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[00:00:00] I can tell you that the United States is [00:00:02] most certainly confronting terrorist and [00:00:05] criminal organizations operating in our [00:00:07] hemisphere that pose a grave danger to [00:00:08] the United States. [00:00:09] >> Well, speaking of stupid people in the [00:00:11] Senate, many of them decided to make a [00:00:13] spectacle of themselves yesterday when [00:00:15] they had Secretary of State Marco Rubio [00:00:18] to the Hill. So, he's giving [00:00:20] congressional testimony about Venezuela [00:00:22] before the Senate Foreign Relations [00:00:23] Committee. Secretary Rubio is very, very [00:00:26] good at his job. So many of these [00:00:28] senators are not. One one of the amazing [00:00:31] things about American politics is how [00:00:32] many Americans believe that there are [00:00:34] true conspiracies operating at a high [00:00:36] level in American politics on the [00:00:37] regular. All you have to do is meet our [00:00:40] senators and Congress people on the [00:00:42] regular in order to know how dumb this [00:00:43] is. The reason being politics is [00:00:45] significantly more like VEP than it is [00:00:47] like House of Cards. The notion that [00:00:48] there are people behind closed doors [00:00:50] pulling off sophisticated plans pretty [00:00:53] rare. pretty rare because most people [00:00:56] are not particularly smart and that [00:00:57] apparently is even more true in the [00:00:59] United States Senate. Well, the hearing [00:01:01] kicked off with the usual round of [00:01:02] protesting and screaming. Here is one [00:01:05] protester getting up and yelling at [00:01:06] Marco Rubio and then being escorted from [00:01:08] the room. [00:01:12] >> All right, here we go. [00:01:15] >> Suspend, you know the drill. Off to [00:01:17] jail. [00:01:18] >> That's a war crime. [00:01:19] >> That's a one-year ban from the [00:01:21] committee. Anyone who is a persistent [00:01:24] violator will be banned for three years. [00:01:26] So don't know whether the guy falls in [00:01:28] that category or he looks like it. I [00:01:30] hope after 3 years he'll find a more [00:01:32] productive means for [00:01:36] by the way I do have to enjoy that there [00:01:37] is a protester who's saying hands off [00:01:38] Venezuela, hands off Cuba. I mean, man, [00:01:41] you have lost your mind when you are [00:01:42] protesting in favor of the Venezuelan [00:01:44] communist regime and the Cuban communist [00:01:46] regime, which have reduced [00:01:48] literally tens of millions of people to [00:01:50] penury poverty and death. Just genius [00:01:52] level stuff right there. Well, Tammy [00:01:54] Duckworth, who is not one of the sharper [00:01:56] tools in the drawer over in the over in [00:02:00] the Senate, she had a bit of a tetatet [00:02:03] with Secretary of State Rubio on whether [00:02:06] war needed to be declared in order to [00:02:08] perform strikes on drug boats in the [00:02:10] Caribbean. [00:02:13] >> These non-state actors who possess [00:02:15] state-like capabilities in terms of [00:02:17] their weaponry pose a grave danger to [00:02:18] the United States. I don't think any [00:02:20] American would think that we have [00:02:22] cartels that pose a threat to the [00:02:23] national security all of the other [00:02:26] >> laws of when it comes to warfare. I [00:02:28] mean, you're you're you're saying that [00:02:31] he can invoke [00:02:33] this wartime power. [00:02:36] >> No, I'm saying you're asking me I I'm [00:02:37] here to discuss foreign policy and [00:02:39] what's in the realm of the Department of [00:02:40] State. You question better direct [00:02:42] invoking the enemies act which is a [00:02:44] wartime which is something that [00:02:47] can be invoked during wartime only [00:02:49] during the war of 1812 world war I war [00:02:53] three times and this president [00:02:55] >> is invoking it. [00:02:56] >> Okay. You're asking me a question about [00:02:58] the domestic application of a law that's [00:02:59] best direct [00:03:02] because you're asking me something to [00:03:04] opine on something that's in the realm [00:03:05] of the department of justice in terms of [00:03:06] its domestic application. I can tell you [00:03:08] that the United States is most certainly [00:03:11] confronting terrorist and criminal [00:03:13] organizations operating in our [00:03:14] hemisphere that pose a grave danger to [00:03:16] the United States. Anyone who believes [00:03:17] that gangs that flood our country with [00:03:19] fentanyl or cocaine are not threats to [00:03:21] the United States is not living in [00:03:22] reality