Station:    KVOR, 740 am

Show:       Jeff Crank Show

Guests:    Gardner, Cory

Link:        https://www.kvor.com/jeff-crank/

Date:       February 15, 2020

Topics:   State of the Union Address, Impeachment, Paritsan Politics, Founders, Framers, Federalist Papers, Impeachment Over Policy Differences, Intention of Impeachment, Great Floor Speech, Traditions, Norms, Precedents, Partisan Trap, Jerry Nadler, Adam Schiff, Intra-Family Food Fight, 17 Witnesses, 1999 Impeachment trial, Democrats Behavior Embarrassing, Nancy Pelosi Rips up Copy of SOTU Speech, Mike Pence, 2018 Air Force Spouse of the Year, Kristin Christie, Mental Health, Suicides in the Military, Calista Gingrich, Stem Workforce, Welcoming veterans back into the Private Sector, Up-Tempo, Space Force, Trump Rally in Colorado Springs, Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, Tax Cuts, Accomplishments,

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HOST JEFF CRANK [00:00:00] Cory Gardner — U.S. Senator Cory Gardner — looking forward to having him join us on the show. We’ll be right back on the Jeff Crank Show.

[00:00:10] [commercial break]

CRANK [00:00:21] Welcome back to the Jeff Crank Show. Listen, [I’m] honored to have our United States senator. He’s been a friend for a long time and I think he’s done a great job as as our senator. That’s United States Senator, Cory Gardner. Cory, thanks for joining us. How are you?

U.S. SENATOR FROM COLORADO, CORY GARDNER [00:00:36] Hey, good morning, Jeff. I’m doing great! How are you?

CRANK [00:00:38] Well, I’m doing well, thank you. You know, you guys have had a little bit of a whirlwind out there in Washington, D.C. these last — well, I was going to say few weeks but I guess it’s been a few years that it’s been kind of crazy out there.

GARDNER [00:00:51] You know, it really has been. You’re exactly right. And when they said before the president got inaugurated they were going to impeach him, it’s been three years of just trying to do that.

CRANK [00:00:59] Yeah, it has been. I’ve got to say, how many people sit there and go, “Oh, man, I should run for office. I’d like to be in the United States Senate!”  And then I thought about poor Cory sitting there, on those hard seats, hour after hour after hour.

GARDNER [00:01:16] Well, dont feel sorry. Really, it’s funny to think about that part of it. But it’s sad to think — the people I feel sorry for, of course, are the people of this country who had to watch their constitution be contorted and twisted by some who would rather play politics in partisan impeachment purposes than actually trying to bring this country together.

CRANK [00:01:37] Yeah, I was really proud of you for the way you handled that. I think you were thoughtful about it. You went into it saying, “Look, you know, they’ve done the impeachment in the House, so we have a duty to, you know, to to do this and to, you know, render a verdict.” And I think you were very thoughtful in that. But I think you very quickly, kind of, you know, came to the conclusion about what you were going to do and you made a great floor speech on it. So I hope that the people of Colorado were watching that, and saw how you handled that. First, that’s really what this was, right? I mean, it really was kind of a — you know, I don’t think our our founders ever intended for impeachment to be used in that way, against a president that they just don’t like.

GARDNER [00:02:27] Well, in fact, our founders and framers in the Federalist Papers wrote significant amounts of articles about the concern that somebody would use impeachment for partisan political purposes or that they would use impeachment over policy differences, which is exactly what we had here. And of course, the way the House carried it out, they broke a number of traditions and precedents that could harm this country for generations to come, if wiser people aren’t taking over the House of Representatives. And so, you know, this is a very dangerous, dangerous moment for our Constitution. And I’m glad to say that the majority of people did not fall for the partisan trap that they laid.

CRANK [00:03:09] Yeah. No question about it. Tell us one thing that maybe we didn’t know. I’m sure there were interesting stories about, you know, just sitting there with your colleagues for all of that time. I mean, I’ve heard stories about you can only drink certain things.

GARDNER [00:03:24] Right.

CRANK [00:03:25] –that you can’t have your phones. Tell us tell us maybe an anecdote that that happened on the floor that maybe we wouldn’t otherwise know.

GARDNER [00:03:32] You know, there was at one point, where I think it was — one of my colleagues kept saying, “Who’s that? Who’s that?”– one of my colleagues who couldn’t hear very well, — and it was Jerry Nadler. And every time Jerry Nadler came up to speak, they’d be like, “Who’s that?”.

CRANK [00:03:50] [hearty laughter].

GARDNER [00:03:50] You know, after the sergeant-at-arms had told you that you’re going to be arrested if you speak, you’re just like, “Shhh!  Be quiet!”

