Station:    KHOW, 630 am

Show:       Ross Kaminsky Show

Guests:    Buck, Ken

Link:        https://www.iheart.com/podcast/the-ross-kaminsky-show-20710514/episode/09-27-19-ken-buck-49764962/

Date:       September  27, 2019

Topics:     GEO

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HOST ROSS KAMINSKY [00:00:02] Joining us from “Sodom on the Potomac,” as I like to call it lately, Congressman Ken Buck, Colorado’s 4th Congressional District Republican — if you don’t know Ken — and also chairman of the Colorado Republican Party. Good morning, Ken. Thanks for being here.

U.S. REPRESENTATIVE FROM COLORADO’S FOURTH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT AND CHARIMAN OF THE COLORADO GOP, KEN BUCK: [00:00:17] Hi, Ross. How are you?

KAMINSKY [00:00:18] Good. Did you actually step out of a committee meeting to talk to us?

BUCK [00:00:22] I did. I’m actually in the back room of the Judiciary Committee. We are talking about election security. And hopefully it doesn’t get partisan. There are a lot of things that we need to do — in a very positive way — to make sure our elections are secured from all kinds of foreign actors.

KAMINSKY [00:00:37] Well, I’m going to keep the conversation a little partisan for a moment, with all of this stuff that we saw going on yesterday that was the intelligence committee, but a lot of the Democrats [are] now talking about an impeachment inquiry — whatever that means.  A lot of this stuff — if it keeps going — will end up at your committee. It’ll end up at Judiciary. So, you’re right in the center of all this, and I just wanted to know what you’re thinking about it.

BUCK [00:01:03] Well, I think [the revelation about Trump calling Ukraine’s Zelensky to press for investigation into Bidens] yesterday was much ado about nothing, frankly. The president is the chief law enforcement officer in the United States. He asked the chief law enforcement officer in a foreign country to cooperate in an investigation that’s going on in this country and talk to the attorney general, who would have undoubtedly referred anybody from Ukraine law enforcement to the appropriate authorities. So, you know, the president had to make a decision on whether this new administration in the Ukraine was a pro-U.S. and anti-corruption administration. And I think that’s what the conversation was about.

KAMINSKY [00:01:41] Don’t you think, Ken, though, that it’s maybe not the smartest move for a guy who was just investigated for two or three years for involving, quote-unquote, “collusion” — which you and I both know is not a a term of law, but everyone uses the term — who just investigated for involving a foreign country in an election, to then go ahead and do that very thing. Wasn’t that, sort of, not very bright?

BUCK [00:02:08] Well, I am not about to call Donald Trump “not very bright.” I think he’s a very bright person. But I don’t think he is politically savvy. He grew up in the business world. He is a very straightforward person, speaks his mind, and wanted to get to the bottom of something, and made that call. You know, it’s up to the American people to decide whether it was a good move or not a good move. But from my perspective, it’s not an impeachable offense.

KAMINSKY [00:02:33] I don’t think it’s an impeachable offense, either. I don’t think it was a good move, but I don’t think it’s an impeachable offense. So then the question becomes, do you get the sense — you know, you’re standing around Republicans and Democrats most days — do you get the sense that so many Democrats are just so hell bent on impeaching President Trump that they’re going to run with this, no matter what? I mean, what would you say are the betting odds right now that we get actual articles of impeachment voted on in the House?

BUCK [00:03:07] I think they’re very slim. I think this is an attempt to continue an investigation and continue a narrative from the Democrats. The reality is there are 30 Democrats that are sitting in seats that Donald Trump won. There are another large group of Democrats who are sitting in seats that Republicans have a majority in the district. And so they are very nervous about this going to the floor and forcing them to vote on something. And I think it’s highly unlikely, given the political nature of this institution, that Nancy Pelosi lets something like that go to the floor and risks losing a majority as a result of the sort of tension that now exists between the progressives and the moderates in the Democrat Party.

KAMINSKY [00:04:01] I agree with you. I think Nancy Pelosi will do everything she can to make sure — not just that articles of impeachment don’t pass, but to make sure that there isn’t even a vote. I think you’re absolutely right on that. Do you think that this will continue to be as big a distraction in the next few months or up until the election as it has been for the past week or so?

BUCK [00:04:25] I think it absolutely will. The reason for the distraction is twofold:  one, to try to embarrass the president; and two, to try to hide the lack of progress that this Democratic-controlled House is making really important issues. The American people want a solution on immigration. They don’t want a lot more rhetoric. And the Democrats have yet to put up a bipartisan bill that can pass the House and Senate that deals with the wave of illegal immigrants coming across the southern border. And they continue to talk about the mistreatment in ICE facilities for illegal immigrants, but refuse to deal with the fact that we’ve got to figure out a way to secure that border. So, I think that this is — not just the Ukraine call, but that the Mueller Report and the whole narrative — is designed to accomplish two goals.

KAMINSKY [00:05:24] I think one of the best things that President Trump has going for him right now is the apparent incompetence of Adam Schiff and Jerry Nadler. You probably won’t really comment on that, especially since you have got to work with Nadler everyday. But it is remarkable how bad these people seem, just at being partisans, even separate from just doing their jobs.

