Fox News "Hannity" - Transcript Interview with Marco Rubio

Interview

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Joining us now with the reaction is the acting Senate Intelligence Committee chairman, Senator Marco Rubio from Florida.

Welcome, Senator Rubio. Thank you for joining us.

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL): Good to be with you. This is the first time you're doing a show?

(LAUGHTER)

GOWDY: It is and I requested you specifically because you are -- I need you to explain to me the historical significance of this agreement between Israel and the UAE.

RUBIO: Well, first of all, it's the first time that Israel makes a deal with an Arab country since (INAUDIBLE) of Egypt and Jordan thereafter. And it's important.

You know, it's -- one of the things that makes Israel's life difficult is it's surrounded by countries that don't recognize it diplomatically. Now, it has different levels of engagement with these countries privately and so forth, but this is a major achievement.

And I think as you highlight all of those media entities that refused to give the president any credit, the American people see it, right? I mean, the American people noticed that stuff, they don't just believe what they hear on the air. They start to pick up on the fact that in the eyes of most of the people now that run media companies, the president can do no right. Nothing he does -- if it's a big deal, they downplay it, if it is not a big deal, they play it up.

It's a very significant achievement and one that I know has been in the works for a long time and took a lot of work.

GOWDY: Well, Senator, ever since I met you in 2010, you have always had an interest and an expertise in foreign policy. I notice today that Turkey is unhappy with this agreement. I think they are NATO member. What if anything should we make of that? Or assign any importance to it?

RUBIO: Well, Turkey has a deteriorating relationship with Israel, and it's had one for a while, but I think also Turkey under Erdogan, there's two things happening there. One is that they want to be sort of the dominant power in the region, sort of some of this Ottoman revisionism.

At the same time, that helps Erdogan at home and domestically, they make him long strong. So, you know, obviously, Israel is not very popular in Turkey among many in the domestic audience there. So, but they don't like deals being done that they aren't a linchpin of. I think they are also crosswise a couple of regional conflicts as well.

And Turkey is an interesting situation. They've gotten deeply involved now in Libya. They're in northern Syria, in one way they work with the Russians and in different ways, they are literally taking the Russians and/or their proxies on head on. So, and they've got conflicts now with Greece as well.

So, it is -- it's a -- it's a messy situation right now unfortunately with the Turkish government.

GOWDY: Let's pivot to China. What is the current state of our relationship with China?

RUBIO: It's being rebalanced appropriately. You know, we went about 25 years in this country where everybody was sort of saying, don't worry, you let China cheat, when they get rich, they will become democratic and they'll follow the rules.

Joe Biden was one of the leaders of that. When China went to the World Trade Organization, he said, don't worry, they're going to take our job. This is great for the world.

Well, obviously, it hasn't worked out that way. If it feels like a lot of that is happening, it's because this president and this administration, the first president and administration in modern story to take on this challenge, is trying to make up for literally two decades of mistakes when it comes to China.

We paid a tremendous price for what we have allowed them to do. They have stolen millions of American jobs, closed American factories and in the process gutted, you know, dozens of American communities, and the families that live here have been destroyed as a result of it.

So, it's an important recalibration commercially. Geopolitically, it needed to happen. I'm glad it's finally started to happen. But it will be the work of a generation.

GOWDY: Well, you touched on the electoral consequences if the White House switches or if the Senate switches, how would our relationship with China change? If there's a President Joe Biden or if there's a Chuck Schumer, what happens?

RUBIO: Well, I think it goes back to the way it used to be. You know, certainly, when it comes to Joe Biden, he has a 30, 40-year, whatever story of being an orthodox politician on these topics. And all of these smart heads that go around talking about it -- some of them have come to that position, but many continue to, you know, criticize anything that the president does in terms of confronting China.

Now, fortunately, this is a 75 to 80 percent issue in this country. That's why you see Democrats are actually supportive of it, but I anticipate -- to begin with, Biden doesn't have the strength to take on challenges that come with China, and doing so requires you to get in a fight with editorial boards and, you know, people at these fancy think tanks who all think that no matter what Donald Trump did, it was a mistake and we need to reverse everything he did even if it was in the best interest of our country -- because they cannot admit that anything this administration has done exactly the right thing to do.

GOWDY: Well, Senator Rubio, thank you for joining us tonight and for your stewardship of the Intelligence Committee.

Up next, Democrats continue to play politics with the COVID relief bill. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy will join us live with the reaction next.

Stay with us.

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