INTERVIEW: Rep. Jimmy Patronis talks Biden’s cognitive ability as GOP investigates Dems’ greatest scandal

THE LOWDOWN:

• As the GOP delves into the Democratic cover-up of President Joe Biden’s cognitive ability, and the Senate Democrats skip the hearing on the subject, Republican Rep. Jimmy Patronis is keeping the drumbeat up.

• “What I'm concerned about is that there was a number of executive orders, including pardons, that were executed by somebody,” Patronis said. “Now the revelation has come forward where the autopen was probably used in a fashion maybe a little more liberally than is typical, considering how that instrument can be interpreted as a legal liability.”

• Patronis explained why he wants a Select Committee to “be a one-time investigation, do its duty, and then sunset.”

• As for how President Donald Trump stacks up to his predecessor in the attentiveness category, Patronis said that the current president’s response to the Category Five storm Hurricane Michael was something he wouldn’t have seen from the Biden administration.

As the GOP delves into the Democratic cover-up of former President Biden’s cognitive ability, and the Senate Democrats skip the hearing on the subject, Republican Rep. Jimmy Patronis (R., Fla.) is keeping the drumbeat up.

The Washington Reporter spoke with Patronis and he explained exactly why the investigation needs to continue.

“What I'm concerned about is that there was a number of executive orders, including pardons, that were executed by somebody,” Patronis said. “Now the revelation has come forward where the autopen was probably used in a fashion maybe a little more liberally than is typical, considering how that instrument can be interpreted as a legal liability.”

“But if this was being operated without the president's knowledge because of any of a number of reasons, I think it's very important to verify the validity of those actions on behalf of the White House, of that office, and that includes executive orders and pardons,” he continued.

“But then if there is any type of a cover-up, then I do believe that transparency is the absolute best form of clarity and way to earn the trust of the public,” Patronis added.

The select committee Patronis wants to create would “be a one-time investigation, do its duty, and then sunset,” and he noted that he “could see where [Democrats] would feel like this is partisan in nature.”

“I do think that the presidency is too important,” Patronis explained. “If we truly did have an individual occupy the Executive Office of the White House, the premier leader of the free world, who was not truly cognizant of everything that was taking place, then I think we had some real problems.”

“Even his own press secretary, who was a mouthpiece for him for at least the last two years, has dropped her affiliation with the Democratic Party and gone independent,” he continued, referencing former White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. “I mean, look, when there's that much smoke, there's going to be some fire, is what it is.”

As for how President Donald Trump stacks up to his predecessor in the attentiveness category, Patronis said that the current president’s response to the Category Five storm Hurricane Michael was something he wouldn’t have seen from the Biden administration.

“When you had Hurricane Michael, a Category Five storm, devastate Northwest Florida, it was the largest Category Five storm, and it was the largest period of time that the country had gone through without actions on behalf of Congress,” Patronis said. “And I remember that about five months afterward, I had a press conference at the Capitol, expecting Congress to do something about it.”

“And that was like on a Wednesday. That following Friday, Rick Scott calls. On Monday, Rick Scott is boots on the ground and in Panama City,” he explained. “A week afterwards, Rick Scott and Marco Rubio and Neal Dunn, our congressional delegation had President Trump in Panama City. To be able to have that type of request and a call for action and to see the sitting President of the United States, fewer than two weeks later, show up, and then you have the type of resources that create the recovery process to get spun up. I tell people that after a hurricane, once the TV cameras are gone, people forget about the payments, everything.”

“Right now, you're still seeing where insurance is doing its thing and trying to pay the obligations that it has,” Patronis added. “But in some cases you've got to have federal actions and I just really never saw the type of response of the Biden administration like I saw out of Trump administration.”

Below is a transcript of our interview with Rep. Jimmy Patronis, lightly edited for clarity.

Washington Reporter:

President Joe Biden is enjoying retirement, giving some speeches every now and again. Why is it important for you now to get to the bottom of this, even though he's no longer president?

Rep. Jimmy Patronis:

What I'm concerned about is that there was a number of executive orders, including pardons, that were executed by somebody. Now the revelation has come forward where the auto pen was probably used in a fashion maybe a little more liberally than is typical, considering how that instrument can be interpreted as a legal liability. But if this was being operated without the president's knowledge because of any of a number of reasons, I think it's very important to verify the validity of those actions on behalf of the White House, of that office, and that includes executive orders and pardons. But then if there is any type of a cover up, then I do believe that transparency is the absolute best form of clarity and way to earn the trust of the public. So this is why we started the dialog, and then we didn’t need to reinvent the wheel. I took the exact same architecture from the January 6 Select Committee and used it to move forward and I want it to be a bipartisan committee with expectations of six Democrats and eight Republicans.

Washington Reporter:

There are plenty of committees in Congress. Why would this be a select committee instead of a subcommittee? What special powers does that have in terms of allowing you to unearth new findings?

