You're listening to The Buck Sexton Show podcast, make sure you subscribe to the podcast on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, everybody, welcome to the Buck Sexton Show. This episode, we have Congressman Eli Crane with this now. He represents the second Congressional district out in Arizona. He's also a former Navy seal. Honored to speak me to Congressman, I was there when you were just before being a congress but I knew you were
gonna win. So I feel good about that prediction. Now, thanks for being with.
Us, Thanks Buck, and thanks for having me on while I was campaigning. Man, I appreciate it.
Yeah, absolutely well. And I had had a feeling about that one. It was one of the few, one of the few elections in twenty twenty two that I was invested in, and that weren't the way I wanted to So it's like you de said this in Florida. You know, there were some others that Anna Paulina she did well. I know you know her, your colleague in Congress, but there were certainly some close even in Arizona. And I could actually ask you about that, if that's cool. In
a little bit. But let's let's start with this. As I'm sitting here talking to you, there's all these headlines about the debt ceiling and how if we default, it's going to be dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria, Horrible things are gonna happen. Can you just square away, like, how many months has this negotiation been going on? What have Republicans done? What are Republicans asking for? Because it hasn't really gotten much attention.
Yeah, so this has been going on for a long time, Buck, and you know, it's it's interesting and it's kind of pretty cool. I think that Republicans actually passed a bill out of the House. I know, most people didn't think that we'd be able to do that, especially when you have, you know, a pretty staunch group of conservatives that you know, did test raising the debt sailing, spending more money that we don't have. You know, many of you know it
is the Freedom Caucus. There's some folks outside the Freedom Caucus that are very fiscally responsible as well, and so it was pretty it was pretty interesting that we were able to pass that. And when I look the reason that I voted for it, I was one of the You know, some people might say I was the swing vote on that one. I think I was the last guy to actually vote for it. Time had expired. I was putting my voting card in and I was sweating bullets, man,
because I felt so torn. I know that we'll never turn this country around by continuing to spend money that we don't have, and so going into it that whole week and leading up to it, I was a pretty hard note. And then you know, I kept talking to other members in the Freedom Caucus and they were basically telling me, Eli, nothing, nothing even close to this, has
ever come to the House floor. We've never had, you know, the chance to pass something with this this many heavy cuts in it, solid cuts that go after woke and weaponize spending of the federal government. And also the thing that really put me over the edge to vote for it, Buck was, you know, folks in my district. We did
some pulling and some surveying. The night before and the morning of after, I was on a town hall call, and you know, the vast majority, like ninety percent of the people that I was talking to on the town hall wanted me to support the debt ceiling cuts. Once I told them what was in it, you know, what the pros, what the cons were, and that really surprised me. I did not think the folks in my district would want me to vote for it, but the vast majority
on that call did so then we did. I thought, well, maybe we should cast a wider net and see if this sentiment is larger in my district, and so we did that the next day, and I think we had close to five hundred respondents, and I think the I think it was seventy nine point six percent of people that responded asked me to vote for it, knowing what we were getting with it, And you know, Buck, I swore, you know, even though that's not the way I was leaning.
I swore that if I did come up here in the people Arizona sent me to represent them, that I wouldn't be a representative that just comes up here, here's what they have to say, and then then I vote the complete opposite way, you know. And so their voice
and what they want means a lot to me. And that was one of those times, and I'm sure there'll be other times in the future where what my gut and my instinct are telling me and what they want you know, are two different things, and so that as a representative who actually wants to represent your people, that's a pretty tough tough spot.
So Converso, what do the Republicans want cut, you know, in this deal? What are they seeking? What? What kind of numbers, either as a percentage or an overall figure. What what would be a you know, in your mind, an acceptable outcome here, assuming that there's some negotiation on the part of the Democrats. After the House Republicans have already passed the continued funding.
