WASHINGTON—United States Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) today joined Fox News Live and spoke with anchor Mike Emanuel about the G7 Summit and the Biden Administration’s policy toward Russia and Communist China.
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Partial Transcript:
Hagerty on America first v. America last: “Well, when they talk about cooperation, I think what they’re really talking about is American capitulation. You know, they don’t like the America first policies that President Trump put forward, but it was better for America and it was better for the entire world. American strength is exactly what we need right now, standing up to Russia, standing up to Iran, and standing up to China. And when we talk about the new Biden policies, it looks a lot more like America last to me.”
Hagerty on Biden’s weakness toward Russia: “He should press very hard against it. And we know where the hacks have originated. Look, we cannot let Vladimir Putin skate on this one. Putin has complete control over what happened inside of Russia. And I heard President Biden tried to parse this and say that well, it was a Russian company but not hold the Russian government accountable, not hold the Russian leader accountable. I think the G7 is frankly being overshadowed completely by what is going to happen next week when Biden does meet with Putin and Biden’s going into this in a position of weakness. Look, he capitulated on the START treaty at the very beginning with Russia. Now he’s turned around and allowed them to finish the Nordstream 2 pipeline. That project was categorized as a malign influence project by the Trump Administration. I served in that administration. This is a huge mistake to walk into this meeting in a position of weakness. And I think that’s what all of the G7 leaders are wondering about: how will Biden and Putin manage this meeting?”
Hagerty on the need for America to show strength: “He needs to address it from a position of strength, but when you look at what’s happening here in our own nation, we have a border crisis that Biden has created. You look at what’s happening with Iran right now. He’s appeasing the world’s largest state sponsor of terror. Talking about giving tens of billions of dollars to Iran. Look at what’s just happened in Israel. This is all part and parcel of a weak American policy. The Chinese are looking at this. They see our Biden budget come forward. That in net terms after inflation actually reduces expenditures on our defense, on Homeland Security at a time when we should be building up. China certainly is. China’s now got more ships than we do. So Putin is looking at this and saying is America’s strength being reflected at all in this administration? Biden needs to stand tough, but his budget, his other priorities need to show toughness as well.”
Hagerty on how Biden should deal with Beijing: “Beijing continues to press its influence all over the world. You know, I was U.S. Ambassador to Japan before becoming a member of the United States Senate. I saw this up close and personal. Beijing is pushing militarily. They’re pushing economically, as we all know. They’re pushing diplomatically as they go in and create their influence in the WHO and in the United Nations. We’ve got to push back at every front and our allies need to be with us on this. I hope that that President Biden continues to push this and continues to reach out to our allies, to work with us in the same direction, because China is a threat to every nation on this planet.”
Hagerty on need for transparent probe into COVID origins: “I think it’s absolutely critical and we certainly can’t rely on the WHO to do it. You saw exactly what happened before. China has such massive influence there. It’s really amazing the fact that they are willing to look the other way. The biggest problem, though, is that this got covered up, and it’s now been well more than a year. It’s going to be difficult to get to the bottom of this, but we absolutely should be pushing to do just that.”
Hagerty on the need to ask allies to step up: “It’s hard to say. What President Trump did was make the European leaders feel uncomfortable. He asked them to step up. He asked them to actually fulfill their responsibilities and their obligations under NATO. They did not like that, but that’s precisely what we need to do. We need strong allies. We don’t need to continue to appease them and let them skate, and America continue to pick up the tab. Strong allies will make for a stronger world. And I think President Trump was absolutely right to push in that direction.”
Hagerty on the Nord Steam 2 pipeline: “With Nord Stream 2, we’re weakening NATO’s position as we speak. Allowing that pipeline to be completed, again, puts Russia in an advantageous position against certainly allies like Ukraine, Poland, but also the European nations that are protected, and have been through NATO. That’s the entire purpose of NATO, is national security for that region. And the Biden Administration allowing Nord Stream 2 to move forward, I think absolutely weakens that. So, we’re taking actions right now that are detrimental, that are contrary to our position in NATO.”