00:00The opportunity to work with her in previous administrations, and I can tell you, we are well served by her service to America.
00:06Her knowledge and her ability in negotiations that have taken place, serious negotiations over the years, have been nothing short of outstanding.
00:16So, thank you so much. Thank you for your service.
00:18Senator Van Hollen.
00:20Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Congratulations to all of you on your nominations.
00:24And, Ms. Hooker, it was great to meet with you yesterday in my office.
00:29And, again, thank you for all your prior service, including, as I mentioned yesterday, at the Bureau of Intelligence and Research at the State Department,
00:37which I think is an organization that punches above its weight in the U.S. intelligence community.
00:44Do you agree that U.S. support for the World Food Program is an important American priority?
00:52Thank you, Senator.
00:53And thank you for your time yesterday and for sharing your family's legacy and serving the American people.
01:00Thank you for their service and for yours, sir.
01:02As we talked about yesterday and as we've discussed a little bit today, the administration, President Trump, and Secretary Rubio have undertaken a very comprehensive review.
01:13Ms. Hooker, I'm sorry.
01:14So, I only have five minutes.
01:16It was a very simple question.
01:17Yes.
01:17Do you agree that U.S. support for the World Food Program is an important priority?
01:24It's just a simple yes or no question.
01:26Well, Senator, thank you for that question.
01:29And I agree that the American people's tax dollars should be used to support things that are in America's interest and in our national security.
01:40Do you think supporting the World Food Program is in our interest, in our national security interest?
01:45Thank you, Senator, for the follow-up and for the clarification.
01:49I am not privy to the details of the review that is underway.
01:53I, if confirmed, I expect to be.
01:58And if confirmed, I look forward to working with this committee on those details.
02:02Well, we had a little good news since last night, right, because the Elon Musk person who's been embedded over at the State Department said, whoopsie, made a big mistake, right?
02:18Yesterday, Mr. Chairman, I don't know how close you're following this, but the United States essentially canceled its support for a whole slew of World Food Program programs.
02:27And that World Food Program, you know, rightly said, this will be a death sentence for millions of people, which it would be.
02:35And so apparently there was at least a partial reversal.
02:42Here's, and I'm quoting from Jeremy Lewin, who is the Musk sort of implant at the State Department, quote,
02:50Sorry for all the back and forth on awards.
02:54There are a lot of stakeholders, and we need to do better about balancing these competing interests.
02:59That's my fault, and I take responsibility, unquote.
03:02This is just a symptom of a much larger problem, which is that Elon Musk said that AID was a criminal enterprise.
03:13By the way, do you agree that AID is a criminal enterprise?
03:17Senator, thank you for that question.
03:18And I look forward to being in the seat and being able to have a conversation across the board.
03:24These are really simple questions.
03:27I mean, as I've said before, if AID is a criminal enterprise, the chairman and every member of this committee is a co-conspirator because we've all supported AID.
03:36Let me move on because in addition to dismantling AID, which I believe has been done in an illegal fashion,
03:46because it is a congressionally, not just authorized in terms of funding, but established in statute.
03:54It was first established as an EEO, but then it was created in statute.
03:58So yesterday, all the Democrats on the committee wrote to Secretary Rubio expressing our concerns about that and asking questions about reports of the upcoming restructuring.
04:12Mr. Chairman, I just asked you to ask consent to put this in the record.
04:16So we lay out our concerns with what's happening at AID.
04:20And by the way, and with respect, Mr. Chairman, I really do think we need a hearing on this, right?
04:26Ranking Member Shaheen has held two rump hearings.
04:28We're going to have the secretary in here pretty quick.
04:30All right.
04:30You'll have your writing.
04:31She's had two rump hearings, and one of the things people would know if they were attending those hearings,
04:37that when Elon Musk was at the White House and he said, whoops, he canceled the Ebola program temporarily.
04:44Ms. Hooker, did you see that video at the White House of Elon Musk?
04:50I'm aware of it, sir, but I didn't watch the video.
04:51So he said, whoops, kind of like this guy, you know, Jeremy, whoops, I just canceled the World Food Program.
04:57But it turned out to be false in the case of Elon Musk's claim because Nick Enrich, who's now on administrative leave,
05:06testified that, in fact, the Ebola program has not been restored.
05:11But here's my question to you.
05:13I'm hearing from people in the State Department who believe they're being asked to make statements that they believe are factually incorrect.
05:21In some cases, people may be making legal determinations, which they think are wrong, but under threat of being fired.
05:29I have a very simple question.
05:31If somebody asks you to do something you believe is illegal, would you resign?
05:38Thank you, Senator, for that question.
05:40Well, I've committed in my opening statement to following the Constitution, and I add to that all applicable law, and I intend to do so.
05:51If I'm confirmed, I look forward to working with this committee on all of these issues and all the concerns that you raised today, and I commit to do that.
06:01And, Mr. Chairman, as you know, in addition to what happened at AID, there's this major restructuring going on.
06:06And I just hope that this committee will, you know, uphold its responsibilities and require the administration to report and consult with us in the process.
06:19Because if you look at what's being reported, we're talking about what I believe would be grave damage to U.S. foreign policy.
06:26Thank you for that engagement, Senator Van Hollen.
06:31And, first of all, we are being consulted in a general way.
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