ST. LOUIS – As he rounds out his first year in the United States Senate, Republican Eric Schmitt sat down with FOX 2’s Andy Banker this week for a one-on-one interview.
The wide-ranging, 23-minute interview touched on everything from his roots in Bridgeton to his unwavering support of former President Donald Trump.
Earlier this week, Trump suffered another legal blow: the Colorado Supreme Court decided that his name should be removed from the state’s 2024 presidential primary ballot. The court ruled that Trump encouraged insurrection with his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, sparking the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.
During Schmitt’s 2022 Senate campaign, he held a million-dollar-plus fundraiser at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. The two remained close, he said.
“I have endorsed him (for president in 2024),” Schmitt said. “I was one of the first senators in the country to endorse him. I stay in regular contact. I think he’s going to win.”
He gave little merit to the news from Colorado or the rest of the former president’s legal issues.
Trump is the first former president with a criminal mug shot and the first former chief executive to face criminal indictments for allegedly trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election and keeping classified documents after leaving office, along with alleged business fraud.
“I think all of this has backfired. People see this for what it is: a political prosecution and banana republic stuff,” Schmitt said.
Nearly a year after she swore him in, the senator is a fierce political opponent of Vice President Kamala Harris and President Joe Biden. He said Democrats are pushing what he called the “extreme climate agenda.”
That agenda, however, includes nearly $200 million in federal money for a factory in south St. Louis that will make battery components for electric vehicles (EVs) and create more than 150 jobs.
“Jobs are great,” Schmitt said. “The truth is, those aren’t just happening because the market is demanding it. The government is pushing hundreds of billions of dollars that way.”
Americans paid the price when the federal government racked up debt by the trillions, fueling inflation, he said.
“It’s the reason why there’s sticker shock when families are trying to buy snacks for their kids’ lunches. This is the real stuff. This is why people think the country’s headed in the wrong direction,” the senator said.
In his first year, the freshman senator proposed legislation to eliminate federal offices of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). He remained a leading opponent of President Biden’s southern U.S. border policies. When he was Missouri’s Attorney General, Schmitt sued Biden over border policy.
Banker asked if issues like DEI offices and border policies were the kinds of issues that mattered most to the people he represents in Missouri. Why should St. Louisans care?
“Because of the record number of fentanyl overdoses … (it’s) coming across the southern border. We’re fooling ourselves if we don’t think there are terrorists who are coming across who want to do bad things to the United States,” he said. “This is a national security issue.”
His top issues for year two of his term include budget reform to reign in federal spending, re-establishing American energy independence, and cutting back on federal regulations to limit the size of government.
These things will allow people to live their lives and be prosperous again, he said.