Transcripts For KGO This 20240705

The vague ramaswami and Donna Brazile and Reince Priebus join the powerhouse roundtable hitting back, moscow accuses kiev of drone strikes inside russia while the us puts china on notice. We will not flinch in the face of bullying or coercion. We cover it all with abcs tom soufi burrage in the war zone and house intelligence war zone and house intelligence mike turner. And this is absolute willful, intentional hate. Fighting for transgender rights. A preview of the freedom to exist, a soul of a nation presentation. Announcer from abc news its this week. Here now martha raddatz. Good morning. Welcome to this week. As we come on the air this morning, the fight for 2024 is in full swing. President biden is using the bipartisan deal to raise the debt ceiling and cut spending as a preview of his 2024 reelection message, touting his ability to compromise with republicans in a friday Night Oval Office address, the first of his presidency. Signing the bill on saturday to avoid an unprecedented u. S. Default, biden adding to a list of legislative accomplishments, vowing to advance key democratic priorities. All of this as the list of republican contenders aiming to oust him keeps growing. The crowded field of white house hopefuls swept through iowa this week, meeting voters and sharpening their messages as several more candidates, including former Vice President mike pence and former new Jersey Governor Chris Christie prepare to the race. Can any of them catch up to former president Donald Rachel scott joins us. Martha, good morning to you. The republican road to the white house goes through this state. Its the first time so Many Republican candidates all shared one stage. Notably absence, the frontrunner in this race, former president donald trump. Hows the great state of iowa . Its the unofficial kickoff of the republican primary season. Eight white house hopefuls descending on iowa for the roast and ride rally, shaking hands, signing swag. I got your wife. Now i get you. Making their big pitch. We have a battle to fight in 2024. We are hungry for a cause. We can restore american greatness. As a crowded republican primary field looks to only be getting bigger. Come this wednesday, im announcing in iowa. Former Vice President mike pence set to make it official wednesday, hopping on the back of a harley as he hopes to break away from the pack. The elephant not in the room, former president donald trump. The frontrunner visited iowa earlier this week, but skipped the gop cattle call, but trump did sign this Motorcycle Helmet for the event, the 45th president so confident hell win another term he also signed it 47. While trump traded jabs with his biggest challenger, Florida Governor ron desantis early this week. Going down so much, so rapidly, that i dont think hes going to be second that much longer. Used to say how great florida was. Hell, his own family moved to florida under my governorship. Are you kidding me . Trump went unmentioned by most candidates yesterday. Im just happy to be here. I think the folks here are great. Weve enjoyed our visit. Well be back a lot. Desantis casting himself as the way out of a republican losing streak. We need to dispense with the culture of losing. Florida shows it can be done. We had red waves in 2022. The rest of the country not so much. Former South Carolina governor nikki haley, also calling for the party to turn the page. Does the party need to be headed in a new direction . The party needs a new generational leader. Weve lost the last seven out of eight popular votes for president. Nothing we should be proud of. Just one republican took trump on by name, long shot candidate asa hutchinson, the former governor of arkansas. Does having more candidates help or hurt . It first sends a signal, when youre having these national leaders, theyre saying we need a different leader than donald trump. You know, thats a pretty powerful message. Many iowans are still all in on the former president. Still right here. Hes the man to clean the mess up. Others are keeping their options open. Have you made up your mind on who you will support in 2024 . I have not. Im still looking. We have a strong field. Im still looking at all the options. Are you undecided at this point . Im undecided. Yeah, im undecided. I have to hear what they all have to say. They have all have good ideas. To be fair, why died why beginning . Most people know me as Vice President , as a loyal lieutenant, standing beside the president. Iowas kingmaker, saturdays host, senator joni ernst telling voters openness is a signal that the gop nomination is still up for the taking. They really take this very seriously. So this is not flash in the pan. They want to carefully vet all of these candidates that are coming through the state. Those republican candidates not only slow to criticize each other, but also slow to criticize former president donald trump. They know hes still extremely popular within the Republican Party, but even voters that we talk to that supported trump last time around told us this time they are keeping their options open, making it clear this could still be anybodys race. Martha . Rachel scott in iowa, thank you. Joining us is the youngest candidate in the republican field, political newcomer, vivek ramaswamy. Welcome to this week. Its great to have you here right back from iowa. You know, its early. We know where you are in those polls, way, way down