Olszewski" "Not Confident" the US Can Negotiate an Advantageous Deal with Iran

0:00 On the foreign affairs committee,

0:01 I just wanna start with the news that we're kind of going through this morning,

0:03 the fact that we have reporting, that that response to The US proposal has

0:07 been conveyed via the Pakistanis to, to The US.

0:10 Your reaction to that, and and what do you need to see in that response

0:13 to feel better about the prospects of this conflict coming to an end?

0:16 Well, some great reporting there.

0:18 And like everyone else, I'm waiting to see what the details are,

0:22 but we have to take a step back

0:24 and remember that we're waiting for agreement on a cease

0:27 fire that is only necessary because of a problem

0:29 that president Trump created in the first place.

0:32 You know, Iranians would not know that they had this potentially

0:35 powerful tool in closing the Strait Of Mormuz but for our attack.

0:39 And so this is, as you were pointing out,

0:42 just one step in a much larger conversation about

0:45 the the very real concern about having a nuclear armed Iran.

0:48 But we're really in a place now where the president,

0:51 I think, is looking to save face.

0:54 It's a war that we know now.

0:56 There was not a clear imminent threat.

0:58 But as has been true throughout this war,

1:00 as a member of the foreign affairs committee,

1:03 I've gotten zero, up to date real time information from this administration.

1:07 There have been no public hearings.

1:08 And so it's really a little bit like poking in the dark to try

1:12 to figure out where we are

1:13 and where this administration hopes to land ultimately.

1:16 Are you concerned about the lack of what you just talked about,

1:20 a con consultation with congress,

1:22 as well as something people keep talking about with us

1:24 is the lack of technical experts going into these negotiations.

1:27 When they negotiated the original Iran nuclear deal, which,

1:30 the Trump administration pulled out of during the first term,

1:33 that was months and months of negotiations

1:35 in Geneva with multilateral partners with state department officials,

1:39 junior officials, people from IAEA.

1:41 The state department, as far as we can tell,

1:43 has been largely cut out of these negotiations.

1:45 It is really only three people, the president seems making these decisions.

1:48 Are you that they have the knowledge they need to go into these rooms

1:52 and come out with a deal that is advantageous to The United States?

1:57 Fortunately, I'm not confident.

1:58 What I can tell you is I what I do know from sitting

2:01 on the foreign affairs committee is that even

2:03 if the state department were at the table,

2:05 that department has been absolutely gutted.

2:07 So a lot of the support infrastructure that should be in place doesn't exist.

2:11 And the fact that this president also,

2:13 on top of that, likes to go it alone so much is really problematic for, I think,

2:18 finding those kind of sustainable deals.

2:20 What worries me in all of this is that we're gonna end up

2:25 with a deal that is equal to or maybe even worse than that JCPOA,

2:30 which was imperfect, by the way.

2:33 There were opportunities for improvement,

2:34 but president Trump created this environment in the first

2:38 place by ripping up that original agreement, allowing Iran to really go

2:44 at their enrichment program with great vigor following,

2:47 ripping up that that deal that, as you mentioned,

2:50 was very involved and very detailed.

2:52 And so now we're back at a place where if we can get

2:55 through a ceasefire agreement and if we can get back to the table,

2:59 I'm hopeful that we can get back

3:00 to a place where there's not enrichment happening, but we have a long way to go.

3:05 And in the meantime, there's been an incredible amount of pain inflicted upon

3:09 not just Americans in terms of service members' lives lost,

3:13 hundreds if not at least tens of billions of dollars

3:17 spent painted the pump for Americans and, frankly, across the globe.

3:20 And so the core we're asking here, you know, to what end?

3:24 And I think at this point, the president can't really answer that question.

3:28 Let's talk a bit about, what this has to bear on US politics.

3:31 I'm just gonna note here Chris Wright, the energy secretary,

3:33 is on Meet the Press with Christine Welker on NBC News.

3:35 He said The US isn't gonna take off any

3:37 options off the table when it comes to Iran.

3:39 An interim Iran deal has got to be possible, he said.

3:42 And then he noted gasoline and diesel prices

3:44 are gonna remain up while this war continues.

3:47 I'm curious how you see that pressure mounting as you

3:49 talk to constituents and make your way around the district.

3:51 You mentioned you haven't been briefed formally

3:53 by this administration on the foreign affairs committee.

3:55 We did see the secretary of defense go

3:57 up and speak to the armed services, committee.

3:59 There is some speculation that maybe we're reaching a greater

4:02 appetite for a war powers resolution on on Capitol Hill.

4:06 What's going to change the conversation or the political terrain?

4:09 Is it gonna be gas prices,

4:11 diesel prices continuing to rise apace, or is it gonna be that?

