With Republican presidential candidate,
former New Jersey
Governor Chris Christie.
You just met with President
Zelensky in in Kiev.
What was your impression of him?
Very bright.
Very committed
and very detailed
about the things
that he thinks have gone well,
both in the war
and in this relationship with the West.
I assume this news of a,
you know, assassination plot.
I mean, it's nothing new.
There have been plenty of it,
but it probably doesn't surprise you.
It doesn't surprise me,
especially because,
Anderson, I you know,
I did this work
as a prosecutor for seven years.
Your sense is get,
you know, much more sensitized
to this kind of thing.
As I was walking
through the presidential office building
all the lights were out in the place.
There were big drapes over the over
the windows and sandbags everywhere.
And it was clear that it was very hard,
even for me and people in my party
who they were expecting.
The security was extraordinary
more than I've ever seen
at the White House, for instance,
And so when I heard this now
today about the plot, I'm not surprised.
I think they were aware
of what was going on and on guard.
You're also in the.
I know you met with families
whose kids have been taken into Russia.
We've done a lot with Karim
Khan, the ICC prosecutor.
Do you think anybody
will be brought to justice
on the Russian side?
For the kidnaping of Ukrainian children?
First.
First, the Ukrainians have to win the war
before I think there'll be any justice
for this.
Think about this.
And I don't think a lot of people in our
country have focused on it.
Over 19,000
children verified and it's probably more
but over 90,000 children verified,
taken from their homes.
And their families.
Imagine for anybody out there
who's a mother or father
and they've lost their child,
their child is taken away.
They don't know
if the child is dead or alive.
They don't know if their child
is being cared for or being abused.
And they know they're being programed
to be told
that Ukrainians are awful people
and that they're really Russians.
This is not a territorial dispute
in Boucher.
They were talking of
of soldiers
going on one particular street
and we're talking about this
going door
to to are taking people out
of their homes, men
torturing them first
while alive,
gouging out their eyes,
cutting off their ears,
then tying their hands behind their back
and shooting in the back of the head
and then going back into the homes and
raping the women. I mean,
this is barbarism.
And by the way, it's barbarism authorized
and encouraged
by the man that Donald Trump
calls it
excellent and a genius
and brilliant in Vladimir Putin.
Well, if that's brilliance,
we don't need
brilliance on the world stage.
You know,
we hear from a lot of,
you know, the
extreme House
Republicans
who don't believe the
US should be involved.
Don't think there's too much money
going too to Ukraine.
Don't see this as a
as anything more
than a territorial dispute that the U.S.
shouldn't be part of.
What do you say to them?
Do you hear that in New Hampshire voters?
Do you hear that in Iowa, voters is there
is that the majority out there
or is that an anomaly?
I don't believe it's the majority.
I believe it's a significant minority,
not a
you know,
so it's not a small amount either.
But I think that it's because,
quite frankly,
President Biden
has failed in articulating
why it's so important he's doing things
that are more than what
President Trump was doing.
But he's not articulating the argument.
Look,
what I would say to
the American people is
you can pay me now or pay me later if
if we are willing to supply
the Ukrainians
with the weaponry they need.
Think about this, Anderson.
I heard this this week that per day
the the Ukrainians are being outgunned
in artillery by the Russians
by a count of 11 to one.
If we give them the artillery they need,
we give them the F-16s
that they should have had quite some time
ago, in my view, and let them win.
The war against
Russia will never have to have
that fight.
And China's watching
and if we cut and run
like some people in on this stage,
they'll be with me
August 23rd are going to advocate for
we cut and run.
The Chinese are watching
and the next step will be Taiwan.
Now, if you don't care
about atrocity against Taiwan,
I guess I can understand that.
But how about let's make it practical.
Two thirds of the world's semiconductor
that run everything from the phones.
We have computers.
Our cars are manufactured in Taiwan.
Who do you want to control
that the United States of America
and a free country of Taiwan or another,
you know,
group of
folks who are controlled
by the Communist Party of China.
These are the stakes
that are up there right now.
And I don't think Joe
Biden has articulated that,
and I think it is his fault.
In addition, with some Republicans
who are being negative about it,
his fault that he hasn't
made a better case
to all the American people.
I went over there
because I wanted to see for myself.
And now I've seen
and I've seen a shallow grave
with 160 people buried in it, civilians
who were murdered
outside a church in Boucher.
And then the church was ransacked
by the Russians.
Vladimir Putin's doing this
and and America needs to stand up
for this,
because if we don't,
then we're going to be saying
American men and women
to fight and die
someplace else in the world
because we didn't arm the Ukrainians now.
But of course, they're Appreciate
your time. Thanks very much.