During a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) tore into the Biden Administration's State Department for withholding reports, and questioned President Trump's nominee to be Ambassador to Israel, former Gov. Mike Huckabee (R-AR).
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NewsTranscript
00:00Thank you, Governor Huckabee.
00:05Congratulations on your nomination.
00:06You're going to do a fantastic job, and I'm very happy to see your name for this position.
00:11As you know, you're stepping into a role that's not just incredibly important, but it's also
00:15incredibly influential.
00:17In addition to implementing President Trump's policy, you will oversee what information
00:22gets sent back to Washington, D.C.
00:25Those assessments get sent to administration officials and members of this committee.
00:30Indeed, this committee requires the State Department to submit a range of regular reports
00:35and relies on those reports to advance our oversight of the Department and American foreign
00:40policy.
00:42And as you know, you're going to have your work cut out for you.
00:44During the Biden administration, such reports were often withheld, and when they were sent,
00:51they were systematically politicized to promote the administration's misguided Middle East
00:55policy, which boosted America's enemies and punished our allies.
01:02Officials in the Trump administration are just beginning to clear the shelves of what
01:05was left over.
01:08I am holding right now a report produced mostly during the Biden administration.
01:14It covers Palestinian Authority incitement of violence against Israelis for the period
01:21of February 2023 to May 2024, which includes the aftermath of the October 7 terrorist attacks.
01:31It was deliberately withheld from Congress and only sent to this committee this month.
01:38It is unclassified, but it hasn't been made public.
01:43It is a deeply disturbing example of the challenge you will face and the thinking inside parts
01:48of the State Department.
01:50This report says that Palestinian President Abbas, quote, President Abbas maintained a
01:56public position against incitement of violence and terrorism and reiterated his commitment
02:02to nonviolence.
02:04He condemned the killing of Israeli civilians by Hamas on October 7 because it had given
02:12Israel the pretext to attack Gaza.
02:17Let's put aside the disgusting claim that Israel's campaign against Hamas was done on
02:22a pretext.
02:24The claim that Abbas has not incited violence is staggering.
02:30In reality, in relation to October 7, he and other Palestinian officials blamed Israel
02:36and used rhetoric about Palestinian self-defense.
02:39A month after the attack, a top Abbas advisor even bragged that the Palestinian Authority
02:46had not uttered a single word condemning Hamas.
02:50I'd like to ask you, Governor, talk a little bit about your own assessment regarding Palestinian
02:56incitement and what that should mean to American foreign policy towards Israel and the region.
03:04Senator, I think the question is very relevant to what's happening right now.
03:11The great tragedy is that it's hard to have a peaceful solution that involves a future
03:17for the Palestinians when they quench any hope of real democracy for their people.
03:25Abbas is now in the 20th year of his four-year term.
03:29As we think about that, one has to ask, how many years does a person get for a four-year
03:36term without an election, without some transfer of power, without empowering the people to
03:41speak for themselves?
03:43That's part of the real challenge that is faced in the Middle East.
03:47With the ongoing doctrine where compensation is given to those who murder Jews, parks and
03:53streets are named for those who do it, pensions are given to the families of those who are
03:58killed in the line of killing Jews, Senator, that's a difficult pathway to peace.
04:07I would further just mention that if, in fact, there is going to be a peaceful direction,
04:14we have to accept that something isn't working.
04:17And the two-state solution, the notion that everyone's going to live together, toast marshmallows
04:23around the campfire, singing Kumbaya, and it's going to happen in our lifetime, is not
04:28going to happen if one of the sides doesn't believe the other one has a right to exist
04:33and continues to say from the river to the sea.
04:38And so that's why it becomes a challenge.
04:39I have every confidence that Secretary Rubio and especially every confidence that President
04:46Trump wants to see a genuine, long-lasting peace for everyone in the Middle East.
04:55And it will be a privilege to serve the President to try to work toward that.
04:59Thank you, Governor.
05:00I agree with that.
05:01Mr. Rubenstein, this was not the only report that the Biden administration failed to turn
05:05over.
05:06I also have a report that I had drafted language requiring the State Department to send this
05:12committee a report on, quote, any Iranian person that has attacked a United States citizen
05:17using a drone.
05:18They sat on that report.
05:20We just got that as well.
05:22And so I will say, in your role as legal advisor, you're likewise going to have challenges getting
05:27the State Department to comply with the requirements Congress has placed upon them.
05:33Thank you, Senator.
05:34And again, I want to thank you for the introduction, and if I could for just 15 seconds, I want
05:39to thank and be sure you're properly recognized for what you did for the victims of Fort Hood.
05:44I spent years on that case.
05:46I know more about it, frankly, than anybody would ever want to.
05:49It is one of the more shameful episodes in the history of our military, and you led the
05:55fight to make it right.
05:56And God bless you for what you did.
05:58With respect to the reports that you mentioned, again, I'm not in there, I can't tell you
06:04exactly what's going in, but I can promise we will take a look at it.
06:08Terrific.
06:09Senator Cruz, I would just say I appreciate your raising those reports.
06:12I have not seen them, so I hope you'll share them with the rest of the committee.
06:15We'll happily share them with you.
06:18Senator Lee.