Well, like I said, you know, that would it's hard for me to even get to there on that one. So I don't want to see anything come back that's weaker than what we've already passed in the House. But the things that we're looking for, Buck, we definitely want to pump the brakes on the federal spending up here. So we wanted to cut back spending to twenty two
non defense discretionary spending levels. Some of the things that we were going after, as you probably know, Buck, we were going after the money for the doubling of the IRS, the eighty seven thousand new IRS agents. We wanted to snatch that money and really try to protect the American people from that. We went after the Green New Deal or the Inflation Reduction Act as they changed the name
of it, and after some of those funds. We went after some of the COVID recession funds, funds that were put out there from the federal government to localities, states and communities that haven't been spent yet and are just you know, sitting in a fund. We went We were
trying to closs some of that back. We also after the college bailout deal that you know, put Americans up in a complete rage because you know that they don't believe and they quite frankly shouldn't have to pay to bail out folks that have taken you know, college loans. And so those are some of the things that we went after. As you can tell, those pull pretty well with the American people. And like I said, you know,
here's the deal, buck, You know the deal. If you up here in this town, if you go after anything, if you try and cut anything, you'll be they will find ways to demonize you. One of the ways they tried to demonize us was saying that we were going
after veteran disabilities. Matter of fact, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs himself, you know, allowed that that organization, that institution to put out a memo saying that we were going to cut veteran benefits by twenty two And it was crazy because we never Republicans never said anything like that
at all. And so, you know, it's been it's been interesting, you know, getting you know, some experience with just a machine up here, how it works, and if you try and start making changes, uh, you know, the slander and the lies that the swamp will start to generate to protect itself.
How has Speaker McCarthy done up to this point? I mean you were you were involved, if I recall correctly, in making sure that it would be a different speakership than what some would have expected, right, I mean, you were part of the group that weren't just willing to say, oh yeah, sure, whoever the whoever the system wants, we're gonna we're going to just put forward and that there was discussion. There were discussions, and there when there were
concessions made. From what I understand, the Speaker's numbers in terms of favorables among Republicans has gone up pretty considerably. Almost six months. You know, here we are into the year. So how how would you assess how the Speaker's been and some of the that, you know, what has surprised you on the positive side.
You know, I want to call balls and strikes, Buck. I think everybody knows that. You know, I didn't vote for Kevin McCarthy for fifteen rounds. I was one of the final four left at the end of that, and I still didn't vote for him at the end of it. But I got to give him credit. I've I've told other people and I'll tell you, tell you and your audience.
I think he's doing a really good job. That being said, I will point out the fact that he's incentiveized to do a very good job because there are there are some you know, Republicans and some Conservatives that you know, we will we will hold the speaker accountable for deals that he's made, you know, with the Conservative group so
that he could become speaker. And I'm going to tell you something, Buck, that job that he has, you know, I wish I wouldn't wish that on anybody, you know, I know, nobody, nobody else in the party really wanted it. And I think he's done a really good job. And you know, I pray for his success because it's important to the country that he does do a good job.
Yeah, sometimes the job that has the big office just means that the cage you're in is a little bigger, you know what I mean. It's not always It's not always all it's cracked up to be. People feel like, oh, the speaker is so much power. I'm sure there's a there's a lot of that that people really say. I want to talk to you about Ukraine, the GOP position on it and what we should do about it. Obviously, you're a former Navy seal, you're a guy who saw combat.
Let's let's talk about that. We come back in a second. For everyone watching at home, I want to say, please subscribe to the YouTube channel. If you've made it this far. Really appreciate you hanging out with us, but subscribe, and that way you'll see more of these deep dive interviews that we're going to be putting out on the channel. So click the subscribe button. They're on the screen. And also, I'm a big believer in getting a great night sleep.
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doing in terms of policy and support to Ukraine? Do you think that the Biden administration is going too far? The provision of F sixteen's has gotten a lot of attention recently. How worried are you that we could be drawn even further into this and perhaps even see the spark of a broader conflagration. I don't want to say world War three, but that's what people talk about.
