At today's Senate Intel Committee hearing, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) responded to protesters interrupting the proceedings.
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NewsTranscript
00:00As I mentioned in my opening remarks, the annual threat assessment for the first time
00:04lists cartels and traffickers as the very first threat.
00:10Director Patel, I'm pleased to say that the FBI's Little Rock field office has been doing
00:14its part in addressing this threat.
00:17The field office, along with other federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies
00:22have arrested nearly 300 immigrants in my state in 2025 so far.
00:28Could you provide some color about the nature of the threat these illegal immigrants have
00:32posed not just to Arkansas but our nation, perhaps including some of the details of the
00:38horrific offenses they've committed against the American people?
00:42Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
00:43Mr. Vice Chairman.
00:44Witness will suspend.
00:45Stop funding Israel!
00:46Stop funding Israel!
00:47Stop funding Israel!
00:48Stop funding Israel!
00:49Stop funding Israel!
00:50Stop funding Israel!
00:51Stop funding Israel!
00:52Stop funding Israel!
00:53Stop funding Israel!
00:54So that protester was a Code Pink lunatic saying the greatest threat to world peace
01:08is funding Israel.
01:11I will observe for the benefit of the audience here and on television that Code Pink is funded
01:16by Communist China as well, which simply illustrates.
01:22Speak up now if you want to be removed as well, whoever is saying that.
01:42If anyone else would like to join them, speak now, please, so we don't have any more disruptions.
01:46As I was saying, the fact that Communist China funds Code Pink, which interrupts a hearing
01:54like this about Israel, simply illustrates Director Gabbard's point that China, Russia,
02:01Iran, North Korea, and other American adversaries are working in concert to a greater degree
02:07than they ever have before.
02:10Director Patel, back to my question.
02:12Could you give us some color about the threat that illegal migrants have posed, not only
02:17to my state, which has resulted in nearly 300 arrests in 2025, but also to the nation
02:22at large?
02:23Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Mr. Vice Chairman, and members of the committee.
02:26I appreciate the time to address you all, specifically to Arkansas, Senator.
02:31The priorities of the FBI, which I identified during my confirmation hearing and since,
02:36is attacking violent crime along with national security.
02:39And every single state in this country is a border state.
02:42Arkansas is no exception.
02:43Allow me to highlight the work of the men and women in the FBI and state and local law
02:47enforcement in the state of Arkansas.
02:49Since February 5th alone, we've had 220 illegal immigrants arrested on charges varying from
02:57violent offenses, weapons offenses, narcotics offenses, and serious violent felonies.
03:03253 separate individuals have been charged related to those offenses.
03:08And here's something I want the American people to hear about narcotics, encountering narcotics.
03:14Thousands of pounds of narcotics were seized in these three weeks in the state of Arkansas.
03:19Thousands worth tens of millions of dollars.
03:22Everything from fentanyl, to meth, to cocaine, to heroin, to marijuana, and more.
03:28And also including manufactured drugs.
03:31The FBI does have the biggest footprint in Arkansas, but we could not achieve this mission
03:36without our state and local law enforcement partners, which has been one of the priorities
03:39since I took the helm at the FBI.
03:42They provide the greatest ground level intelligence to conduct these operations in Arkansas and
03:47every single state across the union.
03:49Since February 5th, we've assisted with the arrest of hundreds of criminals and illegals
03:54throughout your state.
03:56And that was just a three week operation.
03:58Prior to that, Senator, there was a bust of 17 federal indictments relating to a meth lab
04:04in the state of Arkansas in the southwest corner of your state.
04:07All of those individuals are now facing prosecution for hundreds of pounds of illegal opioids,
04:12guns, and other illicit material.
04:14So we will continue to do that work.
04:16We will work it six, seven days a week, 365 days a year, not just in your state, Mr. Chairman,
04:21but in every state.
04:22Thank you, Director Patel.
04:23As Director Gabbard highlighted from the annual threat report, Director Ratcliffe, many, if
04:30not most of the chemical precursors for deadly fentanyl produced by Mexican drug cartels
04:37originates in China.
04:38China, of course, is a techno-totalitarian police state.
04:44They have technology to monitor their own people that Soviet Russia could have only
04:48imagined.
04:50Is there any reason, Director Ratcliffe, to believe that China could not monitor and crack
04:56down on this flow of chemical precursors to Mexico if it chose to do so?
05:05Thank you, Senator, for the question.
05:07No, there is nothing that prevents China, the People's Republic of China, from cracking
05:12down on fentanyl precursors.
05:15As you well know, Senator, one of the reasons that they don't is that there are more than
05:21600 PRC-related companies that produce those precursor chemicals in an industry that generates
05:27$1.5 trillion.
05:32That is one of the reasons that we see that Chinese efforts to affect the fentanyl precursors
05:42are really limited in nature and intermittent in nature and not a dedicated effort to enforce
05:50their own laws and regulations to crack down on this.
05:56Thank you, Director Ratcliffe.
05:57I have many more questions I could ask, but I'm going to try to lead by example and stay
06:02within the five-minute limit.
06:04For the benefit of Senators, I remind everyone there is a vote scheduled at noon.
06:09I hope to finish the open portion of this hearing before that vote closes, after which
06:15time we will move to the closed portion.