[inaudible conversations] the committee will come back to order, and we will finish up with the honorable jon huntsman, and i understand senator shahe shaheen. Yes, thank you very much mr. Chairman. First of all, i would like to thank the governor for his willingness to continue to serve the country and i very much appreciated our conversation. I know one of the things we discussed a little bit in the challenges getting the attempt to influence the elections, occupation and annexation of crimea, some of the other challenges facing and the need to counter those efforts into the same time to look at the places where we can work with russia because we have mutual interest. Can you talk about how as ambassador you will try to balance those needs and the kinds of efforts that you think are helpful in responding to russian aggression versus the kind of efforts that he would try to employ and to engage in areas of mutual interest with. Put your microphone on. There we go. Senator it was a pleasure most recently to see you. Aggression doesnt pay and there will be a response. Weve already seen that in the case in 2014 and in the case of ukraine in the eastern provinces and previous to that in 2008 in the case of georgia with self study south of. The constant pushing is taking place in europe and we have friends and allies that we support and whose sovereignty we stand behind from a security standpoint. And i think we have to live up and respecforand respect those , which is the case. We have that same thing going on while overlapping and common interest. And i think as with any challenging relationship i would say in the case of russia it is a challenging but necessary relationship we have to be at the table together and find a common ground. We have to solve problems and move to a higher altitude. No question about it. But its to show we can succeed in what we do together and there may be some early signs of success with the attempt to disarm and quiet the Western Region just south of damascus. Its still the early days but there may be some successes from their. I think the dpr k. Is another area that we could find success. In the case of ukraine, we are nowhere and i would have to say that a lot of the main highway that leads to an improvement in the u. S. Russia relations goes right through to ukraine and that is leadin is living up andg the accord through the norm in the process that right now is actively being worked out by the special representative for a fairs. Its a critically important issue not just for ukraine and the region but for people here in the United States, so that will be an important area. Then we have issues such as space which may be the level of oxygen that keeps us together in a collaborative session. This keeps us together in the United States and russia. Another issue i think we have to come together on and maybe in ways that are positive, so i see the Balance Sheet and the need to come up with a very clear and crisp list of priorities that we can meet on and hopefully make progress and i can return to you on. Ambassador, can you talk about whether you are going to be willing to meet with opposition figures in russia and discipline through may not agree with . That has always been my practice that every other post and it will continue to be my practice. Yes, senator. Ambassador, governor, i just wanted to come back to this hearing to complement you as one of the highest quality nominees that i have seen in my seven years on before in relation committee. In the personal meeting ended your Opening Statement, i think that you represent the very best in Public Service and leadership at home and abroad. You answered a whole series of questions i have for you whether reading with obligation issues, human rights, the value of the western european allies and many others. So, to you and your beautiful family thank you for your dedication to the Public Service and let me ask two or three questions and i look forward to supporting your nomination in any event. How do you think we could counter this in western europe and as we talk about in my office, our core challenge is raising the cost for russia of the continued interference in their continued illegal actions in ukraine and other places in the world. And do you think it is critical that we maintain the sanctions until the end or destabilize the actions in ukraine and metal in the european elections or can you imagine a path we would enlighten some sanctions that others did in the action of this committee we would have a hand in any decision on that front . Thank you for those warm comments that you previously made. I think ukraine becomes a centerpiece when we look at the sanctions we had five rounds of sanctions when you count the act as well and i think a lot of the barometer on where the relationship goes will be based on ukraine and kind of success that we have living up to the mexican court. When i think about the different sanctions that are there, some are the result of meddling in our election and more human rights focused. With respect to the kind of hybrid warfare which includes the maligned activity goes well beyond the welfare that my generation was accustomed to as was yours growing up. You put a quick note on the field and practice and never have to go to the war. What we see today is very different and it includes disinformation campaigns and networks that are dedicated to the dissemination of good news of different sources we see the support of political movements on the extreme end for example. Its to recognize it does exist anthat doesexist and want to bel about it so what is the nature of this hybrid campaign and what does it take on the very survivability of the nascent democracy because i think that is the target to undercut the credibility of the political system which is the most nefarious approach but one can take to another nationstate and then we have to see what are the options in terms of the tools one might have there may be options on the Technology Side and the private sector would be worth looking at. Then the work you are doing with others including senator murphy on funding some effort efforts t would produce a counter narrative is important. Its the