The Daily Signal - Pompeo Cites Top Foreign Policy Achievements of Trump Presidency

Episode Date: March 16, 2021

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo played a role in some of the biggest foreign policy accomplishments of the Trump administration. He joins "The Daily Signal Podcast” to discuss the impact of the Abraham Accords—pacts involving the normalization of relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Sudan—and the moving of the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. He also weighs in on the increasing threat of the Chinese Communist Party in the Biden administration, as well as the phenomenon of all of the isms that are part of American society today, such as multiculturalism. "When I hear people start to talk about different groups and different subcultures—and they want to divide, and they want to create tension, and they want to cause problems—it saddens me because I know it will diminish all of us," Pompeo said. "And so, whether it's these ideas that the progressive movement now has, that they refer to as being 'woke,' they undermine the central understanding that our Founders had about who we are and also my Christian understanding of how it is that the Bible asks us to treat each of our neighbors." We also cover these stories: Two men, Julian Elie Khater and George Pierre Tanios, are charged with assaulting since-deceased U.S. Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick and two other officers with a chemical spray during the Jan. 6 breaching of the Capitol.  Sen. Ted Cruz writes a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin after a since-deleted tweet on an official military Twitter account attacked Fox News host Tucker Carlson.  Eric Nelson, the attorney for Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer charged in the death of George Floyd, says he wants to “delay Chauvin's criminal trial and move the venue in the wake of a $27 million civil settlement between Minneapolis and George Floyd's family,” according to CNN.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is the Daily Signal podcast for Tuesday, March 16th. I'm Virginia Allen. And I'm Rachel Del Judas. What were the biggest foreign policy wins of former President Donald Trump's administration? Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo joins the podcast to break down Trump's biggest impact on the world stage. And don't forget, if you're enjoying this podcast, please be sure to leave a review and a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and encourage others to subscribe. Now onto our top news. Two men, Julian Ellie Kadar and George Pierre Tannios, have been charged with assaulting deceased U.S. Capitol Police Officer Brian Sitnik and two other officers with a chemical spray on the January 6th breaching of the Capitol.

Qatar and Tanyos were not charged with murdering Sittnick, but according to the U.S. Department of Justice, Qatar and Tanyos are each charged with one count of conspiracy to injure an officer, three counts of assault on a federal officer with a dangerous weapon, one count of civil disorder, one count of obstructing or impeding an official proceeding, one count of physical violence on restricted grounds while carrying dangerous weapon and resulting in significant bodily injury, and one count of violent entry and disorderly conduct active physical violence on capital grounds. Texas Senator Ted Cruz wrote a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Sunday after an official military Twitter account attacked Fox News host

Tucker Carlson in a recent tweet that has since been deleted. Cruz has asked to meet with the head of the U.S. Marine Corps to address the attack on Carlson. The conflict began last week when Carlson gave remarks on his show over the new specialized military flight suits for pregnant women. Pregnant women are going to fight our wars. It's a mockery of the U.S. military, Carlson said on his show last week. In response, an official Marines' Twitter account wrote a post criticizing Carlson and responded to a citizen who was defending Carlson's words by writing, come back when you've served and been pregnant. In his letter to Secretary Austin, Cruz wrote, I am deeply troubled that the commitments you made and the military's broader obligation to avoid political endorsements and controversy

are being systematically undermined for the sake of. left-wing ideology and political expediency. And Cruz added that this kind of behavior, while perhaps typical in a military-controlled third-world country, is completely unacceptable in the United States of America. Eric Nelson, the attorney for Derek Chauvin, the Minneapolis police officer who pressed his knee against George Void's neck for over eight minutes, who subsequently died, said he wants to delay Chauvin's criminal trial and move the venue in the wake of a 27 million civil settlement between Minneapolis and George Floyd's family, per CNN.