I've been worried about it from the beginning, Buck, I've been very outspoken about it from the beginning for multiple reasons. I know our own conference is divided on this issue. I acknowledge that, you know, I understand the arguments on the other side. But the reason that I've been worried about it and outspoken about it from the beginning are one because, first of all, we can't afford it here.
We are having debt limit talks, We're reaching our debt limit in the United States of America, and we continue to send tens of billions. How many hundred billion or so plus is it now that we've sent over to Ukraine? Buck, I don't even know what the figure is at this point it's way too much money, you know, So one we can't afford it. Two we're escalating, uh, you know, a possible conflict with Russia, you know, which could become
very bad, very quickly. That doesn't even that's just Russia by themselves, not to even mention some of their allies that are you know, some pretty serious actors around the world that could cause some some serious damage to a Western alliance if we're even able to form one, you know. So, I think that this has been this has been something that many of us have been you know, kind of canary in the mind shaft on just calling it out from the beginning, because we are concerned about the escalation.
We're concerned about spending money that that we don't have, spending you know, our resources, our ammunition, et cetera, that we might need for another conflict, for a real ally. It has been an ally of ours for a very long, very long time.
Do you think there's a there's a greater will There are veterans like you right who understand that what warfare is like, what it entails, what the losses are that come from war, even a war that you're you know, winning in a national sense. The destruction and loss of life and loss of many of your best people in a country is something that comes along with that. Are we at a place now where we can have more honest conversations, you think than before about whether or not
this is a war that we should be fighting? Or is there still this overriding sense of if you oppose the establishment on the need for this war, you're unpatriotic or you're not. Do you know what I mean? You think because of a Rock and Afghanistan we're able to have a more honest talk or is that? Is that a little bit to giving too much credit to the honesty and the dialogue over warfare these days?
You know, I give a lot of credit and I know a lot some people disagree with this, but I give a lot of credit to former President Donald Trump and just his America First agenda because, quite frankly, Buck, I think he caused many of us, including myself, to really rethink some of our foreign policy views. He made many of us ask is this the best thing for America? Is this the best thing for American citizens? Should should
we be involved in this? How much? How much money should NATO be spending should they be solving their own problems over in Europe or should we continue to try and be the world police. And so I've always felt like we can have we can and we should be able to have a you know, serious, real conversation about this. I know some of my colleagues tend to be, you know, much more hawkish when it comes to national security and a lot of these a lot of these foreign wars.
But I mean, like you mentioned, Buck, we're coming off the heels of you know, two decades of wars, you know, a bunch of veteran issues. Again, We're thirty two trillion dollars in debt. We're voting on our debt ceiling right now.
And when you look at some of the other hotspots around the world, with folks that I would argue have been allies to the US for far longer than Ukraine, like Taiwan and even Israel, I think that, you know, I'm concerned that we're not going to have the resources necessary to help out you know, some of our some of our real friends. You know, if if if they get attacked, do you think.
That we would even under the Biden administration, Let's just put it that way. If China invaded Taiwan. Do you think that we would take military action or would we meeting with the Biden White House, do a lot of diplomatic resolutions and angry letters, But how do you think they would respond.
I don't think that we would do anything. Buck. I believe that this uh, this administration has been co opted and corrupted by the CCP. I just came from a Homeland Security Committee hearing where we were talking to an individual from the FBI about this very thing, you know, and you've got to ask, why is a why is a Chinese by balloon allowed to fly over the United States for a week. Why do they have you know, police stations here. Why are they able to buy up
farmland near some of our military institutions. Why do they have some of the education you know, facilities like the Confucius Institutes here in the United States. And I know a lot of some of this stuff has been going on,
you know, before President Biden. But when now when you look at some of the investigations that are coming out of Oversight and Judiciary where they're showing literally showing the receipts and they're talking to you know, telling the American people, Hey, We've seen these receipts in the treasury of you know, uh, businesses groups tied to the CCP sending money to the Biden family, you know, and not just not just the Chinese, but other countries as well, to the tune of millions
of dollars. I think that's called elite captured Buck, And I think you know, I think you know a little bit about that. And often nations and work, we're not above it. We'll do it. We'll do it ourselves. Any nation out there trying to gain an advantage on another nation will look to co opt and corrupt high ranking officials, family, family members, et cetera. And uh, I don't know what else.