CRANK [00:04:02] [laughs] Oh, that’s funny. I won’t ask you who that colleague was, but -.

GARDNER [00:04:05] Well, I tell you — the other thing that i think — and this did make news — was toward the end of one of the closing arguments, where Jerry Nadler had been fed up with being kept quiet.

CRANK [00:04:16] Right.

GARDNER [00:04:16] And he basically knocked everybody over, including Adam Schiff — as Adam Schiff was trying to grab him and keep him closing. You know, it was just hysterical. I think Democrats and Republicans were both watching this little intra-family food fight go on.

CRANK [00:04:29] [laughs] That’s right. That’s right. Now, speaking of Nadler real quick, and then I want to move on to some of the great things you’re doing. But it seemed like at the very beginning, in kind of their opening statement, he sort of poisoned the well a little bit by basically saying anybody who didn’t vote to convict the president, you know, was contributing to a cover up. And that really set the tone, didn’t it?

GARDNER [00:04:53] He absolutely did. And remember, that very first moment of arguments — really, even from the day they were doing motions, on the first day — they repeated their argument, every point, ad nauseum. There was no new information from what they had from 17 witnesses. You know, it was really a result in search of evidence that they brought to the Senate and which is not the way the founders intended. And he did, he attacked the Senate — attacked the institution. And this from a guy who in 1999 said in the impeachment trial, said you never bring a partisan impeachment because it’s bad for the country. So apparently he changed his mind.

CRANK [00:05:30] Yeah, I guess he did. I guess he did. Well let me let me move on to some other topics. I wanted to talk to you quickly about the State of the Union address, which, of course, was right before the acquittal vote on the president of the United States. I think most Americans really liked the speech. I think the president — that was the best speech I’ve ever heard this president give. But I’d love to hear your thoughts. I mean, it’s always different when you’re in the chamber there. I think the American people were kind of disgusted with the bickering. I mean, you had some who — some of your colleagues who wouldn’t even stand, you know, when when were talking about little girls who can’t get a good education in a government school, and they were refusing to to stand and clap for for that little girl or for veterans or–. I mean, how does that feel when you’re in the chamber?

GARDNER [00:06:21] I was embarrassed for the country during many parts of the State of the Union because of their behavior. I thought the president did give his best State of the Union speech that he is given. And at the behavior across the aisle was embarrassing. And that was before Nancy Pelosi then ripped the country apart by ripping the State of the Union address apart. And so, you know, because, you know, and I was like 10 or 15 feet away from where the speaker was sitting, but directly to the side of her. So I actually didn’t see it until somebody texted me afterwards and said, “Did you see that?” I didn’t believe it. And then when I saw it, I was just — it just symbolized everything that she has done to the country for the last several years. And in fact, Mike Pence, who is standing right next to her, didn’t see her do it either. He told me that last week. So, you know, when I saw that, it all combined to what was a very childish moment by a revenge majority in the House of Representatives that wants to do everything they can to stymie the progress of economic success we’ve had.

CRANK [00:07:18] My guest is United States Senator Cory Gardner. I’m just going to say this right now. Listen, you need to be engaged in this election. You need to vote for Cory Gardner and send him back to Washington, D.C. to help continue to fight for the people of Colorado. Let me say, you had a great guest from Colorado Springs that you had at the State of the Union — as your guest at the State of the Union.  Tell us about your guest.

GARDNER [00:07:47] Well, I had as an incredible honor the 2018 Air Force Spouse of the Year from Colorado Springs, Kristin Christie. Many people know her throughout the area for her leadership. And she was there to talk about the challenges of family in the service, the challenges of behavior, health and mental health and suicide issues within the military. And it was just such an honor to have her there, the courage and wisdom with which she has served, the people of this country through her advocacy, through her hard work, and through her sacrifice. And to have her there — and I looked up and saw where she was sitting and she was sitting next to the ambassador to the Holy See,  it turns out — Callista Gingrich. So it was kind of neat to see that.

CRANK [00:08:31] Yeah, that that is neat. And it’s very nice of you to  have her be there. You’ve done a lot when it comes to kind of helping veterans get back into civilian life. And I know that you’ve you’ve kind of made that a priority. You’ve made — there’s a rising suicide rate amongst veterans across the country and amongst our population in general. Tell us what you’ve been doing on on those kind of topics.

