Welcome to straight talk,
Joe Ken. Nice to have you here.
Thanks so much for having me
tell us what the pivotal moment was that
convinced you to run against another
Republican congresswoman Herrera Butler.
The incumbent in the primary.
Yeah, so really it was the
aftermath of the 2020 election.
I had major issues with the
way the election was handled.
I felt there was a good
deal of evidence of fraud.
So when Jamie, her Butler,
voted to certify the election of 2020,
I had major reservations.
And then when she voted for the
impeachment of President Trump
after the riot on January 6th,
I realized that she was not capable
of defending our district and really
our nation against the onslaught
of what the the radical left is
doing to our country right now.
And so I didn't see any other
Republicans stepping forward.
They go and challenger.
I had never intended on running
for office before,
but I fought for this country for 20 years.
Lost many friends,
lost my late wife in this fight.
Worked heavily on the Trump 2020 campaign,
so I believed in the America First agenda.
And so I I looked around and I said,
well,
if I don't go do this and I
feel like no one else will.
So that's what really got me into the fight.
Well, for her part, Herrera Butler
said the former president acted
against his oath of office by
inciting the riot on January 6th to
try to halt the peaceful transfer
of power and then for hours.
He failed to stop the violence
and she stands by that vote.
I hope you get a chance
to talk to her because the
people in the district have hardly heard
from her since the January 6th vote,
so I would love to see the evidence
that she has that indicates that
everything that we've seen so far,
especially President Trump's
public statements that day.
There was no incitement of violence.
President Trump actually requested
there to be additional forces deployed
to the capital to deal with the
potential for violence on January
6th because there was intelligence.
The federal government did have a
an understanding that there could
be violence on January 6th yet.
No preventative measures were
taken leading up to the January
6th Riot taking place.
The the perimeter of the of the
capital wasn't hardened whatsoever,
even after the pipe bombs were discovered.
So right now we have a lack of information.
We know exactly what President Trump
and everyone in his administration
was doing before the riot after
the riot during the riot.
We don't know what the intelligence
was leading up to January 6.
We don't know what the authorities
were doing.
We don't know what the Capitol police,
the Sergeant at arms and a bunch of
other federal agencies were doing so.
That's what remains to be seen.
That's what needs to still come to light.
Well, there's been a lot
of committee hearings.
As you know, this summer 18,
at least, live witnesses,
scores and videotaped depositions.
Documentary evidence.
The January 6th committee hearings
have indicated Donald Trump did set the
nation on a path to violence that day.
He watched on TV and did nothing
for 187 minutes more than three
hours to call off the mob.
Attacking the capitol.
Did he do enough to to stop the violence
that was happening at the Capitol?
Absolutely. President Trump
requested additional forces be
deployed to the capital that day,
and as the as the events were taking place,
it's very unreasonable.
I spent a lot of time in high
risk combat like situations.
It's ridiculous to think that a
commanding officer general who's
not directly on the scene can
start directing traffic somehow.
That's up to the tactical
commanders on the ground,
and Trump had done what a
responsible leader supposed to do.
He gave them the resources
that they needed on that day.
He said they should have had
even more resources on that day.
So the the blame for what happened on
January 6 isn't with the commander-in-chief.
What the January 6th Partisan Witch
Hunt Committee is doing right now is
they're just trying to make it so that
President Trump can't run for reelection.
They're also trying to take out
people that are part of the America
first movement that are organizing
folks at the grassroots level,
such as Steve Mannon.
So really,
this is just a partisan witch hunt,
and I think every American should
be really alarmed at the way that
our national security state has been
weaponized against one political party.
We've seen this since January.
Next,
the way that many have been
detained after January 6 deprived
of their constitutional rights.
And now we're even seeing parents who
show up to school board meetings.
They're being targeted by the
FBI counterterrorism center.
I worked in the intelligence community
we actually need patriots that
are going to defend our country,
but we can't have our intelligence
services and our law enforcement.
So don't you turned into a pretorian,
don't you think the president should
have stopped the violence sooner?
I mean, waiting 187 minutes to address
the nation and then he had a wink and
a nod at those that were storming
the capital by saying I love you.
I think you're special, indicating
that he supported what they were doing.
Is that really what the commander-in-chief
should have done is that putting America
first when the capital is being stormed,
violence is happening.
Lawmakers staffers lives are
being put at risk.
