James Traficant

“ If they put me in jail, you have a very easy vote, and I predict you will. I think as a Member of Congress, I want you to think of this. There may come a time when you might get targeted.
You know what I was told? Watch what you say. You are too outspoken. Watch what you say. Shut up about the Reno case.
I am not going to shut up. I want your vote because I think my vote is your vote, and my people elected me and I do not think you should take their representative away. With that, thank you for giving me additional time, at least listening to me, and vote your conscience, nothing personal ”

“ The American people are afraid of their government. Why are we afraid of our government? Now, I want you to listen to this. Bob, they didn't bring one FBI or IRS investigator who investigated me to the stand so I could cross-examine them. They brought a 30-year veteran from Philadelphia, Mr. Callahan, he had seven trips, spent 40 days, a quarter of a million dollars, and all he did was add up the numbers the prosecutor gave him. And said he did no investigation. When he left, he was so confused he walked into the edge of the jury edge, right in the sore spot. ”

“ Beam me up. The IRS does not need more workers; the IRS does not need more money. These stumbling, fumbling, bumbling mistake-prone nincompoops have got to go. ”

“ I will go to jail, but I will be damned if I will be pressured by a government that pressured these witnesses to death to get a conviction on a target, the number one target in the country.
Jim Kirsham, who was an FBI-paid special agent, she would not let him testify, said, "If you get us anything on Traficant, we will build a monument to you."
I got an affidavit from a guy just sent to me from Canada that I helped in a case where 11 Chinese were arrested, and he said, "I want to thank Jim Traficant publicly," and they said, " "Stay away from Traficant . Don't mention his name. ”

“ What has happened to the common sense of America? I say it is time to tell the Pentagon we can hire generals and admirals a lot cheaper from China, too. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the fact that the berets should only be made in America and should only be worn by the elite Army ranger force.
CONGRESS SHOULD DO SOMETHING ABOUT NARCOTICS March 7, 2001
Mr. Speaker, every major city in America is experiencing booming heroin sales. Kids with eyes watering and noses running are running the streets and dangerous. Now, if that is not enough to scare the welcome wagon, our borders are wide open. ”

“ What has happened to us, Congress? Am I different? Yeah. Have I changed my pants? No. Deep down my colleagues know they want to wear wider bottoms; they are just not secure enough to do it. I do wear skinny ties. Yeah, wide ties make me look heavier than I am and I am heavy enough. Do I do my hair with a weed whacker? I admit.
Take into consideration what my colleagues are doing. The Democrats, and I agree with the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey) , and I have had my run-ins with him, probably no one brighter in this whole place. ”

“ And they accepted Cafaro's testimony even though he admitted to lying in a previous RICO trial. That is one count.
Richard Detore is a patriot. I didn't subpoena Detore because his attorney said, "Don't subpoena Richard, subpoena me." To tell you the truth, I was a gentleman, and I did it. I felt sorry for him.
Before I was indicted, before Detore was indicted, I have a tape where he says everything on that tape that he told the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct. He said, "Jim, I think I am living in Red China. If I didn't have two kids, I would blow my brains out." ”

“ Ninety percent of the citizens of Kosovo are ethnic Albanians. Freedom and independence for Kosovo is the only long-term solution for a lasting peace in the Balkans. I yield back the fact that map boundaries have been redrawn regularly throughout history to accomplish peace.
TIME TO PASS A FLAT TAX March 20, 2001
From the womb to the tomb, Madam Speaker, the Internal Rectal Service is one big enema. Think about it: they tax our income, they tax our savings, they tax our sex, they tax our property sales profits, they even tax our income when we die. Is it any wonder America is taxed off? ”

“ That is why go ahead and expel me, and I believe this judge is so afraid of what is resonating throughout America, who believes that they should not have to fear their government and that Congress is the last hope to take it back, and I am saying to the Speaker, take it back.
No American should fear their government and this guy does not. I am ready to go. Expel me. It will make it easier for them to really jack me good.
But do my colleagues know what they will have done? ”

