President Donald Trump’s recent endorsement of Rep. Barry Moore (R., Ala.) to succeed Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R., Ala.) was a shot in the arm to his campaign, Moore told the Washington Reporter.
“I’ve been with him since day one, and I’ll continue that fight,” Moore said. “Getting his endorsement out to the people has been huge, and it certainly helps with fundraising. And people, a lot of times, want to wait and see where the president is in these primaries. So to have his early endorsement in the Senate primary is huge for us in Alabama.”
“In Alabama especially, he polls at 87 percent here; they like Donald Trump in Alabama,” Moore added. “His endorsement has allowed even more credibility to my campaign. I could go out and say I was the first [to] endorse him, but it was nice to know that people know that he trusts me. He calls me a friend.”
With Trump’s backing and with the primary three months away, Moore is the likely frontrunner against his GOP opponents. Democrats are unlikely to mount a serious bid to flip Alabama’s Senate seat.
Trump’s endorsement wasn’t the only boost to Moore’s campaign. Defend American Jobs, an affiliate of Fairshake, recently announced plans to spend $5 million on Moore’s behalf.
Moore told the Reporter that his longstanding support for crypto helps explain the move. “I want to continue to make sure that America leads the way in crypto, and we don’t want the government heavy-handed in there,” he said. “We don’t want them treating it like a security. We want people to make transactions without the government being able to shut them down, like we’ve seen in some of these countries where they’re looking to control digital currency. We don’t want that sort of thing. We don’t want a central bank controlled currency.”
“Look at what happened to President Trump when the banks debanked him,” Moore continued. “He went to crypto. We need a way to do transactions and to transact business without the government being able to weigh too heavily in on that. I’ve been with the crypto folks, because I like the liberty of that process; we want America to lead. We don’t want the government heavily involved, but we want the liberty for people to have it. We want it based in America, if at all possible.”
Although the House has so far passed multiple pieces of pro-crypto legislation, Moore said there should be more to come. “We want to make sure that they know they’re welcome to do business in America,” he said. “We don’t want it so heavily regulated. We want it more like a commodity. Anything we can do to help make sure to stabilize the market, and to make sure that it’s trusted, but it’s also protected from government overreach is important.”
A member of the Freedom Caucus, Moore said he and Tuberville have nearly-identical Liberty Scores. “He has a 95 Liberty score,” Moore said. “I have a 96; we’re two of the top liberty loving conservatives in Congress currently, and filling his shoes is going to be a big lift. We’ve been able to demonstrate that we vote like him. We act like him. We certainly support the president. “
Should Moore win November’s elections, he told the Reporter that his priorities would include helping push Trump’s agenda over the finish line. During Moore’s time in Congress, he has already worked with the Trump administration to counter the flood of illegal vapes coming from China, and told the Reporter that Trump’s push for TrumpRx is “incredible.”
“Priorities have to be just pushing an America First agenda,” Moore said. “Obviously, I think he’s doing a fine job on the border. There’s some funding mechanisms we need to put in place for continued security, those sort of things. But as we go through this process, whatever we need to do to move the president’s America First agenda through the finish line are going to be my priorities. This comes in different packages, obviously.”
Another priority, Moore added, is “getting the appropriations bills done like we’ve done in the House, and we’re working through one more now, those sort of things, putting some kind of financial parameters, some security down the road that for business, there’s so much, there’s a lot of unknowns. And for 30 years, we’ve been doing these CRs and these Christmas omnibuses, those gifts that keep giving.”
“I think we have to get the fiscal house in order as well,” he said. “We also have to get the national security pieces in place. The downward pressure on spending is important, as is getting rid of the waste, fraud, and abuse in the federal government, as is restoring trust of the American people in their government and their elected officials. I think President Trump has earned the people’s trust. I think if we follow his lead, and he’s certainly the de facto leader [of] the Republican Party, we can do great things for the country.”
Below is a transcript of our interview with Rep. Barry Moore (R., Ala.), lightly edited for clarity.
Washington Reporter:
Congressman Moore, you recently won a big endorsement from President Trump. Can you tell me what would be your day one priority in terms of working with him should you be elected in November and take office in January?
