Brad Sherman Slams Trump Admin’s Elimination Of Democratic Programs In Iran Amid Iran Nuclear Tensions

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During a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing prior to the congressional recess, Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) spoke of his disapproval for U.S. programs in Iran aimed at spreading democracy.

Transcript

00:00Hey, thank you for your insight. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

00:03Thank you, Mr. Wilson. I now recognize for five minutes the gentleman from California, Mr. Sherman.

00:10What we learned early this century is that just an American leader pounding the table, as several did,

00:17and say this country will not be allowed to have nuclear weapons is not exactly effective.

00:23That's why I was here for, saw several presidents make that declaration with regard to North Korea,

00:30and now North Korea has scores of nuclear weapons.

00:36I'm going to ask our witnesses to give us an answer in writing about North Korea,

00:43because 20 years ago, North Korea provided not nuclear weapons to Syria, but the technology to build them.

00:51The reason for that is North Korea didn't have a surplus of nuclear weapons at the time,

00:55didn't want to give up their nuclear weapons, but they're happy to have Syria have nuclear weapons

01:00and to make some money off of it.

01:03So I'd like each of our witnesses for the record to detail ideas on what we do to prevent Iran

01:09from buying a nuclear weapon from North Korea, which today does not have a surplus of money

01:15and does have a surplus of nuclear weapons.

01:17And in particular, I'd like you to address what steps we could take to force China to agree,

01:23at least privately, that no plane would be allowed to go directly from North Korea to Iran

01:30without stopping for inspection.

01:33I might add that I discussed this with President Obama in the Oval Office long ago

01:38and was unable to, and while he pointed out to me that we intercept certain ships leaving North Korea,

01:45he was unwilling to take action to prevent direct plane flights.

01:53At least he didn't think it was a good idea at the time.

01:55The Massa Act, named after Massa Omeni, who was brutally murdered by the Iranian regime,

02:05directed the administration to make targeted sanctions determinations on senior officials in the Iranian regime.

02:10Ms. Estrola, what can the administration do to better utilize those authorities

02:19and go after particular individuals responsible for human rights deprivations in Iran?

02:27Well, thank you for that question, Congressman.

02:30The administration should certainly make use of the authorities granted to it by Congress in the Massa Act

02:35and continue to shine a light and impose...

02:39Any particular individuals you'd want to name today?

02:42I don't have particular individuals.

02:45I don't know.

02:45I'd add them for the record, and I'll ask our other witnesses to do that.

02:48But I'll point out, our other witnesses have pointed out that you can't bomb knowledge away,

02:53that even an agreement with Iran is valid only so long as they adhere to it.

02:58Nothing will permanently prevent the Islamic Republic of Iran from having a nuclear weapon

03:03except the permanent end to the Islamic Republic of Iran

03:07and the creation of a truly democratic Iranian government.

03:13I am therefore shocked that the administration has cut, eliminated,

03:21all the democracy and civil society programs that are ran,

03:25all of our support for grassroots political movements,

03:29all of our support for independent media.

03:32Now, I know that USAID spent a few tens of thousands of dollars

03:36doing stupid things that don't reflect American values

03:39and certainly don't reflect our strategic needs.

03:42But we saw just yesterday,

03:46the Chinese were rescuing people in Myanmar,

03:50and we did not have the capacity to save a single life in Myanmar.

03:55We sent some people recently,

03:57long after I think all the survivors would have been deceased,

04:01to go scout out the situation.

04:03That's what happens when you lose USAID.

04:07Ms. Stroul, I'd like you to focus just on the Trump years,

04:122017 to 2021.

04:15During those four years, did Iran increase its missile capacity?

04:20Yes or no?

04:21Yes.

04:21During those four years, did Iran expand its stockpile of enriched uranium?

04:29Yes.

04:30During those years, did Iran increase its capacity

04:33to refine uranium through banks of centrifuges?

04:37Yes.

04:38So, well, I hope that Trump 2.0 works better.

04:41I would also, Ms. Jugman,

04:48you brought the importance of cryptocurrency.

04:52I point out that our sanctions that got us in 2015

04:57were pretty much based on our power to control international currency

05:01because it was all dollars.

05:04The crypto enthusiasts and the leaders in that industry have said

05:08they want to take that away from the United States

05:10because they think it's illegitimate.

05:11For America to have that power.

05:14Do you think that we should give up the power that we get

05:19from having the dollar being the world's reserve currency?

05:24No, I don't think we should give up that power,

05:26but I do think that there needs to be stronger regulations

05:31and monitoring of what's being done on the computer.

05:34My time is expired.

05:37Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

05:39I now recognize the gentleman from New Jersey,

05:41Mr. Smith, for five minutes.

05:43Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

05:44Let me just ask two basic questions.

05:47You know, despite presenting itself as a U.S.

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