there. Things can change, but you are up against a former president , who is polling over 50 , a slew of other candidates. Whats your path to the nomination . First of all, weve actually studied this. Good to see you, martha. In june of 2015, donald trump was in eighth place. Were ahead of that. Well take the same trajectory. Im the outsider in this race. You get to be an outsider once. Im the first millennial ever to run for the gop nomination for u. S. President. Im leading us to something. Too long many other conservatives having running from something. Im running to something. What it means to be an american. Im an America First conservative. But i believe that to put America First we have to rediscover what america is. Im seeing the base across this country hungry for that message. Thats how were going to win. Speaking of that base, you would have to convince hardcore trump voters to come over to you. How do you do that . How do you walk that fine line . Im very clear with audiences. I said to audiences in iowa just this last week, America First does not belong to trump. It doesnt belong to me. It belongs to the people of this country. I think we take that agenda even further if were doing it based on First Principles and moral authority as reagan did rather than on vengeance and grievance. Thats what im bringing to this race. The rnc announced the requirements for the first debate, which will be august 23rd. One is to pledge support to the eventual nominee. You have had said you would support donald trump if he is the nominee. I expect to be the nominee. I expect support in return. Okay. But you have said you would support donald trump. Donald trump falsely says the election was stolen, facing indictments in three different investigations, and already found liable for sexual assault. Do you think trump as president would be good for the gop and good for therun . Im running for president because im best suited for this country to a national revival. I know you said that. But do you support donald trump . Answer that question. Id answer whoever the gop nominee is. I want to be clear with you, a lot of those investigations against donald trump have been politicized, the new york one in particular, but even more importantly its up to the people of this country to decide who governs. Thats the constitutional bargain. I view it as my responsibility. If im to win this race, its by convincing americans that im actually the best person to lead the country, not by eliminating the competition. Lets talk about ukraine. You said in a speech in New Hampshire on friday that you would not spend another dime of american money on a war that does not affect our interests. You dont think the possibility of russia taking over ukraine is in our interest . I dont think thats a top Foreign Policy priority. I did identify a top priority i want to stick to this for a minute. Sure. You do not believe that russia taking over ukraine would be bad for our National Interests . I do not think it is a top Foreign Policy priority for us. I dont think its preferrable for russia to invade a sovereign country thats its neighbor, but the job of the u. S. President is to look after american interests. The number one threat to the u. S. Military right now, our top military threat, is the russian alliance. By further arming ukraine, we are driving russia into chinas hands. That alliance is the top threat weve faced. I would end this war in return for pulling putin out of that treaty with china. How do you do this . No one tells Vladimir Putin what to do. That hasnt worked out. You want to give him the donbas. Thats rewarding putin, isnt it . I dont think he enjoys being the little brother in with the relationship with xi we make make concessions to russia which ukraine wouldnt want to do. And a permanent commitment not to allow ukraine to enter nato, but in return russia has to leave its treaty and joint military agreement with china, better advancing american interests and further deters china from going after taiwan, which is a much higher priority for the United States. You want to be commander in chief. How would you decide what is in the National Interest to use the u. S. Military . What would the criteria be . What affects the lives of americans here on american soil. Where are their military threats, threats to life here in the United States . I think the border crisis. 200 americans dying per day from the fentanyl crisis, 50 times the number that died on 9 11. Thats an american interest. The Semi Conductor interest, that is an american interest. I agree in America First principles, as George Washington did, by the way, avoiding foreign entanglements. I share his vision first. China has been harassing our ships, our aircraft, that ship 150 yards from a u. S. Ship. What would you do differently than the Biden Administration is doing right now . First abandon the divest to invest program. Thats been a mistake. Decommissioning ships that actually hav after taiwan. Chinas bent is theyre going to go for taiwan, the u. S. Wont want to be in conflicts. Were in a stronger position. The no other candidate in either party is talking about this. I think thats the top threat we face. Thats the focus of my Foreign Policy. I want a quick question in the end. You were introduced in iowa as the intellectual godfather as the antiwoke movement. Would you reinstate a ban on transgender in the military . Not a ban, but i would be clear that for