People were hurt, some were killed.
Well, the premise there is that
President Trump could have somehow
gotten on Twitter or done something that
would have stopped a riot in place.
So I reject that entire premise.
President Trump was allowing commanders
on the ground to make decisions.
This is far below his level.
And then when everything had cleared,
President Trump did put out a
statement and he he said, hey,
I hope everybody goes home.
So none of this is on President Trump.
The fact that the perimeter
wasn't hardened is a major issue.
Another major issue is what
happened with the election of 2020?
Why were all those people in Washington DC?
And why can't we have very
basic questions answered,
not just talk
about that? Do you think do you think
that President Biden won the election?
No, I don't.
I believe it was rigged and stolen.
I'm happy with I'm I feel fine
saying that and I want to be able
to lay out all the evidence of fraud
in a venue and we're going to use
the floor of Congress to do that.
In January of 2020 already been
going to lay out every single.
Well, there's already been a multitude
of evidence that the election was
legitimate from the courts to even former
President Trump's own administration,
including Attorney General William Barr,
his Homeland Security Department all have
said there is no evidence there was election
fraud that would have changed the results.
That it was the most secure election in U.S.
history.
What evidence do you have that it wasn't?
And why would you want to go through
all that again when it's already
been through the courts and decided?
We have plenty of evidence about level fraud.
The problem is, none of it has ever
been given a venue for adjudication.
All of the courts that have refused
to hear the cases they haven't let
us actually lay out the evidence the
the administration officials who were
saying this is a fair and free election.
They have refused to go back and actually do
their job because they're absolute cowards.
What we need to do is we need to
just lay out every bit of evidence
of fraud or discrepancies.
Talking about national change of
voter address databases in Georgia,
all the consent decrees that
were violated in Pennsylvania.
Courts are on our side on that one,
Wisconsin's moving to decertification
because of the fraud,
weight rate with permanently confined folks.
The full forensic audit down
in Maricopa County, Arizona.
With the ballots that were out of
chain of custody and not to mention
the fact that no one down there in
Arizona had the administrative password.
So let me jump in here.
Let's move on. We don't have a
lot of times we want to move on
to another question and we can
talk more about the vote later.
But there have been some questions
raised by your opponents about your
association with white nationalist.
Your next Fuentes and they said you
had a conversation with him about
working together and him helping
you with your social media strategy
and and getting more followers.
Is that true?
That's just an attack by my opponent,
so when I first announced I
was going to run for Congress,
I had a wide range of consultants that
reached out to me and offered their services.
I did speak with Nick once he
talked about doing things with
social media and I just assumed
that he was a another consultant.
I know no idea who who for test was
or any of the controversy around him,
so that's that's the extent
of our association.
I know one of my opponents, you know,
attempted to link us together,
and then since then Fuentes
has been attacking me.
His goon squad even shows up to
many of my events to say that.
You know, I'm not enough of a white
nationalist or something like that.
I'm not a white nationalist at all.
I'm an America first candidate.
I'm fighting for every single American
of every race, every single creed.
If you're an American citizen,
our movement is about embracing
you and about fighting for you.
Well, he he did say that you had told him
that you love what he is doing and and
it sounds like you're disavowing that.
But now this week,
there's a New York Times report.
As you mentioned,
citing the Southern Poverty Law Center
that Fuentes has turned on you,
and he now says you are a deep state
denizen yourself and I've seen.
Bumper stickers around Vancouver that
say Joe Kent is CIA and you were once
a CIA employee and they point people
to a website that says you are an
agent of the deep state, are you?
This is how credible these
these Internet types are.
I mean they they think I'm part of
some conspiracy to I don't know,
subvert Washington state I.
I don't know what the full extent of it is,
but no, I I worked in the CIA as a
paramilitary operations officer for a
year after I retired from the military.
I intend on making that my my second career.
I've been very upfront about
my service there.
But yeah, as far as this being
part of some great deep state
plot that sorry to disappoint all
the Q Anon Fuentes front fans.
Do you know who's behind that website?
I don't, I mean really.
I'm I'm getting a good deal of
Flack because I'm in the lead in
all of the independent polling,
so I get Flack from the the
right wing establishment.
I get Flack from the far left and
I think that there is a a group
there that has a decent amount of
funding and a decent amount of
traction on the Internet with the
the Nick Fuentes wing that that
wants to see me go away as well.
