A Conversation With Senator Schmitt
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It's Live in the Bream with the host of Fox News Sunday, Shannon Bream. This week on Live in the Bream, a man who is busier probably than any guest I've had in recent weeks, he has stepped out of a Senate hearing because that's the time and the era that we are in now in Washington.

Kind of a logjam of nominees and confirmations going on. But we're going to talk about that and something much closer to his heart as well. So welcoming to Live in the Bream this week, I've got Senator Schmidt with me. And I thank you for making time in the midst of everything else. Welcome. It's great to be with you. I've been on your TV shows before, but never done. So I'm excited to be on this with you.

Well, listen, as you and I are talking, it is Thursday. There are multiple hearings going on with President Trump's various nominees. Some of these hearings have gotten contentious. Do you think the votes are there for nominees like Kash Patel, like Tulsi Gabbard, like RFK Jr.? Do you want to speak to them separately? I mean, they all have different pluses and minuses that they're having to walk through with these hearings.

I do. I mean, there's not been anyone that's come out publicly against any of them. I mean, we'll see ultimately as these votes probably get on the floor sometime in the next week or so. But in the committee hearings, that's an opportunity to answer any questions that Republicans or Democrats have. And I think they're all performing really well. I think one thing it's interesting you sort of reference them all three together. I think that's actually an important point.

President Trump, I think, distilled the race in 2024 as the disruptors versus the establishment. Right. And so I think these three nominees in particular, all of them, but these in particular, I think, represent a real kind of reform movement for agencies that really, really need some reform. Kash Patel in particular was with, you know, I'm on judiciary. So the FBI for director of FBI hearing was today and.

That agency, Department of Justice, was weaponized against Catholics, against parents, the Hunter Biden laptop story, of course, President Trump. I think the American people weighed in on that, and they rendered their own verdict in November. They want real reform. They want people outside of the normal class that's selected for this stuff to go change things and shake things up. For that reason, I also think politically speaking, it represents the broadest coalition we've had

As Republicans, and certainly in my lifetime, RFK Jr., Tulsi Gabbard, it really expanded the base. And I think we're helpful for President Trump down the stretch as he secured a mandate, including the popular vote. He did have this convincing win. And our Fox News voter analysis told us that people wanted enormous upheaval and change. They wanted a difference in the current system.

People may define that differently, but they clearly showed us by their numbers they did not want the status quo. And you talk about how this is kind of a group of people that are a different collection of folks than Washington has seen before under kind of one tent. But you talk about and this continually has been coming up, obviously, in Kash Patel's hearing.

this issue about weaponization of government but what we're hearing from a number the senators is they are worried that's exactly what cash Patel is gonna do they've read his book they've heard his interviews they've seen his podcast interviews and they've said listen you got an enemies list and there are people that you've said you would use the government to settle scores to go after people on you know as a republican who has been supportive him how do you answer those concerns

Well, I think he's done a good job of addressing that, which is, look, he's going to follow the law. He's going to follow the Constitution. And I think, you know, he was one thing that's unique about his stories. He was the target of that. I mean, they turned the weaponized the justice system against him. So he knows how that feels. That's how he's answered it today. And he doesn't want that to be the case for any American. And I think that's

I think the Democrats are having a hard time coming to grips with what happened in November. I don't think they really fully appreciate, you know, you reference the polling and the exit polls and what how people feel. They really showed their fangs and the real excesses of government in those four years, whether it was, you know, the forced vaccine requirement, that mandate, or it was the censorship. And I had, you know, when I was attorney general in Missouri, my previous chair,

filed that lawsuit that exposed all that, you know, they just, you know, all of the excesses of government, people just sort of had enough of it. And so I think everyone's ready for a reset here and get the FBI back to what it's supposed to do, which is to take on violent crime. They'll have plenty of work to do that without targeting traditional Catholics as being extremists or parents who voice concerns about CRT at school board meetings. And so

There's just no doubt. The evidence just it's hard to refute that that's what went on the last four years. And he's committed, I think, to rooting that out and getting back to his core mission. You mentioned your time as attorney general in Missouri and that social media case that I covered yesterday.

