Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.
Speaker 2: Senator Cornyan, thanks so much for being with us, especially
Speaker 2: at this busy time. I am wondering, though, after all
Speaker 2: this is said and done, is Congress in the same
Speaker 2: situation two weeks from now.
Speaker 3: Well, it's entirely possible. Unfortunately, Chuck Schumer and President Trump
Speaker 3: negotiated a deal that provides for a two week extensions
Speaker 3: so the House can then take up and pass the
Speaker 3: Defense excuse me, the Department Homeland Security Appropriations Bill. But
Speaker 3: it sounds like the mister Hackeen Jeffries, the leader, and
Speaker 3: the Democrats in the House are not going to cooperate.
Speaker 3: So we'll see whether the Speaker can pull a rabbit
Speaker 3: out of the hat and get the votes with just Republicans.
Speaker 2: Senator, though, don't both sides have the ability to cooperate
Speaker 2: and shouldn't both sides be working together to get this done?
Speaker 3: Yes, that's the short answer. It's really I mean, this
Speaker 3: is the basic functioning of government. It's pay the bills,
Speaker 3: keep the lights on, and it's unnecessary and it is
Speaker 3: also an opportunity cost in the sense that we are
Speaker 3: using time that we could be doing other more important things.
Speaker 3: For the American people, But unfortunately this is where we are.
Speaker 1: Julie asks about the two week continuing resolution Senator, because
Speaker 1: a lot of folks on Capitol Hill do not think
Speaker 1: there will be enough time there to craft some sort
Speaker 1: of agreement and put it in the form of legislation
Speaker 1: when it comes to new restrictions on ICE, and I'm
Speaker 1: wondering where your head is on some of the ideas
Speaker 1: that are out there. Democrats want agents to be unmasked,
Speaker 1: where body cameras, no more warrantless raids, and additional training.
Speaker 1: Are you in favor of all four of those?
Speaker 3: Well, I'm always or seeing how we can improve current
Speaker 3: operations and that includes ICE. And I believe mister Homan,
Speaker 3: who's now in charge up in Minnesota at Minneapolis, has
Speaker 3: said the same thing. But I don't believe there is
Speaker 3: enough time to open this whole range of topics, nor
Speaker 3: do I think we should. Because these are professional law
Speaker 3: enforcement officers. One of the main problems and what's happened
Speaker 3: in places like Minneapolis is these are sanctuary jurisdictions. They
Speaker 3: don't cooperate with law enforcement at the federal level, and
Speaker 3: so ICE has no alternative but to make these detentions
Speaker 3: in the general population, and of course you have various
Speaker 3: instigators interrupting and interceding, sometimes with disastrous consequences. So I
Speaker 3: don't think. I think, while certainly these institutional reforms are
Speaker 3: important and I would support trying to make it better,
Speaker 3: this unfortunately is part of the same sort of strain
Speaker 3: of thought to get us defund the police and abolish ICE,
Speaker 3: and I think we have to enforce the law, and
Speaker 3: that's what President Trump believes as well.
Speaker 1: Are you, just to be clear, open to demasking ICE
Speaker 1: agents when they're working in the field.
Speaker 3: I think that's an insult two ICE agents. We know
Speaker 3: that ICE agents are going to be targeted by some
Speaker 3: of these instigators what I call really they are essentially
Speaker 3: asking for anarchy, certainly chaos, because if we abandon the
Speaker 3: rule of law, that's all we have left. And so
Speaker 3: these ICE agents are being targeted by some of the
Speaker 3: anti ICE instigators, and I think in some instances their
Speaker 3: identity should be protected. But this is just to me,
Speaker 3: just a ridiculous request.
Speaker 1: Well, well, just to be clear before we move on
Speaker 1: to some other issues here, Senator, following these two fatal
Speaker 1: shootings that we saw in Minneapolis, you don't feel any
Speaker 1: different about restrictions on ICE.
Speaker 3: Well, I think the main thing that needs to be
Speaker 3: done is that the Minneapolis and Minnesota needs to quit
Speaker 3: refusing to cooperate with federal law enforcement officers. You don't
Speaker 3: see this happening in Texas because when illegal aliens are
Speaker 3: apprehended for some state or local violation, they are routinely
Speaker 3: handed over to ICE at the jail and then subject
Speaker 3: to deportation. But when local law enforcement or state law
Speaker 3: enforcement in some of these sanctuary jurisdictions don't do it,
Speaker 3: ICE has no alternative but to try to go knock
Speaker 3: on a door and make an arrest when they believe
Speaker 3: they have an illegal alien evating, elating, evading apprehension. Excuse me, so,
Speaker 3: I think unfortunately in both of these instances, these individuals
Speaker 3: did not cooperate with law enforcement, and unfortunately that when
Speaker 3: that happens, tragedies like this occur, which are regrettable. But
Speaker 3: I think the answer to it is for the sanctuary
Speaker 3: jurisdictions to cooperate with federal law enforcement so that federal
Speaker 3: immigration laws can be enforced, hopefully without these kind of
Speaker 3: tragedies occurring.
Speaker 2: Senator, one more quick question on this so you don't
Speaker 2: think really any reforms are needed or is there anything
Speaker 2: you would be open to changing about ICE.