GARDNER [00:09:02] Well, you bet. You know, in my in my experiences with our armed forces around the globe, we always talk about readiness. We talk about being ready to fight the fight tonight because at a moment’s notice, they are on that frontline of freedom to defend our country. But when they leave, when our when our men and women in uniform leave, leave the service and go into the private sector, are we ready as a society, as a veterans administration? Are we ready to make sure that they are going to be prepared for that transition? And so we picked up this big readiness initiative at the V.A. Readiness Initiative, which is about readiness for civilian life after the military. And so a series of bills that we’ve put in place, we just passed another one last week on the STEM for STEM workforce, getting veterans who know service members who have a STEM background in the military to get into STEM fields, or maybe they want to get into new STEM fields when they’re out of the military, they could transition easier into it. So we just passed that, [it] got signed into law. And we’ve been working on, you know, better transition training has small business loans for veterans, really all about making sure that readiness isn’t just something we approach each and every day in the military, but it’s something we approach as we are welcoming veterans back into the private sector.

CRANK [00:10:17] Yeah, it — well, and it’s so important, particularly in, you know, in Colorado, but certainly in the Pikes Peak region with all the veterans that we have here in in our community. And we’re — you know, they’re such an integral part of the community, is retired military and veterans. But there is a tough transition for a lot of folks, particularly when you’re talking now. I mean, you know, back many years ago, you would have people who would go into the military. They might have one or two deployments in their service time. I mean, you’ve got people with 13, 14, 15 deployments.

GARDNER [00:10:52] Up-tempo has been incredible, you’re exactly right.

CRANK [00:10:54] Yeah, it’s amazing. And that really takes its toll and then adjusting from that back to civilian life. So you’ve done you’ve done a great job on that. What else would you like to talk about? We’ve got a couple of minutes left. Just a couple of minutes left. I know you’ve got to run. Anything else you’d like to talk about?

GARDNER [00:11:10] Well, Jeff, I’m excited to be in Colorado Springs next week with the president, of course, on Thursday. This is going to be a great opportunity. You know, the first the first rally I went to with the president was in West Virginia. And people in West Virginia were shouting out throughout the speech, “Space Force!” Now, it’s pretty doggone exciting to be in Colorado Springs, where we’re actually only going to be a few miles away from the actual Space Force. So, this is going to be kind of a great, great return for the president to Colorado. And I’m excited to be there and looking forward to what will undoubtedly be a record crowd.

CRANK [00:11:43] Yeah, I will be there as well. But in fact, I told this story earlier on on the air, my 17 year old daughter, the night they announced.

GARDNER [00:11:50] Hey, we’re not supposed to have 17 year old kids! Cpme on!

CRANK [00:11:52] Oh, I know, I know. But listen, she’s got her —  she’s got her MAGA hat! She’s ready to go!

GARDNER [00:11:57] I know! Mine is the same way!  And driving now, it scares me!

CRANK [00:12:00] Oh, yeah. Well, I didn’t mention that.  They probably — people should be careful to be on the road with your daughter and my daugher on the road.  But no, you know, she was so excited about it that she went on her phone and got the tickets and she goes, “Dad, were going.” I said, “Okay. Great!”.

GARDNER [00:12:14] Oh, that’s so great!

CRANK [00:12:14] Now, I may not have as good a tickets as Cory Gardner, but I’ll be there, I promise.

GARDNER [00:12:20] [laughs] Well, I’m looking forward to it. It’s going to “rock the Rockies,” as the old radio station ad goes.

CRANK [00:12:24] Yeah, yeah, it sure will. Listen, Cory Gardner, thanks for all you’re doing. I know that —  you know, for a lot of people. I don’t think that was a tough vote for you personally. I think you knew. You know, I think you knew in your core what was the right thing to do by the country. But I think it takes courage sometimes to do the right thing. And, you know, I think we get frustrated sometimes we see, you know, Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins and others who kind of fudge on things. You have stood firm. You voted for Judge Gorsuch, you voted for Judge Kavanaugh. You voted the right way on this. You voted for tax cuts. You’ve been a great United States senator. And I want people to understand that about you.

GARDNER [00:13:08] Well, Jeff, thank you. We’ve got a lot of fighting to do for this country because there’s people who want to take it the wrong direction. There’s people want it who want to do every one of those votes that you just talked about. And we must not let them for the sake of our children and the future of this great nation.

CRANK [00:13:21] All right, Senator Cory Gardner, have a great weekend. And I’ll see you at the president’s rally next week. See you there. All right. Thanks a lot. U.S. Senator Cory Gardner. Look again. Those are the four things. You know how when they talk about Jim Jordan, he has his four facts that will never change. There’s four things on Cory Gardner. The four facts that will never change. He voted for Gorsuch. He voted for Kavanaugh. He voted for tax cuts. And he voted on on the impeachment. He voted to acquit the present United States. You can’t change those facts. And you need to remember that when you go vote in this election, you have either him or whoever the Democrat is looking like. It will likely be John Hickenlooper if that ain’t an easy choice for you. You got some you got some splaining to do. All right. We’ll be right back on the Jeff Crank Show.