In case you missed it — Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) joined Jake Tapper on CNN’s “State of the Union” to discuss Vice President Kamala Harris’s weak public statement after her meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the 2024 presidential campaign, and more.
In part, Senator Cotton said:
On Israel responding to a Hezbollah terror attack that killed 12 children: “Well, Jake, what I'm worried about is Iranian-backed terrorists continuing to blow up in innocent children in Israel. That's what we saw yesterday in this heinous attack. Last October, we saw Iranian-backed terrorists kill more than 1,200 Jews in the worst atrocity against Jews since World War II. This week, Kamala Harris, in her very first statement—and still to my knowledge only statement on a matter of great public importance—came out after a meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu and equivocated between Hamas and Israel and effectively blamed Israel for civilian casualties in Gaza, or for the lack of food in Gaza that Hamas is diverting from aid stations.
"That simply makes it harder to get a peace deal. It makes it harder to have stability in the Middle East. And, frankly, it emboldens Iran and terrorist groups like Hezbollah because they believe that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will continue to put more pressure on Israel than it puts on Iran and its terrorists that are encircling Iran—Israel with the stated objective to destroy Israel. What we should do is back Israel to the hilt, not put pressure on Israel, not scramble behind the scenes to try to stop Israel from retaliating appropriately for this heinous attack that killed more than a dozen people, including children.”
Senator Cotton’s full interview may be found here and below.
Jake Tapper: Welcome back to State of the Union. This week, we saw the first foreign policy clash between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris over the Middle East, where new strikes overnight sparked fears of a larger regional conflict.
Joining us now, Arkansas Republican Senator Tom Cotton. Senator, thanks so much for joining us.
I do want to ask you. Overnight, the Israeli Defense Forces struck targets inside Lebanon focused on Hezbollah, the terrorist group there, in retaliation for a rocket attack that killed 12 children in a Druze community in the Golan Heights in Israel. Hezbollah does appear responsible for that attack. What do you know about the Israeli response? And how worried are you that this could escalate into a larger regional conflict involving not just Lebanon and Hezbollah, but maybe even Iran?
Senator Cotton: Well, Jake, what I'm worried about is Iranian-backed terrorists continuing to blow up in innocent children in Israel. That's what we saw yesterday in this heinous attack. Last October, we saw Iranian-backed terrorists kill more than 1,200 Jews in the worst atrocity against Jews since World War II. This week, Kamala Harris, in her very first statement—and still to my knowledge only statement on a matter of great public importance—came out after a meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu and equivocated between Hamas and Israel and effectively blamed Israel for civilian casualties in Gaza, or for the lack of food in Gaza that Hamas is diverting from aid stations.
That simply makes it harder to get a peace deal. It makes it harder to have stability in the Middle East. And, frankly, it emboldens Iran and terrorist groups like Hezbollah because they believe that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will continue to put more pressure on Israel than it puts on Iran and its terrorists that are encircling Iran—Israel with the stated objective to destroy Israel. What we should do is back Israel to the hilt, not put pressure on Israel, not scramble behind the scenes to try to stop Israel from retaliating appropriately for this heinous attack that killed more than a dozen people, including children.
Jake Tapper: So, she did speak after her meeting with Netanyahu. She did talk about Hamas, though. You described it as equivocating. I want to just play what she said and then talk about it more.
Vice President Kamala Harris (clip): Hamas is a brutal terrorist organization. On October 7, Hamas triggered this war when it massacred 1,200 innocent people, including 44 Americans. Hamas has committed horrific acts of sexual violence and took 250 hostages.
Jake Tapper: I mean, that's a pretty strong condemnation of Hamas. One can condemn Hamas and also want Israel to wage the war in a different way, no?
Senator Cotton: As is sometimes said, the most important part of a statement comes after the “but.” We didn't hear the “but” there, but she said but, and then what followed is continued pressure on Israel, blaming Israel for civilian casualties in Gaza, when, in reality, it's Hamas that is using civilians as human shields and locating its command posts and mortar firing positions at schools or at mosques or at hospitals.
And where's the condemnation for this heinous attack by Hezbollah yesterday that blew up 12 children? As we came on the air, Kamala Harris and her campaign has still not said anything to condemn Hezbollah for that attack. Again, this is only a week into her presidency—or her presidential campaign. And we see why she is a dangerous liberal. I saw Kamala Harris up close for four years on the Senate Intelligence Committee. What the American people see this week is just a small sampling of what she would do to make America less safe and make the world more chaotic. Remember, she took credit for a lot of the worst decisions of the Biden administration. She said she was right there when they decided on the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan. This is who Kamala Harris always has been. This is who she will be, a San Francisco liberal who cannot keep this country safe.
Jake Tapper: I want you to take a listen to something former President Trump said Friday night at a gathering of conservative Christians.
President Trump (clip): Let's get out and vote just this time. You won't have to do it anymore. Four more years, you know what? It'll be fixed. It'll be fine. You won't have to vote anymore, my beautiful Christians. Get out. You got to get out and vote. In four years, you don't have to vote again. We will have it fixed so good; you're not going to have to vote.
Jake Tapper: How did you interpret that remark?
Senator Cotton: I think he's obviously making a joke about how bad things have been under Joe Biden and how good they will be if we send President Trump back to the White House, so we can turn the country around again. That's what the American people know. For four years, things were good with President Trump. We had stable prices, a growing economy, peace and stability around the world. Under Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, everything has gone to hell. And it will be much worse under Kamala Harris. Just look at her record. She wants to ban private health insurance. She wants to ban fossil fuel production. She wants to ban guns. She wants, even wants to ban plastic straws.
Jake Tapper: Not all guns, some kinds of guns.
Senator Cotton: She wants to forcibly confiscate guns without even an act of Congress to do so. Kamala Harris is a dangerous liberal. She makes Joe Biden look competent and moderate by contrast.
Jake Tapper: I want to ask you about something that Senator Vance said that the Harris campaign is pouncing on. This is from a podcast in 2022 when he was running for Senate talking about abortion. Take a listen.
Senator Vance (clip): Let's say Roe versus Wade is overruled, Ohio bans abortion, and then, every day, George Soros sends a 747 to Columbus to load up disproportionately black women to get them to go have abortions in California…Do you need some federal response to prevent it from happening? Because it's really creepy. And I'm pretty sympathetic to that, actually.
Jake Tapper: You, like Senator Vance, are also a staunch opponent of abortion. Do you think there should be a federal response to block women from traveling to other states to get abortions if they want to get them, the way that Senator Vance was suggesting?
Senator Cotton: Well, no, Jake. And what J.D. is saying—or what J.D. has said since he became the vice-presidential nominee, it's the same thing that President Trump has said. He is pro-life. President Trump appointed three constitutional jurists who reversed the terrible decision in Roe v. Wade, which even liberal legal scholars say was wrongly decided.
That question is now, as it should be in our democracy, in the hands of the people and their elected representatives. Now, just as a practical matter, there's probably not going to be 60 votes any time soon in the United States Senate for any abortion regulations, either the Democrats making it more liberal or Republicans making it slightly more conservative. President Trump has acknowledged that reality. Now, he's also said he's not going to allow things like the VA clinics to be converted into abortion clinics, taking away care from our great veterans. But he's also acknowledged that states are going to be, by and large, making these decisions.
And, obviously, a state like, say, Alabama or Mississippi is going to have a different viewpoint than, say, a state like California and Oregon. And that's the way things operate in our democracy.
Jake Tapper: All right, Senator Tom Cotton, Republican from Arkansas, thanks so much for joining us today. Good to see you.
Senator Cotton: Thank you, Jake.