Morgan Ortagus: The Roles of A Lifetime 47:06

It's time to take the quiz. Five questions, five minutes a day, five days a week. Take the quiz every weekday at thequiz.fox and then listen to the quiz podcast to find out how you did. Play, share, and of course, listen to the quiz at thequiz.fox. Well, welcome to the Jason and the House podcast. I'm Jason Chaffetz, and we got a lot of fun stuff to talk about. We got a good conversation coming up with Morgan Ortegas.

Morgan, of course, was the spokesperson there at the State Department with Mike Pompeo. Somebody I actually really got to know at first with my time at Fox News. But Morgan's had an amazing background. I mean, I don't know if you've understood what she's done with the intelligence field, being in the military, being the spokesperson. Yeah.

And she's got a new baby, too. So just an amazing woman. And I look forward to giving her a call and having some fun as we have that conversation with Morgan Ortegas. But first, I've got to highlight the stupid because, you know, there's always somebody doing something stupid somewhere. All right. First, we're going to go to the American Civil Liberties Union.

You know, it used to be a long time ago that the ACLU was sort of the bastion, the fighter for individual rights. They would stand up for the little person, the big corporation, the smallest of small, and be able to say, you know what, we're going to fight for your freedom and for your liberties. And then the vaccine mandate, actually, I think it went back to Donald Trump, is where they really kind of lost their way.

anything that was Donald Trump, they just, you know, they were opposed to. And they really became this fundraising behemoth. They figured out how to raise a lot of money based on the decades of work that they had done. And now they're just contorting themselves to do anything and everything that liberals and progressives and a Biden administration wants them to do. They're just cronies for them. And that's my personal opinion. But

You know, one of the questions should be about vaccine mandates. You know, I'm very much in favor of vaccination. I got the vaccination. I've got the booster. It's good for me. It's good for my wife. But you know what? It isn't necessarily for everyone. And I think there are a lot of people that would concur with me and agree that the mandate is where it really rubs people wrong. The idea that our government would force an injection into your body would

in order to have a cheeseburger at a restaurant. It just seems bizarre to me. It's just like so far above and beyond the proper role of government. So the ACLU, what are they doing on fighting this? Well, they took a position...

This is their quote. Far from compromising civil liberties, vaccine mandates actually further them. They protect the most vulnerable among us, including people with disabilities and fragile immune systems, children too young to be vaccinated, and communities of color hit hard by the disease. End quote. That's their official position regarding civil liberties. The American Civil Liberties Union is actually saying, the ACLU is saying,

that it protects your civil liberties by the government forcing its way into your body and giving you an injection. That, to me, is just flat-out stupid. All right, time to go to number two on this list because I went to foxnews.com and read this story that really was kind of amazing. Ten out of 13 firefighters with a volunteer fire department there in Illinois decided to quit.

Fire Chief John Rosenkranz was removed from his post and replaced with the assistant chief, Jeremy Simmons. And this happened at a board meeting. Well, it just so happens that 10 of the firefighters with the volunteer fire department there in Illinois decided to quit because the newly appointed fire chief previously had pled guilty to arson.

I mean, of all the crimes and all the things that are going to be out there, I mean, yeah, you can go through some rehabilitation. But the new fire chief is going to be a guy who was previously convicted or pled guilty to arson? I mean, it's just unbelievable. Now...

Supposedly he was pardoned or something like that later. It was taken away or whatever. But at the time that it happened, years and years and years ago, when he was just 18 years old, something like 20 years ago, he did plead guilty to arson. And now he's going to go on to become the fire chief. That's pretty stupid.

All right. Then I'm going to go to this next one. It involves my own home state of Utah. It was a story I saw with the Salt Lake Tribune, but it was really pointed out by Senator Joni Ernst, who's really good at pointing out the waste, fraud, and abuse within our federal government. She's the senator from Iowa.

Well, we got one of our favorite counties, a decent-sized county here in Utah. Big in its geography, not as big in the population, but just it's a great county. It's called Uinta County. And...

They got some Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Security Act money. The CARES Act, remember that? The CARES Act money. The money went to the state, then it went on to the county. The county received about $5.1 million, according to this article. Most of it, about $3.6 million, went to two rounds of economic recovery grants for local businesses, according to the article. But then it gets to be some funny, squishy money out there.

