I was focused on the part where Scalise refused to say if the 2020 election was stolen or not. Excerpts follow with breaks separated by italicized breaks for brevity. Full trasnscript at: https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/week-transcript-11-5-23-white-house-deputy/story?id=104633936

ABC showed a clip of Rep. Ken Buck, a Republican from Colorado.

REP. KEN BUCK (R-CO): Our nation is on a collision course with reality. And a steadfast commitment to truth, even uncomfortable truths, is the only way forward. Too many Republican leaders are lying to America, claiming that the 2020 election was stolen.

After that:

STEPHANOPOULOS: He said that you’re one of those leaders who has been unequivocal in saying it was a clean election, that Joe Biden did not steal the election.

Your response?

SCALISE: Well, Ken, I’ve worked with, on a number of issues, including getting spending under control, getting our economy back on track. He’s talked about that 2020 election as well.

– It goes on with no direct response.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Can you say unequivocally the 2020 election was not stolen?

SCALISE: What I’ve told you, there are states that didn’t follow their laws. That is what the state constitution – the U.S. Constitution requires. You know, I’ve seen in my own state where we had to send our elections commissioner to jail years ago for fraud and corruption. And we cleaned up our act in our state. Every state ought to follow the laws that are on their books. That’s what the U.S. Constitution says.

STEPHANOPOULOS: That’s not what I asked. I said, can you say unequivocally that the 2020 election was not stolen?

SCALISE: Look, Joe Biden’s president. I know you and others want to talk about 2020. We’re focused on the future.

– Again, it goes on with no direct response. There are several rounds of this.

STEPHANOPOULOS: I know that every single – I know that every court that looked at whether the election was stolen said it wasn’t, rejected those claims. And I asked you a very, very simple question. Now I’ve asked it, I think, the fifth time that you can’t appear to answer. Can you say unequivocally that the 2020 election was not stolen?

SCALISE: I told you – I told you there were a handful – there were a handful of – there were a handful of states that didn’t follow their laws.

– Scalise continues for a while, still without a direct answer.

There was one more round of this before the end of the segment and Scalise never said “yes” or “no”.

Here’s my personal editorial. I guess Rep. Ken Buck was right. So I ask: How can Scalise be believed or trusted on anything when he is so obviously unwilling to tell the truth on this? How can any of them?

  • flatbield@beehaw.org
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    1 year ago

    I love the fake budget concern. Like who believes taking money from the IRS saves money.

    • memfree@beehaw.orgOP
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      1 year ago

      Obviously Scalise is a lying liar. George tried to call him out on how funding IRS enforcement would increase revenues, but Scalise (again) dodged by acting as if catching tax cheats would be bad for the ‘working’ man.

      STEPHANOPOULOS: Well, you just cited the CBO. I mean, that’s their analysis. It’s going to reduce it because you’re taking away enforcement.

      SCALISE: Right, but the CBO said – but the CBO said it’s going to actually hit people making under $400,000 a year with $4 billion in new taxes.

      That violates President Biden’s own pledge by the way that he made to low income families. He promised he wouldn’t raise their taxes. CBO said it would be a $4 billion hit to those families.

      (CROSSTALK)

      … he thinks 400K is low income?

      • flatbield@beehaw.org
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        1 year ago

        It is not the working man that has a tax issue. Better IRS funding is good for most people. Better support. Quicker processing. Getting the cheats caught. All sounds wonderful to me.