ICYMI—Hagerty Joins Fox News Sunday to Discuss Trump’s Pressure on Putin, CDC Accountability, Ending Wasteful Washington Spending

NASHVILLE, TN-Sunday, United States Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN), a member of the Senate Appropriations and Foreign Relations Committee and former U.S. Ambassador to Japan, joined Fox News Sunday to discuss President Donald Trump's efforts to end the war in Ukraine, accountability at the CDC, pocket rescissions to stop wasteful spending, and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

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Partial Transcript
Hagerty on President Trump putting maximum pressure on Putin: "President Trump is doing something that Joe Biden never attempted to do, and that's trying to bring an end to this war. And he's putting pressure on the situation on multiple fronts. Look at the economic front. He's putting secondary sanctions in place with India right now. We've gone into full production here in America, putting America in a place to actually supplant Russia on the energy stage- that puts economic pressure on Putin. If you look at it from a military standpoint, Trump just approved the sale of 3,500 cruise missiles to Ukraine. Guess who's paying for that? The Europeans are paying for it- the Netherlands, Norway. This is taking the pressure off the American taxpayer, putting it back into Europe, which is more proximate. And let's not relieve President Macron either. Europe is much more proximate to this. They need to be taking an active role. I applaud the fact that they've stepped up to President Trump's demands, going to 5 percent of their GDP on defense. Let's see them step up and, rather than complain, play a constructive role in this."

Hagerty on whether Putin intends to end the war: "I think you're right about his actions. And I don't think Putin has the intention. I think what he's doing is responding to the pressure that President Trump is putting on him. Again, economic pressure, security pressure. And I think the options for Putin continue to narrow. Things are not going well in Russia. His economy is not doing well, and as President Trump continues to mount pressure, the Europeans can also step up. I think that's the way to approach this, not to hope for some sort of benevolent turn by Vladimir Putin, but to put him in a position where he has to make a deal."

Hagerty on Trump narrowing Putin's options: "At every point, what you've seen is President Trump narrowing Putin's options. What we did see was Putin reach out, come to American soil in Alaska, an impressive American flyover. Putin is seeing again, his options are shrinking and diminishing. President Trump is moving him in the right direction. I think that we need to give President Trump maximum latitude here. He's the one negotiating this, and I think we need to give him the ability to put maximum pressure on Vladimir Putin."

Hagerty on sanctions legislation and giving Trump flexibility: "As I said, I'm in favor of giving President Trump maximum latitude to exert maximum pressure. He has the constitutional authority. President Trump has the constitutional authority to handle this foreign relations issue. I want to see him-rather than being constrained by the actions that we take in the Senate-I want to see him have maximum latitude to get this negotiation taken care of."

Hagerty on CDC accountability under Trump: "First and foremost, we need to keep in mind that the CDC director and the staff were not elected by the American people. President Trump was elected by the American people, and one of the main mandates was to clean up the deep state operations. And the CDC has been at the epicenter of a deep state failure. Look at their failures during the pandemic. Now, President Trump has the ability to hire and fire those who serve under his administration. If this new director isn't capable of delivering, I'm glad that he's realized that early on and is making the necessary changes. Those who resign in protest probably are resigning because scrutiny that's much deserved is now being applied to the CDC."

Hagerty on pocket rescissions and ending wasteful Washington spending: "I just voted in support of the last rescissions package that came through. I think the American public is sick and tired of the continued wasting of taxpayer funds on programs that don't serve America's needs. If you look below the surface of this, it's five billion dollars going to UN programs that don't serve America's best interest: global LGBTQ awareness, climate resilience, and Honduras. If you look at it, I think the American public is sick and tired of funding projects that don't serve our interests. This is an America Last foreign policy that needs to come to an end. The fact that these have been discovered, I applaud the administration for doing it. Congress has the opportunity. We just voted on a rescissions package recently. Let's step it up. Let's vote on it. Let's get it done. Now, the fact is that the law does provide for a 45-day window. We may run up against that. Let's see what happens here when we get back after recess."

Hagerty on Hamas creating the humanitarian crisis in Gaza: "The best way to resolve the humanitarian crisis is for Gaza to quit using humans as their shield to get away from the Palestinians; Hamas needs to go away. The reason that we're having difficulty delivering humanitarian aid is that Hamas captures it. The last numbers I saw are that they're charging $200 for an eight-pound package of sugar. They're basically reaping huge profits and funding their operations off the back of the Palestinians. It's the Palestinians' plight that Hamas is driving. They're the ones that need to go away. And this needs to be resolved quickly. I just want to see it over. We need to see the humanitarian crisis come to an end, and I trust the Israelis to do it in the best and most expeditious fashion possible."

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