00:00You had five minutes.
00:02Secretary, you have the honor of serving both as acting National Security Advisor and Secretary of State.
00:09In these roles, you've played a central role in advising the President as Commander-in-Chief to launch a war
00:14against Iran.
00:16And the impacts of this choice have been significant on our allies and partners,
00:20who immediately have targeted by retaliatory strikes, as well as for Americans here at home.
00:25Three months into this war, gas and food prices are up.
00:28Inflation is rising.
00:30American business owners and farmers are struggling from higher shipping and commodity costs.
00:35And yet, the President said two weeks ago, and I quote,
00:38I don't think about Americans' financial situation.
00:41That's a quote that should alarm every American.
00:44Americans are also rightfully concerned that while they struggle with affordability due to the war on Iran,
00:51the President of the United States is busy day trading on it.
00:55He disclosed purchases of stocks in energy and defense companies in the first quarter of this year
01:01that were made just as those companies' profits were soaring from the war in Iran.
01:06On March 23rd, the same day he reversed his threat to strike Iranian energy,
01:11infrastructure and energy stocks rose.
01:14He brought stocks then in Phillips 66, Exxon and Chevron.
01:20Secretary, I have a few questions.
01:22And again, given the amount of time that I have, I will ask you to give me yes and no
01:27answers.
01:28Did you warn President Trump before the war in Iran began that this conflict would drive up cost on gas,
01:39food, travel and shipment?
01:42Yeah, I'll warn you right now, I don't do yes or no answers.
01:44I only have five minutes.
01:46I know when you were the senator, you know about this business.
01:49I never did yes or no answers to people.
01:49And I know you're trying to go out so that you can run out my five minutes.
01:53That's a simple question.
01:54I'm not going to run out your five minutes.
01:55You're running out your five minutes.
01:56Did you?
01:56I don't do yes or no questions.
01:57You want to ask me a question, I'll answer your question.
01:58I'm answering, you're answering my question.
02:00It's my time.
02:01Did you?
02:02Did I warn?
02:03Yes or no.
02:03Did you warn President Trump before the Iran war began that this conflict would drive up cost on gas, food,
02:13travel and ship?
02:14Yes or no?
02:15The president and the full administration was aware that there would be consequences to action, but the consequences of Iran
02:20having a nuclear weapon were worse.
02:21Did you warn him that launching a war in Iran could result in the regime placing a chokehold on the
02:30Strait of Hormuz?
02:31All the risk factors were understood, but the most important risk factor was Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon.
02:35Did you warn him?
02:36If you didn't warn him, say yes.
02:39It's simple.
02:39Everyone was aware of what Iran might do in retaliation.
02:42I'm asking you a second.
02:43Everyone was aware of what Iran would do.
02:44Don't want to answer that.
02:45Let me ask you the next question.
02:46Did you warn the president that launching U.S. strikes against Iran would result in retaliatory attacks on U.S.
02:55allies, partners, and Americans living or working in the Middle East?
02:59Everyone understood what Iran would do in response.
03:01Did you warn him?
03:02We were prepared for any response that they came out with.
03:04We knew it.
03:04Just want to make sure.
03:05But they can't have a nuclear weapon.
03:06So you said you warned them.
03:07Did you warn the president that the personal stock purchases and companies profiting from the war that he launched could
03:15present a conflict of interest?
03:17I'm not aware of the president's stock purchases.
03:19I don't deal with that, and I don't even know what you're saying is true.
03:22Well, we know because it has made public what his stock purchases were.
03:27You say so.
03:27I don't read the president's financial disclosure, but I don't believe that could be true.
03:30Well, I think then the president should be more transparent.
03:33This hemisphere of China is in this hemisphere.
03:36This is all kind of tied together in a coherent foreign policy strategy that I see.
03:42So I want to give you the time, sir, to respond to that because, again, all talk and no action.
03:50But you, sir, have put this into action.
03:53Well, let me just, before I address that, I want to, the ranking member made accusations against the president, which
03:57I've never heard before, but number one, are completely false.
04:00Not once.
04:00Just to be clear, not a single time, not even for a millisecond, has the president ever discussed his personal
04:06economics in relations to war or any public policy that he's made for that matter.
04:10And I've been in every one of his foreign policy meetings for the most part.
04:13As to your point, what we need to understand is exactly what you just said.
04:18It's not just that we say they can't have a nuclear weapon.
04:20Everyone says they can't have a nuclear weapon.
04:22The Chinese say they can't have a nuclear weapon.
04:24The Russians agree they couldn't have a nuclear weapon.
04:26But at the point where you have to do something about it, what Iran was trying to do was build
04:30a conventional shield of drones and missiles and a navy and capabilities.
04:34At some point they would say to the world, now we're going to get a nuclear weapon and you can't
04:38do anything about it because we have so many weapons and so many drones and so many naval vessels that
04:43the price we will inflict on you for trying to do something about it makes us untouchable, makes us immune.
04:48And the president was not going to allow them to build a conventional shield behind which they can develop their
04:53nuclear program.
04:54Today, the Iranian navy sits at the bottom of the sea.
04:57They do not have a navy.
04:58It no longer exists.
04:59They have no air force either.
05:00Their missile launchers have been significantly degraded.
05:03Their defense industrial base has suffered upwards of 80 to 90 percent of attrition.
05:08It will take years for them to rebuild it.
05:09Those are facts.
05:10That is the reality.
05:11That was the purpose of Epic Fury.
05:13It achieved its purpose in degrading that conventional shield.
05:16And it has brought them to the negotiation table that hopefully will lead to the point where Iran will give
05:21up its enrichment ambitions, will turn over the highly enriched uranium, will stop sponsoring terrorism around the world.
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