Glenn spoke with Rep. Louie Gohmert on radio today about the possibility that President Obama is sending more troops to the hot zone in West Africa where Ebola is running wild. Why are such poor decisions being made and will heads roll because of all the failures?
Check out the interview from radio today:
Below is a rush transcript of this segment:
GLENN: Welcome to the program. So glad that you're here. Louie Gohmert has joined us now he's in Tyler, Texas. Hello, congressman, how are you, sir?
GOHMERT: As far as I know I'm okay, but do any of us really know for sure?
GLENN: Well, if the CDC says you're not okay, then you're okay in my book.
GOHMERT: Yeah, and it's a shame that the CDC had Frieden apparently as the new commander of the Democrat's war on the women nurses because good night, they set them up and then they throw them under the bus.
GLENN: I have to tell you, the CDC throwing this nurse under the bus and us finding out today that she called the CDC before she got onto a plane and said, what do I do? And they said, oh, you're fine get on a plane is reprehensible.
GOHMERT: Well, Glenn, the first nurse -- they come out and say clearly she had violated protocol. I mean, at least in football they have to tell you what you violated. What rules that you violated. They couldn't tell them what protocol they violated. Why? Because there was no protocol.
GLENN: Here's the thing, Louie. We went through a list of things the CDC has spent on, all the way from mood lighting. How much was the mood lighting, Stu? Was like 100 and something odd thousand dollars. You didn't hear that one? Yeah, it was on the show last night.
Mood lighting for their offices. They built bike paths for $500 million. They haven't done any of this stuff, and they are completely and totally out of control. Congressman, I'm going to send this to you so you have that list. It's reprehensible. But is anybody going to be held responsible? Is anyone going to call for the resignation for Tom Frieden?
GOHMERT: I sure hope so. He needs to be gone. But I don't know how far down these political appointees go, that don't know sic 'em from come here.
But, Glenn, yesterday when you put on the material that the CDC says to use, can you imagine being one of our -- what was originally 3,000 and now is going to be 5,000 military going to West Africa. They're not -- enlisted don't carry sidearms. Basically unarmed. Many living in tents. I thought we learned that you don't send people in places unless you're prepared against terrorists. And they're going to wear according to the general in charge they're going to wear, quote, gloves and masks. And they're going to wash their hands several times a day. Now, seeing what you saw yesterday, experience personally, can you imagine our poor military in Ebola epidemic West Africa wearing masks and gloves?
GLENN: Louie, our military doesn't belong there.
GOHMERT: They don't.
GLENN: Here's what happens: If I'm the president of the United States I go on TV today and say I need volunteers. I need Christian volunteers. People with nursing or construction experience that are going to go with me to South Africa -- or, to West Africa and I'm going to take a transport plane and I need Home Depot to step and up if you want to help us build some hospitals we'll load some planes up, and I need volunteers that will go in and help build these hospitals with volunteers from the military and the Corps of engineer. And we'll line it all up and we'll drop in there and we'll take care of it, but you do not take our military and assign them this and then what? Quarantine them, what, in the VA? Yeah, we know how they'll be treated when they get back in the VA.
GOHMERT: Glenn, originally they said it would only be six months. The general in charge said, it's probably going to be about a year. And originally they said they would not have direct contact with people with Ebola, but they said that mission may change. I mean, you're exactly right, but even if you didn't care about our military members still even from a financial standpoint, you spend millions, 700 of the first people going are from the 101st Airborne Division. These are some of the most expensively trained military weapons we have, and we're sending them --
GLENN: We're sending the 101st -- Louie, this is criminal negligence. The president yesterday talked about how we couldn't hurt the economy of West Africa. They don't have an economy in West Africa for the love of Pete. Yesterday, we had because of two people having Ebola, our stock market dropped 400 points. Now, it rebounded, but at one point it was 400 points. It's down another 111 points this morning? I mean, this is -- and they are claiming it is all because of the Ebola scare. What do you think is going to happen to our economy if the experts are right that in two months we're going to have 10,000 new patients every week and 980,000 dead by January?