BUCK [00:05:45] Oh, I’ll be glad to comment on it.

KAMINSKY [00:05:46] [laughing] All right. Go ahead.

BUCK [00:05:48] I think that — you know, I’ve sat through hearings–.  Well, for four years Chairman Goodlatte ran the Judiciary Committee. And he ran it in the way that was very fair and evenhanded. We had the votes, and so we passed the bills that we needed to pass. But the way that the committee is being run now is much more partisan, much more prone to bickering, and it’s really unfortunate. And Chairman Nadler just doesn’t have a grip on how to run a committee. He doesn’t understand the rules that the committee runs by, and is constantly having to take breaks and consult with people.

KAMINSKY [00:06:27] Mm-hmm.

BUCK [00:06:27] And it’s just — so on that level, I do believe that this chairman is less competent than others that I have seen. But what Adam Schiff did yesterday, where he just invents wholesale — you know — parts of the transcript. It was really — it was embarrassing, I think, for Congress.

KAMINSKY [00:06:48] I noticed that at the time, too. We were watching that live — and taping some of that live — during the show. And, look, I get the idea where a politician could say, “My interpretation of such and such is this.”  But it was really more — he almost acted as if he was reading the transcript and then gave this slight little disclaimer at the end, along the lines of, you know, “Or something like that.” It was — especially for the chairman of the Intelligence Committee. I mean, it would be something if the chairman of the Democratic Party did that, but for the chairman of the Intelligence Committee, that was pretty shameful.

BUCK [00:07:22] I thought so, too. And obviously, I think he’s getting really poor reviews for the way he handled–. But, you know, the bottom line is that the Democrats are almost immunizing President Trump for any action that he takes, because every small — what they consider — infraction is being blown up to the point where the American public wants to move on. And they hear something and they don’t believe it anymore. And it’s just because of the tactics that the people like Adam Schiff use that are causing the American public to become very cynical about the oversight of this president.

KAMINSKY [00:08:02] I absolutely agree. And I think every step they take towards impeachment is another, you know, 10,000 or 50,000 votes for President Trump and Republicans in the 2020 election. All right, let’s move away from this for a second. Tell us a little bit about what you’re working on with election security, because it’s obviously very important.

BUCK [00:08:21] Well, we’re holding a hearing today to make sure that America is prepared in 2020 to protect against the foreign nations — whether it’s Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, or any other foreign nation — and make sure that within the country we are prepared to hold elections that have integrity and give people confidence that the election result is accurate.

KAMINSKY [00:08:47] Is there any part of what you guys are looking at in legislation that involves social media companies directly — like telling, you know, “If you are in such-and-such a business, you must do X, Y, and Z to try to protect the content on your platform?

BUCK [00:09:07] I think that’s being handled more on a — by the administration. And really, there are grants that are going to states to help the secretaries of state and other election officials in the state maintain accurate databases and protect those databases from fraud or hacking. There are efforts that are being made to really bring the best experts together on cyber security and make sure that the states who run the elections are up to speed, qualified, and prepared.

KAMINSKY [00:09:47] That makes sense. All right, last thing for you: let me just ask you to switch hats for a second and put on your Colorado Republican Party chairman hat. What are your thoughts right now — kind of the 30,000-foot view — of the 2020 election situation in Colorado? And maybe you could comment particularly on any thoughts about that Cory Gardner versus — probably — John Hickenlooper race.

BUCK [00:10:12] Sure, I — one, I think that Donald Trump stands a very good chance in Colorado. John McCain lost Colorado by eight points. Mitt Romney [lost Colorado] by six points, Donald Trump by four points. And I think that the president has shown that he is able to manage the economy, and I think that the economy will be the critical issue in this election. And so, I give Donald Trump a lot more credit and also a much higher chance of winning Colorado than we’ve had in the past. I think Cory is an outstanding candidate and he is spending a ton of time in Colorado, meeting with grassroots organizations and really opening himself up. And I think that while he has been busy the last four years doing things that are important in his position in the United States Senate, I think right now he is in full campaign mode and really doing a great job. I hear a lot of very positive things from some radio folks as well as TV as well as on the ground holding town hall meetings and visiting with people.  So, I think Cory is in a very good position and I think he will beat John Hickenlooper or anybody else that the Democrats put up. And then finally, I think one of the goals that the Colorado Republican Party has to achieve is to win one of the two houses of the state legislature. If we can accomplish those three things, I think the rest of the ticket will be — will benefit a great deal.

KAMINSKY [00:11:40] That’s a wonderful aspiration. I think [Republicans are] unlikely to take back the House in — the state House — in one election. But you can’t rule it out in this in the state senate, if the election went the right way. I wish you lots of luck, Ken. And I — and thank you so much for taking some time, stepping out of a committee meeting in Washington D.C,. to spend a little time with us this morning. I’m grateful for that.

BUCK [00:12:05] It’s my pleasure, Ross. And I look forward to doing it again, soon.

KAMINSKY [00:12:07] [laughing] Okay, and any time you can get out of a meeting with Jerry Nadler, you just call me and we’ll make it happen for you. We’re happy to help you out!

BUCK [00:12:15]  I look forward to that. Thanks, buddy!

KAMINSKY [00:12:17] All right. Thanks, Ken. Okay.