kids, thats where my policies are focused. We should be not hoisting this ideology on to children. But you would not ban transgender members of the military . I would not. Thanks for joining us this morning. Appreciate it. Appreciate you. As we said, so much can change in this race between now and next year. Lettake a look be state of top primary at this poinight years ago. The way down at 4 before hell officially launched his campaign. Here to help analyze it all are the two people who led National Party committees in that election, abc contributor Donna Brazile and Reince Priebus who also servedded as Donald Trumps First White House chief of staff. Welcome to you, reince. Hello to you, donna. Reince, do you see any chance that the lower tier candidates can rise up . Well, the first thing all of these candidates have to look at is can i win, and theyre looking at three things. Number one, theyre looking at joe biden. And they see ultimately hes weak and he can be beat. The second thing all these other candidates are looking at isnt necessarily donald trump, its ron desantis. Theyre seeing Governor Desantis as beatable in iowa. The last thing theyre hoping for is that somehow or another something unforeseen is going to happen, and somehow donald trump is going to disqualify himself through some unforeseen thing. Of the last thing. Theyre also looking at delegate maps. When you see this field through this prism, what you see is all of these folks looking at iowa. Without iowa, none of these other folks are going to make it. It all comes on to iowa. It comes comes e down to delegate math and momentum thereafter. All of these huge number of candidates help donald trump. Absolutely. Look, 2024 is now looking like 2016 all over again, when 17 candidates sought the nomination. The chairman is absolutely right. It does come down to money and momentum and message, but, on the other hand, it actually comes down to thinking about voters on the shopping spree. You already have a brand, a brand called donald trump. Everybody knows that brand, whether you bought him going down the aisle or you absolutely embrace him when you look at the rest of the candidates. But right now the Republican Party is faced with a lot of candidates that people dont really know. Who they really know is donald trump. His biggest vulnerability might be the legal challenges that he faces. And they are getting to know ron desantis. You talked about him. Whats his path to the nomination . How does he differentiate himself . Not going after trump at rallies. Thats the thing, really not going after donald trump. The problem that all of these folks have and i think with respect to donna, i think the difference between this year and 2016 is that donald trump is the Bruce Springsteen of the maga movement. These guys are a cover band, trying to dethrone the Bruce Springsteen of the maga movement. So theyre banking on a lot of things happening between now and 2024. I think other folks getting in, ron desantis, if theyre not willing to go toetotoe with donald trump, smash mouth politics, it isnt going to work. But this week were expecting two more candidates to hit the campaign trail. Of course my tv husband, Chris Christie, got to call him what he is, and the former Vice President mike pence. Trump is so dominant, and it will add texture and flavor to a party that doesnt have a strong message. Donna, you hear some democrats hoping that donald trump is the nominee. Yet some polls show that joe biden wouldnt do so well against a donald trump. Do you want donald trump as the nominee . I want whats best for america. Thats joe biden, who i believe is going to be a strong contender, not just winning his own nomination, but also in the general election. I understand why some democrats see donald trump as being weak and vulnerable given all the legal challenges he faces. I have to remind my democratic friends, dont forget 2016. The republicans know how to win in suburbs and other places where democrats dont go, in the rural areas. We have to be careful what we wish for, go out there and fight like hem. Reince, about 20 seconds. Look, Vince Lombardi said that confidence is contagious, but so is the lack of confidence. I think joe biden has a lack of confidence. Hes fallen down, hes confusing. Most importantly, the American People i knew youd get that falling down in there. Have lost confidence in joe biden, which is why this field is suddenly exploding on the republican side of the aisle. Okay. Thanks very much. Well continue this conversation in a moment. Donna and reince will be back alongside the rest of our roundtable to break down the 2024 race. And later, is the ukraine war reaching a turning point . Were live on the scene. Stay with us. We never just see the numbers. We see what it looks like to support the next generation, by first supporting this one. The possibilities that can grow when an idea takes root and its given the freedom to grow wild. How we can come together to overcome lifes greatest challenges. And when people develop new skills, it can develop a whole community. Thats why were here, to help make it happen. When you find your reason to go on, let it pull you past the doubt. Past the pain, and past your limits. No matter what, we go on. Biofreeze if we want a more viable future for our kids, we need to find more sustainable ways of doing things. Americas plastic makers are investing billions of dollars in new technologies and