays
out. I mean, these are drug
pricing is a highly complex issue.
When government involves itself, the
marketplace generally screws it up.
One of the problems we have right
now with our health care system was
we have a completely broken health
care financing system,
largely driven by government's
intervention into it.
So, you know, from my standpoint, we
need to bring more consumerism,
more free, free market disciplines
into our health care system.
That includes drugs, that includes
hospital care, that includes, you
know, what we pay for doctors as
well. So government
intervention, third party payer
systems have, by and large, and move
the benefits of free market
competition. And that discipline,
we need to bring those benefits
back.
You've spoken critically in recent
years about the security risks
of the China own tick tock, and
the Supreme Court upheld the
ban.
Now President Trump has put on hold
that ban. Where do you stand now
on tick tock?
Well, I voted against the Ukraine
funding bill where that ban was
slipped in.
Yeah, I actually I have sympathy
with both sides of the argument
here, which means I'm somewhat
ambivalent in terms of how it all
plays out. I'm not a big user of
tick tock. I know a lot of people
are understand the freedom of
speech aspect of this, but I also
understand that you know how China
is using it.
So I'll let the courts decide.
I'll let this process play out.
And we have so many other
challenges facing this nation.
It's just not one of the big ones on
my radar screen.
Will you vote to confirm Pete
Hegseth and RFK Jr?
And if so, why?
Why?
Because president won a very
convincing victory.
You know, elections matter.
I think the president gets to decide
who he wants serving alongside
him in his administration.
And, you know, barring some
disqualifying factor, which I don't
see in any
of his nominees so far,
I'm going to vote to confirm.
In your mind what other kind of out
of the troops actions on the part of
President Trump stand out as
most important to you?
Well, I do appreciate the fact that
he's not defining for America
for government policy, that, you
know, there are two genders, you
know, men and women.
He's moving to protect women
from having to compete against
male athletes, from having
biological males invade their their
locker rooms and other private
spaces, their bathrooms.
So, you know, I certainly appreciate
that. That's something that I think
is also very popular.
That's what the American people
support.
But again, across the board,
securing our borders is incredibly
important to tapping in and
using our God given energy
resources.
Extremely important from the
standpoint of national security as
well as keeping costs
down. So across the board, what
President Trump is doing will see
the the effect of this, you know,
what we're going to have to do in
terms of legislation to to codify
these things. But I'm very pleased
with how quickly President
Trump is honoring the promises he
made during the campaign.
All right, Senator Ron Johnson,
thanks very much.
Every day.
Thank you.
Appreciate it. We'll see if they
get.