'You Need Money From Elon Musk!': Nigel Farage And Hank Johnson Have Brutal Interchange In Hearing

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At today's House Judiciary Committee hearing, Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA) questioned UK PM Nigel Farage about threats to free speech.

Transcript

00:00for two unanimous consent requests. I'm not going to challenge the forest as much as the gentleman

00:04of the others, but two that record letters to you, one to you and one to Commissioner Verkunen,

00:10pushing back on the framing of this hearing from 30 EU and U.S. academics.

00:14Thank you. Without objection. Gentleman from Georgia is recognized.

00:17Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Farage, welcome to the United States of America.

00:22This isn't your first time here, correct?

00:26Correct.

00:27You were here in 2024 in Milwaukee, weren't you?

00:31I've been coming here since 1982 on a very regular basis. I worked for American companies.

00:36What purpose were you coming to Milwaukee for? Why did you come to Milwaukee?

00:40I've been to Milwaukee many times. I think that particular event was a convention.

00:44The convention, the Republican convention. I think that's right. I think you're right.

00:47The Trump convention. I think you're right. Very good.

00:50Where Trump was coronated. Well, he won, didn't he? I mean, yes.

00:54He had already won. That's what kind of happened. We already knew who had won.

00:58It's called political passes.

00:59And it was his coronation, and you attended, and you also attended Trump rallies, correct?

01:08I've attended lots of Trump rallies.

01:10Make America Great Again rallies.

01:12Yes.

01:12Many of them.

01:12Upbeat, optimistic, happy, wonderful, joyous events.

01:16You publicly endorsed him.

01:17I thoroughly enjoyed them. I've even spoken to them a couple.

01:19You endorsed him for president, and you attended his election night watch party.

01:25I did.

01:26And you consider Trump to be your mentor, correct?

01:31No.

01:32He's not your mentor?

01:33No.

01:34But he...

01:35Sorry.

01:35He is somebody who you want the support of, and you have the support.

01:39Yes, I do. I think he's a very, very brave man.

01:42Because you are getting ready to run for prime minister of Great Britain, correct?

01:48Oh, I've been trying for years, yeah.

01:50And as it stands right now, you head up a party.

01:57How many seats in the parliament are there?

02:03651, if you include the speaker, that is.

02:05650.

02:07Yes.

02:07And how many are a part...

02:09How many seats does your party hold?

02:12How many seats do the opinion polls say we're going to get next time?

02:15Is that the question?

02:16No, I mean...

02:16Oh, I see.

02:16The numbers don't lie.

02:18You only have four seats, right?

02:19That's... I'm afraid so, yes.

02:21And so you are indeed the leader of a fringe party.

02:26Oh, I'm a fringe, all right. Don't worry about that.

02:29Yes, absolutely. Everything I've ever done...

02:31And as a fringe party leader seeking to run for prime minister of Great Britain,

02:39you need a lot of money in order to blow up like the MAGA movement has blown up.

02:44What you need is a message of truth and a message of hope and money.

02:47Well, you need money also, right?

02:48Money's helpful, but it's not the primary thing you need.

02:50No, you're wrong.

02:52The first thing that came out of the chair's mouth this morning during his opening statement

02:59had to do with Elon Musk.

03:02Yeah.

03:03And you're carrying water for Elon Musk today, aren't you?

03:08From what I can see, Elon Musk is abusive about me virtually every single week,

03:12but it's a free country, so...

03:14But you never stop trying to ingratiate yourself with him.

03:20Wrong. Wrong.

03:21Well, I mean...

03:22No, wrong.

03:22You are familiar with the fact...

03:24No, wrong.

03:24I have...

03:24You are familiar with the fact, Mr. Farage, that...

03:27I have had a public fallout with Elon Musk.

03:29...that Donald Trump's campaign benefited to the extent of $250 million from Elon Musk.

03:37If you...

03:37Well, I mean, how much did...

03:38You are familiar with that, correct?

03:39How much did Mrs. Zuckerberg give to the Democrats?

03:42I mean, this is what happens, and people are...

03:44But he didn't give any money...

03:45On Musk, let me be clear, I have had...

03:47He was sitting behind Trump with the rest of the tech bros, and you are here today...

03:53I'm going to answer your question.

03:54...to impress all of those tech bros, including Elon Musk.

03:56Keep going as long as you want.

03:58Correct?

03:58I'm going to answer your question.

04:00Very, very honestly.

04:02You need money from Elon Musk in order to get elected Prime Minister of Great Britain.

04:07That's the bottom line.

04:09We consider...

04:09Isn't that correct?

04:10We consider all day, as long as the chairman allows us, I don't mind.

04:13I had a very public falling out with Elon Musk...

04:16But you're still trying to get some money from him, though.

04:19...over a political issue.

04:21It's not about the prior disputes.

04:23And, I'm sorry, it was a fundamental...

04:25You're trying to ingratiate yourself with the tech bros by coming over here and...

04:31Can I get a cup of coffee or something?

04:34And you're arguing...

04:35It's going to be here a long time.

04:35What you're arguing is that the citizens of Great Britain should pay a tariff if these

04:44tech companies are not allowed to violate the laws of Great Britain.

04:50No, I'm not.

04:50That was a falsehood put out by the British Prime Minister today...

04:54You didn't say in your statement...

04:55...at Prime Minister's questions.

04:56I have never...

04:57In your statement...

04:57I have never suggested any of the kind.

05:00In your statement, you don't call for tariffs as tools to force Great Britain's...

05:04My statement is very clear.

05:06My statement is very...

05:08You are not calling for...

05:09It might surprise you, Mr. Johnson.

05:10You are not calling for...

05:11It might surprise you to know...

05:13Tariffs and trade sanctions?

05:14The trade...

05:16No, the trade...

05:17You may not know this, but trade between our countries is actually rather important.

05:21You are the biggest investor in our country.

05:23And we're the biggest investor in yours.

05:25The time that the gentleman from Georgia has expired, but the gentleman should be able to

05:30say some kind of response.

05:31What you've done, sir, is come here to the United States to argue that your citizen should

05:35be...

05:35The time has been rude, he's been disgusting, he's been hilarious.

05:37Hang on, hang on.

05:39The gentleman's time has expired.

05:40I feel like we should give Mr. Farage a chance to respond to one of the many questions he

05:45was not allowed to respond to.

05:46So we'll give you 30 seconds, Mr. Farage, and then we'll move on to our next one.

05:49Because I know Mr. Farage does have to leave in about an hour, so we want to get through

05:53as many members as we can.

05:54Number one, I had a public fallout over a political issue with Elon Musk.

05:58I can't be bullied by anybody.

06:00I haven't changed my mind.

06:01Last time I looked, he was being spectacularly rude about me yesterday.

06:05That's life.

06:05If we believe in free speech, we live with it.

06:07What I have made very clear, what I have made, sorry, this is my turn, I think.

06:12Yeah, you've got enough, no, 15 seconds.

06:14Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

06:14What I've made perfectly clear in this paper is the situation we've got with successive pieces

06:20of legislation, including now the Online Safety Act, is a danger to trade between our

06:26countries, and allies and friends and trading partners have honest conversations with each

06:31other.

06:31I hope many American companies and politicians have honest conversations with the British

06:35government.

06:35We've done it.

06:36I've not suggested sanctions.

06:37That's all, in any way.

06:39Good luck on your race.

06:40The gentleman, the gentleman from California.

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