$114,000 went to two local artists to paint murals. But the one that really, really kind of got under my skin here a little bit is that the county decided to open its brand new, it's called the Buckskin Hills Snow Hill, complete with snowmakers, snow guns, a tow rope, and more than a dozen runs for tubing, skiing, and snowboarding. And they used that money

that relief money to do it. Now, this was supposed to go fight COVID. And I don't know that, you know, making a tubing hill necessarily rises to the level of coronavirus relief. And I got to call that out as something just being a little step too far. So,

That does not qualify folks in you. And we love you, but that is not coronavirus relief. And that folks is just some of the stupid going on crisscross in the country. All right. Now that we've highlighted the stupid and it's time to phone a friend because you're going to get more sense out of the world by listening to this next person.

Morgan Ortegas, she's just one of our favorite people and wicked smart and cares about her country. So, so patriotic to her core. So let's give a call to Morgan Ortegas. Morgan, this is Jason Chaffetz. How are you?

Hey, Jason. Oh, there's my dog. So you have at least a dog. I got dogs and babies and all kinds of craziness over at the Ortega's Weinberger residence. You know, I tried calling you earlier and you weren't there. And so I said, hey, can I call you? And you're like, yeah, but I'm like doing baby bath. How is like being the mom and being the baby bath person?

You know, it's amazing that I will tell you. So I was one of those people that I said, I never wanted kids. And I know this is like totally against everything you believe, but I'm just being honest. I went through most of my twenties and thirties thinking like, yeah, I'm not a kid person.

And then something happened as you get closer to 40. Not that I am, but theoretically, if I were and you and you're like, did I mean never? And so I just was like, well, you know, I'm just going to leave it to God. I'm in this crazy job. My dream job. I'm a spokesperson for the State Department with Mike Pompeo, President Trump.

And, you know, somehow I'm able to conceive a child and birth her. And, well, we'll go through the gestation process through a pandemic. And I'm in Kabul and Khartoum pregnant. It was really, really crazy 2020. But I will tell you, like,

You work in your life. I mean, you probably know this, right? You're a member of Congress. You work for all of these like things. And I thought, oh, I've made it. I'm finally like I'm State Department spokesperson. I'm doing a senior job in foreign policy. And all of a sudden, this little baby is born. And it's like everything that I've ever done in my career is it's not meaningless because I'm very grateful for what I've done. But it just pales in comparison. I mean, there is just nothing on the planet.

that i would put in front of her she's the best thing i ever did by like a mile well see that's what's going to make you such an incredible mom so that i that's good i'm happy for you thank you um and you're just sort of the all-american family there with the baby a dog and an incredible career but but you grew up in this like little town in central florida you're not supposed to go on and like rule the world

What happened along the way? How did you do? How did you pull all that off? You know, it's really funny. I remember I was I think it was in my senior year of college. I just finished getting runner up to the Miss Florida pageant was devastating because I wanted to win. But the Lord works in mysterious ways. And I was a runner up instead. And I went to work for my local congressman who was Adam Putnam. At the time, I think he was the youngest member of Congress. And I was in Bartow, Florida.

which is, you know, a couple of towns over from where I grew up, the capital of the county. And I and I remember this very, very, very sweet man who was our who was our landlord of our campaign office. I always wore around cowboy hat, cowboy boots, just the sweetest guy. And he looked at me one day and he said, Morgan, what are you doing? Putting your you know, what do you say? Oh, no. He said, Morgan, what are you doing? Putting your pretty little head in politics?

And I just sort of laughed at him and I said, well, you know what, sir? Pretty little head has something to say. So I think I just, I grew up with parents who neither one went to college. My twin sister and I and our little sister were the first ones in our family to go to college, you know, and some of our cousins are as well, you know, our generation, our parents, our grandparents. I mean, I don't even, neither one of my grandparents on my dad's side even had a high school education. So when my dad got out of high school, that was, you know, he was fancy man.

And, but I just had parents that said early on that they just said they felt like that they, it sounds a little cheesy, but it's true. But they always told me that I was anointed by God to do big things and that he had big plans for my life. And I just believed it. And so whenever I left home, I set out to, you know, to run the world because my parents told me that I should.

Growing up, I look back and at my parents and how the messages that they were sending me. And they were always like, if there was something like there was this soccer juggling contest when I was like 10 years old.