You know, part of this at the Supreme Court, there wasn't really a decision on the merits about a lot of these concerns about social media censorship. Are you hopeful that there will be a case that will get back to the justices that will have more of a deep dive on the merits of those conversations and those arguments? Yeah, they sent it back. It was really it's a standing issue. Right. But the merits that were really declared that that our case wasn't solid in the sense that, you know,

Showed that coercion and that collusion that existed between federal agencies and some of the biggest companies in the history of the world to silence conservatives. I mean, if you think about that and I don't really, you know, regardless of your political stripe, that's a scary thing that the government would decide. I mean, think about it. They were touting this disinformation governance board.

I mean, it's like this is truly Orwellian what they were contemplating and they were doing it. And so I'm really proud of that case. We had some big ones. We wanted the Supreme Court on the vaccine mandate. We won on the student forgiveness case. We had some big ones we took on school districts for forced masking. But that one I'm particularly proud of because when we filed that lawsuit, this was you got to remember, this is before Elon Musk had bought Twitter. This is before.

you know, Chairman Jordan's hearings in Congress. This was dubbed a conspiracy theory. And one of the important aspects of that case, which you would appreciate, is we were able to get discovery before the preliminary injunction hearing the judge granted us. So we got reams and reams of these emails and correspondence and text messages between high ranking government officials and social media executives. And it was it was shocking. And so I'm proud of what we were able to expose. And I think

put front and center the debate about how important the First Amendment is for people to be able to speak their minds in our country.

Well, I think that the Supreme Court is going to be very busy based on the absolute unleashing that President Trump has had his first several days in office. Of course, I'm sure the Trump team expected that many of these things would immediately go to court. Some of them were immediately put on hold. But it gets them into the system so that they can now have a fight on the legal merits of some of these questions, whether it's about birthright citizenship or some of these EOs about the education system or whatever it is.

What do you make of people who, you know, and I see this commonly covering the court, that people say, oh, well, the Supreme Court's just going to rubber stamp everything that Trump wants to do. And there are no guardrails left in American society. I've seen them tell President Trump and President Obama and President Biden. I've seen them tell presidents no, including when they've been appointed by those presidents. What's your take on what you think the Supreme Court, what their role is now?

knowing that there are so many legal challenges pending with respect to things that President Trump's done in the first, you know, just few days? Well, I think, you know, as a lawyer, it's deeply concerning the attempts the Democrats have made to sort of undermine the legitimacy of the court because they don't like particular rulings, especially one, the Dobbs decision, right? I mean, that's really was...

The one that that they got all ginned up about and really began this smear campaign against individual justices, again, to undermine the confidence that people have in the independence of the court, which I think is really important. I know you do, too. So I think, you know, you the last four years, what you saw was this weaponization of the Justice Department. And you've seen, you know, the polling on the confidence people have in DOJ or FBI has plummeted because of it.

They don't want a legal system that's based on, you know, show me the man, I'll show you the crime. They rejected that, which is good. And, you know, their next target is the Supreme Court. And why would they do that, Shannon? Well, the reason why they want to do it is they want to undermine it. And they have said if they ever get 51 votes in the United States Senate, if they ever do it, they'll eliminate the filibuster to pack the Supreme Court. So it's all about, you know, results. And they not, you know, they run on that. They talk about adding states to the union, packing the court.

And that is a dangerous, dangerous road to go down. And you don't hear Republicans or conservatives talking about that. I mean, you have a legitimate political battles to get a president elected. The president, if a spot comes up, gets to a point. We got nine, but they don't want to play by those rules. And so I think it's really dangerous, but it's very obvious what all this is about. It's just to undermine the credibility so they can get a political opening to pack the court.

Well, and I think it'll be very interesting to track a number of these cases. Some of them, you know, end up there on emergency dockets. Some of them take a little bit longer to get there, but it's going to keep us busy. I have a feeling the next few years there'll be plenty to talk about. There were conversations, at least publicly, about the possibility of you joining the administration as attorney general, given your success as Missouri attorney general.

