Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts.
Speaker 2: Radio news.
Speaker 3: Congressman Seth Moulton, the Democrat from Massachusetts, has arrived in Chicago.
Speaker 3: And of course, if you've been with us before, you're
Speaker 3: aware of his time as a marine combat veteran serving
Speaker 3: four tours in Iraq, so a unique perspective that we
Speaker 3: always enjoy sharing. Congressman, it's great to see you in Chicago.
Speaker 3: Thanks for being here. This clearly made Joe Biden angry.
Speaker 3: How does it make you feel?
Speaker 4: Well? I mean, we all know how important bo Biden's
Speaker 4: service is to Joe Biden as a father, as a
Speaker 4: commander in chief, as an American, and it is really
Speaker 4: remarkable that you have a major party candidate in Donald
Speaker 4: Trump who just truly hates veterans. And that's not an exaggeration.
Speaker 4: He has shown time and time and again he's called them.
Speaker 4: He's called us losers and suckers, and there was losers
Speaker 4: for signing up, suckers if you get killed. He was
Speaker 4: walking around Arlington Cemetery with his own chief of stabmarine
Speaker 4: veteran John Kelly, when he said, I just don't understand
Speaker 4: why they did it, what was in it for them?
Speaker 4: And this well, John Kelly was there in part to
Speaker 4: see his own son's grave, Lieutenant Kelly, who died in Afghanistan.
Speaker 2: Well, whatever you may think about his attitude toward veterans,
Speaker 2: he does have a veteran running with him in Jade Vance.
Speaker 2: Kama Harris also has a veteran running with her in
Speaker 2: Tim Walls. And yet his service record has come under
Speaker 2: immense scrutiny since his selection. It has framed it as
Speaker 2: stolen valor.
Speaker 4: Well, because jade Vance is following Donald Trump's playbook of
Speaker 4: denigrating veterans, and we should be celebrating the fact that,
Speaker 4: you know, for the first time in a long time,
Speaker 4: we have two veterans on the major party candidates, the
Speaker 4: first time that we've had veterans really from these most
Speaker 4: recent wars, and that's something that we should be celebrating.
Speaker 4: And you know, both Jade Vance and at Tim Waltz
Speaker 4: have service records that should be lifted up and used
Speaker 4: as an example. Instead, jd Vance is just going down
Speaker 4: the same path as Donald Trump and attacking the service
Speaker 4: record of Tim Wallas, who, by all accounts was a
Speaker 4: great soldier in the army.
Speaker 3: Well, look, we saw this with your former colleague John
Speaker 3: Kerry from Massachusetts, the Swift Boats. Of course, we've got
Speaker 3: some of the same people involved in the messaging in
Speaker 3: this campaign, in Chris Losovita, who was part of the
Speaker 3: Swift Boats campaign back in two thousand and four. I
Speaker 3: was compelled by Mark Kelly's response to all of this.
Speaker 3: Clearly was not happy with this stolen valor accusation, but
Speaker 3: he said, both of you should be thanked for your service.
Speaker 3: Jd Vance, that's right, and Tim Walls is that the
Speaker 3: way we should approach.
Speaker 4: Exactly, And then that's what I just said. I mean,
Speaker 4: we should be lifting up the fact that both of
Speaker 4: them have served the country in different and important ways.
Speaker 4: And you know what veterans really hate is other veterans
Speaker 4: who misrepresent their service, who make their record out to
Speaker 4: be more than it is. And that fundamentally is what
Speaker 4: Evans is trying to accuse Tim Wilson. But it just
Speaker 4: doesn't it doesn't hold water. It doesn't hold water at all,
Speaker 4: and it's not really the way that veterans respect yourself.
Speaker 4: Serving in Congress, I have a lot of veterans on
Speaker 4: the other side of the aisle I disagree with on
Speaker 4: a lot of policy issues, and yet they're often the
Speaker 4: first people I go to work with, like if I
Speaker 4: have to do, you know, work on a piece of
Speaker 4: bipartisan legislation, like the nine eight National Mental Health Hotline.
Speaker 4: Now it's part of the Veterans Crisis Line as well.
Speaker 4: I co authored that bill with an Air Force veteran
Speaker 4: from Utah. There are a lot of issues we disagreed on,
Speaker 4: but he was one of the first people I went
Speaker 4: to work with on that legislation because I knew as
Speaker 4: a result of our shared service, we had something in common.
Speaker 4: We had some trust that we shared some common experience,
Speaker 4: even though we did very different things as an infray
Speaker 4: aser in the Marines, as a world record holding pilot
Speaker 4: in the Air Force. So you know, Chris was an
Speaker 4: amazing Chris Stewart was an amazing partner in many ways,
Speaker 4: much more distinguished military record than than mine. I'm not
Speaker 4: in the Againness Book of World Records for anything for
Speaker 4: my time in the Marines. But the point is that
Speaker 4: we found that common ground, and you would like to
Speaker 4: see that happening on the presidential stage. But of course
Speaker 4: Jade Vance is just going down in the gutter with
Speaker 4: Donald Trump. He's much more interested in following Donald Trump's
Speaker 4: playbook than upholding the values that he should have learned
Speaker 4: in the Marines.