Speaker 3: No, I didn't mean to suggest no reforms would be necessary,
Speaker 3: But I think, as Tom Homan said, and by the way,
Speaker 3: I think he's the right guy for the job, this
Speaker 3: is escalated, totally out of control, and I think everybody
Speaker 3: realizes that and it needs to de escalate. And I
Speaker 3: think mister Holman has been the voice of a seasoned
Speaker 3: professional who has been applauded by Democrat administrations and republic
Speaker 3: administrations to try to bring some order out of this
Speaker 3: chaos us. But the simple answer is that while ICE
Speaker 3: may need to fine tune some of its procedures in
Speaker 3: order to try to de escalate and avoid conflict, that's
Speaker 3: a two way street. And these sanctuary jurisdictions need to
Speaker 3: cooperate with law enforcement in the interests of de escalating
Speaker 3: and avoiding some of these tragedies.
Speaker 2: Senator, I do want to turn out too our home
Speaker 2: state of Texas and Texas Senate District nine. The Democrat
Speaker 2: really a shocking upset in that race there. Does it
Speaker 2: concern you as you were up for reelection this year?
Speaker 3: It does concern me as We know these special elections
Speaker 3: are notoriously volatile, and I know a lot of people
Speaker 3: are trying to figure out exactly what happened here a
Speaker 3: district that President Trump won by seventeen points and then
Speaker 3: the Democrat won by a swing to sixteen points, and
Speaker 3: so a huge swing there. Some of it had to
Speaker 3: do with with a small turnout, I think it was
Speaker 3: about fifteen percent of registered voters, But the quality of
Speaker 3: the candidates and the nature of the campaigns also matter.
Speaker 3: And obviously what the candidates were the Republican candidate was
Speaker 3: campaigning on was not something that was received well by
Speaker 3: the voters. So I think there's going to be more
Speaker 3: analysis to this, and there's a lot of different reasons
Speaker 3: why this could have occurred, but hopefully we'll learn the
Speaker 3: lessons from this disastrous outcome.
Speaker 1: One of your thoughts on nationalizing elections, Senator, The President
Speaker 1: was in an interview yesterday on Dan Bongino's show and
Speaker 1: said we should take over the voting in at least
Speaker 1: fifteen places the Republicans ought to nationalize the voting. Is
Speaker 1: that something you support?
Speaker 3: Well? There is one area where I do believe there
Speaker 3: should be a standard of voter identification you're familiar with
Speaker 3: the Save Act, the Save America Act, which I support,
Speaker 3: That is not a takeover of state run elections. But
Speaker 3: what it does require, it is the irreducible minimum, is
Speaker 3: that American citizens be allowed to vote, and anyone who
Speaker 3: can't produce the appropriate identification would not be allowed. And
Speaker 3: that's a matter of protecting the integrity of the ballot.
Speaker 1: But you do think states should continue to administer elections
Speaker 1: as for.
Speaker 3: The I do. But I do think that in those
Speaker 3: blue states, particularly where they don't have these same sort
Speaker 3: of integrity measures that we have in Texas and are
Speaker 3: in other states, that a requirement of a proof of
Speaker 3: American citizenship and voter idea is something that is supported
Speaker 3: on a bipartisan basis makes a lot of sense. So
Speaker 3: that's why I support the Save America Act.
Speaker 2: Center Before we let you go, we do want to
Speaker 2: touch on foreign affairs very quickly. What should happen next
Speaker 2: in Iran?
Speaker 3: Well, the President's got a very tough call here, obviously.
Speaker 3: This Iran is the number one state sponsor of international terrorism,
Speaker 3: is responsible for most of the misery and mischief that's
Speaker 3: occurring in the Middle East, including the October seventh attack,
Speaker 3: in Israel by Hamas one of their proxies. They have
Speaker 3: of course been trying to develop nuclear weapons. They have
Speaker 3: long range ballistic missiles that threaten our allies in the region,
Speaker 3: and the President, I know, is being presented with a
Speaker 3: range of options here. The real question, I think, Julie,
Speaker 3: is what comes next if the supreme leader is deposed.
Speaker 3: Usually what happens in these countries like Venezuela and Iran
Speaker 3: is are virtual police states and the leadership, the authoritarian
Speaker 3: leaders basically kill all their competition and they destroy the
Speaker 3: institutions that would be there once they are deposed. So
Speaker 3: this is going to be a hard decision by the
Speaker 3: President because there's no easy answer in Iran.
Speaker 1: Do you support another round of strikes then, Senator, is
Speaker 1: it time to hit Tehran?
Speaker 3: Well, I think that that is one of the things
Speaker 3: that the President, I'm sure is being presented because they
Speaker 3: have the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Kuds Forces
Speaker 3: is called, which are their primary primary tools or instruments
Speaker 3: of international terrorism emanating from Tehran through its proxies. So
Speaker 3: the President may decide that that's an appropriate target.
Speaker 1: Senator, it's good to spend some time with you and
Speaker 1: We appreciate the insights as always on Bloomberg. Republican Senator
Speaker 1: John Corn of Texas, thank you.