But really they're only supporting
the Republican establishment by going
after America first candidates.
It just it shows who they answer to,
which apparently is the Republican
establishment.
Their Conservative opponent,
who we will hear from later Heidi Saint John,
said, you're not a true conservative.
You are a registered Democrat in
Multnomah County in 2020 and you voted,
as you have said, for Bernie Sanders
in the primary is is that true?
And if so, why?
Yeah, I voted for Bernie Sanders in the
2020 primary after my late wife was killed
I I moved back to Portland briefly.
I grew up in Portland left in 98,
but I moved back briefly to get
my kids closer to my family,
but I was already working on the
Trump 2020 campaign and there was
no Republican primary in 2020.
So my goal was to get the Democrat
that could not win in a general
election into the general election.
And that was Bernie Sanders.
I don't think the Democrats could
have stolen enough ballots to get
Bernie Sanders across the finish line,
so I registered as a Democrat
and voted for Bernie.
In the general and I'm sorry in the
primary in 2020 and then in the general,
I voted for President Trump.
Well, Saint John calls that excuse,
disingenuous, trying to cause a little
bit of chaos and in the election she
asked if you are a true conservative,
shouldn't you be true to your roots
and have a record of conservatism?
She calls you an opportunist.
Yeah, as far as I, as long as
I've been in the public light,
which I understand hasn't been very long,
I was in the military.
But prior to that.
But I've been speaking out on behalf of
President Trump's America first foreign
policy long before I ever ran for office.
So all of 2020 I was doing everything I
could to get President Trump reelected,
and my so-called conservative opponents
were doing absolutely nothing to get
President Trump reelected in 2020,
including so-called influencers like Howdy
Saint John and then obviously Jamie Herrera.
Butler was doing nothing to try
and get President Trump.
I like that she was actively
working against him,
so as long as I've been in the public
light I have been doing everything I
can to push forward the America First
Agenda a prior to that I always voted
Republican in general elections after
the Bush era I became Ron Paul Guy
and then in 2008 when Rush Limbaugh
talked about Operation Chaos I I would
register occasionally as a Democrat
to push forward weak Democrats.
But in general elections I would
always vote Republican
if elected to represent the
people of Southwest Washington's
third Congressional District.
What? Would be your top priority.
The temporary when we take power
back in 2023 January of 2023,
we are going to stop the Biden
administration dead in its tracks.
We're going to do that by impeaching
Joe Biden, impeaching Kamala Harris.
We're going to tell the Biden administration
very plainly that we will not sign
off on the federal budget until they
reverse all of their energy policies.
The American people are being absolutely
throttled right now by inflation,
and the price of the pump.
That's all self-inflicted.
Biden made that happen by
killing off the Keystone XL.
So now we're in a very plainly say to him
if he's going to choke the American people.
The gas pump.
You'll choke off funding
from the federal budget.
We're entering every committee
into an oversight committee.
We're in adjudicate the
election that we spoke about.
We're going to hold
Anthony Fauci accountable.
We're going to hold the
Department of the DHS,
the Border Patrol.
We're going to hold them accountable
for leaving our border wide open.
We're going to go after Mayorkas.
We're going to go after AG Garland
for all of the encroachments on
our rights and the Department of
Justice is conducting right now,
and we are going to kill off everything
to the Biden administration wants
to do until we can get Joe Biden and
Kamala Harris and this corrupt regime.
Out of power, obstruction,
impeachment,
and congressional oversight is
what we're doing going forward
in 23 until Biden's removed
a lot of people have seen the TV ads,
some of from you, some from Jamie
Herrera Butler about Social Security.
You and Congresswoman Jamie Herrera
Butler disagree on what to do about
Social Security and keeping it solvent.
She's accused you of wanting to cut benefits.
What is your proposal?
So with Jamie Herrera,
Butler's current plan Social Security
will more than likely go insolvent
within the next 7 to 8 years,
and that will be a 25% pay cut for
everyone on Social Security right now.
So to preserve Social Security,
what I want to do is I want to start
seizing assets from the Chinese
Communist Party here in America.
China owes us reparations for COVID.
We can use those funds to
make Social Security solvent.
Once again we also have to cut off access
to Social Security for illegal immigrants.
Jamie Herrera Butler refuses to sign.
