Lindsey Graham Celebrates Trump's 'Brilliant' Attack On Iran, Says Strikes Were 'Long Overdue'

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During a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing last month, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) spoke about President Trump's strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities on June 22nd.

Transcript

00:00Senator Graham, followed by Senator Baldwin and Senator Kennedy.

00:06Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

00:07To the Navy and Marine Corps families out there, you sacrifice a lot for this country, and we appreciate it.

00:13I think those two services, families, are torn apart in terms of deployment, so it's not lost upon me,

00:20the sacrifices of the families, and General Smith, we need to take care of our families in the Marine Corps and the Navy.

00:26Okay. The Navy fleet goal for Battle Force ships is 381 manned, 134 unmanned, for 515 fleet size.

00:39Mr. Secretary, is that the right number still?

00:44Thank you for the question, Senator. I know. Very important to you.

00:48One, I should just make sure we're currently at 292, not 293, just so I get that on the record.

00:54Look, we are still, I am working through those numbers and trying to get to those numbers.

00:59We don't know yet. You're going to get back with us about, is that still correct?

01:04I'm going to get back to you as to what the right number is, sir.

01:07Let's say for a moment that was the right number.

01:11When can we expect to have all this stuff built? In the next 10 years?

01:15That's another one. I'm about to get back to you.

01:22That's fine. That's fine, because the reason I ask that, I don't know if it's the right number.

01:26I don't know how long it's going to take, but I know this, that China has 400 ships,

01:31and by 2030, they're going to have 435.

01:33So, we need to get on with it, and it's really not blaming you.

01:39It's just a system, and we need to have a goal and get to it like the Manhattan Project.

01:45I'd like to have a pot of funding for the Navy outside of the budget top line so we can get this done,

01:50because we're never going to get it done in the top line.

01:52So, if it's important to us as a nation, we'll give you more money and more flexibility.

01:58Budgets. Budgets are based on threats. Is that right, Admiral?

02:01I hope so, sir.

02:05Well, they better be, because we don't want to make it a jobs program.

02:09So, let's look at the threats. Is Iran a threat to the United States?

02:15I believe it is.

02:16Okay, I do too. The Russia-Ukraine conflict, does that matter to the United States in terms of how it ends?

02:23I believe it does.

02:24Is China watching what happens with Russia regarding their invasion of Iran?

02:29Yes, sir.

02:30And how that ends could affect whether or not they invade Taiwan. Is that correct?

02:34I believe so.

02:36China has a pretty ambitious plan for the region and the world. Is that correct?

02:41Yes, sir.

02:42ISIS and al-Qaeda. General Smith, they're still out there, right?

02:46They are, Senator.

02:47Yeah, they want to come here and kill us if they can get here. Is that right?

02:50They would.

02:51Yeah, I agree with that.

02:52Let's get back to Iran.

02:54Congratulations on the attack, Operation Midnight Hammer and the Navy role in it.

03:00I disagree with my Democratic colleague. I think this was a necessary, effective, and quite frankly,

03:07brilliant, bold, long overdue effort by the United States to substantially degrade or destroy

03:13Iran's enrichment capability, which seems to be everybody's goal for them not to have a nuclear weapon.

03:20Well, you can't really have a nuclear weapon if you can't enrich, and so I support that.

03:25But about negotiations and the ceasefire, if the ceasefire leads to peace, it's a really good thing.

03:32If the ceasefire leads to rearming and regrouping of Iran, it's probably a step backwards.

03:39Does anybody know if Iran has changed its regime goal of destroying the state of Israel?

03:49Has there been any indication they've abandoned that goal?

03:54Not to my knowledge, Senator.

03:56Has there been any indication they've abandoned the goal of dominate Islam and to attack Saudi Arabia

04:06as the leading Sunni state?

04:09Not to my knowledge, Senator.

04:11Okay.

04:14Is there any indication that they are less antagonistic toward us as a nation after the ceasefire?

04:27Yeah, a good answer, not to my knowledge.

04:30I agree with you, not to my knowledge.

04:32The only reason I mention all this is that we're asking Israel to sit down at a table with

04:40people who have it in their equivalent of the Constitution to destroy the state of Israel.

04:45How do you negotiate with somebody who writes down in their founding document, we want to

04:51kill all the Jews?

04:52So what I'm asking our country and the world to understand is if we can get peace, that would be great.

04:59But the only way you're really going to have peace is for the regime to change its behavior,

05:04either through personnel or ideology.

05:07And I just want to say this very clearly.

05:09Until Iran renounces their regime goal of destroying the Jewish state, until Iran recognizes the right of Israel

05:21to exist as a nation and the Jews to exist as a people, we're nowhere closer to peace than we were before.

05:28The capability of Iran to enact their agenda has been greatly reduced.

05:33Hats off to President Trump and our military.

05:36But until their desire changes, we need to stick with Israel and understand who we're dealing with.

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