Rep. Barry Moore:
Priorities have to be just pushing an America First agenda. Obviously, I think he’s doing a fine job on the border. There’s some funding mechanisms we need to put in place for continued security, those sort of things. But as we go through this process, whatever we need to do to move the president’s America First agenda through the finish line are going to be my priorities. This comes in different packages, obviously. Getting the appropriations bills done like we’ve done in the House, and we’re working through one more now, those sort of things, putting some kind of financial parameters, some security down the road that for business, there’s so much, there’s a lot of unknowns. And for 30 years, we’ve been doing these CRs and these Christmas omnibuses, those gifts that keep giving. I think we have to get the fiscal house in order as well. We also have to get the national security pieces in place. The downward pressure on spending is important, as is getting rid of the waste, fraud, and abuse in the federal government, as is restoring trust of the American people in their government and their elected officials. I think President Trump has earned the people’s trust. I think if we follow his lead, and he’s certainly the de facto leader [of] the Republican Party, we can do great things for the country.
Washington Reporter:
You’ve been one of President Trump’s top supporters in Alabama and in Congress. Can you tell me how his endorsement has already been playing out on the ground for you?
Rep. Barry Moore:
I was the first in the nation to endorse him. I endorsed him on August 21, 2015 when he was running in a 17-way primary. He was an outsider. I felt like he was the man for the time for this nation. In Alabama especially, he polls at 87 percent here; they like Donald Trump in Alabama. His endorsement has allowed even more credibility to my campaign. I could go out and say I was the first [to] endorse him, but it was nice to know that people know that he trusts me. He calls me a friend. He doesn’t have to call me in the middle of the night. I’ve been with him since day one, and I’ll continue that fight. Just messaging that and getting his endorsement out to the people has been huge, and it certainly helps with fundraising. And people, a lot of times, want to wait and see where the president is in these primaries. So to have his early endorsement in the Senate primary is huge for us in Alabama.
Washington Reporter:
Another big supporter that you got is coming from one of the biggest crypto PACs via one of its affiliates that’s already said it’s sending $5 million to back you in this race. What is your agenda when it comes to the crypto industry should you be in the Senate?
Rep. Barry Moore:
I want to continue to make sure that America leads the way in crypto, and we don’t want the government heavy-handed in there. We don’t want them treating it like a security. We want people to make transactions without the government being able to shut them down, like we’ve seen in some of these countries where they’re looking to control digital currency. We don’t want that sort of thing. We don’t want a central bank controlled currency. Look at what happened to President Trump when the banks debanked him; he went to crypto. We need a way to do transactions and to transact business without the government being able to weigh too heavily in on that. I’ve been with the crypto folks, because I like the liberty of that process; we want America to lead. We don’t want the government heavily involved, but we want the liberty for people to have it. We want it based in America, if at all possible.
Washington Reporter:
Between the GENIUS Act and the CLARITY Act, you’ve been in alignment with the crypto industry on legislation that’s already passed the House. What comes next for that from a legislative standpoint?
Rep. Barry Moore:
We want to make sure that they know they’re welcome to do business in America. We want to make sure that they know that there’s opportunities for them to develop and build industry in this country, we don’t want it treated like a security. We don’t want it so heavily regulated. We want it more like a commodity. Anything we can do to help make sure to stabilize the market, and to make sure that it’s trusted, but it’s also protected from government overreach is important.
Washington Reporter:
One of the other things that you’re working on in your current job in the House of Representatives is the illicit vape trade coming from China. You just talked about this in a hearing. What more do you think that the Department of Justice and HHS should do to address this issue?
Rep. Barry Moore:
We have to continue to monitor it and make sure that it’s not coming in; we’ve certainly got to do our part to warn the public. Some of those are laced with fentanyl, and that is a deadly, deadly poison. I would like to see the AG just continue to press on that issue. We brought it to her attention, like I said in Judiciary a few weeks ago, so we’ll see how it plays out. But whatever we can do to limit that flow of illicit stuff across the border that’s damaging our kids and killing our children, I think we have to do that.
Washington Reporter:
Have you heard directly from parents in Alabama specifically who are concerned about this issue?
Rep. Barry Moore:
I know two young men from our hometown who died from fentanyl poisoning. Now they came in different packaging. One actually ordered something from China, and he thought it was safe and it killed him. And another thought that it might have been a Percocet or something. It looked like the one you would see online if you looked up a Percocet, but it was laced with fentanyl. We’ve lost far too many kids to fentanyl poisoning. China is sending that in. We don’t need to let it come in these vapes. It’s still just as deadly. It’s just in a different form. We’ve have family, friends, two boys who went to school with my daughters that both passed away; they thought they were getting one thing, but they got something else. And I think that’s the danger with these vapes. Kids are doing those and then they get laced with fentanyl. And certainly China’s not a friend of ours. And whatever we need to do to protect our kids, we need to do.