4:15 The the longer this lasts without any indication of sort of where

4:17 the the direction of this war is headed from the administration is gonna finally

4:19 lead you and your colleagues to do do more or try to do

4:22 more to get administration officials up

4:23 to Capitol Hill to give you some answers.

4:25 Appreciate those questions.

4:26 I'll start with the war powers resolution.

4:28 I mean, this is now beyond the sixty days and the flexibility

4:31 that my colleagues on the Republican side have said the president deserves.

4:35 So it's not a suggestion.

4:36 It's the law.

4:37 If the president wants to continue military operations,

4:40 he has to have authorization from congress at this point.

4:43 I think the law is clear, and so that's that that point.

4:47 I would say But congress said, I wanna interrupt you really quickly.

4:50 Do you think that would concern this particular president?

4:52 Do you think anything congress passes,

4:54 even if it would pass a war powers resolution, do you think that would stop him?

4:59 Well and that's not a reason for congress not to try to stop him.

5:02 But if if the president blows past war powers restrictions,

5:05 then I think we have to sort of up

5:08 our game as members of congress to hold this president accountable.

5:11 This is a president who has consistently shown

5:13 a disdain for any any sort of check.

5:17 And, unfortunately, my Republican colleagues have largely

5:19 deferred to the president on those issues.

5:21 And I hope that given the consequence and given the impact,

5:25 to to the other point,

5:27 I think that the cost of at at the pump, and it's not just at the pump.

5:31 We're seeing it on airline tickets.

5:33 We're seeing it through surcharges at places like Amazon.

5:36 We're seeing it through what's happening with food prices.

5:39 This is having impact across the lives of all Americans.

5:42 And so I I think what's happening is, in particular,

5:46 my Republican colleagues in congress are seeing this is going

5:49 to be a real drag on their election prospects in November.

5:53 And I think this is really gonna fuel

5:56 a democratic majority in the house of representatives.

5:59 I think we're gonna see a closing, if not a democratic takeover of the senate.

6:03 So I I think these issues are are real.

6:06 People are really hurting as I talk to my constituents,

6:09 and I think it's really interesting to know that usually

6:12 when it's whether one of the secretaries or the president himself,

6:16 these are millionaires and billionaires who are members

6:19 of this administration telling Americans it's gonna be okay.

6:21 It's only temporary.

6:22 That's that's not acceptable to people who are trying to put

6:25 a roof over their head and food on the table.

6:28 Let's move if we can to the summit that's gonna take

6:30 place this week in Beijing between the president and president Xi Jinping,

6:32 and we had your colleague, your Democratic colleague,

6:34 Rovzana of California, on the show yesterday.

6:36 And we asked him what he's looking for, as an outcome

6:39 from from that meeting between those two world leaders.

6:41 Let's take a listen to what he had to say and reply.

6:48 Maybe.

6:50 We may not the size of it if I can.

6:53 That he has to reverse.

6:54 And we've had China hold us hostage on rare earths and critical minerals.

6:59 I want a deal that actually helps American farmers, American shipbuilders,

7:04 American manufacturers, and I hope he will, work to to get that.

7:08 He hasn't so far.

7:09 Apologies for that delay.

7:10 Congressman Connan looking for an economic resolution

7:12 to come out of this meeting in in Beijing.

7:14 Similar goals on your part.

7:15 What would you like to see these two leaders announce

7:17 at the end of those I think that's part of it.

7:20 What I can tell you is this is a president who's been very soft on China.

7:23 The one place where he's been hard is on tariffs,

7:25 and that has negative impacts for everyone.

7:27 No one wins in a in a trade war.

7:30 But what we do know is that this president's been very

7:33 soft in terms of, advanced chips and the selling of those.

7:36 And that really is, I think, putting our national security at risk.

7:40 You see a ton of pieces of legislation

7:42 around export controls in the foreign affairs committee.

7:45 I think it speaks to this concern of the way

7:48 this administration is acting and and in general on the issue.

7:51 So, yes, in addition to what representative Connan had said,

7:54 I actually wanna see our president take

7:56 a a harder stand on some of these export controls,

8:00 some of these advanced ships, and looking more in the American interests.

8:03 I'm also looking, to making sure that this president that president Trump takes

8:08 a a much more affirmative stance in support

8:11 of our our friend and partner Taiwan.

8:13 I know that I just introduced legislation bipartisan legislation.

8:16 I'm a co lead with representative Kim

8:19 that would have The United States do a survey

8:21 of all the potential responses if there were

8:24 to ever be an invasion of Taiwan by China.

8:27 And so I'm hoping that the president not only step up

8:30 for American farmers and American interest from a national security perspective,

8:34 but also to be a a much more

8:37 ardent supporter of, Taiwan's interest in these meetings.