Can you speak to that at all? I mean, Pam Bondi, I know her well from many years in Florida. It looks like she's in good shape for that office. But again, you know, there are people who are very skeptical and worried about the fact that they think the DOJ is going to be used. The attorney general has a ton of power to come after people in the media or simply critics of President Trump to the point where they feel they are saying they don't feel safe and they don't.

have confidence that the attorney general will be independent as he should be enough from the president. First of all, you know, it was a I spent a lot of time with President Trump on the campaign trail. The only thing I wanted was for him to win. I really believe I grew up in a working class neighborhood and the current

State of the Republican Party. I feel very much at home where you know, you're fighting for working people You know who just want to be treated fairly and that's why I became a lawyer I viewed the law as a is creating these guardrails for people to pursue their dreams and that there were rules that applied equally to everyone and that you could fight for the little guy and that's why that I didn't know any lawyers growing up and

I don't even know. Maybe it wasn't even to law school that I even really had a conversation with a lawyer. So but it was just something that I was inspired by. And so I think that's a very important concept for us to hold on to. And I think the Democrats have a real problem making this case about independence now.

When you had Eric Holder as the attorney general bragging about the fact that he was Obama's heat shield and he was his wingman. And you had Loretta Lynch meeting with Bill Clinton the day before Hillary Clinton's interview with the FBI and the email that, you know, they never really raised these issues before. But to the to the extent that we're having a real debate about it, of course, the attorney general should follow the law.

um he's a member he or she is a member of the cabinet but you know the constitution is what we all swear our oath you know when we raise our right hand when you get sworn into these offices

So it was an honor for me to be considered for that. I talked to the president very early. My place is in the Senate. I just was elected two years ago. I have four years left. I want to fight for Missourians. I want to fight for the agenda. And when I found out that Pam Bonney was going to be the pick, I was elated. I mean, Pam is great. I knew her from AG World. She's this rare combination of I think she asked me to introduce her at the hearing, which was an honor, this rare combination of a backbone

Backbone of steel and a golden heart. You know, she's just...

She approaches every day with confidence and with compassion. And she really does. She's a career prosecutor. I mean, you know, when she was a prosecutor in that county courthouse, I'm sure she never envisioned that she would be attorney general of the United States, which is exactly why, quite frankly, she's a great pick because she's got that humility. She's really tough. She's really smart. I think she's going to do a great job leading a department that really needs leadership. We'll have more Live in the Bream in a moment.

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Well, again, we are talking with Senator Eric Schmidt out of Missouri. He is a Republican, former attorney general there in his state, now very busy on Capitol Hill. Now, you talk about representing the folks back home, and I got to imagine one of your favorite, most important constituents is your son, Stephen. Tell us about him and kind of how he spurred your public service goals, too. Yeah, so Stephen...

um, Steven was our first child. So Steven is now 20. Um, Steven was born, um, with a rare, well, he's our, he was our first child and we were first time parents. And, um, we noticed at about four or five months that he had this, um,

like birthmark. It was, it looked like an angel wing and, um, on his leg. And so we thought, so we made an appointment at dermatologist. I think we thought we were going to get some just like ointment for something. And we thought so little of the appointment that I joke, Jamie let me take Steven to the doctor. So, um, we just didn't think there was there. Mom wasn't there.

But we go in and the dermatologist immediately turns on this black light and she saw more of them. And she said, he probably has something called tuberous sclerosis. And I had never heard of that, of course. And she said, you know, we'll confirm that, get a neurologist appointment, which took a couple of months actually. But in the meantime...

We learned about the range of challenges from just some skin issues to really affecting your brain and development and ability to speak and tumors. And Steven, as it turned out, ended up having all of those challenges. So Steven, he has tuberous sclerosis. He's on the autism spectrum. Steven's nonverbal. His most medically challenging issue is epilepsy. So he has seizures almost every day. And

He is in when I was a young lawyer with no idea that I was going to get into politics. I was just made partner and was starting a family. Stephen had a four hour seizure one time and we were in the hospital. And I remember very distinctly that they had a I'll never forget it like it's a digital clock with red numbers above his bed. And, you know, it had hours and minutes and seconds.