And I went and just did it by myself. Like, I didn't even tell my parents that I was doing it. And I won. I got this trophy, which I still kind of cherish today. My wife looks at me and says, why do we still have that soccer trophy? I'm like, that means a lot to me. I like I went out there. I juggled it 55 times in a row. And I was 10 years old. And they always kind of ingrained in me in this, hey, why not you? Why can't that be you? If you want to do it, go for it. If you work hard, work smart.

Apply yourself. There's nothing you can't. You can do anything. But that started, like, that's the only thing I remember. It's like, of course you can. Go for it. And I'm sure there were a lot of flops along the way, but it was this pervasive feeling that, yeah, go for it.

Yeah, yeah. You know, I think we're we are lucky and blessed to have parents who raised us like that and people who are supportive in the community. I also think there's a sense of naivete, which you really need whenever you grow up in a small town and whenever, you know, it's just sort of like, well, of course, I'm going to take on the world. You know, I moved. I have

After college, I went right to New York City, worked for our mutual friend, Katie McFarland, who was running for the Senate against Hillary Clinton, believe it or not. She was running in the Republican primary at the time. Of course, she

She went on to later be Trump's first deputy national security advisor. And, you know, and it's just I thought, well, of course, I'm moving to New York City. Why not? This is the next step. So, you know, I think I think it's a sense of chutzpah and certainly a sense of naivete about how the world actually works is sometimes a good thing because.

You don't even know how big it is. So you just decide to take it on because you don't even have those blinders or, you know what I mean? You don't even have expectations or things holding you back because you don't even know enough to know what should hold you back. But growing up like early on you, your sister, um,

I mean, were your parents doing something different? Were you playing sports? Were you, I mean, I don't, what were you doing? And did they like force you to read the newspaper and watch the nightly news every night? I mean, how did you stay so on top of world affairs along the way? And where did that interest sort of come from?

So the interest definitely came from my grandmother, my mother's father, who had lupus, which was a pretty rare disease for a white male to get. It attacks women more and definitely disproportionately more women of color. So he was kind of a weird test case for the doctors because it's just not the normal case that they see. And he had a pretty debilitating case of lupus.

So therefore he had to retire very early, probably by the time he was 50. And he took care of us a lot of times. I was with my grandparents, you know, my parents had us when we were young. So I was with my grandparents a lot. Um, and he couldn't go a lot of places. So he was watching, um, C-SPAN one and two, uh, you know, before it was cool CNN back in the day, you know, before Fox news was ever even a thing. And he, um,

And so he really just sort of taught me an understanding of current events, what was going on in the world. I think the Gulf War, the first one, also shaped a lot. I think I was in like fifth grade when that started. And one of my uncles who was in the Air Force was deployed there.

And, and my cousins and my aunt had to come home and, you know, live with my grandparents while my, while my uncle was deployed. My uncle, my other uncle ended up being on call. He was in the army, but he did not get deployed. But, you know, all of a sudden there was like a sense in the family, like, you know, the men in my, the men in our family were getting called up and life was changing. And so,

I was old enough to remember. I don't remember. I think I guess I was in fifth grade. Anyway, I don't really remember. But I was old enough to really be cognizant of what was going on and to follow the news. And so my grandfather really just, you know, when I was around him and those days when he watched us after school, he just really distilled knowledge.

a passion to know and understand what was going on in the world, both international and domestic politics. And so I really, I think I owe a lot of my interest to him. He was a huge influence in my life.

All right. So where's the political bug? I mean, like why the political side of the equation? Because most people don't know. Maybe most people do. But a lot of people, I guess, don't know that, you know, your time in the Navy and being an intelligence officer. But you also got this bent where you're working on politics. So not everybody grows up and says, hey, yeah, let's, you know, I know I grew up in Auburndale, right? Auburndale, Florida. Right.

Yeah, we should get into politics. Where did that come from? You know, it was interesting. And I wouldn't have even said in high school that I thought I would end up going into politics. But I was studying music. I was the drum major of the local high school band. I was at the choir. I was singing. And so I was very focused on really music and performing. I think 9-11 really shaped. I was a sophomore in college.