and certainly does not reflect [00:03:24] the opinion of most Americans. [00:03:27] >> Man owned owned Tammy Duckworth trying [00:03:30] to go after him with domestic [00:03:32] application of law. He's the secretary [00:03:35] of state. Clearly, she again not not not [00:03:38] the brightest contingent over in the [00:03:40] Senate. Meanwhile, Senator Chris Van [00:03:42] Golland who is just a mockery. And every [00:03:45] time you see him, you're like, "This [00:03:46] guy, it's not possible for him to become [00:03:48] more of a cucumber with eyeballs." And [00:03:49] yet there he is becoming more of a [00:03:50] cucumber with eyeballs. Straight from [00:03:53] the garden, Senator Chris Van Galand of [00:03:55] Maryland, who when he is not spending [00:03:57] his free time hanging out with alleged [00:04:00] domestic abusers in El Salvador, is in [00:04:02] the Senate asking dumb questions. Here [00:04:04] he was suggesting that it was oil [00:04:06] executives pushing the change in [00:04:07] Venezuela. [00:04:09] >> Mr. Secretary, simple yes or no [00:04:11] question. Were you with President Trump [00:04:13] during any of those conversations he had [00:04:16] with with people with oil interests in [00:04:19] Venezuela about the possibility of [00:04:21] deposing Maduro? [00:04:22] >> That that's not a simple yes or no [00:04:24] question, but I can I can answer it [00:04:25] quickly. And that is the president [00:04:27] always elicits opinions from all sorts [00:04:29] of people, including, for example, [00:04:30] Chevron has an active license in [00:04:32] Venezuela. They operate in Venezuela. [00:04:34] They they've been doing so even when the [00:04:36] sanctions were in place. So of course [00:04:37] you would ask Chevron, "What is your [00:04:39] opinion of Deli Rodriguez? What are your [00:04:41] opinion of their economy and of their [00:04:42] prospect?" But the notion that somehow [00:04:44] the president authorized this challenge [00:04:46] at the urging of oil executives is [00:04:47] absurd. That never happened. [00:04:49] >> Mr. Secretary, I'm I'm asking whether [00:04:51] you were with the president. [00:04:52] >> That never happened. I couldn't be with [00:04:54] him because it never happened. This this [00:04:56] the oil executives were not involved [00:04:57] whatsoever in any of the planning on [00:04:59] this matter. [00:05:02] And uh and there he is being a cucumber. [00:05:04] Senator Chris Van Holland. I mean again, [00:05:06] if you're going to ask a questions which [00:05:08] you don't already know the answer, [00:05:09] you're doing it wrong. That is the first [00:05:11] rule of lawyering. Don't ask questions [00:05:13] which you don't already know the answer. [00:05:16] Uh Secretary of State Rubio went on to [00:05:19] make clear that criminal organizations [00:05:21] are endemic to the Caribbean, Central [00:05:23] America, South America. [00:05:27] We have a real reality in our region of [00:05:29] these trans national criminal terrorist [00:05:32] organizations that in many cases possess [00:05:34] weapons that you ascribe to a nation [00:05:36] state, not to a gang who pose a grave [00:05:40] threat to the national security of the [00:05:41] United States, but also to the stability [00:05:43] of the region. If you walk through the [00:05:44] region, what is the primary threat in [00:05:46] Colombia? Transnational criminal [00:05:47] organizations. What is the threat to [00:05:48] Mexico? What is the threat to the [00:05:50] Caribbean basin? These groups have to be [00:05:52] confronted. They have to be confronted [00:05:53] forcefully. What's the threat in Haiti [00:05:55] to systemic collapse? And that is these [00:05:57] criminal gangs that basically control [00:05:59] territory and threaten the the ability [00:06:01] to even form a government there in that [00:06:03] regard. So, it's endemic throughout the [00:06:05] region and it ultimately impacts the [00:06:07] United States through mass migration, [00:06:08] through drug trafficking and other [00:06:10] related criminal organizations. And so, [00:06:12] we need to have a force posture that can [00:06:13] confront that. [00:06:16] Now, Senator Ran Paul on the Republican [00:06:18] side of the aisle, he is a thoroughgoing [00:06:19] isolationist. And he went after Marco [00:06:21] Rubio over the Venezuela operation, [00:06:24] calling it unconstitutional. And [00:06:26] Secretary of State Rubio rebuffed him [00:06:28] pretty strongly. [00:06:30] >> If a foreign country bombed our air [00:06:32] defense missiles, captured and removed [00:06:35] our president, and blockaded our [00:06:36] country, would that be considered an act [00:06:39] of war? Well, I think your question is [00:06:41] about the and I will acknowledge you've [00:06:43] been very consistent on all these points [00:06:44] the entire career. So, um, let me let me [00:06:48] no matter who the who's in charge. So, I [00:06:50] will point to two things. The first is [00:06:51] it's hard for us to conceive that an [00:06:54] operation that lasted about 4 and a half [00:06:55] hours and was a law enforcement [00:06:57] operation to capture someone we don't [00:06:58] recognize as a head of state, indicted [00:07:01] in the United States, wanted with a $50 [00:07:03] million question would be if it only [00:07:05] took four hours to take our president. [00:07:07] Very short. Nobody dies on the other [00:07:09] side. Nobody dies on our side. It's [00:07:11] perfect. Would it be an act of war? [00:07:13] >> We just don't believe that this [00:07:14] operation comes anywhere close to the [00:07:16] constitutional definition of war. [00:07:17] >> But would it be an act of war if someone [00:07:19] did it to us? Nobody dies. Few [00:07:21] casualties. They're in and out. Boom. [00:07:23] It's a perfect military operation. Would [00:07:25] that be an act of war? Of course it [00:07:27] would be an act of war. I'm probably the [00:07:29] most anti-war person in the Senate. And [00:07:32] I would vote to declare war if someone [00:07:34] invaded our country and took our [00:07:36] president. So, I think we need to at [00:07:38] least acknowledge this is a one-way [00:07:40] argument. One-way arguments that don't [00:07:43] rebound, that you can't apply to [00:07:45] yourselves, that cannot be universally [00:07:47] applicable are bad arguments. [00:07:50] Okay. Well, the reason that his argument [00:07:52] is bad is because who cares whether [00:07:54] Venezuela considers it an act of war. [00:07:56] The question is whether constitutionally [00:07:58] you require a declaration of war in [00:08:00] order to do this thing. First, there's a [00:08:02] lot of young people trying to navigate [00:08:03] the dating scene these days. As you're [00:08:05] trying to find the right person for [00:08:06] yourself, you should probably ask [00:08:07] whoever you're seeing the important [00:08:08] questions first, like, "Do you want kids [00:08:10] in the future?" or "What are your [00:08:11] thoughts on religion?" That's how you [00:08:12] can get a better idea of whether that's [00:08:14] the right person for you. Well, when it [00:08:16] comes to hiring, you also want the right [00:08:17] questions asked and answered, which is [00:08:19] why you need our sponsor, Zip Recruiter. 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Four out of five employers [00:08:57] who post on Ziprecruiter get a quality [00:08:58] candidate within the very first day. Try [00:09:00] it for free at [00:09:01] ziprecruiter.com/dailywire. [00:09:03] That's ziprecruiter.com/dailywire. [00:09:06] Meet your match on Ziprecruiter. Is it a [00:09:09] war for the United States to perform a [00:09:11] law enforcement graband snatch of a [00:09:13] person we do not recognize as the [00:09:15] legitimate rightful leader of a country? [00:09:17] Do we need to declare war in America? [00:09:19] Who cares what Venezuelans think about [00:09:21] it? I don't care what Nigerians think [00:09:22] about it. I don't care what Israelis [00:09:23] think about. I don't care what anybody [00:09:24] thinks about it. We're Americans. The [00:09:26] American Constitution applies. So the [00:09:28] question that ought to be asked is not [00:09:30] whether we would consider it an act of [00:09:31] war if somebody did it to us. If we did, [00:09:34] by the way, we would then have to, wait [00:09:36] for it, go through the constitutional [00:09:38] mechanisms of declaring war. Right? [00:09:40] That's what the question is about is not [00:09:42] whether what we just did to Venezuela is [00:09:45] an adversarial action. Of course, it's [00:09:46] an adversarial action. The question is [00:09:48] constitutionally speaking, do you have [00:09:50] to declare war in order to do this [00:09:52] thing? not whether in some random [00:09:54] platonic universe this is considered a [00:09:57] definitional quoteunquote act of war. [00:09:59] And that's the point Rubio is making [00:10:01] like make me the case that that [00:10:02] operation constitutes a war under the [00:10:04] definition of war in the constitution as [00:10:07] opposed to a policing action or a law [00:10:10] enforcement action. It's a cheap [00:10:11] rhetorical trick what Senator Paul is [00:10:13] doing there. And meanwhile, Rubio is [00:10:16] asked about Cuba and he says they're not [00:10:18] going to involve themselves in sort of [00:10:20] an active change in Cuba, but they would [00:10:22] of course love to see the regime fall. [00:10:24] >> Will you make a public commitment today [00:10:26] to rule out US regime change in Cuba? [00:10:30] >> Regime change? [00:10:31] >> Yes. [00:10:31] >> Oh, no. I think we would love to see the [00:10:32] regime there change. We would like to. [00:10:34] That doesn't mean that we're going to [00:10:35] make a change, but we would love to see [00:10:36] a change. There's no doubt about the [00:10:38] fact that it would be of great benefit [00:10:39] to the United States if Cuba was no [00:10:41] longer governed by an auto autocratic [00:10:43] regime. But you know what we mean by [00:10:45] regime change? We don't mean I wish [00:10:47] someone else were in charge. When we [00:10:49] talk about regime change, we're talking [00:10:50] about using the power of the United [00:10:53] States, usually kinetic power, but often [00:10:55] other kinds of uh coercion. And and and [00:10:58] I'm not even saying that that's always [00:11:00] not in our interest. I'm just saying I'm [00:11:03] not asking you whether we would prefer a [00:11:05] different uh kind of government. I'm [00:11:07] asking whether you are trying to [00:11:09] precipitate the fall of the current [00:11:11] regime. [00:11:11] >> Yeah. But that's statutory. The Helms [00:11:13] Burton Act, the US embargo on Cuba is is [00:11:16] codified. It was codified in law and it [00:11:18] requires regime change in order for us [00:11:20] to lift the embargo. [00:11:23] >> And um you know, again, correct. Well, [00:11:26] Senator Tim Kaine and the longforgotten [00:11:29] vice presidential candidate for Hillary [00:11:30] Clinton, he went after Secretary of [00:11:33] State Rubio because Donald Trump [00:11:35] supposedly said Iceland and not [00:11:36] Greenland in his Davos speech. And [00:11:38] somehow this is a criminal offense in [00:11:40] some way. [00:11:43] We're not mad at Iceland. They haven't [00:11:45] cost us any money. The president just [00:11:46] mistook the two countries for each [00:11:48] other. Correct. [00:11:49] >> Yeah. He meant to say Greenland, but I [00:11:50] think we're all familiar with presidents [00:11:52] that have verbal stumbles. [00:11:54] We've had presidents like that before. [00:11:56] Some made a lot more than this one. [00:11:57] >> Nice try. Thanks. I think I thought he [00:12:00] did well. [00:12:02] >> Owned. Ouch. Uno. [00:12:07] Well, Secretary say Rubio has also asked [00:12:08] about Iran and again pointed out that [00:12:10] the people of Iran deserve better than [00:12:11] current leadership [00:12:14] >> and the core problem they face unlike [00:12:15] the protests you saw in the past on some [00:12:17] other topics is that they don't have a [00:12:19] way to address the core complaints of [00:12:22] the protesters which is that their [00:12:23] economy is in collapse. And the reason [00:12:24] why there's economy is in collapse is [00:12:26] because they spend all their money and [00:12:28] all their resources building weapons and [00:12:31] sponsoring terrorist groups around the [00:12:33] world instead of reinvesting it back [00:12:34] into their society. and as a result have [00:12:36] taken on massive global sanctions which [00:12:38] has isolated their economy and their [00:12:39] country. And so that's what the Iranian [00:12:41] people are demanding is that they stop [00:12:43] doing that and start caring about them [00:12:45] and get these sanctions off them. And [00:12:46] this regime is unwilling to do it. So [00:12:48] the core challenges the the the protests [00:12:51] may have ebbed but they will spark up [00:12:53] again in the future because this regime [00:12:55] unless they are willing to change and or [00:12:57] leave no way of addressing the [00:12:59] legitimate and consistent complaints of [00:13:01] the people of Iran who deserve better. [00:13:04] And again, we'll keep an eye on what the [00:13:06] Trump administration intends to do with [00:13:08] Iran. The United States has put forward [00:13:10] a number of demands of Iran, including [00:13:12] denuclearization, as well as shutting [00:13:14] down their ballistic missile program and [00:13:15] ceasing to support terror groups across [00:13:17] the region and the globe. Iran's not [00:13:19] going to do any of that. It'll be [00:13:20] interesting to see what happens with [00:13:22] regard to Iran. Did you like this clip? [00:13:25] Well, you can get more of these clips on [00:13:27] our new YouTube channel, Ben Shapiro [00:13:29] Clips. Click that subscribe button down [00:13:31] below right