00:00Now, Democratic Congressman Mike Quigley of Illinois, he is on the House Intelligence Committee
00:05and is a co-chair of the House Ukraine Caucus. Congressman, great to see you.
00:10Thank you. Good to be back.
00:12Wonderful. Are you in agreement with the former vice president on sanctions?
00:18I'm just not sure which president the vice president is talking about.
00:22President Trump, when has he used not just a hammer, any leverage that he has had with Putin,
00:31he has given it up at every turn. And it isn't just the sanctions.
00:36You know, he had other possibilities. He could ask for another supplemental.
00:39He could seize the land that has been the assets that have been frozen in the United States
00:45and encourage our European allies. That's another $300 billion that could have been used in the war effort.
00:52He has done nothing but praise Putin, criticize Zelensky, say the wrong side started this war.
01:00And he's backed off on six ultimatums. You know, when has he actually stood up to Putin?
01:08Ultimately, that's why we're here. He has been weak.
01:11And the only thing that Putin understands has strength, and he does not see it in Trump.
01:17So then now, what do you anticipate might happen or play out at the White House tomorrow
01:24as it hosts not just Ukrainian President Zelensky, but now his, you know, sort of entourage,
01:29if you will, his backers, leaders from the U.K., France, Italy, and Germany?
01:33Look, it's easy to bet against any progress. I'm an optimistic guy overall, but you haven't seen
01:42anything in which the president has done something. He has to take charge. That's where the vice
01:48vice president Pence is right. I just don't see it taking place because we haven't seen it yet.
01:54And the concerning part of this is giving up land. This is 1939-type appeasement. Chamberlain would be
02:03proud. We're putting ourselves in a position where, you know, we're working against ourselves. We're
02:09negotiating against ourselves. And by the way, Putin has never, ever, ever kept a foreign policy
02:18commitment or promise. If he gets this land and they do this deal, he will restock, rebuild his
02:26economy, rebuild his army, come back in a year or two to finish the job. That's why our European
02:32allies are there, because they know that Putin's aims are well beyond Ukraine. He wants to restore
02:39the former Soviet Union.
02:40You say Trump should take charge. But if you listen to the special envoy, you know, Wyckoff earlier today
02:47on CNN, he says, you know, Trump's role is as mediator here.
02:54Yeah, I don't understand that at all. He's the president of the United States. He's the one that can make
03:02the decisions that matter. And Mr. Wyckoff, with all due respect, has had several views of what
03:09Putin wanted and was demanding after he met with Putin in Moscow. So I'm not sure an inexperienced
03:16person such as Wyckoff truly grasps the situation and understands that the role of the president of
03:23the United States here is not to be the mediator. It's to provide the emphasis to force Putin to do
03:29the right thing. It's the only thing he understands.
03:33All right. I want to shift gears now, you know, onto the congressional redistricting issue brought to
03:38the forefront by Texas Democrats who found refuge in your state of Illinois to avoid a quorum in the
03:44Texas special session. Now, California Governor Gavin Newsom is making strides by, you know,
03:49trying to do something similar, redistrict so that Democrats take five seats from Republicans.
03:55Do you agree with this fight fire with fire approach?
04:00Well, you can't unilaterally disarm. Unfortunately, we're here. There is an option. I think it's one
04:08the American people want. You know, in a perfect world, we have bipartisan, nonpartisan commissions
04:15draw the maps mathematically based on constitutional understandings of one person, one vote,
04:23not dividing any group, ethnic group or others to diminish their influence and power. And by the
04:31way, there's a bill in Congress that would do just that mandate across the whole country. If we don't do
04:37it that way across the whole country, it is a race to the bottom and the American people in our democracy
04:43suffer. Congressman Mike Quigley, great to see you. Thanks so much.
04:50Anytime. Thank you.
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