“ I urge you to put our troops on our border. I think anybody who jumps the fence shouldn't be made a citizen, they should be thrown out. And you are going to be dealing with homeland security, and I am saddened in my heart I can't vote on it. ”

“ The gentleman may proceed. I apologize. As a fashion leader, it is tough for me at times to comport with some rules.
It was brought up and said, JIM, why don't you go to Speaker Hastert? HASTERT owes you. I didn't go to the Speaker. I didn't vote for the Speaker to get something from the Speaker. Now, you go ahead and expel me, but you ran this place for 50 years, Democrats, and you made the IRS and the FBI and the Justice Department so strong, our people are afraid to death of them. ”

“ A California woman has set a world record by hooking 7,000 brassieres together to create the biggest bra ball in history. This bra ball is a protest against the way women's breasts have been exploited. ”

“ My people do not want me out. There is something that was not allowed to be brought, and I give the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Hefley) and the committee great respect; but ladies and gentlemen, you passed a 1967 Jury Service and Selection Plan in the Northern District of Ohio before Traficant was indicted, passed a jury selection plan that was not ratified until after my indictment. They excluded people from my area that knew me and these witnesses from the jury pool. ”

“ She submitted an affidavit and testified.
God almighty here.
Now, they said the prosecutor said, "Traficant is touchy-feely. TRAFICANT is too intelligent to be taped." Why did they have Sinclair tape an attorney, Madovich? Why didn't they fake body injury? I have a device, Mr. Hefley, that I could tape you right now, your conversation in the midst of all of this, and you wouldn't know you are being taped. Now not one wiretap, with the number one target in the United States of the Department of Justice prosecutors. ”

“ I expect my colleagues to expel me. It is going to hurt me when some of you do. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
Mr. Speaker, 20 years and not one tape. Mr. Prosecutor from Missouri, am I that good? Come on.
$1.3 billion in that budget that I brought back, much of it from the help of the Republicans, the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Murtha) , the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Young) , thanks. Twenty-two percent unemployment, been under 7, and we are still hurting. ”

“ To my colleague from Ohio, after the public hearings, 80 to 90 percent of the viewing public supports my position. Number three, all the witnesses that testified against me at trial were either felons or would-be felons, with no physical evidence. The gentlewoman is a very astute legal criminal mind. ”

“ Mr. Detore, by the way, spent $600,000 and is now without an attorney. His last attorney he paid $239,000 who went to the judge without him knowing and asked to be withdrawn from the case, because Richard Detore would not give him $100,000. He had already given him $239,000, and all he did was submit 3 motions for him. And one thing rang true: Every one of the witnesses that testified; significant, they had some witnesses scared to death. The key witnesses all would have gone to jail, lost their license, wives should have been indicted, and you know what? ”

“ Democrats did not want Clinton and the party hurt. You let it slide. And what you let slide was the freedom of the United States of America. And I called her a traitor.
And Janet Reno, if I do not go to jail, I will be in Orlando August 15 and you are not going to be elected to any damn thing. Nobody should fear our Government.
ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE SPEAKER PRO TEMPORE The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Hansen) : The Chair would caution the gentleman to please avoid the use of profanity or indecent language, and the gentleman should address the Chair and not other Members by their first names. ”

“ Detore. Enclosed is my truthful affidavit. You can see it any way you wish."
Here is what they wanted Mr. Detore to say, he was outside the door and heard me and Cafaro make a bribery deal. What Mr. Berman didn't mention is I paid $10,000 for cars that didn't run, and Mr. Cafaro sold these cars made in Youngstown, the whole company, for $1. They are considered worthless. He owed me money, never gave me the titles. Flying Members of Congress around, getting Senators' girlfriends' gifts.
But you get out of jail free by getting the man right here. ”

“ I believe Monica and Henry Cisneros were not that important, but I think that Red Army Chinese general giving money to the Democrat National Committee was an affront to our intelligence, and now I am going to tell it like it is. The Republicans want a permanent trade status with China. ”