creating Plastic Products that are more recyclable. Durable. And dependable. Our goal is a cleaner, healthier planet for generations to come. For a better tomorrow, were focused on making plastics better today. When i heard desantis talk about eight years, we need eight years, you dont need eight years. You need six months. We can turn this thing around so quickly. If you need eight years, who the hell wants to wait eight years . You dont need eight years. The former president says he can slay the deep state in six months. My question to him would be, you already had four years. Why didnt you slay it then . The rivalry between the two frontrunners for the gop nomination intensified this week. Lets bring in the roundtable for more. Welcome back Donna Brazile and Reince Priebus, mary b dan balz. Mary, i want to start with you. Youre at the white house every day. You see the Biden Campaign, you see the white house obviously. Whats their view of this republican field . I think the bigger the republican field the better it is for the biden team. The more republicans are chasing each other all over iowa while the president is negotiating a debt deal to stave off a Economic Disaster makes biden look president ial. They feel as long as this is Donald Trumps race to lose, hes still the frontrunner, that puts them in a good position, because the Biden Campaign, certainly the president , they beat trump before, uniquely positioned to beat him again. The question is whether that holds, because 2024 is not 2020. Dan balz, you know how quickly these things can change. It is still trumps race to lose, however, despite the legal problems. Donna brought that up. Yeah. I think thats right. It is his lose. Hes in such a dominant position. If we were sitting here six months ago we wouldnt necessarily say that. Out of the midterms, he looked like a damaged candidate, but Governor Desantis has had problems in the early stage. The former president has been strengthened in part because of some of the legal action thats gone against him, because its rallied people around him. His base is strong. He has the clearest strongest base within the party. Everybody else, you know, as reince said earlier, everybody else has to figure out a way to go after him, and deny him the nomination that otherwise is likely to be his. And reince, back to desantis, you watched him in iowa. You watched everybody. What was your takeaway from what you saw desantis do in iowa and what he talked about . Well, i think that hes got a great record. Of i think that hes trying to make a good case for an eightyear term. So hes trying to position himself as, hey, look, ill give you everything donald trump gives you, minus a few tweets or the truth social, but im also going to give you eight years. The problem is that desantis is hitting trump for not getting enough done in the first four years, but desantis is saying, but i need eight years to get it done. I mean, it doesnt really jibe well. But i think that his problem is going to be momentum after iowa, because you look at New Hampshire, you look at South Carolina, and you look at where that maga base is at. I mean, donald trump is you know, like i said, hes a force of nature in the Republican Party right now. And what theyre all waiting for are things that you cannot we cant predict. And we dont know what the future holds. Donna, i want you to talk about you brought up your tv husband, Chris Christie, former abc news contributor, former governor of new jersey. Hes one whos directly taking on donald trump. Way more so than anyone else. Will that resonate . Absolutely. Let me say a good word about Chris Christie. The i hope he doesnt disavow his former tv wife now that im a political widow. Chris knows how to beat him. He knows donald trump. He knows how to get into his skin. I think thats going to he didnt beat him last time. Look, winning isnt always declaring victory. Its about how to take on a challenger like donald trump. Its a delicate dance to not only court the supporters without alienating them, but to also give the other republicans candidates an opening. I think Chris Christie is well positioned, if he can raise the money, because the rules to get on the republican stage this time, is there wont be a kiddie debate, is to have, you know, 400,000 40,000. Let me get it right. Yochris will have to do that. He will be a strong challenger. He will help the rest of the field. I have to make fun of mr. Desantis. Hope to see him one day, so i can loosen him up. I think he can loosen him up a little bit. He said hes the best conservative running. Hes more conservative than trump. Thats the argument he will make. I dont know if that gains attraction. Because his agenda in florida was not a freedom agenda mike pence getting in, how he did in iowa. I think the former president is in a very awkward position. Hes running against the person who brought him on to the national ticket. Running against the person he served loyally for most of four years,a until january 6th. Whats his case against donald trump . At some point he mass to make an explicit case beyond january 6th. Right. Which he didnt mention at all yesterday. Well see if he does later this week. He has to make an explicit case why donald trump is unfit to be president again, because hell take credit for a lot of policies that they had in those four years. So i think hes in a tough position. But clearly he sees an opening in iowa, because in iowa, you