Rep. Trey Gowdy slams ObamaCare architect's comments
Jonathan Gruber claims 'lack of transparency' helped pass law
This is a rush transcript from "The Kelly File," November 11, 2014. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
MEGYN KELLY, HOST: Joining me now, Republican South Carolina Congressman Trey Gowdy, who is a member of the House Oversight Committee and the Judiciary Committee.
Congressman, good to see you tonight. Your reaction to that?
REP. TREY GOWDY, R-S.C.: Well, Happy Veterans Day, Megyn. I can't get past the irony to even get to the arrogance. The most transparent administration since the continent shifted, had to rely on artifice and deception to pass its signature piece of legislation. You can't make that up. He had to lie to people and then he justified it, so I can't even get past the irony of that to even get to the arrogance of him calling our fellow citizens stupid.
KELLY: You are a former prosecutor. You're great in a courtroom. Have you ever -- I mean, this is smoking gun. I mean, this is the smoking gun piece of evidence -- I mean, for years now the American public has disliked the law, has complained that they felt it was crammed down their throats, that there was dishonesty in the process, that they were not told the full story, and now you've got the chief architect of the law, one of them on camera saying, yes, we had to lie because you are too dumb to know what's good for you.
GOWDY: Yes, it's really serious in a participatory democracy when you tell your fellow citizens that you are either not smart enough to understand the truth or we can't tell you the truth because you wouldn't go along with it. Well if you wouldn't go along with it, maybe you shouldn't pass the law. It's not the responsibility of your viewers to read thousand page bills. Hell, the people who voted on it didn't read it before they voted on it. So, it's not my fellow citizens' responsibility to read this bill.
I would say this to the professor, put down the cognac and the lost writings of J.D. Salinger, you want to see how stupid our fellow citizens are, take a look at last Tuesday night. Because they rejected you, this bill and this administration.
KELLY: They bounced out 28 senators who voted in favor of this law. And yet Mr. Gruber thinks that the American public is stupid. And yet they're smarter than he thinks because they doubted his assertions at the time. They have doubted them ever since. So despite his effort to pull the wool over their eyes, they've been on to these deceptions for a long, long time. This law has never had the majority support of the American people. And yet it is on the books. They are stuck with it. And now people want to come out and say, "It doesn't matter what Mr. Gruber said. All that matters is that we have this wonderful law that people should love and, if they don't, well, it's because, as we told you, they're stupid."
GOWDY: Well, I would hope my fellow citizens would keep this in mind and the next time anybody tries to sell them a, quote, "Comprehensive piece of legislation," whether it's Dodd/Frank or whether it's the immigration bill the president so desperately wants. Comprehensive is Latin for "there's lots of bad stuff in here." And he just proved that he is willing to lie, he's willing to lie because he has the arrogance of thinking that he knows what is best for this country and the citizens and the voters do not. So keep that in mind the next time anybody tries to sell you on a big piece of legislation by calling it comprehensive.
KELLY: Do you think the White House needs to speak to this now? I mean, we went through the number of contacts he had, personally chairing, the president did, a meeting with him, that touting him as an objective analyst, credible, unbiased, compelling, his Senate testimony. He was presented to us as an honest broker by the administration.
GOWDY: I would love for the president, whom I saw in his purple jacket over in China, to repudiate what this guy -- I mean, there's an insult, he insulted the very people, frankly, who put the president in office twice. So, I would love to hear somebody other than Josh Earnest apologize for what this professor said. But honestly, at this point, Megyn, what difference does it make? I mean, we have the law. If we were sold a false bill of goods, it's going back to court. And they're laughing all the way to the bank because they lied, they got away with it and they got the bill that they wanted. So, my fellow citizens have to keep in mind, fool me once, shame on you, ever fool me again, shame on us.
KELLY: Congressman Trey Gowdy. Before I let you go, what's happening with Benghazi?
GOWDY: We have a very robust investigative plan that will kick off in December, and Megyn, I can tell you, my goal was to have an investigation, where witnesses who had never been talked to before felt comfortable coming forward because of the seriousness of our investigation and that's precisely what is happening. So, it is not with a lot of fanfare and there aren't a lot of public hearings, but trust me when I tell you we are making tremendous progress.
KELLY: Thank you, sir. Good to see you.
GOWDY: Yes, ma'am. Happy early birthday.
KELLY: Thank you very much.
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