Vice president nominee Joe Lieberman also here on his declaration that congresswoman alexandria ocasiocortez is not the future of the Democratic Party her response to that coming up all that and more right now as we look ahead on sunday morning futures. President trump last night saying he has no idea if he can reach an agreement with democrat s to end the partial government shutdown. The president also doubling down on his threat to declare a National Emergency to fund the border wall. Well get into all of that in a moment but we begin this morning with breaking news on the Foreign Policy front. The wall street journal is reporting that last september, National Security advisor john bolton asked the pentagon to provide military options on striking iran. Joining me now is republican senator from tennessee Marsha Blackburn serves on the Armed Services and commerce committees and is one of the first women to serve on the Senate Judiciary committee. Senator good to have you on the program this morning thanks so much for being here. Sure. Maria i want to get to the border wall funding, and all of the issues around that but let me begin with this breaking news , john bolton requesting from pentagon strike options against iran. Your thoughts on that. Is that something that surprised you in terms of potentially striking iran . Maria, i think that what you are seeing with the National Security team and those that are working to make certain that we are increasing our strength in the middle east is viewing all options and indeed this past week, we have voted twice on a bill, strengthening americas presence in the middle east and this includes legislation that is vitally important to israel, our greatest allie. It is military and Financial Support for them, it is provisions to help combat and that movement which is boycott divestment and we want to make certain that we sure israel up that we also provide provisions in this legislation for jordan, who is a key regional allie vitally important as we look at the middle east and what we have seen from the democrats is just obstruction. They have voted against this twice. Were going to go with this again on monday, and see if we can again have another tool in the tool box to deal with bad actors. This legislation also has provisions that would hold syria s brutal regime accountable for torture and murder of innocent civilians. Maria and we know Prime Minister confirmed friday that in fact israel war plans did target iran planes, but here weve got this evidence that the u. S. And israel are in step with fighting harsh and plainly against iran and yet the president has announced hes withdrawing troops from syria. So does these two issues jive together . We have received a classified briefing on syria, and of course, you can appreciate that im not able to talk about much of what is in that briefing. I will say the legislation that senator rubio has brought forward that the democrats have voted against twice is vitally important for us as we take it up again for a third vote, and i appreciate leader mcconnells persistence in trying to move this forward. Maria senator, the president announced that hes withdrawing troops from syria, and yet secretary of state pompeo is on the ground in the middle east saying we are here. We will make sure that the troops on the ground that remain and our kurdish partners in this are not harmed. Has the plans changed . Has the mission changed . I dont think it would be appropriate to say that the mission has changed. I think it is appropriate to say that the military is looking at a systematic stable process of withdrawing troops from syria but also of the u. S. Maintaining this leadership moving towards stability in the middle east, and you will see that continue. Secretary pompeo you will also have john bolton who is working on these issues and maria, what we want to make certain is that as our military moves forward, they have the tools the training the equipment that they need to do their job, that we are listen ing to the commanders that are on the ground there, and whether it is the diplomatic or the military side that we are working in a coordinated and cohesive way to make certain that we protect americans. Maria let me switch gears and talk a bit about the shutdown and Border Security. We know that the majority of americans are opposing the border wall, 54 according to a new abc News Washington post poll, but those numbers, this gap is actually lessening here, so it looks like the American People are recognizing that a Border Security is of the ut most importance. Let me ask you should the president declare a National Emergency here . My hope is that the democrat s will come to the table and will be able to resolve this , congress should be the ones to take the lead. And youre right more americans are looking at this, and they are saying i hear it from tennessee every single day. Look, stop the drug traffickers, the human traffickers, the gangs from coming in this country, because until that southern border is secure, you are going to have every state a border state and every town a border town, and they want to get this issue resolved. Securing that border and maria, its important to realize walls work. Ask israel. Walls work. Look at the Border Patrol, they say they need three things, and they tell us this regularly, they need a barrier, they need technology, and they need more Border Agents and officers that are there on the ground to help with this situation, and traffic king has dropped in areas where there is a border wall. You have less illegal entry and that is what theyre saying that they need, so i think that it is outrageous, that they do not want to give the Border Patrol what they need to secure the border and to secure the sovereignty of this nation. Maria well its interesting because were looking at a graphic right now of the current wall and fencing, 30 of the border already has a wall, and last week, on this program, we spoke with one of your colleague s on the house side, congressman mak thornberry on Foreign Affairs and here is what he said on the Current Situation listen to this. For years, way before president obama was elected, the Border Patrol experts said you need a combination of things. You need physical barriers, you need people and you need technology. All three of them. So i was struck this week when Speaker Pelosi said this is a moral issue. We already have some sort of barrier across 30 of the border , to go to 40 is a moral issue . It just tells me this is politic s and the disappointing thing is the country, the best interest of the country do not seem to be the first consideration. Its all about political positioning. Maria and senator we into that nancy pelosi has voted for border wall, Border Security twice before barack obama has, others have as well, senator schumer, and yet now, when President Trump wants to do it, she says its immoral, even though we already have the wall and 30 . Your reaction to this because we know that 800,000 Government Employees have not been paid and it feels like this is people playing politics frankly. Well it does feel like people playing politics, because there is an offer that is there on the table, and we all have concern about the portion of government that is in shutdown and the employees that are not being paid, and for the democratic leadership to say absolutely not, will not negotiate, is unfair to them and ill tell you something else, maria. If i were someone