Chauvin has pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree unintentional murder and second-degree manslaughter. Per CNN in a hearing on Monday, Nelson Chauvin's attorney said he is gravely concerned at the announcement, calling it incredibly prejudicial. It's amazing to me. They had a press conference on Friday where the mayor of Minneapolis is on stage with city council, and they're using very, what I would say, very well-designed terminology. The unanimous decision of the city council, for example. It just goes straight to the heart of the dangers of pretrial publicity in this case, Nelson said. Now stay tuned for my conversation with former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at the Conservative Political Action Conference. Never has it been more important for us

to fight for America. Each day, we see the penalties of progressive policies across our nation. elections are under assault. Our economic freedom is on the decline, and our culture is turning its back on the founding principles that have made us the freest, most prosperous nation in history. That's why the Heritage Foundation developed a plan to take on the left and take back our country. The Citizens' Guide to Fight for America provides a series of heritage recommended action items delivered on a regular basis to your inbox. Make an impact in your community and in our country. Sign up for the Citizens Guide at heritage.org slash citizens guide and join in the fight for America today. I'm joined today on the Daily Signal podcast by former U.S. Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo.

Secretary Pompeo, it's great to have you with us on the Daily Signal podcast. It is great to be with you. Well, thanks for making time to be with. So you were part of some of the biggest foreign policy accomplishments in the Trump administration. Can you highlight a couple that you think are some of the biggest that you're most happy about? So we began by making sure that everyone in the world understood that we were going to work to protect American sovereignty. We were going to put the American people first in everything that we did. And the results of that were enormous, enormous for America and for the world.

So I'll give you two quick examples. First, the Abraham Accords. Multiple countries inside the Middle East, acknowledging that Israel is the rightful homeland of the Jewish people, and they were no longer going to treat them as the pariah that had happened for decades and decades. both Republicans and Democrats had come at this saying, you can't solve that problem until you solve the Israel-Palestinian clash, and we said nonsense, we can do it. And we did. And the Middle East will be more stable, and Arab nations across the region, and Israel will

be more prosperous as a result. Second, and perhaps the one that is most important, is that we flip the switch on the Chinese Communist Party. For 40-plus years, the United States allowed the CCP to run over the American people. and I talked about my speech today here at CPAC, we said no way. We're not going to let that happen. We're not going to let them steal tens of millions of American jobs, our intellectual property. We're not going to allow them to continue to build out their military without being confronted.

I hope this next administration will take that on in the same way that we did, the technology fronted to. If they do, America will be a democracy, will be a constitutional republic, and Americans will be more prosperous. Well, something that a lot of people watched and past presidents had talked about was moving the embassy back to Jerusalem. A lot of presidents talked about it. Never actually happened, and that did happen under President Trump. And many people that I've talked to have pointed to that was something that they really respected about President Trump. And so I wanted to ask you just if there's anything about that that you want to highlight the process or just, you know, looking back on it now, you know, what your takeaways are from that period of time where you guys worked on that. So I was a CIA director at the first part of the administration.

I remember working to help the president understand both what the policy was, what the law required, and what the facts were on the ground, and what the likely ramifications were if he made that decision. Multiple presidents had said, to your point, I'll do this if I'm elected. And then in the end became convinced that, oh, my goodness, this might cause war, might cause something bad to happen. And President Trump and our team built out an understanding. He said, no, we think this is the right thing to do. We think we can manage this, and we did. There was no war. There was no intifada.

Instead, there was global recognition that what took you so long? Well, you've been talking on Twitter a little bit about all the isms, and that's part of American society today, multiculturalism, all the isms that we're now talking about. Why is this a problem and how can we address this language we're talking about now? What is the better way to go about it? There's not a conservative that I know that doesn't believe that every human being ought to be treated. treated precisely the same way because we are made in the image of God and that human dignity depends on the fact that we treat each other in a way that is respectful and kind and as human. And when I hear people start to talk about different groups and different subcultures and they

want to divide and they want to create tension and they want to cause problems, it saddens me because I know it will diminish all of us. And so whether it's these ideas that the progressive movement now has, that they refer to as being woke, they undermine the central understanding that our founders had about who we are. And also my Christian understanding of how it is that the Bible asks us to treat each of our neighbors. Instead, they want to create special classes and special groups instead of treating just each of us as a human.

