United States Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) appeared on Fox Business’s “Mornings With Maria” to discuss recent efforts to address crime in Memphis, U.S.-Japan relations, and concerns about the Department of Justice under the Biden administration.
During the interview, Hagerty credited former President Donald Trump for supporting initiatives aimed at improving public safety in Memphis. He stated, “President Trump has been wonderfully supportive of our efforts to clean up Memphis. I can’t thank him enough, along with the leadership of the White House, [U.S. Attorney General] Pam Bondi, and [Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation] Kash Patel. We’ve been working for months to get this situation under control, and Memphis is now one of the safest cities in America thanks to President Trump’s efforts. I think Gavin Newsom should look at that.”
Hagerty emphasized that ensuring public safety is a responsibility shared by all elected officials regardless of party affiliation. He said, “I’ve said this with the local mayor in Memphis–who’s a Democrat–with our governor, and certainly with the White House: it doesn’t matter whether there’s an ‘R’ or a ‘D’ behind your name. As public servants, our job is to deliver public safety. That’s a fundamental premise of government. And I’m glad to see this taking hold in Memphis. The city’s been overwhelmed by crime for too long, and we are sending some very hardcore criminals way out of our state.”
Addressing foreign policy issues, Hagerty discussed ongoing developments in U.S.-Japan relations and regional security challenges in East Asia. He remarked on past cooperation between President Trump and Japanese leaders during his time as ambassador: “President Trump has always enjoyed a strong relationship with Japan’s leaders. When I was Ambassador, he had a great relationship with Prime Minister [Shinzo] Abe. We’ve got a great new ambassador now, George Glass, who’s coming at a very tough time. Think about what happened over the past four years under Joe Biden; that neighborhood has gotten much more difficult. Look at what China’s been doing there: aggression in the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait. North Korea is back at it again. So, we’re going to have a strong presence in that area. [Sanae] Takaichi is becoming the new leader of the LDP [Liberal Democratic Party], which will be decided very soon. She’s going to make a great partner for President Trump. It’s a very important alliance, one that’s becoming more important every day.”
Hagerty also expressed concern about surveillance activities conducted by federal agencies during both current and previous administrations: “It [surveillance] seems to be a Democrat playbook move. It happened to me back in the Clinton administration. I’d served a fellowship under Vice President Quale for a short period of time. My personnel files wound up in Hillary Clinton’s office… And here we go again… I’ve been surveilled by the Biden DOJ [Department of Justice] and FBI [Federal Bureau of Investigation] under Jack Smith… Republicans have no idea what the predicate would be except for the fact that we’re all allies of President Trump… We’re going to get to the bottom of it.”
Finally, Hagerty criticized Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer over ongoing government funding negotiations: “We’ll be back tonight, voting on this again… Democrats have voted to keep the government shut down ten times over again… Chuck Schumer is playing Russian roulette with America’s safety… They want a $1.5 trillion ransom to reopen the government… Think about whose interest he’s putting first–free healthcare for illegal immigrants or people who are able-bodied– ahead of the interests of our military, our law enforcement officers, and of people who are risking their lives every day.”