And 9-11 was obviously another moment that was pivotal to all of us, but it was really pivotal in my young adulthood. And so I switched my major to political science and I knew that that was what I wanted to study and wanted to go for. And I think just...

the more I learned, the more interested I became in really understanding the world. And on the political side of it, I just started getting involved locally in Florida, especially working for my congressman. And then we

had a campaign office in Bartow. We ended up housing the Bush Cheney 04 re-election campaign in there because our re-election was going to be pretty easy. So we basically just did all Bush Cheney stuff. So I think the bug bit me pretty early in my young adulthood. Now, the drums, I wouldn't have...

I know you a little bit, but... No, no, no, not the drum major. It means you're the conductor of the marching band. Oh, I thought you were playing. I thought you were just banging on the drums in the background. Well, if you could pick an instrument, what would you be playing?

Well, I played the saxophone for many years and the piano, and then I sang and, and I missed that part of life. I need to find more creative outlets. You know, I live in Nashville now, which I just absolutely love. And there's so much live music here, which is really great. I was able earlier this year, one of my friends, Ed Roland, who's the lead singer of Collective Soul, we were, he invited me on stage in Atlanta and

And so I sang back up with him on one of his songs and it was, it was really fun. So it's nice to have a little bit of, let's maybe list out the things you haven't done that you like want to do. What's on the list? I can't cook. I mean, really, I cannot cook. It's terrible. And I can't clean. I'm really disorganized. I'm just not, I've done my housewife skills leave much to be desired. Yeah.

All right. So cooking and cleaning are not, but that's not really on your bucket list. I'm talking about things you want to be good at. Your husband may hope that you were good at cleaning and cooking, but what you want to do that you haven't done yet, what do you want to do that you haven't done yet?

Well, I haven't written a book yet. And I really want to. I have like a book proposal half written. And so I really want to take... The problem is, I don't know, but for you, I love writing. And I do write op-eds and things. But to actually sit down and write a book, I feel like there's too much chaos in my life. I really envy the people who are able to do it and full-time jobs and everything else. My friend, Nicole...

Sapphire from Fox News. I mean, she's she's written like two or three books now and she's a doctor and she's a Fox News medical analyst and she has three kids. And I look at people like her and I'm like, OK, I have no time. I have no clue. You're kind of behind the times. Yeah. Like I've written three books. Nicole's written three books. I you have no excuse other than to sit down and just pound out a book. What would it be about? I know.

Probably something related to the Uyghurs. I think that, you know, they are the, as many people know, I talk about this a lot on Fox, they are the Muslim minority sect in China, in Xinjiang specifically, that are undergoing the genocide. Right now, as your listeners are listening to this, there's an ongoing genocide in China.

So probably something like that. But then I'm also like to totally pivot. I am deeply interested in space. I'm fascinated by it. I think Space Force is just one of the coolest things that President Trump did. And maybe in my Navy Reserve duty, I can get their focus on space a little bit more. I would totally... Would you go to space? I would totally go in a heartbeat. Oh, I'd totally go in a heartbeat. Yeah, I...

I am just fascinated by space. Like I, it's just, it's mind boggling to me.

So let me ask it this way. If you didn't do sort of the political intelligence things that you've done with the military, the State Department, obviously, what would you be doing? Like if it wasn't Adam Putnam and politics, what direction do you think you would have ended up? Or was it just inevitable that's the direction you're going? There was no ifs, ands, or buts about it.

Well, I think that, I don't know, I do think that we all have callings on our life. And, you know, and I do think that God sort of directs us for where we're supposed to be and what we're all meant to do on this planet. I but I also think that I would probably be involved in music somehow, you know, I don't know if I would have actually tried to make it to be an opera singer. But I think I definitely would have done something professionally in the music space.

See, now, there's one thing I would like to be able to do that Jason Chaffetz will never, ever do. And despite my trying, I am so inept at this. I love music. I love listening. It's a great escape for me. But singing, playing, yeah, that ain't just happening for me. So...

Again, another talent that you're doing. You're listening to Jason in the House. We'll be back with more of my conversation with Morgan Ortegas right after this. The world of business moves fast. Stay on top of it with the Fox Business Rundown. Listen to the Fox Business Rundown every Monday and Friday at foxbusinesspodcasts.com or wherever you download your favorite podcasts. When you're thinking about that little baby of yours, how old now?

