Fox News "The Story with Martha MacCallum" - Transcript: Interview with Sen. Jim Risch

Interview

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MACCALLUM: He says that a strike is necessary, that a strong response is the only thing that will change the dynamic here. What do you say?

RISCH: Well, first of all, he made a lot of very legitimate points. But we have a commander in chief and he has said he does not want war with Iran and the Saudi Arabians have said the same thing. The unfortunate part of all this is Iran continues to push the envelope. I don't think we're there yet but it's very, very close.

And the difficulty is the Iranians are just notorious for making bad judgments, bad calculations, miscalculating, and they're doing that now. They all -- they need to listen carefully what the president said. He doesn't want war with Iran. Having said that, sometimes you get pulled into something and have to do something that you don't necessarily want to do.

The Iranians are very, very close to that. Look, this was such a deliberate and overwhelming use of military force that it is very hard to look the other way. The President has added some additional sanctions. There's going to be more done in the future. There's no doubt about that. But the Iranians think to be very, very careful here.

They should not weigh what we've done or not done so far as weakness. Any reasonable forbearance needs to be put in that category. But this president should not be mistaken for someone who's weak and unable to respond. I haven't helped them. If they -- if they get on the wrong side of him and do something further, that gives us no choice.

MACCALLUM: Understood. You know, but back to what General Keane said moments ago, that this attack in his mind meets that standard. You heard Secretary of State Pompeo said this is an act of war. So it sounds like there's a little bit of daylight here perhaps among different people in the administration, perhaps the Commander-in-Chief and perhaps the Secretary of State, I don't know. I'm just asking if that's what you're seeing based on what you're hearing on the Hill.

RISCH: Well, what I'm hearing is everyone is thoughtfully going to this. Look, I was in the room when the President made the decision last time on the drone. I was with a handful of other people from the Hill, plus the Secretary of State, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, CIA, and all those people, and these things are not -- just jumped into.

People are talking about this. This is going to be very thoughtful. I saw a president that was incredibly thoughtful as we all discussed and gave our point of views to how -- what the response should be to the drone. We're in that same stage right now. Obviously, this is broader and that we've got to engage allies in this like Saudi Arabia. That's what's going on right now.

I wouldn't put it in terms of there's daylight. I think what I would put it in terms of, there are a suite of options and those are all being considered right now.

MACCALLUM: OK. Senator Risch, I hope you'll come back because this -- the decisions that are made on this are going to have long-lasting ramifications either way and we'll really appreciate you me and her.

RISCH: No question about that.

MACCALLUM: Thank you, Senator.

RISCH: Thank you.

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