And I was just watching these seconds go by and they had to wait 20 minutes to try a new medication to stop it. And they were one medication away from inducing a coma. And then who knows after that, right? So it was a very traumatic kind of event. And I'm Catholic and there's this process that when I was schooled to talk about discernment. And I went through this process of like, what do I want to do with my life? You know, like, what do I want to do? And I think it was this confluence of

of wanting to fight for, for Steven and knowing he may not have the same opportunities or, or be able to speak. And I wanted to be a voice for him and, and people like Steven and, you know, you know, combination of this idea of service and my love of the country, I decided that public service was the thing I was going to do.

And so I ran, it was in my early thirties. I ran for the state Senate and won and we're able to get some good things done. And then of course got into statewide office and then now here in the U S Senate and Steven all along and every day is, is my inspiration to do more and to try to make the world a better place. So he's, he's sort of the touchstone for me. And he's a sweet kid. You'd love him. He'd be walking around giving big hugs, but you know, he doesn't have the same journey as,

As as every other kid or now adult. And that's tough. I mean, that is, you know, I'd be lying if I told you when I go to a basic Cardinals game and I see a dad with his son, that's about Stephen's age talking about what's going on in the game. That is tough, tough. But but I also know that I wouldn't be the person I am. Stephen has that. He's he's changed many people's perspectives and lives. And I and like I said, been an inspiration for me.

Well, and so much of the work that you do for him will end up benefiting so many other families, which I know is your goal. And you talk about him being on the autism spectrum, and there have been some fights with health insurance about how these things are diagnosed and how they're covered. What kind of work have you been able to do in that space? And have you been able to find bipartisan help with some of what you've tried to get done?

Yeah, I mean, so I think, you know, people know me. I'm, you know, I believe in tax cuts and all the things I fought for as attorney general. But the very first thing I did when I ran for office and was elected is we got Missouri to pass the gold standard of autism insurance reform to make sure when families had that diagnosis, they had insurance companies would pay for the therapies that they needed. It was at the time was the only option.

a neurobiological disorder that was excluded from insurance. And so it was really unfair for families who were desperate for help. So we were able to get that passed. I mean, there were a million lobbyists lined up against it. I really didn't know what I was up against, which probably was a good thing. We just took them all on with all the families and we had rallies around the state. And to this day, I have people come up to me and it's been life changing for them. And I'm really proud of that. We also continued that work

you know, to fight for funding for certain things. And then these ABLE accounts, Congress passed some authorizing language to allow families to save for the long-term needs of a loved one with special needs like they would for college, you know, because...

think about if you're, you got, you're putting money in a 529 and you got this diagnosis, um, you know, college may not be in the future, but, but there are going to be a lot of needs longterm. And so we were able to get that done in Missouri. And then now here in the Senate, you know, I, I founded the, um, the epilepsy epilepsy caucus,

We passed some legislation to extend those tax advantage ways for families to save. We've got the Think Differently Act passed last year, which is kind of a one-stop shop. If you punch in your zip code, no matter where you are in the country, you can kind of see what resources are out there. And the whole idea is just to empower individuals, empower families to reach their full potential, whatever that is. And so it's obviously very near and dear to my heart, and it has helped a lot of people, which I'm really proud of. Mm-hmm.

Real world difference and very practical things when you talk about just that zip code that you can put in and find actual resources in your community that will be closest to you. I mean, that's just I think people at home love when they hear Congress gets things like that done. Because you guys know the latest ratings are not good for Congress as a whole. Now, people might say that they like their member better, but their general overall view of Congress is not ultra positive. And one of the things that I get asked about so much from people when I'm outside D.C. is that.

you know, does anybody get along? Are they working on anything? Do they all just hate each other? And I say to them, you would be surprised about some of the bipartisan friendships and relationships that are very genuine. Do you have friends across the aisle that you feel like, you know, even when you're slogging through tough things like these nominations and confirmation battles that you could say we're friends?

