Mark Kelly questions ‘not reasonable’ military funding requests for war with Iran: Full interview — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00back and joining me now is Democratic
2. 0:01Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona. Senator
3. 0:04Kelly, welcome back to Meet the Press.
4. 0:08>> Good to be on. Thank you, Kristen.
5. 0:10>> Thank you so much for joining us. I do
6. 0:12want to start where I left off with
7. 0:14Ambassador Mike Waltz on Iran. Of
8. 0:17course, Secretary of State Marco Rubio
9. 0:19said this week that the US is still open
10. 0:21to a diplomatic resolution to the war.
11. 0:24He also described the president's
12. 0:27approach as quote a head for an eye. As
13. 0:30someone who has flown combat missions
14. 0:32during the Gulf War, Senator, do you
15. 0:35think that's the right approach?
16. 0:39>> Well, I think these guys are flailing
17. 0:40and this thing is completely stuck
18. 0:42because this president got into this
19. 0:44without a strategic goal despite what uh
20. 0:49Mike Walt said about that they had a
21. 0:51strategic aim in mind. At first,
22. 0:54remember Kristen, this was about regime
23. 0:56change. Then it became about nuclear
24. 0:57weapons, then about ballistic missiles,
25. 0:58then about the Navy. They are flailing
26. 1:01here. And um I mean the head for the eye
27. 1:05thing. I mean this is you hear this
28. 1:06stuff out of the Secretary of Defense
29. 1:08Pete Hegath, you know, running around on
30. 1:11a stage about maximum lethality and
31. 1:13killing people and setting records with
32. 1:15the number of targets hit. I mean, when
33. 1:17you you you were talking to him about
34. 1:18munitions, uh of course we've used a lot
35. 1:21of munitions. We hit a lot of targets.
36. 1:2314,000 as of the last time I heard Pete
37. 1:27Hegsth talk about this. So, this thing
38. 1:29has been a disaster and it's been a
39. 1:31disaster for the American people. In a
40. 1:34time when they couldn't afford their
41. 1:36lives, this president gets us into this
42. 1:39war and costs then continue to
43. 1:42skyrocket. The price of gas, $450 a
44. 1:46gallon here in Arizona, over$4 dollars a
45. 1:48gallon across the country. People can't
46. 1:50afford groceries and rent. I mean, this
47. 1:54thing has been a disaster and they do
48. 1:56not know what to do.
49. 1:57>> Senator Kelly, I I want to drill down
50. 1:59with you on that point about munitions.
51. 2:02Let me read you some of NBC's exclusive
52. 2:04reporting. US military commanders have
53. 2:06been picking and choosing which Iranian
54. 2:08missiles to intercept amid an effort to
55. 2:12preserve the Pentagon's diminishing
56. 2:14supply of weapons. What is your response
57. 2:18to that report?
58. 2:23>> Well, it's it's pretty obvious to people
59. 2:25when you're in a conflict now for five
60. 2:27months and you're flying in some cases
61. 2:30hundreds of sorties a day, attacking
62. 2:34targets just to drive the numbers up. I
63. 2:38mean, Pete Hegth talked about this a
64. 2:40lot. And by the way, the guy doesn't
65. 2:42know what he's doing. He's incompetent.
66. 2:44and he should have never had this job
67. 2:46and he should be fired. But they were
68. 2:48all about the numbers. Uh, you know, a
69. 2:51conflict that, you know, he was talking
70. 2:53about setting records going over 10,000
71. 2:55targets, 12,000, 14,000. Most of those
72. 2:58targets are hit with multiple multiple
73. 3:00weapons. So, of course, I mean, we've
74. 3:03expended tens of thousands of weapons.
75. 3:06Uh, and it takes, as Pete Heg said in
76. 3:09the committee hearing when I asked him
77. 3:10this question, it's going to take years
78. 3:12to replenish these. uh this is by their
79. 3:14own making. They're not they're not
80. 3:16keeping track. They're they at this
81. 3:19point this president and the people
82. 3:21around him are incompetent
83. 3:23>> given the dwindling munitions which
84. 3:25you're referencing.
85. 3:28Secretary Hegsith, as you well know,
86. 3:30asked for an additional $67 billion more
87. 3:34for the war with Iran. He said it's
88. 3:36necessary to sustain military readiness.
89. 3:40Will you vote to approve that $67
90. 3:42billion, Senator? Do you see that as
91. 3:45necessary?