clarity and the forcefulness of your view about russias actions and our election in the region against our alliances in western europe its both at home and around the world and your commitment to join with us so i very much look forward to working with you. [laughter] i do appreciate your commitment to the Global Engagement center. We are very pleased that the administration after some question is now transferred 48 million to help set up the capacity for the young nations and he would be instrumental to figure out how that plays out going forward. With that being said, let me ask a little question here. I really appreciated your clear statement regarding a russian interfere in in the u. S. Election. But i want to put the swor thisf elephant out on the table here. Youre going to be working for a president whos done the opposite and is that he intentionally cast doubt on whether they interfered in this election. Its all a hoax, it is all a scam. In poland earlier this year he said it could have been russia, but it could have been other people. And the results are real. 43 of americans dont believe that russia interfered in the u. S. Election. And importantly, only about 9 believe that russia interfered. So let me ask you this because e everybody is wondering. How do you represent your belief that in all of our beliefs that they interfered in the election is engaged in a terribly intentional campaign at the very least to cloud the issue how do you manage that . Its important to note that the odni has spoken, is a powerful symbol when you get the director of the National Intelligence director of the cia ahead of the fbi who come together in unison behind their findings and they are material for some years i very rarely see them come together in such coordinated fashion of one mind and one conclusion, so i think that expresses where the facts are with respect to the involvement. But i have to say that for me as a former governor, you are tasked with the integrity of the system sometimes as a lieutenant governor, sometimes the secretary of state you have nothing more important than the integrity of your election process at the list of levels and to undercut or subver subveo associatsubvert ortwo associater to succeed about or distrust about that system is the highest level of industry that i think can be played on any local election system. I will speak to this not just as a u. S. Ambassador to russia but also somebody that had responsibility in my state. Thank you for that answer i dont want to normalize the moment i think it will be very difficult by the fact that you will put pressure to stop interfering in our elections trying to cloud this question and use as his personal Communications Device to call this a hope is and i dont want us to normalize what happened today when the diplomats are telling one line at the president is telling a different one on his twitter feed and i appreciate tha the capacity and willingness to do the jobs that are uniquely hard in an unprecedented way. We will get a commitment to followup ofollow up on somethid about in the office. Senator shaheen and i and some others talked about the balkans where the war started a place that remains very unstable and in the last six months since the president took office and said gold but we were sort of exiting the diplomatic playing field, russia has gone into buying up all sorts of media sources and they started paying off new and interesting people. I just wanted to have you reiterate your commitment against all these things youre going to be paying into to keep an eye out for us to increase the russian interference. At the very stable place that could be made much more unstable if we dont check that interference. You have my commitment, senator. It is an example of what we described earlier specifically when you point to serbia and kos about. I think this is an example of what happened in that vacuum. I will watch it and it will certainly be part of my discussion. Thank you, senator cain. Governor, welcome. You are superbly qualified for this position. Its a very tough job and im glad the president asked you to do it. I was involved in the sum of the circumstances senator murphy was asking about and i will switch and toland tell you an interestg irony while i was a candidate in the election thats been much discussed for these reasons my son was deployed in the initiative in the entire marine you will also have theblack and opportunity to dialogue with other european nation that russia, and i think an important part of your job is going to be working with the russian government to make sure that we advance and protect the nations on their border that are currently under serious assault in many demands. I wonder if you can just address that aspect how you might approach the different aspect of your job. My approach will be to work with friends and allies in europe, specifically the g5 where they are dedicated to the issues that are prominently on the security agenda. We all know the full double states are right on the periphery and the need for help and support both nato and the United States. I think we are better and stronger when we are coordinating with those who are focused in on the ground and maybe have a slightly different perspective. And i learned this while serving in china working with the g5 in other contexts including north korea and the south china sea. And i fully expect to consult on a regular basis with my colleagues to make sure that we are plugged into the work of the supreme allied commander in europe along with the nato command as well. I very much want to make a visit to both of those areas to make sure we are all of one mind as it relates to understanding the last Training Exercise that is playing out in belarus even as we sit here that it will go on through september 30. Im not sure theyve invoked the documents required as far as transparency is concerned but it may be that they should have. Nobody quite knows the number of troops involved or how this is likely to play out. Thats not good. That doesnt serve the interest in europe. So i think we ar are together on the issues and i would look forward to working with our friends and allies on these issues. You will