Democrat rhetoric endangers law enforcement, while rogue judge cavalierly signed off on spying, Hawley notes

Even without having seen the video of an ICE agent being rammed and shooting the driver, Josh Hawley knows the rules of the road when it comes to law enforcement.

“Our law enforcement at every level – federal, all the way down to state and local – our law enforcement have got to be able to do their jobs without interference and fear for their lives,” the Missouri senator told The Lion in an exclusive interview Thursday.

“And that means they have to be able to defend themselves. And I’ve seen this in this state. I saw it as attorney general. There are times when police are out there, they’re executing on a warrant, and they’re resisted. People fire on them, people assault them. And the rule of law is, they absolutely have the right to defend themselves.

“Now, was that done perfectly in this case? I don’t know. I just don’t know. But I do know that we’ve got to be really clear that whether it’s ICE or whether it’s local cops or whether it’s FBI agents, whomever, if you’re law enforcement, you’re out there in a dangerous situation. You have to be able to defend other people and to defend yourself.

“And let’s just be honest: We’ve seen a lot of attacks on federal law enforcement, not just in Minneapolis, all over the country in the last year, in Los Angeles, in Chicago, elsewhere. We need to be doing more to defend our federal law enforcement and law enforcement at every level.”

Walz guilty of inciting insurrection?

Meanwhile, as Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz ominously warns of his preparing the National Guard – presumably to confront federal officers – and others calling for armed resistance to ICE, some wonder if that isn’t incitement to insurrection. Some, such as Republican Rep. Mary Miller of Illinois, has called for Walz’s arrest.

Hawley will only submit that Democrat rhetoric has been incendiary.

“Well, I do think the rhetoric that I have seen just in the last, whatever it’s been, 12 hours, 20 hours, by some Democrat officials is unbelievable,” he says. “And I do think it’s dangerous. I think it’s really dangerous to public safety.

“It’s dangerous to law enforcement. It invites violence, I think. You listen to their rhetoric, it’s violence in tone. I think it encourages violence. And this is already a situation where law enforcement are in very, very dangerous places. They are not safe in many, many instances. And that means the people around them aren’t safe.

“And I just think as a leader, you go out there and you basically stir it up and you say, ‘Yeah, law enforcement are the enemy,’ I mean, that’s how you get riots. That’s how you get what we saw in Los Angeles last year, where you’ve got cars burning on freeways, you’ve got attacks on police officers, you’ve got rioting at police buildings. We don’t want that anywhere in America.”

Back to Biden’s open border?

Does this tug-of-war over immigrants go back to the Biden open border, which many have come to believe was a scheme to import Democrat-leaning voters?

“Well, I do think that this has been their long-term plan,” Hawley says. “There’s just no doubt about it, that they have wanted to bring in as many people as possible into the country illegally in hopes that over the years they’ll just be accepted and ultimately baptized as citizens, so to speak, and be able to vote and to vote for Democrats.

“I just think that is their strategy, and has been for decades now. And what we’re asking for – and by we, I mean the American people – is, we’re just asking for the rule of law. We’re just saying, listen, if you want to come to the country, great, come in the right way. If you’re here illegally, you need to go home and get back in line. If you’re here illegally and you’ve committed a crime, we’re going to try you, we’re going to convict you, and then we’re going to deport you.

“And I just think that has got to be the rule of law, down the middle – law, rule, principle, call it what you want – that everybody gets applied. Otherwise, it’s just going to be total chaos.”

Holding rogue judges accountable

In other matters, at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Wednesday, Hawley and fellow Missouri Sen. Eric Schmitt weighed in on rogue judges – particularly the now-infamous Judge James Boasberg – as Hawley tied the phenomenon to Biden administration attacks on conservative Americans.

What has Judge Boasberg done, except happen to be in the right place at the right time to preside over various lawsuits challenging President Trump’s authority?

Well, for one thing, he apparently signed off on the Biden administration’s spying, allegedly without knowing whom Biden was spying on – which turned out to be Republican senators and a congressman.

The victims included Hawley.

“We learned recently, actually,” Hawley told The Lion, “that now it turns out that he ordered the subpoenas and the wiretapping of my phone, my communications, and a bunch of other senators’. He did that, and he didn’t even bother to see whose phones were being tapped. 

“That’s sort of the defense that his allies have offered: ‘Oh, the judge didn’t even know.’

“So you’re telling me that a judge can order the wiretaps of United States senators and not even ask what he was doing? I mean, you talk about negligence, dereliction of duty. It’s astounding.

“And let’s not forget, these are the same people who sent FBI SWAT teams to the homes of private citizens who had the audacity to sing and pray in front of abortion clinics. These are the same people who activated the FBI’s counter-terrorism division against parents who went to school board meetings. These are the same people who tried to put spies into churches in our country.

“This needs to stop”

“These people are totally out of control, and they want to evade all accountability. Anytime you try to hold any of them accountable, they say, ‘Oh, no, no, no, no. It wasn’t me. It was not my fault. I didn’t know.’

“Well, I’m tired of that. And whether it’s impeaching this judge, whether it’s firing the people who tried to put spies into churches, whether it’s disciplining those who use SWAT teams on pro-lifers, this needs to stop and there needs to be accountability for what happened in the last four years.”

In the hearing, Hawley angrily blasted the lack of accountability for Biden officials who sent law enforcement after conservatives who merely prayed outside abortion clinics, attended an orthodox church or went to school boards to address their grievances.

“It is a gross pattern of abuse of law that went on for four years in this country like I have never seen – or read about – in the history of this country,” Hawley said at the hearing. “And nobody, to my knowledge, nobody has been held accountable.

“And now we’re told today, well, you sure as heck can’t do it for this judge or any other judge. And you can’t touch anybody who went after these parents or went after these parishioners. ‘Nope, nope. You just move on.’

“What is it that one of my [Democrat] colleagues said a minute ago? ‘This [hearing] is just a show. This is just a show.’ No, actually, it’s not a show. All of these things happened. This is not a game. People’s rights were violated – people of faith were targeted in extreme ways. And nobody’s been held accountable for it.

“I don’t recognize this country or our Constitution under those practices. And if this is allowed to go on, we won’t have either of those things in the future.”