Matt Rosendale Interview

People’s Post:  What is the most pressing issue facing our country today?

Rep. Rosendale: I think about spending. There's a couple of really big ones but I think the spending. When you start talking about the trillions of dollars added to the national debt we are weakened and our currency is weakened and that impacts our national defense.  It impacts our economy and it impacts our financial stability.  It sucks our resources from national security so it's all intertwined.

People’s Post: How many Americans do we have left in Afghanistan? 

Rep. Rosendale: Sure oh, they're not giving anyone a number. My best guess is somewhere between 100 and 200 individuals. 

People’s Post: And so what your hands are kind of tied?

Rep. Rosendale: Nearly every Congressional office is trying to bring the Americans home. It's shameful.

People’s Post: So when I'm asking you what you're doing to get them out? What are you doing to bring attention to it?

Rep. Rosendale: So my office here, which consists of different people across the state, tells us when different people are in a country like Afghanistan then at that moment if you call the state department and say we've got this person and we need to get them out then they start giving some assistance. But they're not being proactive in seeking out these individuals. Trying to bring them home. I can tell you I've looked at the information because I have different batches of threads of communication between my office and the Freedom Caucus.  Many offices are doing the exact same thing. They're identifying individuals that are there, American citizens, and they're using every avenue possible whether it's private groups or some of the retired military that are still in Afghanistan

People’s Post: And the state department has been blocking some of that, correct?

Rep. Rosendale: I can't say that. I don't know, I can't say that they've blocked anybody. I can tell you they were not being very proactive about going out searching and identifying these people to make sure they got out.

People’s Post: Do you know of the January 6th Patriots that have been held in prison? Being held without bail.  So I heard you say what everybody can do but what can you do?

Rep. Rosendale: I have not gotten a way to identify these individuals. It's almost like we have to get a spreadsheet and find out who's been overcharged. Because by overcharging them, that's the way they've been able to keep them in jail. If somebody walked in after barriers have been removed and there was no security standing there, which was on video, and all the sudden you just walk in then you shouldn't be charged with whatever. I mean I'm not an attorney but Is that breaking and entering or malicious destruction? You simply walked in. So they overcharge them. So I have to be able to gain access to them.

People’s Post: And so how do you do that?  When you say you've been denied access, who's denying you access? 

Rep. Rosendale: Honestly, my staff has been requesting this access.

People’s Post: Do you know how many deaths have been associated with the covid vaccine? 

Rep. Rosendale: That I do not know. 

People’s Post: Do you know if there have been any?

Rep. Rosendale: I think that there have been okay but the accuracy of those reports are questionable. I have become tainted, if you will.  With so much information about Covid I don't know what to believe, honestly. The only place we are getting accurate numbers about it, I think, is on how many people are in the hospital right now that have been diagnosed with Covid? Short of that I don't know how much accurate information we're getting. 

People’s Post: So if a constituent would ask you, “Do you think it's safe to take the vaccine?” 

Rep. Rosendale: That is something they have to discuss with their doctor. I am not a doctor. It's not up to me to make that determination. Their doctor can discuss with them whether it's in their best interest To have a vaccine or not. And it's nobody else's business. Whether they get it or don't get it. 

People’s Post: So you're against the mandates? 

Rep. Rosendale: I'm absolutely against the mandates. I took that publicly numerous times to try to prevent any type of mandated passports.

People’s Post: How do you see a way out for businesses having more than 100 employees having mandates for vaccines? 

Rep. Rosendale: I think you're going to see lawsuits develop in certain states that establish the rules like the president stated last weekend In the executive order. There have to be rules implemented in order to implement that mandate. As soon as those rules are released I think you are going to see a lot of lawsuits on the state level from the state attorneys general. Then I think you're going to see the private businesses file some lawsuits as well and I think they're going to march into the courtroom and implement a cease and desist until they can argue this out.

People’s Post: When you say the rules are you talking about the executive order? So he has made the threat and signed the order but without rules to implement? There have to be rules to implement?