And in our case here in the United States, is an American. Well, you've been outspoken. You mentioned this a little bit before about your concerns that the Chinese Communist Party poses. How do you see these concerns intensifying with the Biden administration? China understands one thing. It understands power. And they know how to wield it, and they know when another country is wielding it against them. If you show weakness, if you suggest that it's okay to just take a little bit of a particular country, or it's okay to just treat the Uyghurs badly just a little bit, they'll drive a truck through it. You have to confront it.

You have to make clear that these are the expectations. These are the standards that we're going to hold you to. and if you steal American intellectual property, we're going to impose economic pain on your country. If you come into the United States and try and spy on us, we're going to close your consulate in Houston. That's what we did in this administration. Or if you send people into our schools and our research institutions

to try and steal some of the most important American technology and secrets, we're going to prosecute you criminally. That's what we did in our administration. The next administration says, you know, goodness, I don't want to confront China because we've got a lot of businesses making money there, it'll only end up worse for the American people. Well, on that note, and as we wrap up,

what do you think we should expect from China in the next couple years? They're going to test us. They're going to see if this administration is prepared to respond the same way that ours did. And if we don't, if we end up doing things like rejoining a climate agreement that allows the Chinese to continue to pollute but requires America to cease growing its economy, the Chinese Communist Party will see that weakness

and they will continue to expand. They'll put pressure on Taiwan. They'll continue to undermine the commitments that they made to the people of Hong Kong. They'll treat the Falling Gong and Christians inside of their own country worse and worse and worse. And they will undermine our central understanding about the rule of law and democracy. Well, Secretary Pompeo, it's great having you on the Daily Signal podcast. Thanks for joining us. It's wonderful to be with you.

Have a good day. Freshman member of Congress, Michelle Fishbaugh, also joins me on the podcast to discuss cancel culture as well as Democrats' 1.9 trillion COVID-19 spending bill. Just a note here, this interview was recorded before the passage of the 1.9 trillion COVID spending bill. I'm joined today on the Daily Signal podcast by Congresswoman Fishbach of Minnesota, Congresswoman Fishbach. It's great to have you with us on the Daily Signal podcast. Oh, I'm excited to be here. It's great to be at CPAC and I'm excited to meet all the folks and have a few good conversations. Well, it's great to have you with us. Before we get started into what we're going to be talking about.

Can you just start off by telling us about your journey to Congress and why you ran? You know, after I had served some time in the Minnesota State Senate, president of the Senate, and for a short time I was lieutenant governor. And then, you know, I was done with all of that and taking some time off. And I was really encouraged from people in the 7th District because what they wanted was they wanted a strong conservative voice to represent them in Congress. And it was time that we flipped that seat. because the seat had been held by Democrats for 30 years.

And so through their encouragement, and I decided that that is something that I wanted to do and make sure that those people had that conservative voice in Congress. Well, we're here together talking at CPAC, and the theme is America Uncanceled. And recently, you really had your own encounter with canceled culture when some students at the Mitchell Hamlin School of Law in St. Paul, Minnesota,

wanted their school's administration to ban you as an alumna and, you know, newly elected member of Congress because you had spoken out on voter fraud and in support of President Trump. And so can you tell us about your own cancel culture moment? Well, and, you know, those students put together a petition and went to the dean, to the administration, to try to get him to take away my law degree

and remove me from their website and all kinds of things like that and just kind of erase me from ever being ever attended there. I don't think they'll be successful, but I will tell you what it's all about is them not being intolerant. They are intolerant to anyone who does not share their opinion or espouse their beliefs and their radical left-wing ideas. And so we have to use our voices and we have to make sure that we continue to speak up or they will succeed.