know, evangelical christians have a strong voice in those caucuses. I think that he will push to try to find that space in order to break out in iowa. Its a tough path for him. Mary, you covered the Biden Campaign in 2020. Youre obviously going to be out there again covering campaigns. Joe biden navigated a similarly large field. Republicans have any lessons to learn . Its a good question. I think back to 2020, and for a long time bidens campaign was basically written off for dead. He fizzled in the early challenges. A couple things stand out, right . He also had a consistent message. He still does. Hes running basically on the same message now. I do think he also benefited from that pileon effect on the early frontrunners. I think backing to that South Carolina debate where everyone sort of hammered bernie sanders. Im not sure that applies here, though, when youre dealing with teflon donald trump, who simply seems to welcome a larger field. He thinks that will help him. Im not sure how many of those lessons necessarily apply, because trump always breaks the mold. But everyone is watching. The reince, you talked about the new debate rules, the 40,000 individual campaign donors, 1 in multiple national polls, but this one, which is new, a pledge of support for the eventual nominee. Why that . Why now . Its really not new. We did it in 2016, if you remember the famous raising the hands and tower to get the president to sign the pledge. Heres the problem. National party, this is the nomination for the Republican Party. Republican party has data agreements with all these candidates. Republican party says im going to give you all of our data, our most valuable resource, and youre going to use it and youre going to Exchange Data back to the rnc. Im not going to give that data to a candidate thats going to tell me theyre not going to support the nominee. So if you want to get the data, run for our party nomination, these are the rules. Theres lots of parties. Go run in the independent party, the farm labor party, do what you want, but if you want to be the nominee of our party you follow our rules. And will donald trump appear on the debate stage, do you think . I think he will definitely will appear on the debate stage. You think he definitely will. Donna, democrats have similar debate requirements. Is this the way to go . Is it fair . Asa hutchinson complaining about it. More than fair. If youre able to strike fire in the early states, getting 5 and 10 donations from everyday americans, then youre not fit to run the gamut. Republicans have different rules when it comes to accumulating delegates. After you get out of the early states, its winnertakeall on super tuesday states on march 5th. If you cant strike fire early, hmm, youre going to burn out quickly. Mary, i want to turn to the debt ceiling, which youve covering for months. Forever. Forever. Will President Biden has stressed bipartisanship. Thats clearly a message going forward. Is that enough . Yeah. We clearly heard a big template of his campaign message. The white house believes this fight was a good example of biden can make good on the promise to reach across the aisle and get something done while also preserving his priorities, right . They dont feel he gave up too much on his economic agenda here. I will say, though, i think we have to be real about this, negotiating a bipartisan deal when the Global Economy is on the brink of disaster is a little bit different than arguing, as weve seen the president and the speaker youve seen a change in washington. I wouldnt hold your breath for a lot of bipartisan kumbaya moments going forward. Dan, of course, whatever message the white house wants to give out, having the president in the oval office this week, we saw an image that stayed with a lot of people, and that is the president falling down after that air force commencement speech. How does that play . We talk about this every week. That voters are legitimately concerned about President Bidens age. Two things, martha. One is we know that most americans have no enthusiasm for a rematch between the former president and the current president. Thats point one. But it doesnt mean if that is the rematch that people will not in a sense take traditional sides, that they will move to the red camp and the blue camp. Age is certainly a factor for both men, but more so for the president because hes older and because hes shown some signs of that aging. But i think in the end people will not necessarily make their decision on that. Theyre going to make their decision on what each candidate, whos the nominee, is offering the country, and the arguments between the two about the dangers about the other becoming president. Ultimately we get down to that in the final stage. But as the president has said, age is an important issue. And voters should be thinking about that. Quick thought from you there, reince, just to wrap it up. Oh, well, look, as to the debt ceiling, most predictable thing, you know, as predictable as the Detroit Lions not making the super bowl. I think Kevin Mccarthy did a great job. Both sides saying they can win. To dans point, you have to imagine that both parties are in a huge room, and they are talking to each other about who they want to emerge from that room. Its not the media. Its not people in the middle. Its not people reading necessarily all the things that youre all reading. The most likely youre going to get the people that at this point that dan is referring to, the president and former president. Okay. Well have to wrap it up there. Thanks to all of you. Coming up, drone strikes hit civilian areas in moscow this week ahead of a expected ukrainian counteroffensive. Plus, new video of the chinese fighter jet as tensions increase in the Taiwan Strait. Well cover it all with Intelligence Committee chair mike turner next. Rrhoid enters the room. Phil excuse me . Hillary that wasnt me. Narrator said hillary, whos only taken 347 steps today. 