June 9, 2024: Cotton joins Fox News Sunday

joining us now Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton welcome back to the show want to start with your reaction to that daring rescue in the good news Shannon thanks for having me on what a wonderful day for the people of Israel to have four of these hostages rescued in a truly heroic well-executed Mission yesterday I had a chance to speak with prime minister Netanyahu shortly after the mission he commended the Israeli Defense Forces and shinb and the Israeli police who helped uh execute this operation um I I'm very dismayed by sources from the progressive left here in America to include the New York Times and Washington Post are somehow condemning Israel for saving four hostages at the cost of supposedly more than 200 Palestinians now we can't take at face value what Hamas says through the supposed Gaza Ministry of Health but my advice to them would be if you don't want your people killed in hostage rescue missions then you shouldn't take hostages in the first place you should release them once you have and you certainly shouldn't hide them in civilian areas so hats off to the Israeli Security Forces for a fantastic day in rescuing these four hostages so we understand there are still Americans being held there has been discussion about whether our own special forces should be operating in that region I know that you know there's great concern about US forces being on the ground there there's been a pledge that won't happen but what about our hostages and getting them demo well Shannon our military has several units that are specifically trained in hostage rescue they always have to be available and ready to rescue American citizens wherever they may be those are our responsibilities not israels or any other nations that said the Israeli Defense Forces and security forces have the expertise operating in Gaza and working with the American government and specifically our intelligence Services as well I'm confident that if isra Israel's government had a chance to rescue American citizens they would do the exact same for our citizens that they would do for Israel but our hostage rescue teams always have to be available we simply wouldn't want to have any kind of conflict inside or with Israel's hostage rescue teams we want to work with them hand in glove to make sure every hostage gets back alive yeah and there are more than a hundred of them we're still trying to figure out how they come home uh in the meantime the president gave an interview a Time Magazine a few days ago and he was asked this uh some in Israel have suggested that Netanyahu is prolonging the war for his own political self-preservation do you believe that President Biden responded I'm not going to comment on that but then added this there's every reason for people to draw that conclusion what do you make of that response from him about our Ally in the region and and what do you say to critics who say that is exactly what Netanyahu is doing well this is just another slander by Joe Biden against Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli government at large president or prime minister netanyahu's policies are very popular there is a war cabinet that is signing off on missions like you saw yesterday at every turn Joe Biden has tried to limit Israel's freedom of action their ability to defend themselves and to put more pressure on Israel not pressure on Hamas and its patrons in the Middle East just look at what happened yesterday outside the White House you had anti American Pros lunatics defacing and desecrating the statues of our great veterans which is a plain violation of federal law but Joe Biden's government allowed it to happen and I bet we're not going to see any arrests or prosecutions for violating that law I'll introduce legislation this week that imposes stiffer penalties so we can lock these lunatics up but Joe Biden thinks that these pramas anti-American lunatics should be guiding American policy towards Israel what we should be doing is backing Israel to the hilt and if we had done that since the October 7th attacks this war would probably already be over hostages would be freed and there'd be less civilian casualties and suffering in Gaza but Joe Biden is instead catering to the small pramas wing of the democratic party instead of backing Israel like the large pro-israel majority of the American people want us to yeah that's what the polling shows um let's talk about another hot spot Ukraine uh the president's been spending time with Vladimir zalinski Ukraine's president he said something this week in talking with him he apologized for the delay of Aid this latest round that come through came through and he said um he blamed some of our very conservative members who were holding it up says we finally got it done um you blocked one of the earlier packages you had concerns about it there were changes to it you did ultimately vote for it do you think he's pointing the finger at you well Shannon he should only be pointing the finger at himself for more than two years Joe Biden footed around and didn't give Ukraine the weapons it needed to defend itself at every turn in this war Ukraine has asked for certain types or quantities of weapons Joe Biden has refused only to reverse himself three or six or nine months later when it was too late but take a step back and look at the broader context Joe Biden is largely responsible for tempting Vladimir Putin to do what he's always wanted to do which is invade and Annex Ukraine back to Russia and if you notice Vladimir Putin only tends to invade Ukraine when Democrats are President he did it under Barack Obama he did it under Joe Biden it did not happen under Donald Trump for four years we had peace and stability and in fact Donald Trump reversed Barack Obama and Joe Biden's failed policy of sending ukrainians blankets and ponchos When Donald Trump was in office we sent them the javelins that were essential for winning the Battle of keev and the way to have peace in Europe and for that matter peace and stability around the world is to remove Joe Biden from the White House on Election Day this year and return Donald Trump that's how we get back to peace and stability you talk about annexation so I want to bring this up because there are reports that what president Trump plans to do to end that conflict is to potentially um push Ukraine to give up Crimea parts of donbas uh if that is the plan do you agree with that strategy and would that be reporting uh rewarding Putin in order to wrap this thing up in the way that he intended to start it and take some of that territory is that just giving him what he wanted well Shannon president Trump and his campaign has said that any reports of plans like that are not authorized and they're not coming from the president himself furthermore president Trump has said that he strongly supports Ukraine's strength and survival he had a strong relationship when he was in office with president zalinski president Trump is the one that provided Ukraine the weapons they needed to fend off this Russian evasion that happened in large part because of Jo Biden's weakness I don't think president Trump wants to prejudge what the situation will be come January nor do I in part because we have no idea how much worse Joe Biden can screw things up we have to judge the circumstances as they exist next year when he returns to office and hopefully hopefully when we have a republican majority in Congress as well to make decisions about what best protects America's interest and the interest of our allies and partners well some of the talk obviously is about you being on the short list for vice president uh can you confirm whether whether or not you're being vetted formally well Shannon as I've said I think only one person knows who's on the short list and that would well let mean paperwork requests for those kinds of things Shannon I think that he'll make the right he'll make a choice when he's ready to make that choice I'm confident he's going to make a good choice for the ticket and the party more importantly for the country and I I think that uh he'll again he'll make that choice when the time is right I'm focused on helping him win this election and helping Republicans win that majority in the Congress so we can begin to reverse the damage that Joe Biden has inflicted on this country for 4 years I think it's fair to say that you all have made statements about things like NATO International organizations America's role on the global stage that are different I mean would you as vice president advocate for policies that may not line up with your commander-in-chief do you think you all are too different on important issues of foreign policy no I think president Trump and I have long been aligned on foreign policy we both subscribe to what you might say was Ronald Reagan's Vision which is peace through strength for four years with President Trump in the white house we had peace and stability around the globe we didn't have Wars breaking out in Europe and the Middle East and being threatened in Asia we believe that you sometimes have to use military force and discriminate fashion the way president Trump did when he authorized a strike against Iran's terrorist Mastermind kasum sumani we believe that we need to pressure allies to take more responsibility for funding our common defense or taking responsibility for What's happen happening in their own region in part because America needs to take the lead against China in the Western Pacific to preserve peace and stability there so I believe President Trump and I are lyed on foreign policy just like Ronald Reagan was which is where a peace through strength strategy which is where the vast majority of not just Republicans but normal Americans think only these pramas anti-American lunatics in the Democratic party think that America is to blame for what's happening in the world or that we should Retreat from strength and confidence in the world okay we hope to hear for more from president Trump on the maybe debate stage on the campaign Trail about his plans for Ukraine uh in the meantime Senator thank you for your time keep us updated on that paperwork thank you shanon