ICYMI — Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) today joined Dana Perino and Bill Hemmer on America’s Newsroom to discuss the ongoing success of Operation Epic Fury and President Trump’s call for an extension of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA) 702 authorities.
In part, Senator Cotton said:
“I'm not sure that we could have succeeded the way we did in Iran or in Venezuela or for that matter against interdicting drug cartel boats without Section 702. President Trump has urged Congress to pass a simple three-year extension. I think that's what we need to do promptly before this expires on Monday.”
Senator Cotton’s full interview may be found here and below.
Dana Perino: Joining us now is Republican Senator from Arkansas, Tom Cotton. He is the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. And you are a little closer to what the Democrats are saying and Senator Schumer continues to slam President Trump over and over again, regardless of the changes that we're seeing on the ground in the last few days. Watch here.
-Clip of Senator Schumer-
Dana Perino: What's the buzz amongst the senators, especially the Democrats, as you hear it?
Senator Cotton: Well, Dana, it's regrettable that Democratic senators like Chuck Schumer, as most Democrats in Congress and the liberal media, would root against American troops to succeed if it meant that Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu fail. But that's basically what we hear from the Democrats is they don't want to see Donald Trump succeed and therefore they're rooting for an American failure, but almost everything Chuck Schumer said there is false. As you heard from Admiral Cooper, our military is either on time or ahead of schedule on every single line of effort: missiles, missile launchers, drones, their navy, their air force, and now Iran is on the economic ropes as well. They tried to close the Strait of Hormuz. We've always known they could temporarily do that, but we have the power to either permanently close it, either everything comes out or nothing comes out at all, or to permanently open it. So, the ball really is back in Iran's court, but time is not on their side because they are losing hundreds of millions of dollars of badly needed revenue every single day this blockade’s in place.
Bill Hemmer: Senator, four weeks from today, we're going to be watching President Donald Trump and Xi Jinping meet in Beijing, China. And just crossing right now, the Chinese foreign minister is saying that Beijing's priority is to force Iran and US back to the tables of negotiation. In the meantime, you've got this from the president talked about Chinese weaponry. He said “very happy that China is permanently opening the Strait of Hormuz. They have agreed not to send weapons to Iran.” Now, weapons are different from satellites, as you well know as a military man and the Financial Times says Iran used Chinese spy satellite to target US bases. What can you add to this about which way this is coming and which way it's going?
Senator Cotton: Well, Bill, I can't confirm or deny that specific report, like I haven't confirmed or denied reports about Russian assistance to Iran, I will say it sounds like something that both Russia and China would do. They've done it in the past during the Cold War for instance and I know that President Trump and senior administration officials have spoken to their counterparts in China and Russia saying that we won't tolerate such aid to Iran as the president just stated there. Furthermore, China is not going to force the United States to do anything. They're not going to force us back to a negotiating table if Iran is not willing to overcome their stubbornness. I will say this blockade imposes much more pain on China and other nations in East Asia and Europe than it does on the United States because those nations are much more dependent on Iranian oil. So, if anything, China is the one that's probably going to start feeling some of this pain and putting pressure on Iran to be less stubborn and to be willing to meet the president's very simple demands: no nuclear weapons, no uranium enrichment, no long-range missile forces, no support for terrorism. Those are simple demands to be a normal nation.
Dana Perino: I want to ask you something about an upcoming debate in Congress because this is an issue that makes me want to bang my head against the wall. It's the FISA reauthorization. We know how it's going to end. I'll tell you like we know how it's going to end, but we have to go through so much pain in order to get there to get this reauthorized in the Congress and it's at a time when we should be and are concerned about Iranian sleeper cells in the United States.
Senator Cotton: Yeah, Dana, I would call your viewers’ attention to what the president has said. He's the commander-in-chief, he's the one that not only sees the intelligence, but authorizes actions based on that intelligence. He's encouraged the Congress to pass a simple three-year extension of FISA 702 authorities. He's drawn the useful distinction as well between Title One of FISA, which is what was abused by the Obama Department of Justice and FBI against President Trump and his campaign in 2016, and Section 702 that is used solely to spy on foreign adversaries on foreign territory. So, imagine an Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps member in Iran communicating with rebels in Yemen and it's not just terrorism, the threats like you cited, terrorism here at home or terrorist attacks abroad, it's also conventional military operations. I'm not sure that we could have succeeded the way we did in Iran or in Venezuela or for that matter against interdicting drug cartel boats without Section 702. President Trump has urged Congress to pass a simple three-year extension. I think that's what we need to do promptly before this expires on Monday.
Bill Hemmer: Thank you, Senator, for coming on. Appreciate your time. Thank you.