She's 13 months. So this 13-month-old, and you're raising her, what do you think America's going to be like for her when she grows up? Well, listen, I'm in the fight. And if I have anything to do with it, it's going to be still a superpower, still the world's leader, you know, standing up for democracy and human rights and still that beacon, right, that shining city on a hill that Ronald Reagan talked about.

I think that there are, listen, there's no doubt that there's a lot going on in our society that is incredibly worrying to many people. But, you know, we can't just give in, right? We can't just let the Chinese Communist Party win. They want world domination. They want

you know, the next hundred years to be shaped by Chinese influence, not by American and European and democratic allies influence. And maybe that's inevitable. Maybe that's just the way history goes. Empires rise and fall. I'm just going to fight like hell to defy history on that one.

You got to see the government and the State Department and our Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, who I served with in Congress, who I really just think is one of the finest gentlemen out there. I just really have the greatest respect for him. But you got to see it up close and personal. What do people not understand or what do you wish you could convey to them and have an understanding of how that part of our government works?

Well, I think that a lot of our diplomats don't get the fanfare that their counterparts in the military do. And a lot of them leave very similar lives. You know, they pack up diplomats and their families. They pack up every two to three years. They go to a different country.

They learn new languages. Their kids go in new schools. So in many ways, they very much live the life, similar life of a military family having to move every few years. And often in the case of the diplomats, they're learning new languages and languages that they can not just, you know, get past within the taxi cab. Like they're learning the language to the level of detail that they can communicate with the host government.

And so, so one, I think that, you know, our diplomats don't get enough press attention for the great work that they do overseas. You know, they really dig in and push up their sleeves and do the work of representing America overseas. And so that's maybe something that I, you know, that I would like to highlight more. It's definitely a very fantastic job. It's a job that I think, you know, what I would like to see is more American, more Americans, you know,

that are right of center, more conservative Americans. So many of them go into the military, which is awesome. And I love it. It's great. But also be really nice for those Americans to try out and join the Foreign Service and become a diplomat. Because I think that all perspectives of America need to be represented in our Foreign Service. Yeah, it is a fascinating job. It's hard and difficult for some. Others just...

thrive because yeah, you can be in a nice first world France and then next thing you know, you're out in the hinterlands and in a far off place. But God, we have to really rely on your, on your values and your perspective and the American way and be able to share that. And in many ways help teach people on these emerging markets and these emerging countries, um,

what America's like and why the American way is far superior than other ways. It really is an opportunity to put your kind of money where your mouth is and live it, breathe it, share it, and propel the best interest of the United States. I agree with you. It's tough work, and they're away from their families for long periods of time.

Yeah, and they're often in war zones, you know, right alongside our members of the military. I mean, Afghanistan, when you were, you know, saw all those scenes from the airport when we were evacuating people, the State Department was really hand in hand with the military in those evacuations, getting people out. You know, some of them were on the last flights out as well. So it's a different way of serving, but certainly an honorable way to serve. You're listening to Jason in the House. We'll be back with more right after this.

So what's up for you next? I mean, now you're in Nashville, got this little baby, you got this dog that likes to make sure its presence is known that nobody forgets the dog. But what's what do you want to do next?

Oh my goodness. I feel like- Besides write a book. Besides write a book. With a 13 month old, I feel like I want to get through the day, right? Most days. And I think I am still trying to discover what that is. I'll tell you that the one thing that I've learned, I'm sure you probably feel this way too, Jason, especially after everything you've accomplished.

The one thing that I've learned is to stay true to who you are and to stay in the lane in which, you know, that you're where you build a reputation and where you're good at. What I mean by that is there's obviously like TV opportunities and things coming out of the Trump administration, all kinds of interesting opportunities to look and think and do. And I said, you know what? I just think my calling in life is to be an evangelist for what I think America's role in the world should be.

to help the American people understand foreign policy and why these things that we talk about on a daily basis, like Russia and Ukraine, China and Taiwan, why I think these things matter. And it's really important to me to be a voice and an advocate for the American people to understand how important these issues are. Because, you know, the trick is, is people like to make these things happen.