Rep. Rosendale: That's correct. A President just can’t declare a new process.  He was able to rescind the Keystone Pipeline because that had already been implemented. But to implement something new, there has to be rules to show how It is to be implemented. 

People’s Post: Good to know 

People’s Post: What do you know about Dr. Fauci funding the research on Covid in the Wuhan lab?

Rep. Rosendale: Dr. Fauci didn't fund the lab. He took taxpayer money so we actually funded it. He took our money and gave it to the Wuhan lab. I've got major major concerns with this and I don't think we'll ever get the truth out of China and the Wuhan lab. 

People’s Post: Do you think we're still giving money for research in China in the infectious disease field?

Rep. Rosendale: Trump's chief of staff said that one of the first things they did was to eliminate that funding. Whether anything is still being redirected there I'm not certain.

People’s Post: Are you going to find out?  Can you find out?

Rep. Rosendale: I can certainly make an attempt. The gain of function research is still going on I suspect. China is never going to tell us what they're doing and I believe that the virus escaped from that lab. Was it released or did it escape? Did they do that intentionally or did it escape accidentally.

People’s Post: Do you have an opinion on that?

Rep. Rosendale: That I don't know. I don't know. I do believe it came from that lab and it was because they were doing a gain-of-function experiment to make sure they could increase the intensity of these viruses. 

People’s Post: Is Dr. Fauci going to be held accountable for these actions in your opinion?

Rep. Rosendale: It's an opinion but no, I don't have a lot of confidence. I really don't. I can tell you that the national debt is another grave concern that I have. Also, the lack of the Department of Justice to actually charge and prosecute people who have actually committed crimes goes to the very foundations of our country. And it really really concerns me. 

People’s Post: Going back for a second. How can we find out if we're still funding research in China?

Rep. Rosendale: It's easier for the folks who are sitting on the Appropriations Committee and the Budget Committee to find out where the money is going. I can ask questions but they dig into that stuff. We have some very very capable people that dig through those things.

People’s Post: Can I get an answer to that?  These are questions that people came up with and so we want to be able to go back to them.

Rep. Rosendale: We will give it our very best effort to find out if there is. But I can tell you that money goes all over the place in our budget. You can't spend three and a half trillion dollars and know where that all went. Okay? That's the problem with spending money in gobs like that. You can't track it. I mean we're spending four and five trillion dollars each year in the budget not including all of these additional expenditures. They do the one-offs. You can't track that. They're sending money out to the states right now and they  don't know how it's being spent. 

People’s Post: What's been your biggest accomplishment while you've been in office? 

Rep. Rosendale: We were able to get the Republicans, even though my Veterans Affairs committee didn't give me the support, to withhold taxpayer money to support the use of the morning after pill they wanted to add to their big health package.  We determined in my office that they were trying to sneak this in. I went to the committee and said we need to vote this down. We're in the minority so I told the highest ranking Republican that they were trying to include the morning after pill in the bill and my constituents didn’t want to pay for it. He said this was part of the package and he argued the point with me. I fought for it and he voted to support it. So, I went out and pushed the whole conference to vote against it and we were able to defeat it.

People’s Post: Will you be voting for Kevin McCarthy for majority leader next year?

Rep. Rosendale: We'll see if Kevin McCarthy runs for majority leader next year. When I came in in January, there were no contested elections. And we had to go back after the fact and remove Liz Cheney. I was the first one to step up and say we need to remove Liz Cheney. I think that says that I'm not afraid to challenge leadership.

People’s Post: Should Montana be a part of the convention of states? 

Rep. Rosendale: People think this is the cure all and it’s not.  People want to put in additional provisions that make people do things. Our constitution is an extremely well thought out and strong document. Let's go ahead and uphold the Constitution now. We will eliminate problems. There is a process with which you can amend the Constitution in place right now.  I can propose an amendment right now and we go back and we get 35 states to sign off on it. That’s how you can amend the constitution.

People’s Post: And you feel that is the way to do it?

Rep. Rosendale: Absolutely.

People’s Post: Thanks so much Congressman Rosendale for answering our questions today.