Speaker 2: Well, Congressman, obviously, we thank you for your service and
Speaker 2: all those who have served or are currently serving. And
Speaker 2: in recent weeks, Joe and I have had to ask
Speaker 2: some pretty tough questions about those who are currently serving
Speaker 2: and whether or not they may have to become active
Speaker 2: in combat in the Middle East once again, as we
Speaker 2: cast an eye on Iran, which still has yet to
Speaker 2: retaliate against Israel, and wait for a progress on a
Speaker 2: potential ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. That of course, is
Speaker 2: something Joe Biden wants to achieve with the remaining time
Speaker 2: as president. He spoke about that on the convention floor
Speaker 2: last night. Just take a listen briefly to his words.
Speaker 1: I'll keep working to bring hostages home and and the
Speaker 1: war on Gossam bring pieces occurred in the life. We're
Speaker 1: working around the clock. My Secretary of State, rent a
Speaker 1: wider war and REU and I hostages to their families,
Speaker 1: and surge humanitarian health and food assistance into Gaza. Now
Speaker 1: then the civilian suffering of the Palace Indian people, and finally, finally,
Speaker 1: finally deliver a cease firing in this war.
Speaker 2: Now Israel, of course has accepted this bridge cease file
Speaker 2: proposal from the US, Hamas at this time has not.
Speaker 2: Are you confident that it can be done or are
Speaker 2: you still worried that potentially the US could get involved
Speaker 2: in a deeper conflict in the Middle East.
Speaker 4: No, Look, I'm very concerned, and let's just be clear,
Speaker 4: not in our national security interests to be drawn into
Speaker 4: another massive war in the Middle East. It's not in
Speaker 4: our interests in terms of our big picture problems around
Speaker 4: the globe, like focusing on China, where the focus should
Speaker 4: be for US national security right now. Of course, there's
Speaker 4: already a hot war in Ukraine that could spill over
Speaker 4: into Europe. The last thing we need is to get
Speaker 4: bogged down in the Middle East. That would be a
Speaker 4: gift the sieging thing in China, in Vladimir Putin in Europe.
Speaker 4: We also we also want to make sure by the
Speaker 4: way that in the Middle East we reach a resolution
Speaker 4: that enables us to truly have peace for Israelis and Palestinians.
Speaker 4: And we should agree on some common points here. First
Speaker 4: of all, Israel needs to not just end this war,
Speaker 4: but actually win it. Actually defeat Hamas. You can't have
Speaker 4: a terrorist organization running Gaza, but they need to do
Speaker 4: that in a way that has a political endgame that
Speaker 4: both sides can buy into, that can truly bring peace.
Speaker 4: Prime Minister yet Yah who hasn't articulated that yet. So
Speaker 4: this is a complicated situation in some ways because the
Speaker 4: players have made it so complicated. But it shouldn't be.
Speaker 4: We should be able to find a lot of common
Speaker 4: ground here. Let's defeat Hamas, Let's stop killing civilians, Let's
Speaker 4: have a durable peace plan that it is politically acceptable
Speaker 4: to both Palestinians and Israelis, and ultimately that not only
Speaker 4: brings peace to the Mid least it make sure that
Speaker 4: the United States doesn't have to have troops on the ground.
Speaker 3: Well, there is a fear, if not an expectation, that
Speaker 3: Iran is going to retaliate militarily against Israel for the
Speaker 3: killings of the leader of Hamas and the official from Hesbolah.
Speaker 3: That means that once again, after what we saw in April,
Speaker 3: American airmen sailors could actually be in a direct head
Speaker 3: to head combat, essentially knocking down missiles out of the air,
Speaker 3: shooting at drones, we're getting very close to a direct
Speaker 3: engagement in that world with Iran. How nervous does that
Speaker 3: make you?
Speaker 4: That's right, And the Republicans have attacked President Biden for
Speaker 4: trying to de escalate the situation. Let me just be clear.
Speaker 4: De escalating the situation is exactly in our interests right
Speaker 4: now because we do not want to be in a
Speaker 4: shooting war with Iran. We do not want to be
Speaker 4: putting us lives at risk here now. Does Iran need
Speaker 4: to be deterred from further action, Yes, absolutely, But this
Speaker 4: is a complex negotiation going on here, and we want
Speaker 4: to have fundamentally peace between Israelis and Palestinians so that
Speaker 4: Iran doesn't have the motive to continue these attacks. Let's
Speaker 4: also not forget that Israel has a serious problem on
Speaker 4: its northern border with Hesbola, and I think that's a
Speaker 4: particularly complex situation. There's not an easy answer there. Israel
Speaker 4: has already seen one hundred thousand of its citizens displaced.
Speaker 4: They need to be able to go back to their
Speaker 4: homes in peace. So you know, there's a reason why
Speaker 4: the United States is having a role in the peace
Speaker 4: process here and why we're trying to stay out of
Speaker 4: a direct conflict that would fundamentally draw us into a war.
Speaker 2: Congressman, it's great to have your expertise as a member
Speaker 2: of the Armed Services Committee. Of course, given your own
Speaker 2: experience in the region. Congressman Seth Milton of Massachusetts, joy
Speaker 2: your time in Chicago. Sir, we appreciate having you