They like to make them complicated in Washington and they like to speak over everyone's head. And that's how you end up in 20 year wars with no accountability because you just speak over everyone's head and everyone's think, well, God, I don't understand the difference between, you know, Russia, Ukraine and Poland. And when Morgan talks about NATO, I may not necessarily totally understand all the nuances. And my belief is, is that if the average American doesn't understand our foreign policy and what we're doing and why in a

they can't explain it, then we failed. And I think the foreign policy establishment in Washington purposely makes this stuff complicated in order to speak over people's heads and have some sort of elite

you know, feeling about what they're doing. Well, I just call, you know, BS on that. I think that foreign policy, if you take the time and explain why it's important, can be relatable to every single American. They should be invested in what we're doing and why. And we're a democracy, right? That matters. And too often, I think that the foreign policy and national security people in Washington and organizations, we sort of operate

you know, off in the distance away from what the domestic policy people are doing and kind of hope Americans won't pay attention. Right. So that way we can pursue policies that we think are the best for the American people. And we don't have to bother to explain it to them because we know best. We're going to we're going to figure it out for them.

Well, I just don't believe that at all. I think that American foreign policy, American strength and might in the world works best whenever the American people are bought into what we're doing and why we're leading and why, you know, making sure that Russia doesn't invade Ukraine matters, right? And so anyway, you can see I'm passionate on this topic because I don't think, you know, this...

experiment of us being a superpower of this world order that has been in existence since World War II, you know, democracies and transparency and truth, you know, really being at the forefront of our international organizations and institutions, that can be gone in the blink of an eye. You know, the Chinese Communist Party is looking to take over and influence every global institution that they can. Look at the WHO.

Look at the fact that there's no accountability for the fact that China unleashed a virus on the world that has killed millions of people. Zero accountability for that. And so America being a leader in the world matters. And America leading doesn't mean going into endless wars or into stupid wars, right? What it does mean is that whenever you...

do need to get yourself involved in the military or do need to take any action, that everybody knows that you mean what you say and that you can back it up. And listen, the bad guys are right there, right? China would love nothing more than to take over Taiwan militarily and for us to do nothing about it. So that way they can use that as a cudgel against all of their neighbors who are allies to us in the United States and say, you know,

You're going to have to do what we want to do now because America is not going to be here to back you up. You know, same thing in Ukraine. Right. Same story. Same story with Iranian influence in the Middle East. You know, we have allies around the world that protect the world, that protect the way that we live and withdrawing from the world. You know, there's a lot of talk about where we should be, where our presence would be.

I can tell you that withdrawing from the world on the international stage does not make us safer domestically at home. If you think that we can let the Russians invade Ukraine, the Chinese invade Taiwan, the Iranians harass and continue to dominate Lebanon and Iraq and their neighbors.

If you think all of that just happens and that nothing really changes in our day-to-day life, you will wake up one day with tyranny on your doorstep and you will not know where it came from. Well, you're showing and demonstrating why, A, you're so good at what you're doing. Because I totally agree with the premise of your comments here because I really do believe that

But more Americans engaged in the understanding discussion and debate on our foreign policy is a healthy thing. I thought one of the worst things about the last presidential campaign is that they skipped the foreign policy debate because there was a great divide. Tragedy. Yeah. It's just the difference between where Donald Trump was taking us and what was going on. Some of the greatest accomplishments he had were on the foreign policy side of the equation.

And Joe Biden. Well, that's probably why they didn't want to bring it up. Yeah. Well, look, he's not even protecting our southern border. What makes you think he's going to help with

Taiwan and, you know, in Ukraine and other types. I just wish we had had that discussion as the American people. And this is why I think you're so sought after and why you've been so successful is because to synthesize that down to the core of the discussion and be able to explain it logically piece by piece. I mean, not everybody can do that. And I don't know where along the way

You learned how to do that, but you do it exceptionally well. Well, you're very sweet. Thank you. I appreciate it. I think it helps whenever you feel very passionately and strongly about a subject. And, you know, it's funny. I ran into, I'd never met her before, but I met Kathie Lee Gifford this Sunday, this past Sunday at Shannon Bream's Christmas party here in Nashville, just like super sweet. I've heard her invite me too. And Shannon Bream was telling me about, not Shannon, excuse me, Kathie Lee Gifford was telling me

about what good friends she was with the late Reverend Billy Graham, and that he told her that he had the, you know, the gift of gab, and that was her calling to use it. And I thought, you know, I love that. That's great. We all have callings. And we need to fulfill what that calling and talents are that we were born with that God gave us. And we've got to fulfill those destinies. Well, you're doing a great job at it. We love seeing you at Fox. That's where I got to meet you. And I

I'm glad you're doing more and more Fox. That's good. We want you to be out there as much as you can. But I appreciate you joining us on this podcast. But I do have another set of questions, these rapid questions. And I don't care how many times you've been asked. I thought I was about to get out of this. Oh, no, no, no, no. That was just the warm-up act. It was just really to get you softened up so that we could go through these rapid questions. I hope you're ready for them.

