Former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) slammed the Biden administration during a Fox News interview over the weekend, saying that the administration had repeatedly lied to the American people about scandals that are unfolding under its watch.
Gabbard made the remarks during an interview with Jeanine Pirro on Saturday night that focused on the border crisis and other issues that the administration is facing, including the pandemic, the Afghanistan debacle, and schools.
“The faith and trust that the American people need to have in our leaders is dropping every day,” Gabbard said. “The Department of Homeland Security Secretary recently told Congress our borders are secure. This is what he said, this kind of bold-faced lie whether it has to do with domestic issues or foreign policy issues.”
“We’ve seen this with Afghanistan and the tragically botched withdrawal of our troops and Americans out of Afghanistan, when people are being lied to, the American people are being lied to, it is revealing of the arrogance, and the self-serving nature of leaders who are in power in this country,” she continued. “And the disrespect, the disrespect that they have for the American people, and it’s why people are losing faith and trust in those leaders. If we have leaders who respect the people, then the people will respect our leaders. If we have leaders who trust the American people, we will trust our leaders. And that’s the problem here is we don’t have leaders who have that trust and respect and who therefore put themselves ahead of the interests of the people.”
WATCH:
Fmr. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard: Biden admin is emboldening drug cartels and coyotes with our new open-border policy. This is a security and humanitarian crisis. And every day, the country loses faith in this government more and more. pic.twitter.com/wzf8hVejsB
— Jason Rantz on KTTH Radio (@jasonrantz) October 11, 2021
TRANSCRIPT:
JEANINE PIRRO, FOX NEWS HOST: Here now to react, former Hawaii Congresswoman and former Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbert, who is now a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves. Tulsi, thanks so much for joining us tonight. Tulsi, I want you to think back to the 17 years when you were in the National Guard, if you can picture yourself or some of the members of the guard that you were with being in Texas at the border, and having drug cartels, criminals with AR-15s, AK-47s, shooting across the Rio Grande into the United States at the National Guard. That’s what’s going on, as we speak, in the United States today. What is the Biden administration doing about this? And what should they be doing?
FORMER REP. TULSI GABBARD (D-HI): Well, first of all, for our soldiers who are serving down there, I’m sure they have rules of engagement, to deal with this sort of situation. But really the bigger issue here, Judge, is that these drug cartels, these human traffickers, they are incredibly emboldened to the point where they feel that they can do this without consequence, or they feel they can continue profiting off of trafficking people across these borders that are essentially open. The Biden-Harris administration has an open door policy at the borders. And it doesn’t matter how many times Secretary Blinken or Kamala Harris or anyone from the administration says, you know, don’t come across the border. The reality is that people are being let in and crossing the border, every single day. We look at the numbers in August of this year alone, over 200,000 people were apprehended for trying to illegally cross the border, 317% increase over last year, August. And we’re seeing hundreds of thousands more crossing the border who are not apprehended. Actions speak louder and louder than words. And the fact is that the open door policy that this administration has in place is posing … is creating a humanitarian crisis as well as a very serious security threat for our country.
PIRRO: Well, you know, at what point do we hold Joe Biden and his administration accountable? I mean, do they actually, you know, there’s so much going on from the border, to COVID, to schools. I mean, it goes on and on.
GABBARD: You make a good point here, you know, the faith and trust that the American people need to have in our leaders is dropping every day. The Department of Homeland Security Secretary recently told Congress, our borders are secure. This is what he said, this kind of bold-faced lie whether it has to do with domestic issues or foreign policy issues. We’ve seen this with Afghanistan and the tragically botched withdrawal of our troops and Americans out of Afghanistan, when people are being lied to, the American people are being lied to, it is revealing of the arrogance, and the self-serving nature of leaders who are in power in this country. And the disrespect, the disrespect that they have for the American people, and it’s why people are losing faith and trust in those leaders. If we have leaders who respect the people, then the people will respect our leaders. If we have leaders who trust the American people, we will trust our leaders. And that’s the problem here is we don’t have leaders who have that trust and respect and who therefore put themselves ahead of the interests of the people.