92. 3:47>> Kristen, they're also asking for $1.5
93. 3:50trillion for the defense budget this
94. 3:53year and a supplemental. When I got to
95. 3:55the Senate just five and a half years
96. 3:57ago, the defense budget was 740
97. 4:00billion. It's more than doubled in five
98. 4:02and a half years. We're now approaching
99. 4:04numbers of like what the rest of the
100. 4:08world combined spends on defense. I
101. 4:11mean, do we really feel that we're that
102. 4:13threatened and we need to spend these
103. 4:17sums of money for our defense? We've got
104. 4:20programs that this administration is
105. 4:22going to spend money on that aren't
106. 4:24going to work and things that we don't
107. 4:26need. If we had some competent people
108. 4:30running this department, you could
109. 4:31figure out how do you defend our nation
110. 4:34in a in a way and give the troops what
111. 4:36they need within a reasonable budget.
112. 4:39What they're asking for is not
113. 4:40reasonable.
114. 4:40>> So, just to be very clear, are you a no
115. 4:43on approving that $67 billion? You won't
116. 4:46approve it.
117. 4:49>> Hey, I haven't made a final decision
118. 4:51yet, uh, you know, on that specific that
119. 4:53specific vote, right? But as I said,
120. 4:57they're asking for $1.5 trillion. This
121. 5:00war was a mistake. He got into this
122. 5:02without a strategic goal. He got into
123. 5:04this without thinking about the
124. 5:05consequences to the American people and
125. 5:08to our troops. We have 18 killed service
126. 5:11members at this point. So, I haven't
127. 5:14made a final decision on how I'm going
128. 5:16to vote on that. But what the way
129. 5:18they've managed this so far has been a
130. 5:22disaster. Well, and of course, Iran is
131. 5:24the backdrop to the midterm elections
132. 5:26now just a 100 days away. I do want to
133. 5:28ask you about the midterms. On Saturday,
134. 5:31Democrats in Maine nominated Troy
135. 5:34Jackson to replace scandal plagued
136. 5:36Graham Platner on the ballot. You said
137. 5:39yourself, Senator, the path to winning
138. 5:40back the Senate runs through Maine. Do
139. 5:44you think that Troy Jackson is the
140. 5:46strongest person to unseat Senator Susan
141. 5:48Collins?
142. 5:51I think he's a strong candidate and I
143. 5:53think we have an opportunity and I think
144. 5:55Senator Collins has backed this
145. 5:57president on all his stuff right every
146. 6:01time it's mattered and we could have
147. 6:03used her vote to really put a check on
148. 6:05this president. She stood with Donald
149. 6:07Trump. I think we have an opportunity
150. 6:08here. Maine's very important. We have
151. 6:10other states. Ohio, uh Alaska, we have
152. 6:13an opportunity. Texas, Iowa. Hey, even
153. 6:16in South Carolina, you know, right now
154. 6:19Annie Andrews is running a great
155. 6:21campaign. So, we have an opportunity to
156. 6:24win there as well, Florida. So, the map,
157. 6:27it's it's it's tough. We're going to
158. 6:28have to work really hard. That's why
159. 6:30I've been traveling across the country
160. 6:32to all these states, and I'm going to
161. 6:33continue to do that until November to
162. 6:36make sure we have every opportunity to
163. 6:38win back the Senate. Well, do you think
164. 6:40your progressive colleagues, like
165. 6:42Senator Bernie Sanders, for example,
166. 6:44made a mistake by endorsing and standing
167. 6:47by Graham Platner for so long despite
168. 6:50scandal after scandal given the
169. 6:52importance of this seat that you just
170. 6:54laid out?
171. 6:56>> Well, it's pretty obvious that Graham
172. 6:58Platner wasn't vetted well enough. He
173. 7:00was not the right person to do this and
174. 7:02he had a background, you know, that
175. 7:04didn't allow him to continue in a in a
176. 7:06race. But that doesn't matter at this
177. 7:08point. You know what matters is getting
178. 7:10Troy Jackson the resources to run a good
179. 7:12campaign and get him across the finish
180. 7:14line.
181. 7:14>> Okay. You'll be out on the trail with
182. 7:16Troy Jackson. Can we expect to see you
183. 7:17there in Maine with him?
184. 7:21>> Uh I I don't have my entire schedule
185. 7:24finished. Maine is not yet on my
186. 7:26calendar, but I have every intention to
187. 7:28work as hard as I can for the races that
188. 7:30I think we can win. And that is one of
189. 7:32them. I think we can win in Maine. We
190. 7:34can win in Alaska, Ohio. So, yeah, I
191. 7:37mean, I'm I'm I'm certainly going to
192. 7:38consider it.