All right. Oh, look at that skepticism. All right. Ready? Yes. First concert you attended.

Oh, my God. The first one, I don't even know if I can remember. Now, nobody's going to beat Bill Hammer. Bill Hammer's answer is by far the best answer we've heard yet on this. His was Liberace at age four, and he remembers it. So if you can beat Liberace, more power to you, but I doubt it. No, I can't. I think probably like...

I forget his name. I'm staring at his face. I grew up in an evangelical church and it was like, my parents took me to like Christian concerts. So I probably saw some Christian. No, probably some Christian band. I don't know the name. Okay.

um yeah all right all right first job when i i lose i lose on that so you got if you get me talking about the chinese communist party i'm good but when you get me on no we gotta talk about morgan morgan yes it's just all about you all right first job first like real job outside of your parents saying hey clean up your room which you obviously weren't very good at so no first job i

I was, I was, I worked at a daycare and when I was 15 for the summer, I think I was, I think the local rules allowed me to make like minimum wage and work like four or six hours a day. Like I knew I couldn't work eight hours, but I think you were allowed to work four or six hours as a 15 year old. And so, yeah, I watch kids at a local daycare.

Maybe that's why I didn't want kids for so long. Yeah, that's probably true. Watching a bunch of other kids when you're 15. Yeah. Well, like, okay. First celebrity crush. Oh, probably Brad Pitt. Who doesn't love Brad Pitt? Come on. Guys even understand why girls like Brad Pitt. I totally get that. That makes sense. All right. Life's most embarrassing moment.

I had one came to mind immediately, which I will not repeat. I can't even tell you. It's too embarrassing. That's the one we want to hear. The one we want to hear is the one you don't want to tell us, Morgan. It's just you and me. No, nobody listens to my podcast. I promise.

Nobody will hear this. Just tell me. I will tell you a very embarrassing moment was when I was Deputy Treasury Attaché to Saudi Arabia. Of course you were. I covered the Gulf in the Obama administration, actually.

And in the first term of Obama and my very first meeting in Saudi Arabia, I flew in the night before. I could not sleep. I tried everything. I couldn't sleep. So I set up watching TV and eating a Snickers bar, which is very mature of me. And then the next day when I went into my meetings to meet people, I was so tired. I fell asleep in a meeting with the central bank governor.

You know, if I was... That's pretty embarrassing. That is kind of embarrassing. I remember my first trip to Afghanistan, and I had not mastered the use of Ambien yet. And I remember getting off the plane and basically putting us in this meeting, and then I thought, I've been asleep. And I have no idea how long I've been asleep in this meeting with this general. And I'm sure he was just giggling and laughing that the congressman was over there sleeping. Now, I was one of like eight members on this trip, but...

I was kind of embarrassing. I hope it was just for like 30 seconds. But if somebody told me it was, if it was 20 minutes, I wouldn't be surprised. Anyway. All right. If you could meet one person and say, you know what? Tell your husband, Hey, you know what? Coming over for dinner tonight. We got somebody interesting. It's you can pick anybody dead or alive. The person you want to have dinner with you and your husband.

George Washington. I mean, that's easy. It would be hard, either him or Abraham Lincoln, but I would take whoever is available. You got to check to see if either of them are available. That's good. All right. Unique talent that nobody knows about. Oh, God.

Well, you all know that of my musical abilities. Oh, I've got a good one. So when I was in college, you know, like I said, first one in my family to go to college, first generation to do so. I, of course, like everybody else had to work through college, you know, you had to get scholarships and everything.

and student loans and work night jobs. And I was waitressing and I kind of hated that. I was waitressing at the Applebee's. I like Applebee's, but you know, it's a hard job. - You were a waitress at Applebee's. That's good. - I was, but my real talent is I switched from doing that to being a makeup artist at Burdine's in Latham, Florida.

which was later bought by Macy's. And so I learned all kinds of tricks of the trade. And so when I'm at Fox or any of the TV, the view, wherever it is, with the makeup artists, there's nothing I love more than getting together with them and learning about the new products and new techniques. And yeah, I can totally be a makeup artist right now. I love it. It's really fun.

