Lindsey Graham Asks AG Pam Bondi Point Blank If Iran Has Sleeper Cells In The United States

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At a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on Wednesday, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) questioned AG Pam Bondi about possible Iranian sleeper cells in the US.

Transcript

00:00Senator Peters. Senator Graham. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Attorney General, I think you're doing

00:05a fantastic job. I want to say that to you and to your team and kind of lay out sort of where I

00:13think we're going here. The threat level to this country is pretty high. Do you agree? Yes, Senator.

00:19Every time I turn around, there seems to be a new threat coming our way, and we're just going to have

00:23to meet the moment, and I think we will. So one thing I want you to reconsider is I think there

00:29was some termination of protective details for people that were targeted for assassination by

00:35the Iranians because of the role they played in the first term, Pompeo, Secretary Pompeo, and others.

00:42I'd urge you to reconsider that, sit down with the intel folks, because I think the threat level

00:48is pretty high, and that's just something for you to take back. I think Iran does want to hurt our

00:56country. Now, back to lawlessness that was mentioned. Can you very briefly give me the

01:03scope of the problem you've had to deal with just on illegal immigration?

01:09Yeah, I think, yeah.

01:10The drugs.

01:11Enormous.

01:11The drugs, the guns, the terrorists coming into our country. I just say this because it's relevant

01:18to where we're sitting, 20 minutes away, we arrested one of the highest level members

01:24of one of the biggest gangs in the country living in Virginia, and that was through a

01:29task force that we set up with Governor Youngkin, with state, local, and federal law enforcement

01:35agencies working together.

01:38Would you say it's been a big mountain and you're climbing it?

01:41It's been a monument, it's been Mount Everest.

01:43Okay.

01:44It is monumental. It is monumental.

01:46Let us help you climb Mount Everest. Mr. Hallman said that if we don't get more money into

01:55the system, we're going to hit a wall in terms of the president's promise to deport people

02:01that shouldn't be here and represent a danger. Do you agree with that, that ICE needs more funding?

02:06Always, yes.

02:08Okay. So reconciliation is on the way, but I just want everybody to understand, you support

02:14the president's border security budget.

02:16I do, and Senator, the big beautiful bill gives $500 million to us, to Department of Justice,

02:24to combat drug trafficking.

02:26Well, we're going to start the big beautiful bill and we ain't leaving town.

02:30$600 million for prosecute immigration matters, which are really all the issues that Senator

02:36Peters had discussed with me. And $950 million to reimburse non-sanctuary states and locals

02:44for cost that they've incurred. And $1.25 billion for other immigration issues. And I

02:51would urge everyone to support the Senate's version, which is much greater for Department

02:55of Justice than the House's version of one big beautiful bill. And I think that goes back

03:00to what Senator Van Hollen was discussing, too. Increasing our public safety, as well

03:05as you, Senator Moran. So thank you all for that. Thank you, Senator Graham.

03:07As the Senate Budget Chairman, I think I will support our version of it.

03:13And I think it's needed. You know, I'm not be joking about it. I think it's very much needed.

03:18The budget you propose will be reworked. Do you understand that we have a say in this, right?

03:22Yes. Okay. If we give you more money, do you think you could use it wisely? We will always be a good

03:30sure of your money. We will put law enforcement officers on the street. This whole DA thing,

03:38I don't know who's thinking about that, but that just makes like zero sense to me that we'd want to

03:45be cutting the DA now and putting ATF over the DA. So, you know, we'll agree to disagree. And I just

03:52think you're doing a great job, but that's the way our system works. We may have a different view of

03:57things and we'll work together. I trust your judgment very, very much so. Is Mexico helping us with the

04:05drug problem? Senator, that might be a conversation to better have in a classified setting.

04:15Okay. Well, here's what I want to say publicly. No, you're not. You need to, you know, half your

04:22country is run by the cartels. We're never going to be safe here until we get Mexico to change our

04:26game. I'll be glad to talk to you in a private session, but enough, enough with Mexico. You need

04:32to up your game. The Sinaloa cartels have wreaked havoc on our country and they continue to wreak

04:37havoc on our country. Enough of that crap. And the fentanyl coming in. Yeah, we're coming after them

04:42with Mexico's help or without their help because I don't know what the right response is to a

04:48neighbor that allows this kind of lawlessness to come into our country and kill more young

04:54people than any other method. More people dying from fentanyl poisoning coming from Mexico

05:01than anything else. And, you know, that doesn't stop very quickly. Back to Iran. They have sleeper

05:10cells, we think, here? We have thus far arrested 1,500 illegal Iranians in our country. That is

05:22something that I would like to talk about in a classified setting. But yes, have they invaded

05:27our country? Absolutely. You said Iran's a threat to America. When people chant death to America,

05:34that's kind of a tip-off. They're a threat to our country, right? And to our Jewish population, yes.

05:40Well, to all of us. And when they swore in the recent president in July of last year,

05:45during the swearing under the president of Iran, they were chanting death to America.

05:48So that kind of tells me where they're coming from. I guess the point I'm trying to make

05:52is Iran has threatened us in many, many ways. I do not want to live my life or our country's life

06:00giving in to bullies and religious Nazis. We're coming after your regime to change it.

06:08Nobody wants regime change for the sake of regime change. I want the regime to change its behavior.

06:14I want them to stop the policy of killing all the Jews in Israel, reject that policy. I want them

06:22to be better neighbors for the world at large. I want them to change your behavior. And if you don't

06:29want them to change your behavior, that's weird because they kill their own people. They're hanging

06:34people in squares today. They're very oppressive. They're very brutal. They've been trying to build

06:39a nuclear weapon, and they want to use it against the people of Israel and us. So my last point is

06:45when it comes to Iran, can you say to the Iranian regime, you will not intimidate us to do what's

06:53best to help Israel in our own national security? We're not going to be intimidated.

06:58I think Donald Trump has said that loud and clear. We will not be intimidated, and we will keep America

07:04safe thanks to the leadership of President Trump, not only from Iran, but from Russia, from China,

07:09and from Mexico, from any foreign adversary, whether they're trying to kill us physically or by overdosing

07:15our children with drugs. We're going to do everything in our power, thanks to his leadership, to keep

07:21America safe.

07:22Outstanding. Thank you, Mr.

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