On "Forbes Newsroom," Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY) responded to President Biden dropping out of the race, the RNC, and other major political developments.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Hi, everybody. I'm Brittany Lewis with Forbes Breaking News. Joining me now is Congresswoman
00:07Nicole Malletakis. Congresswoman, thank you so much for joining me.
00:10It's good to be with you. Thank you.
00:13On the heels of the RNC wrapping up, there was major news that shook up the 2024 presidential
00:19election this weekend. President Joe Biden dropped out of the race. What's your reaction?
00:26My reaction is it's not necessarily a surprise. We knew that there was something wrong with
00:31Joe Biden. I think it's unfortunate for the Democratic registered people that they didn't
00:39get an opportunity to vote in a primary election to select their nominee. Kamala Harris is
00:46somebody who was polling at around 3% in the 2020 presidential primary, and now she's going
00:55to be the nominee for the Democratic Party without a single vote being cast. And so I
01:00think that's unfortunate. That's certainly not democracy taking place. This is an anointment
01:06of a candidate. And I think that the Americans just generally deserve better. They should
01:14be able to select their nominee. And it was a shame that the Democratic Party hid this
01:19from the public, because we've known that Joe Biden has had issues with mental acuity.
01:26We've known this for quite some time. And they kept propping him up as if this was like
01:32a sequel to Weekend at Bernie's. And here we are now with just a few months left, and
01:38they're doing a switcheroo because their president is polling so poorly and was unable to win
01:46the election. But it also shows you how far Democrats would go to keep power. And that's
01:51really what this is about. The minute he started dipping in the polls and showed that he had
01:55a difficult path to win in November, they dropped him like a hot potato.
02:01What do you make of the argument presented by some Republicans that if he can't run for
02:06the campaign, can't run for the next term, he should immediately resign?
02:11Well, I agree with that sentiment, and I've expressed the same. I've had concerns about
02:18Joe Biden governing for three and a half years now. I mean, the reality is when a couple
02:24times I've had interactions with him, you can tell that there is an issue there, and
02:29you feel badly for him, because he is somebody who is suffering from some type of dementia,
02:35and he does not have the ability to run this country, particularly when we have two allies
02:40at war. We have terrorist threats here at home, and the people who are running the country
02:47who are unelected political appointees are creating a mess. The Biden-Harris administration
02:56has been a disaster for America. They've opened up our borders. They've allowed murderers,
03:02rapists, drug dealers, terrorists into this country, right, among the 10 million individuals
03:09that are coming in. And cities like mine in New York City are being forced by our mayor
03:15to house these individuals, including the criminals, in luxury hotel rooms. They've
03:22wreaked havoc on our city. Two police officers were shot by an illegal immigrant. We had
03:27a 13-year-old girl raped by an illegal immigrant. That's just two of thousands of crimes that
03:34have been committed in our city alone. And so this administration has been a disaster,
03:41and Kamala Harris, who is tasked to be the border czar, has overseen the border crisis
03:48getting worse and worse and worse. So I think most Americans are not comfortable with Kamala
03:56Harris being anointed by the Democrats with not a single vote cast, and they know that
04:03if we want to secure our border, make our country prosperous, make it affordable again,
04:09then we need to elect Donald Trump and restore him to the White House.
04:14I want to get to your first part of your comments. Do you think, because you do have concerns
04:19about President Biden's mental acuity, that Democrats should call on Vice President Kamala
04:25Harris to invoke the 25th Amendment?
04:29Well, that would be the responsible thing to do, is for them to remove him from office.
04:35Nobody has seen him. Nobody has seen him in the past few days. I mean, and I find it hard
04:40to believe that he just issues this letter, that he signed that letter, and just that
04:47was the way he was going to announce that he wasn't going to run again. Where is he?
04:51Why is he not speaking to the American public? I understand that he has COVID, but COVID
04:57only lasts a couple of days. I mean, he should be better now, and you can easily film a video
05:01from your home. The issue that I have is that I feel that there's a group of people that
05:06are not elected, that are in this administration, working with Kamala Harris, and I don't know
05:13who else, to run this government, and they have created a mess. And now we're going to
05:19try to correct this mess. I think that's what this election is all about.