348, 349. Hillary i cycled here. Narrator haha on an ebike. Speaking of cycles, marys period is due to start in three days. Mary it is . 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At president putins long term objectives, theres no question, russia is significantly worse off today than it was before its fullscale invasion of ukraine, militarily, economically, geopolitically. The kremlin claimed it had the second Strongest Military in the world. Many believed it. Today many see russias military as the second strongest in ukraine. Secretary of state antonenie blinken outlining russias strategic failures in ukraine and warning against ceasefires, and ukraine readies a longawaited offensive to recapture lost territory. Abcs tom sufi ukraine with the latest. Tom . The latest devastation caused by a missile overnight. Where im standing, there used to be peoples apartments. A 2yearold killed and three young boys seriously injured in this Russian Missile strike according to local officials. It is a stark reminder of the brutality of russias war in ukraine, now moving into a potentially decisive phase. Ukraine stepping up preparations for its counteroffensive, taking the fight to russia this week on multiple fronts, with brazen attacks on russia soil. A swarm of explosive drones hitting a wealthy district of moscow, with explosions just 3 miles from president putins country home in video circulating online. The russia areas bordering ukraine now also under attack from drones and temperature tillry. And border into russia, this whole area has become a more active front. On the eastern and southern frontlines, ukrainian firepower hoping to weaken russian positions. Were just back from the frontlines. This is base camp for this ukrainukrainian tank platoon. With the ukrainian counteroffensive from it soon, these guys are ready to move again. For now they carry out probing missions to test the russian lines. Most of the tanks in the Ukrainian Military are made up of these key 72 soviet era models. The ukrainians have an unknown number of britishmade and germanmade tanks, hidden from view. Thiinside this ukrainiancommand, live drone feeds on to the battlefield. A drone feed, you can see the smoke coming up after. The colonel in charge of 6,000 men. Is it fair to say that the preparations for the counteroffensive, the initial phase of it, are well underway . Telling us Current Operations are building toward the counteroffensive, but it wont begin with a single strike. Martha, the devastation caused by missile strikes like this one on a residential building overnight is partly why ukraine keeps calling for more air Defense Systems, but its also about protecting its troops on the frontlines once that counteroffensive begins, the white house insisting that ukraine has the air defense capabilities it needs. Martha . Thank you. Joining us now to discuss the war in europe and heightened tensions with china is the chair of the house Intelligence Committee congressman mike turner. Welcome, congressman turner. We appreciate your time. This is truly an important moment in this war, this counteroffensive, president zell 11 of his soldiers will die because of this. Right. I had the opportunity a couple months ago to meet with president zelensky in kyiv, and to meet with our troops, who are training, assisting in planning, and im incredibly optimistic. President zelensky has made a great case that this is the fight to preserve democracy. And because of that hes rallied the west and received incredibly, you know, technologically advanced weapon systems, including german tanks, uk tanks, uk longrange missiles, and of course the patriots which are protecting kyiv. The upcoming offensive, theyre ready for it, trained for it, equipped it, and russia is not. One thing that is amazing to see is the ingenuity of the ukrainians. Weve seen recently where using United States patriot systems, theyve taken down a missile at the heart of putins boasting of the strength of his military, claiming the missile was undefeatible. They defeated it. That has a huge impact on the mental thoughts of putin as he looks at this coming offensive. Something else which will affect him, weve seen several drone attacks inside russian territories in recent weeks. Who do you think is behind those and what effect do you think that is having . Well, i dont know whos behind them. Of course, there have been disclaimers by the Ukrainian Government theyre not coordinating those. You know, one thing, the effect of this, is putin is having to admit to his public that his air Defense Systems are inadequate. Its been interesting to watch the disingenuousness as he steps forward and says how awful of the ukrainians to be attacking residential areas, where hes done that this entire year, attacking residential areas, civilians, unmatched by anything weve seen. And congressman, the white house has said it does not support attacks inside russia. Do