Fox News "The Ingraham Angle" - Transcript: Interview with Sen. Tom Cotton

Interview

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Joining us now is Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton. Senator Biden told us that there was going to be - he's going to get all these allies to take on China. And it sounds like it's raining. Is it raining where you are? I hear the rain there.

SEN. TOM COTTON (R-AR): Raining a little bit, Laura, yes.

INGRAHAM: --if there is repercussions - yes, for their for their Hong Kong crackdown. So where do you think the CCP is going to set its sights on next?

COTTON: Well, unfortunately, is raining on freedom in Hong Kong. As you said, China has cracked down now on "Apple Daily" and Jimmy Lai's iconic newspaper is probably got to go out of business. Yet Joe Biden and his national security adviser won't even threaten any kind of retaliatory action against China.

And as you said, they're not ever going to threaten any efforts to undertake a thorough and real investigation of the origins of the coronavirus. It shouldn't be surprising they don't threaten any of our adversaries. The threats they traffic in are to allies like Israel.

Look, I think we all know what happened in Wuhan. A virus originated in a city larger than New York, right down the street from a lab where they research these coronaviruses, under the watchful eye of a woman literally nicknamed the "Bat Lady."

Most Americans can use their common sense, and to say that China should be held to account. At a minimum, China made this pandemic much worse by lying about its origins, by concealing what was happening, and not letting the rest of the world get ahead of the curve.

There are a lot of steps that we can take to make China pay for actions, like its behavior at the start of the pandemic, like its brutal crackdown in Hong Kong. Yet Joe Biden just doesn't seem to have the stomach to do so.

INGRAHAM: Well, as China cheat, senator, on trade and then, of course just undermines the U.S. at every turn. The White House press secretary wants everyone to believe, well, something different about China.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Last week, there was a great deal of calibration around - in the global community among the world's largest democracies. China wants to have a role in the global community and global conversation. China wants to be seen as a power in the world, as a central actor in the world, and they are not looking to have the global community align against them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Senator, how would that be different if, like, the CCP's spokesperson said it. I mean, it's like what. She meant collaboration, not calibration, by the way.

COTTON: I got to say if I was sitting in Beijing, and I heard those remarks or saw what was happening in Europe last week with Angela Merkel more worried about selling Volkswagens into China then holding China accountable for unleashing a pandemic on the world, I wouldn't exactly be quaking in my boots at the condemnation of the global community, whatever that is.

INGRAHAM: Well, Senator, we just learned tonight that Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada recently hosted - and again, this is our tax dollars paying for this - its first ever drag queen show. Now, in a statement to Breitbart, they justified the drag show as quote, "essential to the morale, cohesion and readiness of the military." Why are we paying for this, Senator? How do we stop this without stopping the bucks (ph) going to it.

COTTON: We shouldn't be. We had a hearing couple weeks ago in the Armed Services Committee when the Secretary of Defense said that you shouldn't be exposed to this kind of critical race theory nonsense, and you should report it to your chain of command or the Inspector General or other channels like my office, if it happens.

I'd encourage everyone watching tonight, if they're in the military, they know this kind of thing happening, please continue reporting to us. As one general told me recently, the military should be engaged in fighting real wars, not culture wars. And too often we have generals and admirals in the military today who are focused more on cultural wars then they are fighting and winning real wars.

INGRAHAM: Do you think China is more worried about the U.S. readiness now that we're hosting drag shows at the bases? What are they thinking about that, Senator?

COTTON: I don't think the People's Liberation Army is having a lot of struggle sessions talking about how bad the Han Chinese our and how they should be friendlier to Hong Kongers or Tibetans or Uighurs in northwest China. Let's just say they are focused like a laser on building up their military power and defeating the United States in a future war, and hopefully therefore, from their point of view, not having to fight that were in the first place. Our military needs to focus solely on fighting real wars, not culture wars.

INGRAHAM: Senator, thank you.

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