U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) recently sat down for an interview on The Story with Martha MacCallum following a closed-door meeting between President Donald Trump and GOP Senators on Capitol Hill, where he reaffirmed his support for the president’s SAVE America Act to secure election integrity and revealed that Trump let his true feelings be known to those who have turned their backs on him and on support for the legislation.
“Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville just out of that lunch with President Trump. He serves on Armed Services and Veterans’ Affairs Committees. Senator, good to have you with us today. We heard from another senator just a short time ago that the meeting got pretty lively. Can you define that? Can you explain what that was like in there?” MacCallum asked Tuberville at the start of the segment.
“Well, it was like a halftime speech from a head coach. President Trump had a lot on his mind. He’s got a lot on his mind all over the world, so we expected a shorter talk which he gave. Some people said, ‘We’ll be in there a couple hours.’ We weren’t. This was a great talk by President Trump. He did call some people out,” Tuberville replied.
The Alabama Republican then took an opportunity to discuss how there are individuals within the Senate, Republicans no less, who are voting against the president and his agenda, particularly the parts designed to help ensure U.S. elections are secure and protected from voter fraud. “We got people that [are] just nonchalantly voting against President Trump. Not voting against something, but voting against President Trump simply for the fact that they might not like some of the things he does,” Tuberville said.
“But overall, Martha, it was a great talk—one of the best I’ve heard President Trump give. Very emotional talk, we talked about the country, he talked about the avenue that we need to take. We’re in a very tough time getting ready for an election. The thing that I was excited about is he brought up all the situations to where we can get the SAVE America Act passed. And everywhere I go, everywhere Republicans go across this country—and they’re lying if they tell you it’s not true—SAVE America Act is the number one thing people want,” he explained, according to a transcript of the interview posted on his official website.
“They want fair elections. We just saw the nonsense in California, and we’re seeing the nonsense of these Communists taking over our country, and they’re not Socialists, they are Communists. And so, President Trump was exactly right. I’m proud of what he did today. He spoke up. He called people out. They had a very good conversation back and forth,” the senator continued.
He then told MacCallum, “People need to be called out if you’re not going to vote for this country, my God folks, we are in trouble and President Trump needs help and we’re not giving him 100% help that he needs.” The Fox News host then asked Tuberville to explain the different number of ways the GOP could go about passing the SAVE America Act and if that included removing some pieces that might get more Republicans on board.
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“Yeah. That’s a no-go. He’s not gonna take anything out of the SAVE America Act. What’s in there needs to stay. We just talked about the avenues of the talking filibuster or voting out the regular filibuster and voting it in because this is—President Trump’s right here. Again, I travel the country. If we don’t do something with the filibuster, and we don’t get things passed, it’ll be the last time we’ll have a Republican President, or Republican Senate, or House,” he responded.
“That’s how fast this country’s going down to Communism. And we need to stop it. We can stop it. The ball’s in our court, President Trump said that: ‘Ball’s in your court. I’m here to support you. Let me know if there’s anything I can do, but this is what we have to do to save the United States of America from Communism.’ He’s exactly right,” the senator added.
Later, Tuberville added that President Trump attended the meeting to praise those who have supported him and backed his agenda, but to point out to those who were against the SAVE America Act that they aren’t just fighting him, but the will of the American people. “And so, he just made it very simple: ‘Okay, we’ve just got a few months left. We can pass a lot of things. But the only way we can do it is bust the filibuster,'” he said.
“And you that are refusing to do that—you’re worried about your election or you’re worried about personalities…you’re worried about things you shouldn’t be worried about—worry about the dang country. Worry about our country and vote for our country. Vote for freedom. Vote for democracy. Vote for our constitutional republic. Because if we don’t, this will be the last time,” the Alabama senator warned.
When asked if he believed Trump’s speech might have moved those who are against the bill into voting in favor of it, Tuberville replied, “Yeah. I don’t know whether he moved [them]. We’ll find out. But I’ll tell you one thing—if they don’t change their vote after that talk, then we won’t be able to get to them.” The legislation would require all individuals registering to vote to prove their citizenship and to present photo identification when casting ballots at the polls.
Featured Image: screenshot from embedded video