also have a unique perspective having to be ambassador to china. China. Both critical nations and where we have many points of disagreement, but there are areas where we need to work together, for example we had a briefing recently though it was classified, this portion wasnt. Wasnt. Its about north korea and the Administration Officials said over and over again we are pursuing diplomacy if we can. If it is a 10 chance or 5 or 3 chance, we need to pursue diplomacy and the diplomatic resolution of the situation in north korea and i assume you share that view and the view that person and you diplomatic relations would likely involve having russia and china involved in those discussions. Which is worth hundreds of millions of dollars. These are big deals so far as it really comes down to either sanctions going to be implemented and thats where we have had difficulties in the past. Will china do what they have signed up to do and will russia do what they signed up to do . Thats where you roll up your sleeves and get to work. Might as one more question mr. Chair or do i need to wait for a second round . I will be very brief. We will have questions for the record. I will be very brief. Having acknowledged china and russia would be critical if there was an ability to find a nuclear deal of some type with north korea you would agree would you not that their belief about whether or not the u. S. Would follow a deal if we reached it that could be important to them in determining how much they wanted to work with us to press north korea. Obviously there are trust issues all around and they constantly have to be work done and the trust deficit the deployment of thaad most recently among other things is causing consternation with both china and russia but we have worked together successfully in the sixparty contact so i have seen examples of where three of us can in fact take on an issue share information work from a common sheet and a common playbook and try to get things done. Thank you. Governor and ambassador thank you so much for taking this big responsibility on and thank you to your family who was also willing to undertake a sacrifice is. Mr. Chairman i want to thank the governor also and if theres one thing senator kaine said enforcement of sanctions in north korea is very important. Enforcement of the sanctions against russia is very important so we are going to need your help in forcing the sanctions in regards the sale of turkey that the sanctions may be in fact being violated so we are going to need your intentions if we are going to be effective in the action against russia. For members of the committee we will keep the record open until the close of business on thursday that includes members of many questions for the record so again thank you so much. You and your family, thank you. Mr. Mitchell would you care to join us . [inaudible conversations] thank you all. [inaudible conversations] mr. Mitchell thank you so much for joining us. I am here in the position that you have been nominated for is certainly an important position and i apologize for our time today. We are going to bit be in the bit of a short stream so instead of at it making an open statement i dont want to preach on about europe and how important it is to us. Im going to pass on that and get to your perspective. I commented earlier so mr. Mitchell the floor is yours. Thank you senator reisch and let me say how much i appreciated earlier senator cornyn from my home state of texas giving me a warm introduction and im honored to have your backing. Chairman parker rank member cardin and members of the committee its a real privilege to appear before you as a nominee for assistant secretary of state for european and Eurasian Affairs. President trump ends secretary secretary for the confidence they placed me to undertake this important role. Im proud to have here with me today a support battalion of my family members. My wife elizabeth, her children wesley and charlotte are terrorizing folks in the hallway so i apologize if anyone who experienced that today. My mom beth mitchell, my aunt and father in motherinlaw. As senator cornyn said im a sixth generation texan prevent first person my family more than 150 years to pursue a career north of the red river. Like my wife who is a 13 year veteran of the department of defense that came to washington to serve my country. 12 years ago i cofounded the center for european policy analysis of think tank that is now widely recognized or the quality of his research and analysis on control of fear. As president seau im overseeing the truly transatlantic organization with offices in washington the warsaw and personnel in several european countries. This role at the close and effective relationships with Senior Leaders across the state and had the honor of working with previous secretaries and seen the skills, dedication and patriotism of the men and women of the bureau for european and Eurasian Affairs and ive worked closely with many of you and your staff on this committee on some of the most important pieces of legislation affecting americas relationship with europe and russia. What animates my work is a belief that americas alliances are the backbone of our strength and influence of the great power years ago americans helped to create a new western order grounded in Atlanta Corporation rate they did so because they understood that america has this enduring strategic interest in removing what an earlier generation of policymakers called the firetrap of geopolitics through this region was the birthplace of the three global wars the 20 century too hot and one cold to the alliance was built after 1945 and expanded after 1989 laid the foundation for unprecedented freedoms stability and prosperity much much of the world. As president thompson were so theres nothing like this nation we must have the courage and desire to preserve it. If confirmed i will view as my central path the preservation and strengthening of the western alliance to ensure my Young Children are able to enjoy the benefits and abundance we have known in our lifetime. If confirmed my First Priority will be to give substance to the administrations affirmation of american commitment to ar