Well, we've talked about how canceled culture has impacted you. How do you think it's impacting the rest of the country as a whole? Well, I think that's one of the things. just they across the country they're intolerant and they are loud and they are willing to you know whether it's maxine waters uh calling on supporters to yell at people in restaurants and get rid of them if they're trump supporters is that kind of thing that uh that their intolerance is showing and i think that the people of the united states see that uh they see that no it's not the republicans going after people it is it's the democrats and the radical left wing well sometimes

that we've seen on Twitter recently and Facebook and different social media is how big tech is contributing to the cancel culture movement with the president or former president Donald Trump being banned from Twitter and other even nonpartisan organizations like job creators network and others that have been taken down because they've apparently violated some rule that they don't even know that they have and so how would you say big tech is contributing and how can that be addressed well they are contributing to this cancel culture that's out there and they are contributing to making sure that people only hear one side, but we will continue in Congress to fight that. And we are looking at those kinds of Section 230 issues, whether it's a platform and things like that, so that we're

working hard to make sure that they can't do that. So we're talking at CPAC, and you spoke at CPAC about the defense of life. Why is this something you're passionate about? Because when you are pro-life, so much else falls into place, and every life is worth defending. And I want to make sure that we are protecting those unborn children and their mothers, and that we are really promoting a culture of life from conception to natural death. On that note, what do you see are some of, to be some of the biggest attacks against the defense of life, whether it's in Congress or even in society, where do you see is the big things that you think should be addressed right now? Well, the Democrats in Congress are really going after, they're going after taxpayer funding of abortions.

They're get rid of what's called the Hyde Amendment that would have protected taxpayer dollars from paying for abortions, so we need to continue to fight them on that. They are pushing their radical left wing, and even though it may not look like it, they are doing it, and they are trying to make abortion legal from conception to birth, and they will continue to push it, and they want the taxpayers to pay for it. Well, we're going into about, I think this is the third month of President Biden's administration. And I want to just get your thoughts as a conservative on the administration so far. And what concerns you most about the trajectory of the administration? Well, I am concerned that he is pushing that radical left-wing agenda. And, you know, through an executive order. He has the majority in Congress, and he's not even waiting for them.

He is just simply pushing that left-wing agenda through executive order. And I'm very concerned about it. And that's why it is so important that we continue to fight and we make sure that the people in the United States understand what direction they're going. But in addition to that, in two years that we get back that majority in the House, because then we will be a check on the Biden administration. Well, on that note, and I think that answer does, you know, address some of this last question. But what do you think conservatives can do to respond to the Biden agenda given, even as we've talked about with the Democrat, you know, House and White House? Well, and like I said, we desperately need to use our voices. And these groups like CPAC and the conservatives that are out there need to continue to speak up

and make sure that people understand what's really going on. And I think they're going to play too many cards, and people of America are going to wake up to what they're really all about as they continue to push things through. And I can't say enough that that next election is about 600 days away. and we've got work to do, and we need to make sure that we get those five seats and many more in the House in the House. So we do have that check on the Biden administration. Well, Congressman Fishback, it's great having you on the Daily Signal podcast. Thank you for joining us. Thank you very much.

I appreciate it. You have a great day. And that'll do it for today's episode. Thanks for listening to the Daily Signal podcast. You can finally Daily Signal podcast on Google Play, Apple Podcast, Spotify, and IHeartRadio. Please be sure to leave us their review. and a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts, and please encourage others to subscribe.

Thanks again for listening, and we'll be back with you all tomorrow. The Daily Signal podcast is brought to you by more than half a million members of the Heritage Foundation. It is executive produced by Kate Trinko and Rachel Del Judas, sound design by Lauren Evans,

Mark Geinney, and John Pop. For more information, visitdailySignal.com.