Transcripts For CSPAN3 Interview With Representative David Kustoff 20170121

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people of west tennessee as the united states attorney, as the chief law enforcement officer for the district. >> tell our viewers what is, what was operation tennessee waltz an your role in it. >> it was in the early 2000s in the mid 2000s in the tennessee legislature. it was a level of corruption. among state legislators and so, the u.s. attorney's office and the fbi before i became united states attorney, developed an undercover operation, tennessee waltz, where a fictional company was created. they would quote unquote lobby the tennessee legislature. of course, they were bribing those members who had been b engaged in other activity that they should not have been eng e engaged in. so, i prosecuted those cases after they were indicted. and it resulted in the conviction of 12 members of the legislature, some that were outside of the tennessee legislature, but the main thing is it sent a signal to elected officials, public servants across the state of tennessee, that just can't engage in that type of behavior. you know, nobody's above the law. no matter what your title is. and you know, one thing that i told members of my community during that vest dwainvestigati believe it then, i believe it today, that the majority of people involved in public service are good, honest people. politically, you may not agree with them all the time, but they try to do the right things for the right reasons, but for those people who are engaged in illegal activity, or thought about it, it sent a very strong signal that law enforcement across the state is watching you and don't do it again. >> some well-known names. then democratic state senator, john for, the brother of former congressman, harold ford senior, known to political junkys to watch msnbc. what did that teach you do you think about know coming here and being a member of congress yourself? >> first thing is it does show that clearly, nobody's above the law. because there were, there were state senators. who were convicted of that. and as you said, john ford, being among the most prominent of those elected officials. and there were people in our community who said you know, there's no way that somebody named ford is ever going to be convicted by a jury of his cril justice system is, it's not perfect. but if you look around the world, it is the best system that exists. what it taught me is it doesn't matter whether you're white, whether you're black, whether you're hispanic, nobody wants to see their elected official on the take. so it did send a strong signal no matter what your name is, no matter what your position or your power of influence, you need to do the right things for the right reasons. again, the majority of those in public service do that. >> why did you decide to run for office? >> you know, i'm very concerned and have been very concerned about the way our country is going. for the last eight years, in west tennessee, economically there are parts of west tennessee that clearly have not recovered since the 2008 recession. the other thing is, national security and terrorism. as a united states attorney, the other united states attorney who served under president bush, the one thing president bush and the attorney general asked was make anti-terrorism, make national security your number one priority. you structure your office however you want to after that but make that your number one priority. as we looked around and we see acts of terrorism committed around the world and this country, i felt like that somebody with my background, my law enforcement background needed to step up and lead. fra frankly, as we know, anybody can come vote yes or no, but to come up and be able to lead on issues of national security and the economy and healthcare, which to me are the most pressing issues as we face today, to come up and lead. >> have you thought about some outlining of legislation that you would like to work on first? >> well, i have, and i'm not ready to talk about that yet. but, yes, i have. i'm looking forward to working with my other colleagues to get things passed. >> what about your family? will they move to washington or will they stay in tennessee? >> no. they will stay in tennessee. i will be back in the district in west tennessee when ever i'm not in washington voting. i think that's important for our family stability. my wife, who's been a true partner and very supportive of what we're trying to do. our campaign was a joint decision and it was a partnership with she and i. my two children, maggie and jake, who worked really hard on the campaign, but our life is in west tennessee and that's where we will continue to live. >> have you found a place to live out here? are you burninging with any fellow freshmen? >> i think that i have found a place. i'm going to be by myself. that way, as you know, we're always working. i mean, something is always going on, so the only thing i'm going to do there is sleep. >> what else would you like to accomplish in these next two years? >> several things. one is, as it relates to the economy -- and i talked about the economy in west tennessee and parts of rural west tennessee -- we've got to work on improving the economic environment. i think one clear way that can be done at the federal level is tax relief. i look forward to working with president-elect trump to accomplish that. very concerned about healthcare. you know the stories. i've heard from real people all throughout west tennessee during this congressional campaign and afterwards, they simply can't afford healthcare, their prem m premiums have doubled and tripled, going back the last several years, that they're going to need to work two and three jobs. not only the premiums, but the deductibles and the fact that they were promised by president obama they could keep their doctors and their doctors are not available on their historiahealth insurance plans, so it's clear to me obamacare needs to be repealed and that's something i'm looking forward to doing very early on in this term. then again national security and terrorism. i'm really excited to work with president-elect trump and other members of the house and the senate to make our country safer. but it also extends down to the local and state and, of course, the federal level because if you're in law enforcement today. i don't care whether you're a police officer, sheriff's deputy, an agenty the morale among law enforcement in this country in the past several years has been demoralized. they feel they do not have the support from federal officials. i'm going to be a strong advocate for law enforcement, because i worked with those men and women, and i know and i think we all realize each and every day they clock into work, they're put their lives on the line. they don't know whether they're coming home at night. i'm going to be a strong friend of law enforcement in congress. >> congressman, what kind of groups and/or individuals supported you in your race? >> i was honored to have support from majors in west tennessee, from business leaders in west tennessee. more importantly, just people. as you know, to win a congressional race is very difficult. you've got to put together in a district especially like the 8th congressional district, 15 counties, a large geographical footprint, a lot of area. to have the support that we had is really humbling. this is not just something you say, you remember when you're walking the halls of congress, that you're here for the people. you want to do what's best for the country. but you remember the stories that people have told me and continue to tell me. when i'm back traveling my district. that's what i take that's important. >> congressman, thank you very much for your time. >> thank you for having me today. women from across the country will be in the nation's capitol city tomorrow for the march on washington. among the speakers, steinham and harry bella forte and richards. c-span2 will be live with the 58th presidential inaugural prayer service. president trump and vice president mike pence will be there. it gets under way at 10:00 eastern. this weekend, c-span cities tour along with our comcast cables partners will explore the life and history of harrisburg, pennsylvania. author of "amiable scoundrel," talks about the life of one of pennsylvania's most prominent political figures of the 19th century. >> people talk about the age of andrew jackson. in many ways they should talk about the age of simon cameron. he was a man whose political skills were undeniable and built a political machine far beyond any of his contemn era ris. on c-span3, visit the site of the 1839 wiig convention and the story of howard parker as he explains the back room deals and trickery that led to william harrison becoming the party's candidate. >> what makes this convention so special, it was the first time there was more than one candidate being put forward for the nomination for the presidency of the united states. >> pennsylvania capitol preservation city historian, jason wilson, take us on a tour of the chambers of this capitol. >> when this capitol was built, only a 15-20-year period a capitol like this would have been built, 1890 to 1910. we still call it pennsylvania's palace of art. we were at the height of industry, the height of capitalism, everything was being made and done in pennsylvania at the turn of the century. >> the c-span cities tour, saturday at noon eastern and book tv sunday at 2:00 on c-span3. working with our call in affiliates and visiting cities across the country. c-span, where history unfolds daily. in 1979, c-span was created as a public service by america's cable television companies an brought to you today by your cable or satellite provider. the soho forum is a monthly debate series in new york city and they debated when the united states should go to war and law professor epstein and kato christopher preble. it starts with gene epstein. >> thank you. the resolution, the united states should be prepared to use force in defense of friendly nations even when not subject to the director threat of force. please vote on your cell phone, your smartphone ci

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