Rep. Jimmy Patronis:

This is a committee that will be a one time investigation, do its duty, and then sunset. I’m not trying to create a new standing committee or anything that would be a repeat fashion, but I think there are just some very interesting facts that have come to light over the last several months that have raised a lot of concern. And look, at the end of the day, maybe there's nothing there to worry about. And that's not necessarily a bad thing to me. That would be a good thing, that we flush out all the conspiracy theories, we flush out all the rumors, and we verify that the Joe Biden who was in the office for the last four years was fully cognizant of all the decisions that were made on his behalf while he was in office.

Washington Reporter:

We are seeing that at least some of your Democratic colleagues are starting to come to grips with how out of it Biden was. Do you think that they would be willing to actually fill those slots on this select committee with you?

Rep. Jimmy Patronis:

I could see where they would feel like this is partisan in nature. But I do think that the presidency is too important. If we truly did have an individual occupy the Executive Office of the White House, the premier leader of the free world, who was not truly cognizant of everything that was taking place, then I think we had some real problems. Even his own Press Secretary, who was a mouthpiece for him for the last least two years, has dropped her affiliation with the Democratic Party and gone independent. I mean, look, when there's that much smoke, there's going to be some fire, is what it is.

Washington Reporter:

I'm sure you don't want to prejudge what conclusions you could reach here, but put yourself in Biden's shoes and in his team's shoes. We've seen that they would rely on the auto pen, even when Biden could have been physically there. Why on earth do you think that that would have been, in their eyes, a justifiable move for for high level things, not for the Christmas cards and that sort of thing?

Rep. Jimmy Patronis:

Even if we look at the most recent round of pardons, the one example that really comes back in that most recent round of pardons, and you look at the signature of the pardon, there is a significant discretion that the president's probably one of the most powerful powers that that he has installed in that office by the citizens the United States. And you look at the signatures that he had for J6 and for all these other pardons that he had given, the one for his son, they’re totally different signatures, but the other four were identical. If Biden just used the autopen on that, just come out and make that clear. But where there's that much smoke, there's gonna be some fire, and as we've seen by his own former staffers coming out, this administration had some real challenges doing the business of the people while he was in office.

Washington Reporter:

Who would you be most eager to hear from of those former staffers? Who do you feel like would have the most insight into the answers that you're looking for?

Rep. Jimmy Patronis:

The Chief of Staff is critical, but I almost think it's going to be a degree of separation from the chief of staff, like those that benefited most from having that type of discretion over the president's authority, the president’s powers, they're the ones that I think would probably be ones most uncomfortable or finding some type of a legal way not to appear before Congress to answer those questions. But the one offs, those that are the degree of separation from those who had intimate or daily engagement with president are the ones who are gonna have the most to offer. There are staffers that I know of who have brought things to light. I don't necessarily need to reveal names, but there are staffers who had questioned the ability the president at one time or another. The administration of that office is too important to leave to a team. This individual was elected to office, he needed to be fully cognizant of his abilities, his responsibilities, and this might lead us to question why wasn't the 25th Amendment used? This is the same guy who did not run for reelection. And look, we really fully came to the full understanding of why he did not run for reelection, in part because he probably didn't have the ability to pull off another another race. So then could he really pull off the responsibilities of the White House?

Washington Reporter:

You were just talking about some of the most controversial pardons, like Anthony Fauci, Hunter Biden and others, as well as the controversial clemencies. To me, the most significant of those are the 37 death row commutations, leaving the three politically toxic ones still on death row. Depending on what you find, is there any way that those could be reversed?

Rep. Jimmy Patronis:

That's a very good question. You've got President Trump who has already alluded to trying to rescind some of these. Now, can a president reverse a pardon of a previous president? Can a president write a pardon for future crimes? And this is the question that was extraordinarily, probably the case with Hunter Biden, is it was almost a pardon for way in the past and way into the future, and I get that a father's love knows no bounds. I'm sure he wanted to have whatever safeguards in place. And even by Hunter’s own admission, the guy had some demons. But can Trump unwind those? I think you cross into unknown territory, because then what type of Pandora's box are you going to have moving forward? I think the investigation will bring out some details that will ultimately help craft policy that could affect future administrations, which is not a bad thing. The statutes of the United States are living, breathing documents, and if they need to change based on the times, based on circumstances, based on the abuses of the Executive Office of the President, then there need to be new guardrails put in place.

Washington Reporter:

Is looking at the presidential pardon power itself something that you feel like could be necessary, depending on what you find here, or even based on what you've already seen with how Biden was handing these out like candy on Halloween?

Rep. Jimmy Patronis:

I don't know if I want to say that that takes somebody challenge that in a court of law and taking it to the Supreme Court. Then there would be a ruling of the interpretation of what the true power of the pardon is. I like to remind people that the states created the federal government, they created local government, and it's no different than what we've got with Congress. Congress crafted the language that created the structure and boundaries of the executive office and the judicial branch. So this goes back to our Congress. Here's the report came out with. Are you prepared to act upon these or do we feel the circumstances currently, right now, truly justify a change in the laws, I think that debate comes down to also the public sentiment. Transparency is the absolute best disinfectant. We're the most documented society ever in history. Whether you look at our cell phones or emails or texts or voicemails, there's so much available at our fingertips via technology to have a better grasp of what the hell was going on over the last four years, and this is exactly why I feel like it should be brought to light. Am I delving into a subject area that in the past? Yes, I am, but I am concerned, because even if laws were broken in the past, that's a problem, because the laws were still broken.