05:24Remember, every single thing that has happened has been contrary to American interests, whether
05:30it's the foreign policy, appeasing our adversary, doing away with the peace through strength
05:35of President Trump, whether it's opening up our border to dangerous individuals who are
05:41committing crimes, particularly at a time when we have terror threats here at home and
05:47allies at war, whether it's dismantling our energy production, driving up inflation, driving
05:54up the cost of energy, putting gas in your car, paying your electric bill, putting food
06:00on the table. That's what the Democrats have done. It has been not good for the American
06:06people. They are living in a less safe, less secure, less prosperous, and less affordable
06:12United States of America because of the policies of the Biden-Harris administration. So even
06:18if the 25th Amendment was invoked, the policies aren't going to change. In fact, they may
06:23get worse. Kamala Harris, as you know, was the most left-wing member of the U.S. Senate.
06:31She supports the open borders. She supports sanctuary cities. She supports the disastrous
06:37bail reform of states like New York that releases dangerous people onto our streets.
06:43So I feel that they just need to be rejected at the ballot box.
06:49I know that you said that you think Democrats forced Joe Biden out of the race because politically
06:54he was failing in the polls, and now they're rallying around Vice President Kamala Harris.
07:00Do you think politically she is a more formidable challenger to Donald Trump?
07:07I don't think so. I actually think she is a worse candidate with worse ideas. And from
07:14a policy perspective, she is left to Joe Biden. And she may be younger. She may be a woman.
07:22Maybe that'll attract some youth and women to want to vote. But at the end of the day,
07:28if people really look at the policies side by side, she is further to the left than Joe
07:34Biden, and she will continue this mass illegal immigration crisis. Remember, she was appointed
07:41the border czar by the president, and everything has gotten worse since that time period in
07:462021. So I believe that we're just going to see the policies go more and more to the left
08:01if she were to replace Joe Biden now or if she were to be elected in November.
08:07You were at the RNC last week, and some of the biggest news coming out of the RNC was
08:13that former President Donald Trump did in fact name his running mate. His running mate
08:18is J.D. Vance. What do you make of that choice?
08:23I think J.D. Vance is somebody who has appeal, again, to younger electorate. He is somebody
08:29who is a union supporter. He supports the hardworking men and women of our country.
08:33In fact, he got a shout out from the union president of the Teamsters, as did I, which
08:39I was very proud of. I think he is an articulate individual who can communicate our message
08:45and the agenda of making this country more safe, secure, prosperous, and affordable for
08:51the American people. He has a really interesting life story that could be an inspiration to
09:00so many. Growing up in a single parent home, even his mother had a drug addiction, sadly,
09:09so he was raised by his grandparents, but his father had left them at a very young age.
09:13I think that that is a story, sadly, that can resonate with many Americans, but it has
09:19such an inspirational ending where he is about to be elected the next vice president of the
09:25United States. He was able to do all of this in a short time frame, educate himself, put
09:32himself through law school, be a successful businessman, and be an author, share his story
09:38to inspire others. He is a fighter for the things that we need, secure borders, pro-growth,
09:46jobs, tax policy that will help build upon President Trump's success of creating jobs,
09:54lowering unemployment, lifting wages, and doubling the child tax credit for American families.
10:01He is, like I said, somebody who comes from a different background. He came from a working-class
10:08family, and I think it is just a different perspective that is being brought to the table,
10:13which is important. When you look at the RNC, you saw a really unified Republican Party last week.
10:22You saw Teamster's president make history and deliver a message at the RNC. Do you think that
10:30the Republican Party's message now changes between now and November because Joe Biden
10:36is no longer running? No, the message stays the same. We are the ones who are going to secure our
10:44border, make America's cities safe again. We're the ones who are going to put forward a pro-growth,
10:53pro-jobs tax structure that are going to help lift Americans out of poverty, provide them with
11:00opportunities. We're going to build on the success of President Trump's first four years,
11:06governed by peace through strength instead of appeasement of our adversaries. And remember,
11:13President Trump, there were no new wars created in the world under President Trump. It was because
11:18he exhibited peace through strength. As soon as this guy came in, people saw weakness in President
11:24Biden, and they chose to attack two of our allies and the botched Afghanistan withdrawal.
11:35I mean, they closed Bagram Air Base before evacuating the citizens, releasing thousands of
11:41ISIS-K, al-Qaeda fighters from the prison. That is why 13 American soldiers were killed, because
11:51that ISIS-K fighter was released. So that was a very bad decision this administration made that
11:58cost the lives of 13 military men and women. Military service members will be safer with
12:04President Trump at the helm in leadership as Commander-in-Chief. Congresswoman, I appreciate
12:11your time today. Thank you so much for the conversation. Thank you very much. Appreciate it.