Montana Congressman Matt Rosendale Talks GOP Leadership, More

We caught up with Montana Congressman Matt Rosendale (R-MT02) for the first time since his victory in the November midterm elections. We talked GOP leadership elections, FTX, Ukraine, 2024, and more.

Come January, Rosendale will represent the Eastern District for Montana in Congress, officially known as the 2nd District. Montana Congressman Ryan Zinke (R-MT01), meanwhile, will represent the Western District, officially known as the 1st District.

What's his take on the GOP leadership elections and who should eventually serve as Speaker of the House?

Rep. Rosendale: Unfortunately, Kevin's (House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy) not willing to make those (rules) changes, and he wants to maintain the status quo, which consolidates all the power with him, and what they call the Rules Committee- nine people that make decisions about what bills are going to be considered, what amendments are allowed, and really gives us the ability to participate. And so with him taking that stance, we're going to find someone who wants to make changes to make sure that everyone has the equal ability to participate. That's what Montanans deserve. That's what people from from Texas deserve. That's what people from Kansas deserve to be able to represent our constituents.

 

We also got his take on the big FTX crypto scandal involving the Democrat party:

Rep. Rosendale: I'm not only concerned about which Montana Democrats benefited from this scandal, but what I'm really, really troubled with is- are we going to be able to trace this back to see how many Montana taxpayers actually contributed money to it. Because now we're starting to get reports that there was Ukraine investments that came into FTX as well...

One listener wanted to know who should challenge liberal Senator Jon Tester (D-MT) in 2024?

Rep. Rosendale: The best candidate. Jon tester does not represent Montana, that is the most important thing that everybody does recognize. He's got too many bad votes to cover up with a Carhartt jacket. And when you you hear him talk about being a moderate, and Montana, and he goes around with his folksy attitude and the jacket on-that's really nice. But when you come to Washington, you never hear the two words of Jon and moderate together in the same sentence. He has voted with Chuck Schumer for all of this radical agenda that the Democrats have put forward, that has caused so much damage to our Southern Border, to our energy sector, to inflation, to distribution chains, and he has got to be replaced.

 

Here's more audio of our chat last week with Rep. Rosendale:

Here's a photo of Rep. Rosendale alongside fellow Freedom Caucus members earlier this year.

By the way here's a shot also of Montana Congressman Ryan Zinke (R-MT01) arriving back on Capitol Hill where he served as Montana Congressman prior to being confirmed as Trump's Interior Secretary.