On to legislation that would
prevent illegal immigrants from
accessing our Social Security system.
Jamie has also voted for amnesty for
illegal immigrants every time it's
been on the docket to include most
recently about a week ago with the
National Defense Authorization Act.
So Jamie's plan will have us
give Social Security a 25% cut.
I don't want to touch anyone's benefits
that are on Social Security right
now or approaching retirement age.
I also think for people that
are my age or younger.
I'm 42,
we have to realize and recognize
that the the the social
contract that our parents have,
Social Security.
It's not going to exist for us so we
have to start coming up with solutions.
A privatized,
high interest tax free savings plan
that's managed on on the private
sector on Wall Street like a 401K plan
is a is a much better option for a
blended option for Social Security.
What age would you raise?
Raise the retirement age 2 and at
what point would that kick in?
For what age group now?
I think this is something we have to
have a a national discussion about,
but this is this pertains to people
that are my age and younger.
So Gen X the Millennials and Gen Z.
We have to realize that there's
an inverted curve right there.
Inverted pyramid right now where you have
all the baby boomers retiring and this
system simply not going to exist for us.
The system is also based on
people having a much shorter life
expectancy than we have right now.
So I I think if the national
conversation about it I I think we look
at something like closer to the 70s
as opposed to what it is right now.
But I don't have a hard number for that,
but I think that is something that
we definitely have to discuss and
I think having a blended plan we're
not 100% reliant on government Social
Security where people have an option
of investing in the private sector.
I think that's going to give us a lot
more flexibility for the younger generations,
but just to be perfectly clear,
if you're on Social Security right now,
or you're approaching Social Security age,
I do not want to touch your plan.
You you are owed that money you
bought into the system.
It's the younger generations we're going
to have to figure something else out.
This is top of mind for a lot of
people right now. Do you support?
The Supreme Court decision that
overturned Roe V Wade a woman's
right to have an abortion.
Yes, I 100% support Roe
versus Wade being overturned.
I would. I would move to have
a national ban on abortions.
I believe life begins at conception I.
I think we have to have a pro-life
culture in our country that takes
care of women who are pregnant,
who might not necessarily want
the baby that takes care of the
women throughout the pregnancy
and then takes care of the child
revamping how adoptions are handled.
I think we have a great opportunity
right now to really lead the way globally
and become a truly pro-life country.
That takes care of life from conception,
you know,
until a child becomes a young adult,
the state of Washington has laws
that protect a right to an abortion.
Would you want to see those
overturned in Washington state?
Yes, I would.
Yeah life begins at conception and I,
I think that the federal government
should outlaw it in in all the states.
I don't think I I don't think states
should be able to sanction killing the
unborn for right now the way it is,
what with it being a A states rights issue.
That's a good temporary victory.
So what I would do from the congressional
perspective is I would ensure that
not one penny of federal money goes
to funding abortions whatsoever.
This is why I'm so critical of
Jamie Herrera Butler, Jamie Herrera,
Butler Wall.
Claiming that she's pro-life has given
$1.5 billion to Planned Parenthood,
the number one killer of the unborn,
and then also the folks that are
pushing the comprehensive groomer sex
education on our children in our schools.
Running out of time, but I wanted
to give you about 30 seconds for
a final thought that you'd like to
leave with voters before the primary.
Yeah, absolutely.
We we have a choice to make.
I never thought that I
would get into politics.
I spent my life fighting for
this country over over 20 years
in special operations and right
now our country is being taken
over and we cannot be defended by
Republicans like Jamie Herrera Butler.
I am the only Republican who has
the endorsement of President Trump.
I'm the only Republican who
has a pathway to victory.
That's why the establishment and so many
other forces are coming after me right now.
So I'd encourage people
to do their own homework.
Come to one of my events.
I'm doing rallies and town
halls every night of the week.
Right now in the election,
go to joekentforcongress.com to find those.
Also, my number is in the voters pamphlet.
If you call, I will answer.
Thank you very much.
God bless
and one final quick question.
Do you think that Donald Trump
will come campaign for you if
you make it into the top 2 going
into the general election?
Like he just did a telephonic
town hall for us. Uh, last night.
President Trump is a great supporter of mine.
I really appreciate his support so
hopefully we can get him out here.
For for a rally I I think
that's definitely a potential
Joe Ken. Thank you for joining
us here on straight talk.
Thank you very much.