Great material this morning, with “Freedom Caucus” (aka, far-right-extremist) Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-VA09) being interviewed by Donald Trump’s former Virginia campaign chair, John Fredericks. See below for video and highlights of their discussion, with a particular focus on the Glenn Youngkin/John Reid fiasco.
First, Rep. Griffith said:
“I support the party’s nominee unless I personally know of some criminal activity that has not come to light or or that there has not yet come to justice. And that’s my position on the whole thing. I was pleased with Winsome’s statement last night; I think the governor has taken that position too. There is no legal way to get Reid out of the race – he is the nominee and only he can decide if the pathway is unwinable for him. And you know, politics can be strange, but certainly if you look at the conventional wisdom, it would be very very difficult for him to be able to win the race. And I understand the governor’s concerns, but he is the nominee and that’s where we stand, so only he can make the decision as to whether to stay in or to get out…If you think we’re going to do better with somebody from the far left, one of the crowd of six that’s running for lieutenant governor, you’re mistaken. And if you think that we don’t need that vote if in two years we can get even get a tie in the Senate, if we have the lieutenant governor that gives us a working majority in the Virginia Senate and that is huge to stopping things like the repeal of Virginia’s right to work law…”
More from Rep. Morgan Griffith:
“We have to win. Analysis would say it’s difficult for Reid to be a part of a winning team but it’s not impossible. But only he can make the decision and you know, I hope he’s doing polling, I hope somebody’s doing polling, so that we can determine with all this on the table that’s come out, true or not true, what does the public think and what would happen in the election. And there needs to be a path to victory. I don’t say it has to be a guarantee…I would suggest that John Reid needs to get very good polling data and if the other members of the ticket or the governor want to help, that’s where they could help get polling data and determine is there any way, is there a pathway to victory with Reid on the ticket…If there’s not, then he should make a decision on his own as to what’s best for our party and our conservative values. And I don’t know the answers to those questions, but as long as he’s the nominee he has my support.”
Interesting exchange between Rep. Morgan Griffith and John Fredericks regarding how this story came to light in the first place. First, Rep. Griffith argues:
“You know, and it will be debated for decades as to how the press got a hold of this. I don’t think that the governor made a mistake in raising the issue with John Reid, the problem was once it hit the press I think they were both locked into…”
Then, John Fredericks corrects Griffith:
“Bu…this didn’t leak, Morgan, I mean they released it to the press, they had their PAC release it to the press -they released it, it’s not like it internally, leaked this phone call, they made public…this was what gave me pause…And look, I don’t have the relationship with Governor Youngkin that you have, I just don’t have it, his staff doesn’t like me at all…because I backed [Pete] Snyder [for governor in 2021]…so they just ostracized me and kicked me out of their sphere of people that they talk to…But they released it to the press, I mean they’re the ones that did that and then when I said to myself okay, I mean this guy’s running for president in 2028, he’s got to go to Iowa and he’s got this great record as governor, like why would you do that? Just why would you do that? Like if it leaked, if it was a private phone call, that’s one thing…I’ve got these pictures John, we really need to have a come-to-Jesus meeting because these got the potential to sink the whole ticket and we get blown up and lose five or six seats in the house and we’re done, we’ll never get them back. We really have come-to-Jesus meeting about this, what the hell’s going on here, you know meet me at 7 am tomorrow. That’s one thing. But they made the call, told him to get out and then they didn’t leak it to the press, they went to the press. That’s what gave me pause about backing Reid to stay in the race.”
Rep. Griffith then explains how he thinks it all went down:
“…of course I wasn’t in on any of this, but I have reason to believe that there may have been two phone calls and…in between the two phone calls, the press not getting a hold of the fact that the governor called him and advised him what he was thinking, but that in between the two phone calls – and I have reason to believe, I’m not going to say it’s fact – I have reason to believe there were two phone calls. And it was only after the press had the pictures, that the second phone call was made where the governor then made a stronger request that he leave the race.”
Innnnnteresting.
John Fredericks:
“The other thing is, when John Reid first came to me and said he was running for, he was thinking about running for lieutenant governor…I remember telling him ‘Look you’re a colleague, I’m going to back you obviously, you’re a friend of mine, John, but the problem is you know you’re just not going to get any votes in Southwest Virginia, I don’t care what you say or what you do, there’s a contingent down there that’s just not going to vote for you, that’s why they kicked out Riggleman, I mean they’re just not going to vote for you. So you got to do your math and see how you’re going to win with giving up an entire constituency because they’re not voting for you dude no matter what…”
Rep. Griffith:
“…the worst case scenario...nobody’s alleged that John Reid was doing this to make money, the delegate [candidate Susanna Gibson] was doing that as a part of her income…that was…one of the ways they made money, that’s a big difference…In all fairness, I don’t like the fact that there are pictures, Reid has denied that that’s the case; there are other things that I would disagree with him on. But there’s a completely different analysis between the House of Delegates candidate that as a part of her income stream was involved in actual sex acts on video, that’s a little bit different than what we’re seeing here, like it or dislike it, the two are not comparable.
John Fredericks:
“Look, John Reid has a right to do what he wants. He’s going to be hosting my show tomorrow for four hours, hopefully he’ll have you on as a guest, and then he comes back and he does it again on May 7th. So I’m giving the guy eight hours of airtime and he’s not talking to me now, so he stopped talking to me…It is what it is, I’m a nice guy, I got a right to my opinion, he has his, so it’s all good… Youngkin’s staff hates me, it doesn’t mean that I hate them, right, I’m not a hater, I just do my job, it is what it is, it’s all good.”
Yeah, unfortunately a LOT of political operations are like this – they hold grudges, ostracize you if you’re not 100% “loyal” to them, mostly just talk to people who don’t cross them in whatever ways, etc. It’s pathetic, but it’s political reality…with both Republicans and Democrats.
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