I don't know what else to say about it. I don't know how how you could not look at what's going on with Hunter Biden, the Biden family, the dealings that they've had with other countries for years now, the fact that they don't have any business businesses whatsoever. One of my colleagues in the hearing, you know, Buck, made a comparison to the Trump family and you know, their their family dealings overseas, and I said, you know, one of the big differences between the Biden and Trump business
dealings overseas is the Trumps actually have businesses. They own hotels, resorts, et cetera, you know, et cetera, and the Biden family doesn't. They don't have any businesses. They have a bunch of shell companies, a bunch of LLC's that they've set up, and it really appears they've done that to launder money.
What were they selling. It's an excellent it's such an excellent point you bring up. You know, if you're operating a hotel, your people come in, go, they stay overnight, They you know, buy a cheeseburger or something, a couple of pints of beer, they go on about their business. That's the Trump version of international business. The Biden family version is pay me a lot of money so that I can get you close to my dad who's running US foreign policy in Ukraine, for example, under the Biden
I mean, under the Obama administration. Right. So, what do you say to constituents, though, Eli, when they come up to you and they say, Congressman Crane, how can I trust the FBI and the irs? Given all the whistleblower information that's come out and all the information we already know from the laptop and everywhere else about Biden family corruption and nothing is done. Like, what can you say to them?
You know, it's really hard, Buck, And that's not what they asked me. They asked me why I'm not doing more. It's sad because then I have to tell them, you know, hey, we have we have powers and authorities in Congress, but throwing people in jail isn't one of them. And so, you know, the people of this country, Buck, as you know, they're so disenfranchised. They can't believe what they're seeing going
on in their country. You know, if I'm sitting up here talking about our commander in chief and his family's business dealings with the Chinese Communist Party and other states, and I don't do that lightly. There was never a time as a young boy where I one ever wanted to run for Congress, let alone wanted to see the country that I love and have fought for become what
it is today. And you know, it really concerns me as a father and just the trajectory that we're on and how partisan things have become to where we'll have you know, there's one set of standards for people that you know, vote the way I do and there's a completely set of standards for the folks that vote the completely opposite way, and justice is supposed to be blind. And I know we have you know, there's a nefarious
activity on both sides of the aisle. But at some point, Buck, you have to ask yourself, what is Hunter Biden still doing walking the streets? Is Joe Biden going to be impeached? Because as secretary of my work is going to be impeached. I mean, it's just it's bizarre to me that this dystopian land that we live in and the constituents that I represent their their heartbroken. And that's what I think.
That's one of the only reasons that they sent me, Buck, because they thought, hey, maybe this guy who has never been in politics, who usually wears a ball cap, maybe he'll actually fight for us. And you know, that's what I'm trying to do up here. You know, I'm learning every day, but that's what I'm trying to do.
Man, Well, we appreciate that. And this is I knew that about you even when you were running, which is why we were doing our best on radio to try to help pull you over the finish line. And I know you are doing everything you can day in and day out. I want to talk to you about twenty twenty four Congressman, in just a second, what you see happening on the Democrat side Republican side Arizona State. You know very well as you represent one of the districts there.
