Rick Green: 0:12

Welcome to the intersection of faith and the culture. It's WallBuilders. We're taking on the hot topics of the day from a biblical, historical and constitutional perspective and commenting on what's happening right now on the frontlines, especially in DC from a biblical historical and constitutional perspective and so later in the program, we've got Congressman Eric Burlison going to be with us. And he's on the committee that is watching a lot of this uncovering of the corruption at the FBI and, frankly, throughout our government. David, I, you know, I know, people get frustrated because they feel like not enough is being done. But thankfully, we got some good guys like Eric in there that are digging into this corruption.

David Barton: 0:51

Eric is a legislator that comes out of Missouri, he has been a good while in the state house there, the State Senate, Missouri. So he's well grounded as a grassroots kind of a guy, really strong guy, really strong man of faith and character. And when the Republicans gained the house, this time, in the last election, they did not pick up many votes, you know, just half a dozen or whatever it was 8 or 10. But they really upgraded a lot of their positions. And Eric Burlison is one of those guys, that is a really good, good, good class act. He came in as a freshman, and he's come in aggressively. We've talked to people like Josh Brecheen, another one, he's from Oklahoma, and he came in really aggressive, we've had him on the program, because he's doing such good work. And Eric is the same way. He's really focused on this. And, and we thought, you know, it's really significant to have him as a freshman on such a significant panel right now. Because when whistleblower laws were really introduced years ago, it was because if there's corruption going on in the government, and somebody tries to uncover that there can be people who want to punish them, for uncovering it, because they don't want that corruption to come to the top. They don't want that to be public, they don't want to lose the power they have. And so there have been whistleblower protection laws for a long time. And so in this administration, particularly, we've had just dozens of whistleblowers coming forward, out of the DOJ, or out of the IRS, or out of the State Department, or all these different places, these whistleblowers coming forward. And the administration has just been stepping on them on a regular basis. Well, now we find out that the administration is actually retaliating against the whistleblowers, despite federal law that's to protect these guys. And the result is that there's a lot of people now, I was just talking to a congressman yesterday, and he said, I've got a lot of people who want to tell me stories, but they're afraid of coming forward, because they're seeing what's happening with whistleblowers. And they're getting targeted and persecuted and punished and whatnot. And that's the reason he had his whistleblower laws was to protect guys so they could uncover the darkness that's there and let it come to the light and get rid of it. So this administration, at least the leaders in the bureaucracies of this administration, have been going after these guys. And so we saw that Eric was recently part of some hearings that dealt with whistleblowers and whistleblower protection, learning what these guys have to say, and then being able to protect them. That's a really, really important thing. And so Eric is one of these guys, as I mentioned, he's character driven. He's faith driven guy. He's an honesty integrity guy. And he wants to get to the bottom of this and his perspective on what's going on. And his fresh view of what needs to be done is a really, really healthy thing. And we really appreciate Eric, and he's a great guy out of Missouri. And we really are excited for the nation to get to hear from him and just see what kind of caliber of people we've got there in Congress.

Rick Green: 3:39

Congressman Eric Burlison, our guest, stay with us, folks, we'll be right back a WallBuilders. Have you noticed the vacuum of leadership in America, we're looking around for leaders of principle to step up and too often, no one is there. God is raising up a generation of young leaders with a passion for impacting the world around them. They're crying out for the mentorship and leadership training they need. Patriot Academy was created to meet that need. Patriot Academy graduates now serve in state capitals around America in the halls of Congress and business in the film industry in the pulpit in every area of the culture they're leading effectively and impacting the world around them. Patriot Academy is now expanding across the nation, and now's your chance to experience this life changing week that trains champions to change the world, visit PatriotAcademy.com for dates and locations. Our core program is still for young leaders 16 to 25 years old, but we also now have a citizen track for adults. So visit the website today to learn more. Help us fill the void of leadership in America. Join us in Training Champions to change the world at PatriotAcademy.com . Welcome back to WallBuilders. Thanks for staying with us. So good to have Congressman Burlison with us, Eric Burlison, from Missouri. Congressman, thanks for your time today, man.

Eric Burlison: 5:00

Thank you, Rick, great to be on.