Wow. That's not something that's ever interested me, but I'm glad. All right. That's okay. I buy that. The judges like this answer. Yes. Okay. But here's like the most important question. And you've been on a roll. You've gotten them all right. Except the first one. Yeah. Use your mulligan on your first one. Okay. Okay. That's fair. Don't mess this one up. Pineapple on pizza. Yes or no?

disgusting gross no there's a reason why we love Morgan Ortega this yes to that you'd be surprised that's why I asked the question only only communists say yes to that good there you go I that's I think that's right all right I don't know how to ask this question but who happened to marry you along the way

Well, I think you probably know the answer. I do know the answer. I was trying to think of a creative way to ask it. But it's such an interesting thing about you. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. How did you pull that off? For a very long time.

Well, she was our neighbor. So I said to my husband, now husband, wouldn't it be really cool to get married by a Supreme Court justice? And he said, yeah, it would be cool. But like, who's, you know, she's not going to do it. She probably only does it for family members or people who worked for her. And she knew him because my husband was on the board of the condo building. And I said, well, you know what? I'm going to...

I'm going to ask her, I'm just going to put a note in her mailbox and ask her. And I'm just going to say, we're your neighbors, you know, just remember us. This is Morgan and Jonathan. Would you marry us?

And, um, I didn't think any, you know, I put the note in her box and I forgot about it. And then all of a sudden, maybe like a month later, I got a note back on Supreme court stationary that said, sure, I'd love to. And I was sort of like, well, holy hell. She actually said yes. Okay. First of all, a plus for, for having the guts to say, we're going to ask her because it was on the board of the condo. I mean, that's like unbelievable. Um,

But hats off to her for saying, yeah, sure, I'll do that. Why not? I mean, she's legendary in a lot of ways. And it was a very friendly building. And so, you know, it was cool. And a lot of people were like, why did you have RBG marry you? And I'm like, because it's Supreme Court. Why wouldn't you do that? How cool is that? Yeah, no. Right? That's what I think. Hats off to you asking her and real kudos to her for saying, yeah, I'll do that.

Um, good for her for doing it. All right. It's a good lesson in life that you always just ask because you never know. Don't assume the answer is going to be no. Yeah, I think that's right. I think that's absolutely right. All right. Um, last question. Yes, sir. Best advice. There's some, uh, little girl, little boy in Auburndale, Florida, who's growing up and what advice would you give them?

I would say to outwork everybody, right? You're never going to be the best at everything. You're never going to be the smartest person. Or maybe I would say that I always felt I was, I necessarily wasn't right. I may not be the smartest, may not have the best resume, may not have the best pedigree, may not be the best looking, may not have the most distinguished family. But the one thing that I can promise you is that I would outwork you. And

And if you'll take that attitude into everything you do, you can accomplish anything. You don't have to be the best at everything, but you do have to be the best at outworking everybody. Great advice. Great advice. Well, such great success thus far. And it's an honor and privilege to know you and interact with you. I'm glad that Fox provided that opportunity. And I truly appreciate you joining us on the Jason in the House podcast. Thanks, Morgan. Thank you so much for having me. It's great. I love it.

Well, I can't thank Morgan enough. She's just a wonderful human being. It'd be fascinating to see where her career and what her future brings because the world's ahead of her and,

She's got the smarts to do whatever she wants to do. And now the background and resume where everybody's going to want her to do it. So that's going to be fascinating to follow her along the way. And I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. I hope it now that you can rate this podcast. Really important to us if you could go over there and do that. So you can obviously subscribe to it so you get the

More of this every week. You know that these come out when they do on Wednesday mornings. And you can also go over to the foxnewspodcast.com because there's lots of good podcasts out there from Trey Gowdy to Ben Dominich to Will Kane. There's a lot of good stuff. Dana Perino. Have a listen over there. And we'll be back with more next week. I'm Jason Chaffetz. This has been Jason in the House.

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