AG Knudsen Addresses Free Speech and Chinese Spying in Montana

Missoula, MT (KGVO-AM News) - Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen spent an hour Tuesday morning on the KGVO Talk Back show answering questions from listeners.

One caller asked about the issue of free speech, something Knudsen has dealt with personally and as the state’s Attorney General.

Attorney General Knudsen Answered Questions from Talk Back Listeners

“I'm a guy who's been gone after myself for things that I've said,” began Knudsen. “I've been very critical of our state Supreme Court, and look what happened to me. I had an out-of-state lawyer file an ethics complaint against me, and they're trying to take my law license away because they didn't like what I had to say as a public political figure. If you don't like what the President has to say, you're free to speak out against him. You have the First Amendment right to do that, but he's also got the First Amendment right to speak up and say things that he thinks are a problem.”

Knudsen expanded on the issue of free speech.

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Knudsen was Asked about Free Speech and the 'No Kings' Rallies

“When people start saying, ‘well, my First Amendment gives me the right to throw bricks and loot and turn cop cars over and light them on fire’, that's not speech, that's destruction of property,” he said. “That's possibly assault, and then we start getting into problems. But like I said, that's the great thing about Montana. We just didn't see any of that garbage here. Agree with it or don't agree with it. We have enough respect and civility for each other that those things are not allowed to happen.”

Another caller brought up the issue of China and its surveillance of American military installations.

Another Caller Asked Knudsen about Chinese Spying on Montana

“We are definitely seeing increased Chinese activity in Montana,” he said. “We've got a major nuclear missile field here in Montana, and don't kid yourselves, listeners, China is very interested in what that field looks like and what we're doing with it. We now know that that balloon was being steered; we know that it was collecting electronic intelligence. We don't know what that ELINT looks like, because the Biden administration wouldn't tell us.”

The caller was also concerned about foreign powers buying up land in Montana.

“The legislature in Montana has actually banned foreign ownership of Montana land, and that's specifically talking about land around our infrastructure, around our military bases,” he said. “We've seen China do that just right next door. At the Minot Air Force Base and the Grand Forks Air Force Base in North Dakota. Don't kid yourself. They're trying to do it here, too.”