Rick Green: 5:01

Well appreciate you coming on appreciate what you're doing. And I just the uncovering of so much that's been going on in our government and around our government. And, you know, you've been bringing to light some of these whistleblowers and some of the things that are happening there. And David said, man, we got to get Eric on. So I appreciate your time to talk about that today. I am thrilled that you guys got the majority and that we have the ability to investigate these things. What is happening right now with these whistleblowers, when they come to you guys, are we do you think we're, we're you know, that they're being protected? Are they being thrown under the bus against what the statutes require? Well,

Eric Burlison: 5:39

Before I jump into that, I want to give you guys credit and props, because I wouldn't be in politics, I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing had it not been for the fact that several decades ago, I was at church, and my pastor put in the VHS of a series called like America's Godly Heritage with David Barton, when he... before the gray hair, and that was my red pill moment. I was a fan and started paying attention to politics. So here I am.

Rick Green: 6:17

Ah, love it, man. Just the fact that you said VHS immediately, I pictured in my mind, David sitting on the corner of that desk looking like he's 14 years old. Already, at that point, teaching these powerful, powerful truths. So I'm with you, brother, I was the same way. I was so clueless about so much of all this. And in my case, it wasn't a VHS. It was a cassette tape, the only you know, the old cassette tapes, and somebody gave me one of those and I ended up with a, you know, truck full of them. And that was my university on wheels. So I appreciate you saying that, and just thankful that your pastor was bold enough to do exactly that. And just a blessing. And you did, let's see, I know you were in the State Senate. Did you do state house first? Or did you go straight to state Senate before you went to Congress?

Eric Burlison: 7:04

State house and then the state senate. And yeah, I took a constitution class with you remotely at one point.

Rick Green: 7:12

Cool. I love it. I love it, man. Well, we're glad you're there. And, you know, I'm glad you're there. I'm sure there are days you wish you weren't there in DC. But we need you there for sure. For sure. And just appreciate having you on the front lines like that. And, in fact, before we even get into the topic, you know, while we're talking about how you got there, and just kind of, you know, realizing the dual citizenship and the necessity to be involved in, you know, not only a citizen of heaven, but a citizen of Earth. I mean, you've been there, you know, for you know, what, six months, seven months now? What is, how different is the DC swamp from the state swamp that you were already fighting?

Eric Burlison: 7:54

Well, it is swampy. It is really swampy up here. The I would say one of the key differences and I think is why DC is such a failure is that in a state house, when the legislature is considering a bill, they will hear testimony from all interested parties. And you know, sometimes they'll try to cut the testimony short, but at least, you know, everyday citizens can come and share their grievances or with their state delegates there. And that is not the case in DC when we are looking at language or trying to pass any laws. We don't have anybody of substance come and talk about the bill. We never do that. We have hearings that are separate where we talk about different topics. And at those hearings, the only people that testify are the people that are invited by the chair. And so you don't really get input. You don't get any countervailing voices. There's no room for contrarians to be able to step forward and say, you know, what you guys are doing is not... is missing the mark?

Rick Green: 9:07

Yeah, we used to, you know, Eric, call that civil discourse. You know, we wanted to hear all sides so we can make sure we get it right. I think you're right. I think that is, that part is definitely healthier at the state level. I don't know if you... I'm sorry to get off on so many tangents we'll get to our topic, but I don't know if you've noticed even I went to my local school board meeting last year and was so amazed and frustrated that they've stacked these rules now, even at these local government levels to where it's harder and harder for citizens to just be able to get up and speak or testify and give opinions or like you're saying even you know for one of the members to be able to bring in an expert to ask questions. There just seems to be this pushback, almost a protection of the quote unquote elected officials. I like to say public servants, but it's so different. When I was in the house, I mean, we would stay till three or four in the morning to let everyone testify, even if they didn't sign up early, you know, they might have to go last if they didn't sign up early, but they still got their opportunity to speak. And I can remember our chairman always saying, anybody else, you know, want to come forward? Anybody else want to say? We don't want to shut off public input. And man, it just, it sounds like in DC, that's even harder to get, but man, I'm telling you, I've seen it even at the local level now.