But I first got to tell everybody at home. The headlines are very clear, right, I mean, how long before the other shoe drops? How long before the dollar is no longer the world's reserve currency, or we have a massive recession or a combination of economic factors just really hurts. It really tears down your four to one k goes after the savings you have in the bank. We all know that you need to take action now. If you wait, it's too late. Try diversifying with gold. All right, Look,
I'm like you. I want the dollar to be the reserve currency forever. I hope you don't have to think of it in that's a situation. But think of it this way. Also, gold has been a store of value for as long as human beings have been trading goods and services. Basically, gold is solid, It's something you can hold in your hand, in your possession, So it's an investment because it can go up in value and it has. Look at look at gold the last thirty years. How
was that done as an investment? And it's a hedge against inflation. So I'm a gold and silver owner holder. Really myself, I have it in my portfolio. I think you should too. But you got to have people you can trust. That's the Oxford Gold Group. It's who I use. The call is free when you give them a ring right now. Eight three three four three zero buck. That's eight three three four three zero b uck. Or if you just want to go online to their website Oxford
gooldgroup dot com slash buck. They make this easy. They've been at it a long time. They'll send gold or silver or both. Is what I do, securely to your home and arrange for easy discrete delivery. One more time. It's eight three three four three zero b u c K all right, Eli. First off, people ask me, they say, have we fixed the problem in Arizona when it comes to elections? And I say, I don't know, but I'll ask people who do. I'll find out. How do you
how secure do you feel? I mean, you just won, right, so we know that Republicans can win a whole bunch of Republicans one in twenty twenty two. For anybody who has concerns about the security of elections, particularly in your state, what do you say to them, Like, when you're traveling around, either statewide or nationwide, what do you say about Arizona elections?
Well, Buck, you know, at the risk of sounding conspiratorial, I don't trust the elections in Arizona at all. And you know, you bring up a good play and people will say, wow, well, Eli, you you won your race in Arizona. And you know what I say to that, Buck, Yeah, but I didn't have to deal with Maricopa County. And I think if I had to deal with Maricopa County, Buck, I don't think I'd be sitting here today. I could
be wrong on that. It's just, you know, it's just what I've seen, what I've read, you know, over and over and over again. It's it's just, you know, I I don't trust it. I know that the the state legislature has been doing some good work down there with Senator Wendy Rogers Senator Sonny Barelli. I believe they passed something yesterday that had to do with voting machines, I'll have to take a better look at what they what they passed. But I think I know they're doing some
good work down there. I know they haven't given up. And uh, you know that's important to me, man, because you know, I honestly like I don't trust I don't trust our elections the way they are and some of the things that I see, you know, from you know, the ballot harvesting that was going on. You know, I just I don't trust them. And you know, the thing is too buck, Like, I know, just years before you know, President Trump started, you know, you know, winning, the Democrats
were complaining about it as well. They were doing Senate reports about, you know, how corruptible. You know, these machines were et cetera, et cetera. And everybody knows that any machine, any computer, can be hacked, right if you if you put the right, if you put the right people on it.
But we act like, oh, they're completely incorruptible. And when you look at just this last election that we had, how many of the voting centers went down on election day, you know that was pretty that was honestly pretty suspicious. And you know, here's here's the thing, too, Buck, When you when you compare Katie Hobbes and Kerry Lake. Have you've met Carrie, right, Buck?
Oh? I know, I know, Carry? Sure.
Yeah, she's a savage man. And I say that in a love the most love, being respectful way she is. She's a boss lady Harry Lake could do. I think Carry Lake could do anything she wants to do. She's one of the most intelligent people that I've ever met in my life. She might be the best communicator I've ever met in my life. I multiple times went to events with Carrie and she's like a rock star in Arizona. I mean, you look at their social media accounts alone.
I mean it's like, and I know that circumstantial evidence, Buck, but it's like, I mean, come on, man, you know, and here's some more circumstantial evidence. But you know, when I look at Joe Biden, this guy that had lost presidential races before, was a complete gaff machine, and he campaigned out of his basement, you know, for almost the entire time, got eighty one million votes. He did better than you know, Barack Obama. It's like, come on, man,
that right there should send warning signs to people. And I'm not saying that's hard evidence right there. That is circumstantial evidence. But that should really concern people. The guy could barely string together a sentence while he was campaigning. And you know, I'm really worried about our elections nationwide because I think these folks that are pulling the strings and running the show, I think they'll I think they will do anything for power.