you . No. Certainly we have to understand that ukraine needs to be able to defend its territory, defend itself from russian aggression. The United States does not support, and our Weapons Systems should not, and restricted from in fact, president zelensky made a commitment he would not use u. S. Weapons systems in ukraine. Hes made that commitment directly to me when i saw him last. I believe hes committed to it. I think that the offensive that is being planned and prepared is about ukrainian territory with our support. I want to turn to china. The u. S. Had a ship transiting the Taiwan Strait this weekend. The a chinese ship came within 150 yards of that. We thank global news for that video. They were on board a canadian ship. You heard defense secretary lloyd austin saying the u. S. Wont stand for bullying or coercion. So what should we do . Well, what were seeing is an unbelievable aggression by china. If you look at the balloon that flew over the United States, the Chinese Police stations, the aggressiveness against our both planes and ships in international waters. It goes to the heart of what president xi said when he stood next to putin in russia saying, theyre trying to make change that has not happened in 100 years. 100 years ago, world war i, world war ii, that was about democracy versus authoritarianism. Theyre trying to flex their muscles and advance authoritarianism. We need to stand strong, the Administration Needs to stand strong, against this coercion and does that mean continuing what were doing, even these dangerous encounters . Well, i think it means calling them out. This is unacceptable. When you have, for example, a balloon that transits all across the United States and the administration doesnt respond until the game is over, until its over the atlantic, and when you have police stations that have been operating within the United States, that took forever in order for them to take action, you get this sort of sense of permissiveness, that i think the Administration Needs to step up and make clear that china has identified itself as an adversary, and were going to treatment it as much. And north korea, claiming theyve miniaturized nuclear warheads. Does the u. S. Believe the claims are true . This is what we believe. Right now north korea has Nuclear Weapons capability, hitting the United States, no, itself . We have weapons, they have weapons, thats dead. We need to go to an aggressive Missile Defense system. We have an opportunity at fort drum, active to try to get built out a Missile Defense system to help protect new york city. We need to build out that system. We need to hold china accountable for north korea. Okay. Thank you so much for joining us this morning, congressman. Up next, as pride month kicks off, witnesses say a sneak preview of abcs new soul of a Nation Special. Stay with us. S of doing things. Americas plastic makers are investing billions of dollars in new technologies and creating Plastic Products that are more recyclable. Durable. And dependable. Our goal is a cleaner, healthier planet for generations to come. For a better tomorrow, were focused on making plastics better today. My a1c was up here; now, its down with rybelsus®. For a better tomorrow, his a1c . Its down with rybelsus®. My doctor told me rybelsus® lowered a1c better than a leading branded pill and that people taking rybelsus® lost more weight. I got to my a1c goal and lost some weight too. Rybelsus® isnt for people with type 1 diabetes. 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They have to deserve to exist. A trans young person died by suicide. This is absolute willful, intentional hate. Hate for a small group of people that are the weakest and the most vulnerable among us. Human rights in 2015, my son henry testified in front of the Senate Education committee against a trans bathroom bill. Im henry br going to the bathroom can be a scary experience. When i use the boys room, theres no problem. The girls room, i was constantly harassed and picked on. All my child was trying to do was have the world agree to see him the way he saw himself. The day we went to the state senate was the day i said to henry im going to run for office. He was fighting for rights. Particularly trans. He was he was in the center of the storm. He was in the center of the storm. He knew more about what was happening in the individual statehouses in this country. He was scared. He was for the first time in his life personally scared. Mom, i dont know if im safe to walk across the street anymore. My beautiful trans child had been attacked at least twice. Your son died by suicide, but in the larger sense what killed henry . He gave up on the world. He gave up on his place in it. He gave up on being able to find a lane that he could be in and not have to struggle. Tonight one of the nations toughest antitrans bills is now law in kentucky. Gop lawmakers succeeded in overriding the veto on sb 150. Children do not give up do not hurt yourself. God forbid do not go out and hurt somebody else over this. The we will get this right for you. The freedom to exist, a soul of a nation presentation spotlighting the transgender community, including an exclusive interview with elliott page, concludes tuesday evening on abc, and streams the next day on hulu. Well be right back. Every day, businesses everywhere are asking. Is it possible . With comcast business. It is. 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