Washington Reporter:

Prior to your time in Congress, obviously while Biden was president, you were serving as the CFO of Florida, a state that has no shortage of natural disasters. How did you interact with the Biden White House in that capacity? Did you experience any of this firsthand from the role you had prior to your time in Congress that made you want to do this?

Rep. Jimmy Patronis:

Yes, in that role I had a lot to do when it comes to hurricanes, whether it be our urban search and rescue teams, whether it be our insurance fraud or investigations, the recovery that takes place and the role that FEMA plays. From the role of my office directly, we expected assistance from the federal government. I'm going to call it what it is. There's a reason why they call these events disasters. They never go smoothly, okay? People sometimes don't understand what the true mission of FEMA is, and this is why I appreciate the leadership of what Governor DeSantis did, especially when President Trump was there. Back then, there was a lean forward appetite in the Trump administration that directly affected me because of Hurricane Michael in my hometown where I grew up. I definitely think leadership counts. Over the last four years, we did not have a president who was as hands on as this country deserved. And I think that is a direct reflection of how he did not have the ability to be that hands on. And because of that, that’s what helped trigger my interest in getting to the bottom of how that office was operating and what else was done that could have potentially been against the law or not in the best interests of how the office had been used.

Washington Reporter:

You were endorsed by Trump in your most recent campaign. How would you contrast his levels of attentiveness with that of his predecessor?

Rep. Jimmy Patronis:

When you had Hurricane Michael, a Category Five storm, devastate Northwest Florida, it was the largest cat five storm, and it was the largest period of time that the country had gone through without actions on behalf of Congress. And I remember that about five months afterwards, I had a press conference at the Capitol, expecting Congress to do something about it. And that was like on a Wednesday. That following Friday, Rick Scott calls. On Monday, Rick Scott is boots on the ground and in Panama City. A week afterwards, Rick Scott and Marco Rubio and Neal Dunn, our congressional delegation had President Trump in Panama City. To be able to have that type of request and a call for action and to see the sitting President of the United States, fewer than two weeks later, show up, and then you have the type of resources that create the recovery process to get spun up. I tell people that after a hurricane, once the TV cameras are gone, people forget about the payments, everything. There are still parts of North Carolina that you can't even access. Part of the slippery slope is, ‘okay, you've got North Carolina and Georgia,’ but then you have the finger point. ‘Okay, so if we're going to do something for North Carolina and Georgia, that means we're going to also deal with the California wildfires.’ You kind of then wonder, when do we have enough money? Is insurance maxed out? Right now, you're still seeing where insurance is doing its thing and trying to pay the obligations that it has. But in some cases you've got to have federal actions and I just really never saw the type of response of the Biden administration like I saw out of Trump administration.

Washington Reporter:

What do you think about the press here? Now, obviously, that doesn't directly deal with what you're working on with this, but the cover up, I think, wouldn't be possible without a complicit press corps. So I'm curious how that factors into your work on this?

Rep. Jimmy Patronis:

I think you, unfortunately, hit the nail on the head. Let me back up a minute. I get elected, and I turn on TV and look on TV, whether it’s Newsmax or Fox News, or the Sunday morning news shows, or even CNN, they talk about Washington probably 75 percent of the day, unless there's something else that's significant. So until I got here, I don't think I realized how much of a subject we were on the day to day. Of course, the information released out of a president's office is the most powerful and consumes the most bandwidth on each one of these networks when it posts something. For those four years, you’ve got a Democratic Party-controlled White House and a Democratic Press Secretary in place. These men and women have to have content. They've got to produce a show every single day. They’ve got to write stories every single day. If they don't have access to the principal or the principal's folks, then they don't have anything to make make a living off of so I think there was an enormous amount of sympathy given in order to constantly have a freeflowing stream of information to create content. Now, what you've got is a total 180 degree turn with Trump. President Trump has been dragging the press everywhere. How many press conference did he have in his first 100 days inside the Oval Office and open mics, and questions? And then when somebody got on the line and was disrespectful, he said ‘I'm not going to put up with you. You can’t talk to me that way.’ And then he bans them. I'm sure they will do everything possible try to get back in the president's good graces, but they did not have that type of unfettered exit access to Biden like what Trump has provided. The last administration kind of starved the media for access. And as soon as anybody would have crossed Karine Jean-Pierre or anybody in the previous administration, they would have been left out of getting any content. I do think that there was complicity with the mainstream media, with the way they the way they portrayed Biden in the public light. That was long answer, but it's an important subject.

Washington Reporter:

We’ll leave that up to them. Congressman, thanks for chatting.