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On the decision to place a hold on the nomination of Nicholas Burns to serve as Ambassador to China:

“In the case of Mr. Burns, it’s not that he’s an evil or bad person. The problem is he is part of this failed, bipartisan consensus that thought China was going to get rich and then become like us.  

“What we need right now are people that clearly understand that what China is a geo-political competitor and a potential adversary. They seek to overtake us. They are working at every level to overtake us technologically, in our economy, [and] in our military. 

“They’re increasingly aggressive, they have these wolf diplomats. We need our version of wolf diplomacy. We need diplomats that are going to be strong and are going to go to China and not get invited to their parties and have polite conversations, but actually be very strong in expressing our outrage over human rights violations, [and]the technology they steal, and how they block our companies’ access to their economy. And I just don’t believe he’s going to do it. I just don’t. I think this is the wrong person for that post.” 

On the decision to place a hold on the nomination of Julissa Reynoso Pantaleón to serve as Ambassador to Spain:

“She is a Castro sympathizer and apologist, and has a long career of doing it. I don’t think she should be an ambassador anywhere, but much less to Spain, which plays an outsized role in the Western Hemisphere when it comes to European countries because of their long history there. [Spain] continue[s] to be one of the biggest defenders and apologists as a nation, as a government, for the regime, not just in Cuba, but also in Venezuela, Nicaragua, and other places.”

On China: 

“If you want to talk about failed foreign policy orthodoxy, Joe Biden is a walking, living symbol of it. Not only has he been wrong on foreign policy, but…as Xi Jinping said, ‘It’s good to see my old friend, Joe Biden.’ They clearly go back a long way and have a relationship of some kind.

“My view of what is happening in the administration is there are some people in the administration who view China as a threat and something we need to confront. And then there are others who say, ‘China is a country that we want to do a deal with.–Let’s do a deal on climate, let’s do a deal with them on whatever…’

“It looks like [Biden] is trying to please both sides of that equation. The result is you’re getting people saying, ‘Look don’t talk too much about the Uyghurs. Don’t talk too much about the fact that they hack and steal our information. Don’t talk too much about their threats to Taiwan, because that’s going to hurt our ability to do a deal them on climate change.’ I really think that’s what’s happening there, and it shows why we aren’t making progress on these important things.”

On recent reports that the Biden Administration has secretly sent more than 70 flights carrying illegal immigrants into Jacksonville, FL: 

“It’s unpopular, and they don’t want to admit to it. That’s why they do it in the darkness of night on these charter flights without advising local authorities ? and that’s the ones we know of, by the way. 

“That wasn’t me that was saying it, that was a local media outlet down there that found it and just looked at the last six months. There’s more flights than that ? they’re probably still ongoing ? and they haven’t notified anyone, they haven’t talked to anybody about it. 

“And the reason why they’re hiding it is because they know if you told most people ? I don’t care where you go in this country, you can go to the most liberal city in America ? and you ask them, ‘Are you ok with us dumping a plane full of immigrants that just arrived into your city?’, the answer would be ‘No.’ It would be deeply unpopular, from San Francisco to anywhere in the deep South. And that’s why they don’t want to talk about it. But that’s what they’re doing. 

“And… they’re prepared to fire pilots, they’re prepared to fire National Guardsmen, they’re prepared to fire soldiers that aren’t vaccinated ? how many of those migrants, before they dropped them off, did they vaccinate? I guarantee you, the number’s zero.” 

On the Cuban regime’s efforts to put down another round of protests on the island this week: 

“The Cuban regime is very good at repression; it’s the one thing they do very well. They don’t know how to manage an economy, they don’t know how to provide for their people, but they know how to put down protests. 

“What they did is they mobilized the army [and] angry mobs of communists to harass and go after these activists. By the way, these activists are intellectuals, poets, artists ? not a guerrilla group. But I think they failed, because what they did is…in their reaction, they proved their critics right. 

“My real question is today, when President Biden talks to [President Andrés Manuel López Obrador] from Mexico, is he going to ask him, ‘How can you possibly continue to defend a regime that does this kind of thing?’ Obviously, Obrador has a long history of defending leftist elements around the world. 

“I wish we would put more diplomatic pressure on that front, and I wish this administration would make a priority to do what I’ve called for and what my bills call for, and what the amendment I passed in Senate calls for, and that is providing internet inside of Cuba in key places at key moments. It would have been great to have full Internet, unfettered access on Monday when these protests were supposed to be happening so people could be talking to each other and sending images out about the repression. Even with all [the censorship] they did [send some], but it would have been a lot better had they had that access, and we had that capability. It’s just not a priority for an administration that is populated by people who, frankly, sympathize with a regime and any far-left element in Latin America.”

On whether President Biden’s “Build Back Better” agenda will pass: 

“I don’t know what is going to happen in the House, [but] it’s Build Back Socialism. What it basically is it’s codifying socialism into our law. 

“The number and the dollar signs associated with it is a lot, but the big problem is not just the money, it’s what it does. For example, they will take over Pre-K in America and you will not see any churches be able to provide Pre-K, much less teach religion. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

“It’s a terrible bill. I don’t know if it will pass in the House. I’Il do everything I can to stop it. It will be devastating for our country.”