Eric Burlison: 10:22

You know, we, I think that we're on to a good conversation, because, you know, it's in the Constitution. It's in the First Amendment. We talked about the other parts of First Amendment, free speech, freedom of religion, freedom of assembly, freedom of the press, but we don't talk about is the right to petition the government for redress of grievances. And I don't know, there's any legal entity, there's all kinds of different groups that will fight for people's constitutional rights. But I don't know, how, if it's been done, or used enough to sue different governments to try to... under that provision of the Constitution.

Rick Green: 11:04

That's really, you know, it's true, man, because that is for many people, that is their way to petition the government for a redress... And if you can't get there and testify and I mean, a lot of these things now, if you aren't there before five o'clock, you don't get to testify. I'm going wait a minute. For most people, that's impossible they're working until five o'clock? Yeah, that would be, I think you're onto something there, that would be a very interesting question, to pose. If by putting these roadblocks I don't know, any other way to say it, in front of the citizen being able to give their input, is that not a violation of the First Amendment?

Eric Burlison: 11:38

It is. I think it is. And then to get kind of back to the reason for the call was, I think the one thing that Congress does better than, at least we did in Missouri, is oversight. The fact that you've got different committees that are able to investigate and try to bring to account what the different parts of the bureaucracy are doing. I don't pretend that we're doing a great job in that because this place is a mess. But we certainly do have the opportunity to do oversight, and I'm happy to be on the Oversight Committee.

Rick Green: 12:11

Yeah, it's such an important role, man, I'm glad you're there. And in, you know, the opportunity now to hold some of these agencies accountable. And as these whistleblowers step forward, especially we're hearing, you know, just seems like every week another revelation about the FBI and the Department of Justice and other agencies, but I mean, the ability for DOJ and FBI to infringe upon rights and to prevent the Bill of Rights from being lived out, the due process, I mean, all of those things, that's just so important that you guys are able to do that and oversee them. And some of the stuff coming forward, I think is, I mean, it's shocking to me, I've always been a defender of the FBI. And now I'm literally on the side of saying, I think you're just going to have to, you know, completely start over, they seem so taken at this point. And so political, that it's just so disappointing, and so frustrating and scary, honestly, and in terms of our rights. So what do you as a member of the committee, and there's probably a lot of stuff you can't even tell us, but I mean, what's been the most surprising to you? Well, now that you've got to peek behind the curtain and see inside the belly of the beast, with where we are on those things?

Eric Burlison: 13:20

Yeah, I think I'm as frustrated as anybody, I would like to see action, some kind of action. You know, we're... while we're taking in and investigating what some call the Biden family influence peddling scheme. We've gotten a lot of whistleblowers from different angles. So we've had some from the IRS that have talked about the Biden family and their tax evasion, and their investigations and how they were stopped by the Department of Justice from going forward with a lot of the things that they needed. In one instance, there were as a tip off, before they got a warrant to Hunter's storage unit. They actually tipped off Hunter's attorneys, that they might be looking at the storage unit. Which gave him to go and remove anything. There's all kinds of things like that, that have been happening, and we're hearing from different whistleblowers. So you've got the IRS whistleblowers, then you have the whistleblower within the FBI that informed Grassley and Comer that there was a FBI document that told the story of a paper play scheme between a Burisma executive and the Biden family and that document that first the FBI tried to deny that it existed. We had to subpoena the document. They first said that there was no document that was within the subpoena until basically Grassley said I know the document exists. This is if you don't, you know... Grassley basically forced her hand. And finally we were able to see the FD-1023 document that told us all about their influence peddling... basically the pay for play where the Biden family got, Joe Biden got $5 million, Hunter got $5 million from Burisma and in exchange that they would get rid of the investigation that was going on into Burisma. In addition, they were going to help Burisma acquire a US energy company. So this is, it's really shocking.

Rick Green: 15:34

It's got to feel like you're in a movie half the time, I mean you have to be sitting there going, this is this, I feel like I'm literally in some sort of spy novel movie, or corruption movie or house of cards or something weird. I mean, this is just... You know, and this is, isn't this the same situation where Biden is on camera bragging about getting that prosecutor fired?