GOHMERT: Well, that would be as outrageous as leaving our state department personnel in Baghdad right now while it's being surrounded with no way out just like they did many of our personnel in Yemen while it's being surrounded. I don't know who is calling the shots behind this president, but it's getting people killed, and it's exposing our country to tremendous -- exploiting --
GLENN: What do we do, Louie? We're sitting here -- Allen Grayson of all people back in July said we need to stop all air travel to West Africa at least from West Africa. These are things that airlines can do themselves. They can clearly do it. I don't think they're going to do it because they're afraid of political ramifications, but cannot congress do something. You guys have to be on the record on this.
GOHMERT: We can cut off every dime that the president might use to put our people in situations they shouldn't be in, but that takes courage from the Republican leadership and it takes longness to make America before the Democrats and Harry Reid.
GLENN: I'm ask you, Louie, can Congress stop the air travel out of West Africa? I mean, yesterday the CDC said -- and I want to read this to you because I couldn't believe they had the balls to say this. Yesterday here in Texas, they have imposed new travel restrictions on health care workers that may have cared for the first Dallas Ebola patient. They're going to block those from using public transportation, including buses and airliners. This is, quote, following the minimum guidelines outlined by the Center for Disease Control and prevention. They are going to block those from using public buses and airliners.
PAT: So we can do that in Dallas, we can't do it in West Africa?
GOHMERT: That's what's so insane. Frieden can say with a straight face that it would do more harm than good. And, of course, John Kerry said the same thing. If with we stop travel from those countries that have Ebola epidemics when their own mantra on these other issues is, oh, you can't take public transportation. It's scary that these people are in charge of what they are. So many inconsistencies.
GLENN: At what point does Rick Perry say we're being squeezed on our southern border and if Ebola hits -- now, it's just hit in Brazil. If it hits in Mexico and starts to spread, you've never seen an influx like you'll see on our southern border. And they'll come across because they'll want American health care. So we'll be squeezed on our southern border. We're being squeezed now by Ebola economically. I just had a client cancel. He was supposed to fly in today and meet with me. He just canceled. He said our company won't fly to Texas until this thing is over. This is going to squeeze Texas. At what point does the state say: We're taking care of it because the federal government is criminally negligent?
GOHMERT: Well, you don't to have worry about Texas being squeezed on our southern border, Glenn. You and I have both been down there, we won't get squeezed. They'll just come on in and then our health and human services will pack them up and ship them around the country. So we don't have to worry about Texas being squeezed on the southern border. They're going to come right on in no squeezing and then we ship them around the country. That's what HHS has been doing. And our border control, they don't have any equipment to check -- people come in --
GLENN: Congressman, my question is: At what point does Texas say, we have to preserve the state of Texas, and the federal government is doing harm to the people of Texas. Look at what they've done by not stopping the flights out of West Africa. They allowed this Nigerian to come into the great state of Texas and now possibly start a pandemic. At what point do we say: Texas is not going to be accepting anyone from other -- that have passed through West Africa. You're not going to come into our state. At what point will American Airlines which is based here in Dallas, say we're not flying anybody who has come from West Africa? What point do we say, we're issuing our own guidelines here because the federal government is not doing it.
GOHMERT: I sure hope we're within two or three weeks of that happening. It needs to happen. Someone has to have some sanity in an executive position, but obviously it's not in the top level. I'm appreciative of the president holding up the massive fundraising and the political trek he's been on just to meet with some people. We don't get his briefings all that often. It's great when he stops and does that. You're right. Texas is going to have to do it itself just as Texas did in sending game wardens, National Guard, rangers down to the border. It has actually made a difference.
I know Jay Johnson at Homeland Security wants to take credit and say, oh, well, it's just a seasonal thing, no, it's because Texas put people on the border. But I think you're right, Glenn. Texas is going to have to do it itself. This president has shown nothing, but contempt for the people of Texas, and it ought to be clear Texas is going to have to protect itself.
GLENN: Thank you very much. Louie Gohmert, congressman from Texas. God bless you.
