00:00I'm here to introduce a fellow Floridian and someone who I've known for a
00:06very long time, Sergio Gore, who is the nominee to India, which is, I would say,
00:11one of the top relationships the United States has in the world today in terms
00:16of the future, what the world's going to look like. I said it when I appeared
00:20before you as a nominee to the position I currently hold as well, and I don't mean
00:24archivist, when I was here in the position for secretary of state, and
00:29I repeated again that the 21st century, the story is going to be written in the
00:34Indo-Pacific. In fact, it's so important we've actually changed the name of the
00:37combatant command to the Indo-Pacific. India is at the core of that, and we are in a
00:42period of extraordinary transition in that relationship with India. We've got
00:45some really important issues coming up that we need to work with them on and
00:49work through on that implicate what's happening from Ukraine, but also
00:53implicate what's happening in the region. It is my view, I hope it'll be your view,
00:57that it is important that the United States be represented at that post with
01:00someone who has the direct ear and confidence of the president of the
01:03United States. And I know of no one over the last, certainly period of time during
01:09this administration, but going back four or five years, no one who has had a better
01:12or closer working relationship than Mr. Gore. Someone who I've known since this time
01:18working here in the Senate, by the way, one of our colleagues, and since then has gone on to do
01:24different things, but is very, very close to the president, has the president's
01:28confidence. And I can tell you that when you interact with these countries, in fact,
01:32I've already seen it, when you interact with these countries, having a
01:35representative in a place like India that has direct access to the Oval
01:38Office, to the president, and who they know can get things done both in the
01:42administration and through the Oval Office is critically important. And I
01:46don't know of anyone out there that's better positioned to do that than Sergio
01:49Gore. I would add one more footnote, and that is that, in all of this, is that in
01:54addition to that, I've also seen his administrative abilities. 95% of the
01:59people working in the government now, from political appointees, came through a
02:03process that he set up and had to operate. And that's a, you know, I don't
02:06know if we fully appreciate how hard it is to staff up a new administration. And he
02:11ran that process with a small group and a small team, and I thought did an
02:15excellent job. So I think it shows his administrative abilities as well. So he's an
02:18excellent nominee. They're all excellent nominees, and I hope you'll give them your
02:21full consideration.
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