00:00Listen, I am super excited about this opportunity.
00:03It came at a, not a complete surprise, but it came at a little bit of surprise for us.
00:08And so the president and I, as you guys know, we're great friends, and we get along great.
00:13I look forward to working with him and his cabinet.
00:14Of course, we still got to do this little thing called confirmation, and we're going to get started on right
00:19away.
00:19Tell me about a conversation.
00:20Tell me what it did to you.
00:21You guys have been with me long enough, asked me enough questions.
00:24You know I don't share a private conversation with you.
00:26Tell me your reaction.
00:27Tell me your reaction.
00:28Did you go to the White House today?
00:29I don't think I'm going today.
00:30I think I need to talk to my wife first.
00:32Can you tell us your reaction when you got the phone call from him?
00:38I was excited.
00:39When you saw his name calling.
00:41Well, it came from the White House, so it came from the switchboard.
00:44But I was excited.
00:45The president, first of all, the president and I have a really good relationship.
00:49We talk all the time anyways.
00:51I wasn't, I've got to be honest with you, I wasn't expecting the call today, but super excited.
00:56And I'm more excited about just ready to get started.
00:59There's a lot of work we can do to get the Department of Homeland Security working, you know, working for
01:03the American people.
01:04You know, the Department of Homeland Security has a very broad jurisdiction.
01:10And I think there's a lot of work that we need to do, and I'm excited about it.
01:14Senator Fetterman says he's going to vote for you.
01:16Do you expect other Democrats to vote for you?
01:17I, I, John already texted me, and of course, you guys know John and I are friends, too.
01:22And so, I don't know.
01:24We're going to try to earn everybody's votes.
01:25I want people to understand, I'm not, when I go into this position, yes, I'm a Republican.
01:30Yes, I'm conservative.
01:32But the Department of Homeland Security is to keep everybody, regardless if you support me, if you don't support me,
01:36regardless of what your thoughts are.
01:37I'm here to enforce the policies that Congress passed, and right now I'm part of it, but once I make
01:43that transition, my focus is to keep the homeland secure.
01:48That's going to be my focus, and, and we're super excited about this opportunity.
01:52Senator Mueller, can you, Senator Mueller, Senator Mueller, Senator Mueller.
01:55Hold on, let me go here.
01:56Any lessons learned from the past?
01:58Senator Schumer said that the rot is throughout the agency, and that changing the head at the top may not
02:05necessarily change the culture at the agency.
02:07What do you tell Democrats who may not be?
02:09I'm going to have a conversation with, if Mr. Schumer wants to sit down and talk to me, I'm going
02:13to sit down and talk to them.
02:14I want to try to earn their support, and I'm going to be very open and honest with them.
02:18And at the end of the day, all I can do is do my job.
02:22And, and so I don't, I'm not going to get in the, you know, a tip-tap, but if they
02:25have real concerns, I'm going to listen to it.
02:27I'm going to see if it's practical, but nothing's going to prevent me from doing my job.
02:32I'm going to enforce the policies and the laws that Congress has passed, and we're going to protect our homeland.
02:37Senator, just looking at some of the, I'm going to take one more, and then I need to go.
02:41Thank you, Senator.
02:42Just looking at some of the criticism that Noam has faced, is there any learning lessons that you have picked
02:48up from Noam and ways in which you want to lead the agency a little bit differently?
02:51Christy is a friend, and I haven't had time to call Christy yet, and our secretary Noam, and we, we,
02:56our families are friends.
02:59She was, she was tasked to do a very difficult job, and I think she has, she has performed the
03:06best she can do, and underneath the circumstances.
03:09Is there always lessons that can be learned?
03:11You know, listen, my wife and I, we have, over the years, we have been fortunate enough to purchase companies
03:16and grow our companies,
03:17and every day, there's something you can do better.
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