WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND), member of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), joined Gabe Gutierrez on NBC’s “Meet the Press NOW” to discuss how the United States should respond to the drone attack which killed three American soldiers in Jordan. Additionally, they spoke about the status of the ongoing southern border negotiations.
On How the U.S. Should Respond to Drone Attack in Jordan:
“At this point, we just can't continue to project this weakness that only escalates [Iran’s] aggressiveness. […] It’s a little late for us to escalate a situation that our weakness has already allowed them to escalate because they keep responding to our tepidness with more aggression. When we do take a shot at one of these small $1,000 drones, we use a million-dollar missile to do it, which makes no sense. […] It was the 115th attack in Iraq that finally got through and injured a North Dakotan, Chief Warrant Officer Garrett Illerbrunn, who is here in Walter Reed Medical Center.”
On President Trump's Reaction to the Attack:
“I don’t need a lot of clarity from him, because when he says, ‘When I was President, they wouldn’t have done it,’ he’s got evidence to demonstrate that. He’s not the one who was playing footsie with Tehran allowing them to have nuclear weapons and sending pallets of cash if you just talk nicer to us.”
On the Possible Senate Border Deal:
“…the one thing is the ability to turn people around right at the border. This nonsense of giving them a date for court in five to 10 years and turning them loose into the country. It's that Title 42 authority that President Trump had because of the pandemic this deal would provide all of the time, and that is to me, the key ability to do that, and then the mandate to do it.”
“Doing nothing sends a very bad signal to [the swing voters] about our seriousness about it. They've already judged Joe Biden as doing nothing at the border except facilitating the illegal transfer of human beings and drugs. […] I do think if we can demonstrate movement in the right direction, not just with policies, but these mandates, remember, are significant. By the way, if [Trump] becomes president, he would have even more authority to turn people around at the border and wouldn't have to rely on a pandemic for that authority.”
On Responding to Today's Crisis at the Border:
“I don't believe in reserving a crisis for a more opportune time politically because that time may not come, and if it does come, I'd love to have the tools that James Lankford has been negotiating and getting Democrats to very reluctantly agree to. Divided government—this is the moment when people expect us to compromise and find common ground where we can. […] When the bill is said and done in a House that is a one- or two-member majority, I think what the Speaker ought to do is put it on the floor. The will of the House ought to prevail here, not the politics of the day.”