Transcript of EXCLUSIVE: Rep. McIver Speaks Out after Censure Vote Fails

207 present, are two. The motion is adopted.

While the objection, the recourt consider is laid on the table. With that, the censure attempt against Congresswoman LaMonica MacGyver failed. She continues to fight, but the Republicans led by Clay Higgins and others, tried to force this vote to censure Congresswoman MacGyver. That was the moment that it failed. We have a digital exclusive with Congresswoman MacGyver. Let's bring her in right here and get an update of Everything that's going on. It's great to see you, Congresswoman, as you posted after that vote was taken. The censure attempt against me has failed. Rightfully so, it was a baseless partisan effort to shut me up. I was not elected to play political games. I was elected to serve. I won't back down. Not now, not ever. There's so much in the news, Trump floods the zone with his authoritarianism. I don't want people to forget that you showed up to conduct legitimate oversight at an immigration detention facility called Delaney Hall. You have that right as a member of Congress. And for that, they arrested you, they charged you with felonies that are still pending to this day, trying to bleed you dry when it comes to the legal fees because you were doing your job.

That was a message they were trying to send to Democratic lawmakers and anyone else who resists the Trump regime across the country. Then that was their latest effort, the Clay Hagen's MAGA Republican censure attempt. That failed. So we are honored that we got the digital exclusive. Where are things? Can you give us an update of everything that's going on, Congresswoman?

Absolutely. Well, thank you for having me. It's a pleasure to be on. I think that you captivated everything that's been happening very well. Right now, as many know, I've been charged with three counts of federal felony because of me showing up to Delaney Hall and the whole scuffle and all that happened. During that time at Delaney Hall, you know that they charged the mayor of the city of Newark, largest city in New Jersey, and then later throughout his charge, and then later on, indicted me via Twitter, is how I found out about it. And of course, since then, I pleaded not guilty, and also I have submitted a motion to dismiss these charges. And so we're looking forward to the next process, which the judge will be having a I'm going to say, like a trial about the motions that have been submitted and making a decision on those. But the trial date is also set for November 10th. And so we're pushing out the process. I have faith in the judiciary system here in New Jersey, and we're looking forward to my day in court. The facts are on my side. I showed up there to do my job, to conduct oversight, as you stated, in a ICE detention facility that is within my district.

And this is something that I've done before here in New Jersey with my other two colleagues here in New Jersey. It's nothing new. We didn't show up there to protest. We didn't show up there to have a grand stand. We showed up there to have an oversight visit of this facility that we have gotten so many complaints about. Still, to this day, this facility is very concerning and troubling. That is where we're at right now.

People know the headlines when an incident happens, captivating, grabs attention, news covers it for 24 hours. But then someone like you has to go on and live their lives with this hanging over their heads. I saw it was a magistrate judge in Washington, DC, excoriated the Trump regime in a case that was there recently and said, You're playing cops and robbers here like children, but you're leaving this indelible imprint on people's lives who you're destroying in their wake. You can't just say, Oopsies, over and over again or ask questions after you go and arrest and charge people with felonies. After the arrest, after the charges, and yes, it's back in the news right now that because the censure attempt failed, but every day, their strategy is to basically try to intimidate you and to try to force you either to accept falsely a plea or push you out of resistance and politics because this stuff is expensive. Can you talk us through what often doesn't get enough attention in this situation? What do you go through in a day to day now because of what they're doing to you?

Absolutely. Well, every day there's a challenge. I have this legal case now where I have a legal team. I have lawyers. My bill is going to be close to a million dollars in fight in this case. The federal government isn't paying for this for me. They're using taxpayer dollars to literally charge me in a baseless crime. And literally every day, I'm having to deal with the bills that are palling on from this, but also the bullying and the intimidation. Every day, it's something like with them. Before we left for recess, rep Clay Higgins, who was extremely awful, by the way, introduced this resolution, which I had it hanging over me when I left for recess to come back into district. And then when I got back, what did he do again? Reintroduced it again. This is somebody who came off of Homeland Security himself. He was not voted in as the chairman. They did not want him because he's just that awful. And someone who is honestly a complete bigot who decided to introduce this again to try to intimidate me, to bully me, because once again, I'm not shutting up about this administration. I'm not shutting down about holding this administration accountable.

And so every day you're dealing with these different attacks every day, even from MAGA supporters. I mean, you can just visit my social media and just see all of the hateful comments that I'm getting, the threats, all of these things that impact you, the threats against my family, all of these things that are like a cultivating factor of going up against this administration and me doing my job, literally, simply just for that. And so it's constant battle, right? And you have to have political coverage in this moment to continue to do the job that the people have elected you to do. And that's what I plan on doing. They're not going to intimidate me. They're not going to bully me no matter how difficult and how hard it gets. I mean, I'm facing literally 17 years in prison. This is what a judge has read to me. 17 years in prison, I can go just... This is someone without a record. I'm literally doing my job. I've never went to jail or been charged with anything ever. I've been elected official before coming to the federal side of things. I was a Councilwoman for seven and a half years and a Council President.