Eric Burlison: 15:59

Yeah. Yeah, that famous line, you know, but, you know, at the end of the day, like this is a family that's raking in tens of millions of dollars, from foreign entities through intermediaries. So the money is wired to usually an associate of the Biden's and then it's wired to up to nine family members of Joe Biden. So you have Hunter Biden, Hallie Biden, Hunter's, children. Hunter's nice and nephew, right? Jim Biden, Joe Biden's brother, all kinds of different family members. And the question is, what did the grandson of Joe Biden do to get hundreds of thousands of dollars wired into his bank account from the ultimately originated from a foreign entity? Th at's what's really puzzling. And we're continuing to investigate that and get to the bottom of it. But in the meantime, what we really need to do is take action against what's happened within the FBI. In my opinion, we're not doing enough to hold people within the FBI accountable, people within the Department of Justice accountable for dropping the ball on the IRS investigation for blocking that investigation. For example, what happened with the Durham report, where we found out that the FBI was purposefully ignoring that the steel dossier was fake and created by the Democratic Party. They all knew it was a lie. And they still went forward to prosecute the President of the United States, which is just, it's almost like a mutiny.

Rick Green: 17:46

Yeah. Yeah, no. And that has to be, I mean, surely, surely there are some laws broke, criminal laws broke in there, and prosecutions that should go forward against those FBI agents that did that. Is there talk of that?

Eric Burlison: 18:01

Sadly, we don't have the ability, you know, the prosecutorial arm of the federal government in the Department of Justice. And so it really kind of begs the question, what do you do when the Department of Justice is corrupt?

Rick Green: 18:16

Yeah. Yeah, I mean, that's because that's exactly how everybody's feeling right now. They're like, wait a minute, if the if the FBI can come after me, or if they can ignore going after somebody they should be going after? And the Department of Justice is the one supposed to hold them accountable, and they're not willing to do it, because they're all part of the same, you know, essentially political side that wants this two tier justice system and is benefiting from it, what do you do?

Eric Burlison: 18:42

Yeah, the things that we can do are, we can use the power of the purse. So we can funding to different agencies within the Department of Justice or FBI. There, we implemented the home in rule, which allows us to narrowly target individual employees, and basically cut them out of the out of appropriations. And then we've also... you've got the ability to bring people in to subpoena them to sensure them, and then also to impeach them. And so those are the things that we can do in Congress. And I frankly, think, I mean, I'm a freshman, but I asked the question of McCarthy last week, I said, what more do we need? What more information do we need to go after the Department of Justice? I get it that we are trying to get more information about the Biden family and trying to get more hard data about their influence peddling but we don't need any more information to know that the Justice Department has got some skeletons that need to be exposed

Rick Green: 19:48

Yeah, that's, I guess that's kind of where most people I talked to are, they're going, okay, how long does this take? What what what has got to happen? You know, if now that, you know, the Republicans have House and you've got this investigative authority you can bring it to the attention of the American people, I guess is the best thing. But man, at what point is it already going to be too late to go after some of these things? And yeah, I think that frustration is felt by everybody. What... Are you getting much of a response, not just from the speaker, but from the chairman and other members of the Congress?

Eric Burlison: 20:23

Yeah, and I think that there's some members that this is just not... this is a different world from what they've been countered, whay they've encountered before, I don't think that they are used to doing this usually, sadly, elected officials will become cozy with people within the different agencies. But I do think that we know, for example, the FISA is going to have to be renewed. And there's a lot of things that are... that need to be reformed about the FISA process. Attorney General former Attorney General John Ashcroft is a constituent of mine, and he's given me a lot of ideas on how to reform the FISA process so that it doesn't violate citizens rights. And I've read that to Jim Jordan and to others.

