ICYMI—Hagerty JoinsMornings With Maria on Fox Business to Discuss SAVE America Act, Clarity Act and Arctic Frost Investigation

Washington-Today, United States Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., a member of the Senate Foreign Relations, Appropriations, and Banking Committees, joined Mornings With Maria on Fox Business to discuss the week ahead in the Senate, including the SAVE America Act, the Clarity Act and the Arctic Frost Investigation.

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Partial Transcript

Hagerty on the SAVE America Act : I just got back from Tennessee over the past weekend, and Americans want to see us pass this act. They want election integrity, and this is not a partisan issue. Every American-this is an 80% plus issue-they want to see it get done. I think we're going to have to find a way to do it. I understand the reluctance of some of my colleagues because this budget reconciliation process opens up an unlimited amendment process where the [Senate Democrats] will have us voting against Santa Claus, against Christmas, against apple pie-you name it. [Senate Republicans] are going to have to lock our arms and stand strong, take the tough votes, and get our way through this. But I think it would be very, very challenging for us to go back to our constituents and tell them that we didn't give it our very best to get this done.

Hagerty on the Arctic Frost Investigation : I want to find out what happened. It's unbelievable. I've been a Verizon customer for decades. What happened was Verizon decided to violate the Constitution. I'm a sitting United States Senator, but because I'm a Republican-I presume-they were more than willing to cooperate with [Former President Joe Biden] and [Special Counsel Jack Smith] in the midst of an unconstitutional search of our records. AT&T blocked it; they wouldn't do it because they knew it was against the Constitution. Verizon decided to move right ahead with it. Their chief executive officer and their chief legal officer have dodged every question. Even the chief legal officer decided to skip her hearing on this topic. We need to put both of them under oath and ask them some tough questions… Verizon was looking at a $20 billion acquisition of [Frontier Communications]. That was in the pipeline. Did they feel like they had to engender some sort of favor with the [Biden administration Department of Justice (DOJ)] so they'd get that approved? … Corporate America has got to realize that they're going to be held to account when they engage in this sort of partisan political activity at the expense of their customers.

Hagerty on Verizon and the weaponization of the Biden Department of Justice (DOJ): It's hard to say what [Special Counsel Jack Smith] was looking for, but he wanted a massive witch hunt. And it seemed that it only turned on whether you're Republican or not. And it may only turn on whether you're an ally or a friend of this current sitting president. Again, his enemy clearly was [President Donald Trump]. Those of us that were his allies were the ones that he felt like he had an open hunting license to go out and pursue anything and everything that he might to try to turn on us, to try to make our lives uncomfortable. And the fact that you had a company like Verizon colluding with Jack Smith, colluding with the Biden DOJ, and handing over Republicans' records. Again, let's find out why. Was it to curry favor? Was it to get a $20 billion acquisition through? Was it to get an appointment for the chief legal officer in the Biden administration?

Hagerty on holding Verizon accountable: We don't know the answers to these questions. That's why we need to put them under oath. That's why they need to stop obfuscating. I made a formal complaint to them. They have until Aug. 11 to answer these questions, let's see if they do… They've done everything they can to dodge and obfuscate. So we're going to keep pressing. And now that I've got [Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-IA,] and [Sen. Ron Johnson, R-WI,] on my side to press this, we have the full weight of the [Senate Judiciary Committee]. I think we have oversight powers now. We'll bring them in; we'll haul them in.

Hagerty on the CLARITY Act : We're going to have to pass the CLARITY Act. There's no way that we can allow the United States to fall behind in the digital assets arena. Everything is moving digital around the world. The GENIUS Act was a major step forward to make certain that the digital dollar remains dominant in the world. But we need to follow it up with the remainder of the market. I think the problem is, will we be able to pass this with Democrats right now? Or are they going to let midterm politics get in the way? I think we should just put it to a vote on the floor of the United States Senate and find out where the Democrats stand.

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