To start with these
new tensions with China.
And this near collision between U.S.
and Chinese warships.
That is quite the provocation.
What's your reaction to that?
Well, I think this is part of a concerted
Chinese effort
to try and intimidate us
and obviously the government of Taiwan.
These incidents
as your reporter
indicated, both
on the sea and in the air,
are part of a larger Chinese project.
I think they're trying to warn
the United States
about keeping its commitments
to Taiwan, supplying it with weapons
and the like.
We saw a similar speech by the Chinese
defense minister
at the Shangri-La Conference
this past weekend.
And so I think what this requires
is the kind of strategic response
that shows that the United States,
whether it's in the Taiwan Strait
or the South China Sea
or anywhere
else, is simply not going to give up
its rights
to transit the straits
to have innocent passage
for its naval vessels
and to show to China
their assertion of sovereignty over
any part
of China of the world
that we don't recognize already is China.
Something we're simply
not going to accept?
And let me ask you about North Korea.
I'm sure you saw this.
Former President Donald Trump recently
praised that country's
dictator Kim Jong un over the North
Korea's appointment
to the board of the World
Health Organization.
What is going on with Trump and Kim
Jong un?
Why does he keep making
these kinds of comments
about the North Korean dictator
Well, your guess is as good as mine
I have.
In the spirit of our times
tweeted about this and said,
this is
one more piece of evidence
why Donald Trump
is not fit to be president.
This is no joking matter.
Kim Jong un is is a cruel dictator.
His people are among
the most impoverished in the world.
He's building
nuclear weapons and ballistic
missiles intended to be able to hit
the United States
and intimidate his regional neighbors.
This is not somebody you pal around with.
It just shows
Trump has no real understanding
of the depth of the threat
that Kim Jong un poses.
And it's
why four more years of Trump
in control of foreign policy
would be
extraordinarily dangerous
for the United States.
And I want to get to that.
But I remember
covering Trump's summit with Kim
Jong un and Singapore you were there.
Did you see any early warning signs
of this kind of strange friendship
that they seem to have
Well, we saw a warning signs
in Trump's reaction to these letters that
Kim said to him
before the Singapore summit.
And then after.
Now,
there's no doubt in my mind
these letters were written
by some Communist Party
hack and the polit
agitprop bureau of the North
Korean Worker's Party.
But they were filled with phrases
like Your Excellency
and things like that.
Trump
just thought they were love letters.
I mean, I just I shook my head.
There wasn't much more I could do
I just don't think he understands
what he's up against
when he faces
the hard men of contemporary
international affairs.
Kim Jong UN, Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping
just doesn't know what room is in.
And this weekend.
Let's switch to Ukraine,
President Volodymyr Zelensky
told the Wall Street
Journal Ukraine is ready to launch
its much anticipated
counteroffensive in the war
against Russia.
In your view, how should the U.S.
assist Ukraine in this counteroffensive
and how much support should they get
Well, I think we've done a lot.
From my perspective, we haven't
done enough,
but I think there's more that we can help
as the battle goes on.
I do think one important point
to make here
is not to overhype the potential outcome.
Certainly, there's
nothing in the performance
of Russian combat arms over the past
almost 16 months
to give any evidence
that they'll do a good job in
defending against the Ukrainian attack.
And certainly we've put a lot of effort
into training the Ukrainians.
But it's a very dangerous period
because if the Ukrainians do
well, there will be
some in
Europe will say,
okay, time to stop all this and negotiate
And if the Ukrainians don't do well,
some of those same people will say,
look, this has gone on long enough.
So I think managing expectations
here is important. I understand why.
So Lansky
wants to increase
the morale of his
of his fighters,
and that's
obviously the right thing to do.
But I don't think we ought to conclude
we're within weeks of this war ending.
I think that's a very,
very unlikely outcome of this offensive.
And let me get to some campaign politics
as it relates to Ukraine.
I'm just wondering what you thought
of these comments
from Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
That came in response to a question there
from then
Fox host Tucker Carlson last March.
DeSantis said While the U.S.
has many vital national interests
securing our borders
addressing the crisis of readiness
within our military,
achieving energy and security
and independence, and checking
the economic, cultural
and military power
of the Chinese communist party,
becoming further entangled
in a territorial dispute
between Ukraine
and Russia is not one of them.
There's been some talk
about how he's backed away
from those comments
Ambassador,
but does the next Republican presidential
nominee need to be a steadfast supporter
of Ukraine in its fight for its survival?
What did you make of those comments?
From DeSantis
Well, I said
at the
time I was disappointed,
but I do believe
in the prospect of redemption.
So I think there's still hope.
Look, this is not a territorial dispute.
This was an unprovoked act of aggression.
It's been bedrock American policy
since 1945 that peace and stability
on the continent of Europe
are in America's vital interests.
That's that's why
we formed Naito
and did many other things.
This attack on Ukraine represented
obviously an assault
on that country
bordered by many NATO's countries
allies treaty
allies of the United States.
That's one strategic interest.
Second, the Russian rationale here
is basically
that the terms on which the Soviet
Union broke up, they no longer accept,
which means that every other former
Republic of the Soviet Union
is in danger of the same treatment
as Ukraine received.
Like Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania,
also NATO's allies.
And finally,
just very quickly,
the Chinese are watching this conflict
more than anybody else.
This is not isolated.
We just talked about
Chinese provocations near Taiwan.
If the United States and the West
don't defend Ukraine here,
I think the Chinese leadership in Beijing
could well conclude there's no way
will come to Taiwan.
Assistance.
So so there are important
American interests worldwide at stake
in how we handle Ukraine.
And I hope
the Republican nominee for president
will be able to make
that point convincingly.
And before too long,
we're going to be getting to debates
in the Republican Party primary process.
The RNC has apparently adopted rules
that say in order to participate
in the upcoming
presidential debates,
you have to pledge
to support the eventual nominee.
If that's Trump
would you do that
if you were one of these candidates?
I know, I know you've talked about that.
You'll be a candidate.
Do you plan on participating
in these debates?
And would you sign that pledge?
Would you sign on to that pledge?
Well, I'm
yeah, I'm still thinking about it.
And no, I wouldn't sign that pledge.
I'm not going to support Donald Trump.
This is not a matter of party loyalty.
I think he did
enormous damage to the country
and certainly to the Republican Party
in the four years
he served a second term.
I think
but all of that is repairable
and I think it is being repaired.
But four more years of Donald Trump
could do
significant permanent damage
to the country and the Republican Party.
That's so I think
everybody who's in this race
now should not spend their time
picking away at each other.
They've got to convince
Republican primary voters
that the job one here is to prevent
Trump from big Re-nominated.
And yesterday,
we had former Arkansas Governor
Asa Hutchinson on the program
and he said that he would,
as a part of that condition,
to participate in the debates.
Yes, he would support Trump
as the eventual nominee.
Do you think that's a mistake?
And do you think it's a mistake
for these other candidates in the field
to sign on to that pledge?
Should they resist that?
Well, I
have a lot
of respect for as everybody's
got to make up their own mind.
I didn't vote for Trump in 20, 20.
I didn't vote for Joe Biden either.
I live in Maryland.
I wrote in the name
of a conservative Republican
because there weren't
any conservative Republicans on
the 2020 ballot.