who had a dream erin my family, and i talked with someone yesterday whose helping a family, two children are dreamers, two were born here, and do you know what . They were expressing their frustration that the democratic leadership is not coming to the table when they know the president and republicans have said lets address the dreamer issue. Lets secure the southern border lets get government reopened and i think that more people are becoming frustrated. You were just talking about the poling and showing how more americans are coming forward in favor of the wall. They realize every towns a border town. Every states a border state until you security and end illegal entry of drugs, human trafficking, sex trafficking, and gangs. Maria do you think well get a resolution this week . My hope is that we do. Maria senator stay with us we know that this upcoming week is also important for the upcoming ag. General, attorney general nominee william barr heads to capitol hill on tuesday morning, for his first set of confirmation hearings. Were going to talk about that senator plaque burn when we come right back, follow me on twitter at Maria Bartiromo on instagram at Maria Bartiromo, and at sunday futures, let us know what youd like to hear we got a big program ahead stay with us as we look ahead on sunday morning futures. Im ken jacobus and i switched to the spark cash card from capital one. I earn unlimited 2 cash back on everything i buy. And last year, i earned 36,000 in cash back. Which i used to offer Health Insurance to my employees. Whats in your wallet . Metastatic Breast Cancer is relentless, but im relentless too. Mbc doesnt take a day off, and neither will i. And i treat my mbc with everyday verzenio the only one of its kind that can be taken every day. 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Maria welcome back we are back with republican senator from tennessee Marsha Blackburn, senator this upcoming week, we will begin the confirmation hearings for the president s nomination for attorney general william barr. Your expectations, you will be there, asking some of the questions. What are you expecting to ask mr. Barr . I had the opportunity to visit with him last week and talk with him a little bit about his prior Services Attorney general for the late president george bush and then also to touch about his work with verizon, his service on the board of timewarner, and the 25 years of expertise that he is bringing from the telecommunications industry. Also, maria, i wanted to talk with him about running the agency, the leadership that he would bring to bear there, which i think is vitally important for the department of justice, to have leadership that is seasoned , and he would be a steady hand and i think that is what you will see. Hes been in retirement for 10 years, basically, he is coming out of retirement to serve President Trump and i was thinking back through some of the previous attorney generals and ive got to tell you. When you look at william barr, i think you see somebody whose going to be a 180 or an exact opposite of what eric holder was , and of course, we expect that the democrats are going to oppose mr. Barr and his confirmation, because they have look at how they three of them participated in suing the president to block Matthew Whitaker from being the acting assistant attorney general and they are on this obstruct tangent. Everything that they can do to get in the president s way and the senate is there to provide advice and consent. Maria senator there is an argument being made william bar should recuse himself from the Mueller Investigation. Your reaction . I think that mr. Mueller should finish his investigation and deliver his report. I will tell you this, tennessee ans when im out and about, they are not talking about that. They are not interested in the story of the day. They are interested in the story of their lives. They like the fact that we have seen 2. 6 million jobs created since we had the tax cuts and jobs act passed. Maria when would he have to recuse himself . Do you think hell have to recuse himself, senator . I think that is something that should be up for discussion and we will get through that as we get through the hearings. Maria it just seems to me that, you know, james comey setup this special counsel very neatly. Youve got a special counsel in place, which we still dont know where hes going, what he has, in terms of this attack of collusion and obstruction, and yet, anything having to do with the fbis behavior of people who did try to stop donald trump like peter strzok and Andrew Mccabe and bruce ohr and lisa page, any questions regarding their behavior is, well, we cant answer that, we cant discuss it, because theres an active investigation going on by the special counsel, so what is your sense in terms of when the Mueller Investigation will provide this report and who is going to check Robert Mueller if not the attorney general . Well and you just listed the list of questions that people are asking that they want to have answers to. How in the world could this have happened . How could they have or did they go after President Trump . Were they actively trying to go after him . How did the dossier play into all of this . These are the answers that people want to have, and this is why i think william barr is a good person for the department of justice. He will bring that seasoned leadership. He has been in that position before. Maria unless hes forced to recuse himself. Well and maria then we dont have anybody following the truth or seeking actually what went on here because theyre covered by a special active investigation isnt that true . That is correct and people want to see leadership at the department of justice that is going to get this department back on track and that the American People will know exactly what happened. Maria okay, we are talking about china as well. We want to get your take on where this goes the next meeting at the end of january between chinese and u. S. Officials, we know that china has been a bad actor from stealing ip to being unwilling to open its markets to the rest of the world. Your reaction to what happens now. You and i have talked about china and the bad actors like huawei and zte for many many times, the intellectual property reengineering, reverse engineering, much of our ip. My hope is that these intellectual Property Protection s will be put in place , and that we will continue to block bad actors like huawei and zte from selling their technology. They embed that hardware with malware, and spy wear and maria, our Critical Infrastructure in this country, our u. S. Military, u. S. Government entities do not need to be doing business with Companies Like zte and huawei. Maria well we know theres been a whole host of spying going on inside Americans Companies by zte, and by huawei. Yes. Thats right. Maria of course other countries are also reacting to this not just the United States so what will be done about it . Will we actually get a resolution on the table between the u. S. And china, not just about trade, but about things like spying and ip theft . Well and this is why intellectual Property Protection s need to be negotiated in those agreements. Maria right. To make certain that there is going to be a level Playing Field and that were going to be able to protect american innovators and inventers and the value of those u. S. Maria senator good to have you on the Program Thanks so much. Good to be with you