Well, that's definitely, that's definitely true, right. I mean, we've seen they'll lock up people because they were parading on government ground on January sixth. They'll lock them in solitary confinement for eighteen months, denied them basic human decency and basic human rights for nonviolent crimes, and hold them there under the premise. And this is from the judicial opinion that I saw for one of the detainees that they can't let them out on bail because they'll do another insurrection.
Right as if, as if that's in any universe a reasonable position or reasonable belief. But Eli, I want to hope maybe this will be in a wholeful note. I've got one last question for you. I'll get to it with you in a second, but it's how do you see things looking for twenty twenty four? But let's just put a pause in that for a second. The Tunnel the Towers Foundation, everybody you know Eli's a veteran. Tunnel
the Towers does amazing stuff for the veterans community. It really keeps the promise of the American people to support and assist our heroes and to never forget what they've done for this country. You know, my wife Carrie, she's doing the Tunnel the Towers climb in New York City the first week of June. So I'm involved a Tunnel
the Towers. She's involved a Tunnel to the Towers. We think it's such an important organization, and through the Veteran Homelessness Program, Tunnel the Towers is providing housing and servicing services to homeless veterans. They did it for more than five hundred veterans in twenty twenty two. They're going to do it for more than fifteen hundred veterans this year. Because all veterans who honorably serve deserved our nation's gratitude, joined Tunnel the Towers on its mission to do good
and never forget the sacrifices of our greatest heroes. Donate eleven dollars a month. I do every month. Eleven dollars. Please, that's all it takes to get started here. T two T dot org. That's t the number two T dot org. Eli, what do you see for twenty twenty four?
You?
Hopeful, optimistic, concerned? You have a dog in the race or a dog in the fight, so to speak, already, What do you think?
Yeah, I'm definitely concerned. But you know, you and I just got done talking about election integrity. That right there overshadows you know the reasons, you know some of the reasons for my concern right there, I do have a dog in the fight. I endorse President Trump, I think the day or two after he announced. And it's not because I don't, you know, like or respect Ronda Santis. I most certainly do. I think he's done amazing things
down in Florida. One of the reasons that I support President Trump is because I think that things are so bad right now we need the biggest, baddest fighter that maybe we've ever had in America and politics, and I believe that that is President Trump. And the other thing, too, buck is he doesn't need any on the job training. He's gonna be able to walk into that. And I think because I think he's been stewing and mulling on some of the things he wishes he would have done
for the last several years. And I think, you know, if if he gets the nomination, is able to win, pull this off and win it, I think he'll walk in and I think he'll make some drastic changes that have been needed for a long time. And so, you know, do I wish President Trump would you know, not not not pick a lot of Twitter fights and you know,
ratchet it, ratchet it down from time to time. Absolutely, But we all have a friend like President Trump who's just a natural born fighter, and a lot of times they don't know that, they don't know how to turn it off, and and and but that's okay, man.
In this we want a bar fight, right, I mean, stuff gets ugly. You want the guy that throws the punches exactly.
And I think that's who That's why we need him right now. I hope he's able to pull it off, and I hope. I know that the Democrats are still scared the death of him. That's why you see so much lawfair coming at him. But you know, he's he's definitely my pick. But I will I will support you know, definitely either Trump or the Santas if they come. You know, whoever comes through, you know that race, because we need we need a Republican back in the House. But I'm hoping there's President Trump.
Hope so too. Eli. Thank you as always for your service both on the battlefield and now up on Capitol Hill. Thank you for being with us here on the show and we'll talk to you soon.
Appreciate you, Buck, thank you man.