04.27.21

INTERVIEW: Sen. Dan Sullivan on Fox Business Network's "Kudlow"

Transcript

LARRY KUDLOW, FBN ANCHOR: So, we bring in Senator Dan Sullivan who is a great friend from the great state of Alaska.

Dan, it’s very brave, you called his resignation -- and by the way, he’s not my favorite person in Washington, so I’m sure not going to defend him.

But I just do want to ask to fill the story out. Israel itself apparently has publicly released this notion or these factoids that they attacked Iranian interests in Syria 200 times, but we don’t know exactly when, I guess, they released it, or we don’t know when Foreign Minister Zarif said what he said.

SEN. DAN SULLIVAN (R-AK): Right.

KUDLOW: So, can you clarify this? Calling for the resignation is tough stuff. Can you clarify, Dan?

SULLIVAN: Yes, sure, Larry. And first of all, it’s great to be on the show, and I just want to thank you -- to your listeners, to your viewers, you know, I had the great opportunity to work with Larry Kudlow. He did exceptional work for America.

My first time on the show, so, Larry, I wanted to say that --

KUDLOW: Thank you.

SULLIVAN: -- in public, because you did a great job --

KUDLOW: Thank you, Dan. I appreciate it.

SULLIVAN: -- for our economy, working families, great work.

KUDLOW: Thank you.

SULLIVAN: Listen, you know, as you mention, I have a lot of issues on with John Kerry on his job-killing views, his appeasement as secretary of state, of Iran, China.

To me, this is the key issue though, this is the last straw -- and you’re right -- it is allegedly, but if he did this, if he provided classified information to Iran, the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism, a country with the blood of American soldiers on its hands, unfortunately, hundreds, if not thousands wounded and maimed by this terrorist regime, and did it regarding Israeli operations in Syria -- our most important ally in the region -- he should be fired, or he should resign.

Now, the question is, did he do it? You listened to this -- the Zarif tapes. Zarif is even saying he was shocked -- he was shocked that John Kerry did this. We know that John Kerry met with Zarif in 2018. So, we are looking into this.

And when I say we, it is Democrats and Republicans. There is a lot of concern in the Senate that, if he did do this, he should resign.

Remember, he is currently a member of President Biden’s National Security Council. So, what we’re going to do is, we’re going to look into this, and if there’s evidence that he did this, he should resign or be fired.

KUDLOW: Mike Pompeo, former secretary of state has called for an investigation. I assume you would agree with Mr. Pompeo.

SULLIVAN: Absolutely. And I’ve even talked to some Democratic senators about making sure we get to the bottom of this.

This is not a partisan issue, Larry. This is an issue of national security. And if we have officials who are out of office freelancing with classified information to, you know, the most -- in my view, the biggest state sponsor of terrorism in the world -- and that’s the State Department’s view -- there needs to be consequences.

KUDLOW: Ambassador -- former ambassador to Israel, David Friedman was just on the show. He is quite negative about U.S.-Israeli relations, and he is utterly opposed to any renegotiating with Iran.

I want to just add, we’re getting news now from the U.S.-Israeli meeting in Washington. Apparently, the Biden administration is warning Israel about nuclear proliferation from Iran.

Now, that sounds like an old argument. You know, if we don’t do a deal with them, they’re going to get nuclear missiles. But, of course, we did the deal with them, and they’re building nuclear missiles and enrichment anyway, because they lie, cheat, and steal.

Anyway, what’s your take on this story?

SULLIVAN: Well, look, as you know, during the Trump administration there was a realignment of our key allies in the region -- Israel, our Gulf Arab allies all started working much more closely with the United States, with each other. We had the Abraham Accords.

So, we need to deep that momentum going. What I worry about is the Biden administration just going back to their old playbook.

I’m going to go down on the Senate floor here in couple minutes speak out against the undersecretary of defense for policy who, like John Kerry, was one of these individuals in the Obama administration who was an appeaser of Iran.

KUDLOW: Right.

SULLIVAN: And remember, Larry, they made all these predictions of what was going to happen after the JCPOA. None of them came true. Iran was emboldened even more. They had more money to carry out extremist terrorist activities. And that is exactly what they did.

KUDLOW: And we negotiated the Abraham Accords, and we changed the map in the Middle East.

Senator Sullivan, I do want -- I’m sorry we’re crowding you out, but you have put out a very important American energy and jobs plan, which, as I read it, sir -- we’ll give you some time -- is kind of an all of the above -- let’s not stifle stuff, lets our entrepreneurs and technology lead help us develop energy. Tell us some of the highlights, please.

SULLIVAN: Well, look, the big key thing -- the difference between what we’re looking to do -- and I pitched this to all my Republican colleagues -- we’re trying to get some Democrats on board, we have a lot of our labor leaders, particularly the building trades that are interested in this. This is a pro-worker, pro-jobs, energy, economy, and climate plan.

You - I’m sure you’ve seen, Larry, the Biden plan is about primarily restricting the production of American energy and killing jobs. You know, they say, we’ll kill jobs today, in two decades you’ll get a new green job.

Our plan, to your point, is about building on the jobs in the energy sector that we already have -- all of the above, oil, renewables, absolutely, and importantly, natural gas.

That will really help spur - continue to spur a renaissance in manufacturing, in mining, because we need the critical minerals in America to support our renewables sector.

KUDLOW: Yes.

SULLIVAN: And here’s the key.

KUDLOW: Senator.

SULLIVAN: As you know, because we’ll - because of the --

KUDLOW: I love you. I’m up against a hard break, they’re screaming.

SULLIVAN: All right, Larry. I’ll come back on the show, and we’ll talk about it in more detail.

KUDLOW: Yes, I want you to come back and we can do this story justice. Thank you very much, Senator Dan Sullivan.

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Source: Fox Business Network