To be dealing with this, it's just really unreal. It's so much of a sabotage situation with them that is just really unbelievable and horrible to even be dealing with. It also speaks to a bigger picture. While they're attacking me, and we've seen other attacks happen, this is bigger than me. This is about our democracy. This is about this acting as though he is king, that he can do whatever he want, and he can use these federal departments like the DOJ and other departments to his advantage and to his benefit and weaponize them against people like me and other electeds and whoever speaks out against them.

Delaney Hall has a very notorious past. It's been opened, it's been closed, but it's been used for horrific things before. And so it was a convenient tool for the authoritarian regime to reopen, bring in the industrial private prison complex of people who aren't even government officials, per se, and engage in atrocities behind this shield that nobody even knows what the heck is going on. It's why oversight is so important What happens after that? Alligator Alcatraz, a concentration camp that we see in Florida in the Everglades. They're opening up hundreds more based on this disastrous budget bill. And what you are doing, what other Congress members have a legal right to do. The law says, you can go to a facility, show up, and they have to legally allow you in. That's your job. You're a federal officer, you're a congressional member. And you should be able to walk in and say, Let me just take a look at it. And they should escort you and see the things. And that was passed on a bipartisan basis, this idea that that could happen. So talk about the broader issue chilling oversight. And that I think this, I think going after you is part of a message to other members of Congress.

If you show up, we're going to do what we did to Congresswoman MacGyver.

Absolutely. They want to scare us out of doing our jobs. They want to scare people from having oversight, from showing up, for being critiques. And so this is the point of how they're using me as this example to be able to do that. I mean, once again, I just talked about some of the things that are discouraging, right? This is expensive, right? Members have to... I mean, so many members have taken out personal liability insurance. I mean, even myself dealing with this administration because the attacks are crazy. They're literally subpoenaing and investigating elected officials, doing all types of craziness to folks who actually stand up to them and literally do their job and hold them accountable. And so that's why I say I'm going to continue to stand up for the people. That is why the people of the Timp elected me. That's what they elected me to do. Donald Trump didn't elect me to do that. He can't stop me from doing that. And so no matter what tool they throw out there, whatever the next attack is, it's literally it doesn't matter because I'm going to continue to show up to continue to do my job.

But that is the strategy, exactly what it is to discourage people from doing their jobs.

Congresswoman, you give a lot of people hope right now. If you can fight back, I think people say they they can fight back. The fact that you don't tap out or back down, I think, gives a lot of people courage. As I look, September, October, as we head into a new year, 200 days plus into this horrific regime with atrocities and behavior that I think may exceed many people's even worst fears about what could have happened. I've been talking about momentum, actually, for the democracy movement and hope in this darkness. Do you feel that way? Because you're going through it pretty... Everybody's worst fear is what you're going through right now. And how do you feel about it in this moment?

Yeah, I definitely feel like, once again, very sad time for us in America. I mean, if this would be happening in any other country, we will be talking about how crazy it is and how the government is corrupt in all of this. And I know that it's very difficult for people. And even to see something like this happening to me, a sitting member of Congress, I know people must say, My God, all of the things that are happening in the dark, or people who are standing up, regular constituents, how they feel to do that, how scary it is. But I do find courage and hope in us bounding together, us being unified on the one thing that we love about this country, our democracy, the Constitution, the things that that we benefit from, that we love, that other countries don't have. And we see that trying to be stripped away and being stripped away in some cases every moment of the day from this administration. And I think we're all unified on that perspective, and we cannot give up right now. And I know it's very tough. I know it seems like, oh, my God, this is like some BS that's happening.

But at the end of the day, we have to do this for the country that we so love and for our children and for our children's children. And for the sake of democracy, we have to continue to be bound together and be unified in resisting this government, this administration. Donald Trump and everyone that he has appointed are bad for people. They're bad for the American people. And we have to see that. We literally feel that. We see the things that are happening from stripping away our health care, taking away Snap benefits from businesses failing and having to shut down because of I mean, all of these collective of things happening. We have to be together on this fight because it matters. Our democracy matters. If we lose that, oh, my God. If we lose our rights, our freedoms, America will never look the same. It's already starting to look different every day underneath the Donald Trump administration.

Before we go, anything else you want to message, you want to get out to our 6 million subscribers who may be watching?

I just want to, number one, thank you the opportunity for being here. I want to thank everyone who's been so supportive. A lot of us democracy lovers and fighters, we've been in this thing together, and I want to thank you all for being with me since day one and standing by my side. I want to keep encouraging people to stand up for what's right and to keep up of what is happening with me, with our case. My website is www. Lamonicafor congress. Com. We literally post there all the time and keep folks updated on how the case is going, what things are happening in Washington, DC. Just stay engaged and stay informed, and let's continue to fight. This, too, shall pass.

Thank you for joining us, Congresswoman LaMonica MacGyver. Thanks for everything you're doing, fighting for democracy. And we appreciate the example you set. And it's true heroes in this moment, and I know that you're too humble to admit it. So I'll just be the one who says it, a real hero. And you inspire us here. So thanks for everything that you do.

Thank you so much, Ben.

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