Rick Green: 21:13

Oh, that's so interesting to me, Congressman, because that was, you know, I was such a defender of all of that, you know, back whenever we were attacked, and we needed those tools to be, you know... And always knowing, you know, that my little libertarian angel on my shoulder was saying, you know, hey, but what if it gets used against citizens and against... and you're not actually going after a terrorist in another country or a terrorist here? And, so knowing even that, and it could... because I love Ashcroft and, you know, to know that he's even thinking through that now, after having overseen all of that, and that you're bringing that to the table, ooh, that makes me feel good, because I've been so concerned about that. And honestly, almost feeling bad about being just a wholesale supporter of it. Without, you know, the caveats and without those changes being made, and now wanting those changes to be made, I would love to get you back to do a, do a whole program on that at some point in the future as well. I got to get you, but before I run out of time here, the whistleblowers themselves, what protections do they have? And are you guys able to? I mean, you need to be able to get them to come in and testify like some of them have already. And we're hearing that there's backlash against the ones that have spoken out, what what's happening with all that?

Eric Burlison: 22:24

Yes, sadly, some of them have faced some backlash. And so we've had some of them that were removed from investigations. One person that was a whistleblower was actually physically... his job position was moved to different parts of the country. And so... and that that was another one of Gary Shapley, who we're going to hear from this Wednesday, in oversight, he was passed over for a promotion. So all of that, hopefully, we can bring the light and then expose the people that are punishing whistleblowers and then cut them out of the budget or impeach them, If we can.

Rick Green: 23:11

Yeah, that's... well, and that, you know, that's one thing just to drive home for our listeners, a lot of times, okay, why aren't they doing more? Or what can they do? You just hit on the big one, which is cut them out of the budget. I mean, that's the real power of Congress, right, is the budgetary power and it... and from what I've, you know, very much on the outside and just catching snippets here and there, it seems like that is a weapon, and a tool, proper constitutional tool that the House Republicans are willing to use and trying to use? How do you feel about that? Is that being used... It's not a fair question to say, is it being used enough? Because you probably want to use it a whole lot more, but do you agree that that's an effective tool? And are there at least efforts to do that?

Eric Burlison: 23:50

I agree. And sadly, I don't think there's enough efforts to do that. I think if your listeners care about this, I would encourage them to reach out to their elected officials, because I think... I want, I have been advocating for that within the party, within the conference, but I don't know that it... I don't think that the people here have the same sense that people back home have about this, and the same sense of frustration. So I think that people, if you're not used to using some of these measures, like cutting money from appropriations, impeaching individuals, but I think that it's necessary in order to fix all that broken here.

Rick Green: 24:33

Congressman, you're singing my song right there, man. I agree with you 100%, because once the people do not have faith in their institutions, and especially when it comes to justice, when the... when we the people start feeling like there's a two tiered justice system, and it's not just one story or one example of abuse, it just seems to be rampid. There has to be big changes. It can't just be a little slap on the wrist for somebody. The things you just mentioned literally defunding, impeaching, those are the big enough things that would cause the American people to say, okay, good. there's justice, there's accountability, there's actual checks and balances, instead of like you said, everybody's just cozy cozy. And you know, once you get to DC, they're all on the same team, which is against the American people, not for them. What you just said is huge. I hope our listeners heard that. Obviously, you know, there's not a majority of members, or even a majority of the Republican caucus, maybe, that understands how important that is. But just to hear you say it as a member of Congress, and knowing from a handful of others I've talked to, that gives me hope to know that there's some that see this, and that are pushing that direction. So thank you for doing that.

Eric Burlison: 25:43

Thank you. Appreciate you.

Rick Green: 25:45

Well, man, appreciate you being on and appreciate what you're doing. Last question, how can our folks at home pray for you, brother?

Eric Burlison: 25:51

Oh, I always ask for wisdom. I think that, you know, as a student of the Bible, I think we're challenged to seek, to constantly seek wisdom. And so anytime people can pray for me, I always ask for wisdom.

Rick Green: 26:07

Amen. We'll do it, brother. Thank you. God bless you. Keep it up and look forward to having you back soon.

Eric Burlison: 26:12

Thank you, Rick. Take care.

Rick Green: 26:13

That's Congressman Eric Burlison from Missouri, what a treat to have him on today. Very thankful for his service in Washington, DC and thankful for you listening today. Again, be sure to visit WallBuilders.com for more materials, and to get equipped so that you can be the catalyst where a restoration of biblical values and constitutional principles right there in your community. Thanks so much for listening to WallBuilders.