Of course. And by the way, I have friends of a different political persuasion in real life, you know, when I went back home and I know I think that's that's pretty normal. Now, do I have deeply held beliefs and do I advocate for my position? Of course. But I do think that, you know,

You know, I think my faith grounds me. I try to I try to view people as, you know, as made in the image of God. And we have disagreements and there's a forum. There's a forum to go do that. And you fight these important fights and you keep you keep doing it. But all along, I mean, you know,

There's a lot more important things sometimes than the things that I think people get ginned up about. And but there are some things that are central to the republic. Right. So you kind of pick and choose the things that you're really going to to work on and focus on. But of course, I think it's important to have the perspective. And I think actually one of the more stunning things is seeing some of the polling, particularly among I'm not trying to make this partisan. I'm saying bipartisan makes part of it, but especially among the left of of, you know, if if if somebody voted for President Trump, they just they would not.

want to date them or they would not, you know what I mean? Or they wouldn't want to be friends with them or deal with them. And I don't think that's a good thing. I think that I think there are some there's some common ground that we can find. I mean, Maggie Hasson, for example, from New Hampshire, she has a son with cerebral palsy and we've bonded over that. Right. That's just like real world stuff. And we try to work on things that we can agree on. Now, our voting record is probably like

like a polar opposite. And, um, but there, if you can find a couple of things to work on, let's go do it. I mean, John Fetterman, I mean, you know, we came in together, our freshman class. I mean, you kind of go through this experience together. We'll have dinner together. It doesn't mean that, you know, John and I are going to agree on everything or anything, but, um, but you kind of go through a similar experience. And I think you just try, and I, by the way, I think you owe it to your constituents, um,

to try to be effective in that way too. You know what I mean? Um, so, so I, I, but that's generally, that's my personality. Um, you know, whether you want to call it a happy warrior, whatever the term is, I try to, I try to get along with people where I can and fight for the things I believe in. And I think you can do both.

Yeah. And I love where you start from. If you really believe that every single person is made in God's image, there's instant respect and compassion for them and knowing that they and their soul are infinitely valued to God, just as yours is. And I just think that's so helpful for all of us when we're looking across all kinds of difficult issues to at least start from that place. So always good to hear that from someone on the Hill who's doing this day in and day out. Yeah. And I think the, I try to have the perspective that look,

um, you're doing important work. I think, you know, work gives people a lot of meaning no matter what they're doing. I certainly feel like I have meaningful work, but I also understand that, that, um, that it's fleeting, you know, that, that we do have a finite period of time on this earth. And I think you want to maximize it, um, and, and, you know, use your talents that God has given you to, um, to do good things. But ultimately, um, you know, um,

Your eternal soul is the most important thing. And I think that in mind gives you a lot of perspective as, as Steven has given me perspective. I told somebody asked me this. I've not mentioned it since then, but you know, you think about what that is like. Somebody asked me one time, what do you think heaven is like? And Steve, when, when I get, when Steve, when I come home,

And I get a big hug from Steven. The look in his eye is just pure joy. There's nothing else that complicates, just pure joy. And for that split second, you feel that

unadulterated love, just pure love. And I think what, what heaven is like for me is it's that split second for an eternity. And if that's what it is, you know, there's a, there's a lot to look forward to, but, um, but anyway, he's given me a lot of perspective and I love him, love him dearly.

Well, God bless you and your family. And yeah, I think we all look forward to that infinite peace and love. And it does get the rest of the world in perspective for us as we have our earthly and bodily and mental and all the struggles that we have here. But Senator, thank you for taking a break. I know you've got a hearing to get back to. Hopefully we'll see you again on Fox News Sunday very soon. But thanks for joining us on Live in the Brain. Well, it was nice to talk to you about, you know, I'm going back into the gladiator arena here. So it was nice to talk to you about some other stuff. So thanks.

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