Washington Reporter:
What else do you feel like America should be doing when it comes to combating China?
Rep. Barry Moore:
Maduro was part of that. Getting him out of Venezuela was part of that. But I think too, just like dumping products on our markets, like our fishers in the Gulf of America, China will come in and just dump product in the markets, and it destroys those small businesses that have been there for decades, so we just have to make sure we continue to put pressure on China. Don’t allow them to do the sort of things that destroy American industry, family-based businesses that are built in our part of the world. Certainly President Trump’s doing a good job. We will have some back and forth with China. We’ll always probably buy and sell. They’ll be a trading partner, but they don’t need to be able to flood our markets and destroy our small businesses.
Washington Reporter:
One of the other things you were touching on was the health care realm. One of the areas that you’ve been involved with is the Lower Health Care Premiums for All Americans Act. Based on your experience with that and with working on health care policy, how do you view the new TrumpRx program that is geared to help Americans buy drugs at a lower cost?
Rep. Barry Moore:
It’s incredible. That most favored nation status is so important. Trump said himself that it wasn’t the drug companies at that point that were ripping us off, it was the other countries getting to go along with it. But he talks about all the time about that. He calls it the fat shot, where his buddy was buying in Europe for 120 bucks. And he comes to America, and it was 1,200 bucks. America was subsidizing global pharmaceuticals for other nations, and on the back of our companies, on the back of our healthcare system, on the back of our citizens. Trump, he’s a great businessman, he’s a great negotiator, but that was just an obvious thing that needed to be fixed. And I think we have to look at the health care industry and allow him to customize health care plans, to trade and buy and sell across state lines. We don’t need these monopolized health care companies controlling health care in this country; that needs to be between the patient and the physician and then when it’s called for by the physician. We don’t need them trying to get permission from the insurance companies to treat those. I support free markets. I like the idea of having people get some of their own money for health care, give them tax credits, give them a refund, whatever that looks like, so they can go out and shop those markets. We’ve got to decentralize health care in a sense that free markets drives it more than a few people making key decisions that impact people’s everyday health.
Washington Reporter:
Is there anything that you would want Congress to address, either in the health care realm or, more broadly, via another reconciliation package?
Rep. Barry Moore:
No, no. Off the top, I’d say certainly health care would be part of that, in the reconciliation package, but I don’t know that we’ll get another one. We’re cautiously optimistic, but off the top of my head, I can’t think of anything. I think that’s doing the eleven of the twelve approps bills is so important. If we can get the DHS approach across the line, I think we’re in a pretty good spot. We’ll see. There may be some things we can ask for in reconciliation, and maybe we can get it. But certainly health care needs to be addressed. And off the top of my head, that’s the only thing I think of, but since you brought it up, probably we could address in the next reconciliation.
Washington Reporter:
You mentioned the Maduro raid, which was straight out of a movie. More recently, Anthropic said that it was frustrated with the Department of War using its tools in the successful capture of Maduro. How do you weigh the relationship between governments and private industry, especially when it comes to American national security?
Rep. Barry Moore:
We have to avail our soldiers to the best technologies possible. I myself am a veteran, my brother’s a retired Marine, my son-in-law was an Army Ranger. When those guys go into those zones, whatever we can put in their hands to make them safe and allow them to accomplish the mission, whatever that looks like with the least down range damage, is crucial. And we need to get it done without risking our lives and our equipment and our soldiers. We have to avail ourselves to that kind of stuff. So sure, there might be some people who don’t think it’s a great idea, but it’s called war for a reason, and you have to go in. You have to accomplish the mission. In this case, it was just an extraction of one fellow who we had a bond on. And to me, that was more of an arrest, but still having those guys around that team to go in and do what they did as efficiently they did it, was so helpful. It’s been said that there isn’t another nation in the world that could have pulled that off, and I like it when we lead in technology, and we lead in the ability to go in and extract or do whatever that mission looks like, and do it effectively and as efficiently as possible.
Washington Reporter:
We want a military so powerful we don’t need to use it. Can you also talk about what you think Coach Tommy Tuberville’s legacy in the Senate will be?
Rep. Barry Moore:
Something that’s important to note is that I’m a member of the House Freedom Caucus, and as I’m running to replace Coach in that Senate seat, and he has a 95 Liberty score. I have a 96; we’re two of the top liberty loving conservatives in Congress currently, and filling his shoes is going to be a big lift. We’ve been able to demonstrate that we vote like him. We act like him. We certainly support the president.
Washington Reporter:
Congressman Moore, thanks as always for your time.