193. 7:38>> All right. Well, I want to, speaking of
194. 7:40the progressives in your party, ask you
195. 7:42about one of the big conversations right
196. 7:44now. This week, New York City Mayor
197. 7:46Zoran Mdani put out a video where he
198. 7:49again referred to Israeli Prime Minister
199. 7:51Benjamin Netanyahu as a war criminal and
200. 7:53called for him to be arrested. Take a
201. 7:55look.
202. 7:57My administration has reviewed every
203. 7:59avenue available under applicable law to
204. 8:02determine whether New York City could
205. 8:03execute the International Criminal
206. 8:05Court's arrest warrant if Benjamin
207. 8:06Netanyahu came here. It is clear that we
208. 8:09do not have the independent legal
209. 8:10authority to enforce this warrant. The
210. 8:12federal government, however, does and I
211. 8:15call on them to join the ICC and execute
212. 8:17this warrant.
213. 8:19>> Do you agree with Mayor Manni that Prime
214. 8:21Minister Netanyahu is a war criminal who
215. 8:23should be arrested by the federal
216. 8:25government?
217. 8:28Hey, I'm not happy with the decisions
218. 8:30that uh the prime minister is of Israel
219. 8:33has made uh through uh over the last few
220. 8:36years. Uh the the way they conducted the
221. 8:40operations in Gaza, there were a lot of
222. 8:42mistakes made. That being said, Israel
223. 8:45is an ally of ours. We support the
224. 8:48Israeli people. I'm going to always
225. 8:50stand by Israel as a nation. They have
226. 8:52an election coming up on October 27th.
227. 8:54The best way to resolve this issue with
228. 8:58a prime minister that just like our
229. 9:00president is not doing the job they were
230. 9:02hired to do is for him to be defeated at
231. 9:05the ballot box. So that's coming up
232. 9:07pretty soon here, you know, and I hope
233. 9:09the Israeli people rally around uh a
234. 9:12candidate that'll take Israel in a
235. 9:13better direction.
236. 9:14>> Let me ask you a couple of other
237. 9:16questions related to this one 2028. This
238. 9:21week, the DNC rules committee voted to
239. 9:24make South Carolina, as you know, the
240. 9:27first state to vote in the Democratic
241. 9:29presidential primary in 2028.
242. 9:32Do you believe that was the right move?
243. 9:34Should South Carolina be the first state
244. 9:36to vote in 2028?
245. 9:40>> You know, I don't get a vote on this.
246. 9:42This is for the DNC, the members of the
247. 9:45DNC to decide which state comes first.
248. 9:48When you look at the five states they
249. 9:50put up front, I think that represents
250. 9:52the Democratic party across the country
251. 9:55and you know, South Carolina has always
252. 9:57been, you know, a state that's been a
253. 9:59critical component of this, not just the
254. 10:01state. Congressman Jim Jim Klyurn has
255. 10:04been critical to this. Uh we also have
256. 10:07opportunities to win elections, not only
257. 10:09the Senate race with Annie Andrews, but
258. 10:11Nancy Laor, uh who's a veteran who has
259. 10:15an opportunity here to win a critical
260. 10:18house seat. So I'm I'm not going to
261. 10:21weigh in on like what the order should
262. 10:23be because I don't get a vote there. Um
263. 10:26but South Carolina has been always been
264. 10:29an important part of the discussion.
265. 10:31>> All right. Let me ask you about
266. 10:32something. you do have a vote in. Of
267. 10:34course, a lot of buzz about whether you
268. 10:36are going to run for president in 2028.
269. 10:39This week, your wife, former
270. 10:40Congresswoman Gabby Gfords, was asked if
271. 10:42you should run. She said, "Go for it."
272. 10:45You've been very open that you're
273. 10:46seriously considering it. Senator, what
274. 10:48would get you to a yes that you will run
275. 10:51in 2028?
276. 10:54>> Yeah, I think we got to see, you know,
277. 10:56what what are the issues that we're
278. 10:57facing after we get on the other side of
279. 10:59uh November here. It's it's really
280. 11:01critical that Democrats win back the
281. 11:03House and the Senate and put a check on
282. 11:06a president who is so corrupt. There's
283. 11:09there's nothing to compare him to. I
284. 11:11mean, he spends most of his time trying
285. 11:13to figure out how to enrich himself and
286. 11:15his family members and his friends. It
287. 11:18is corruption that we've never seen
288. 11:20before, and it's hurting the American
289. 11:22people. People can't afford their lives.
290. 11:26So, this is a discussion I'm going to
291. 11:27continue to have with my family, but we
292. 11:29we've got plenty of time.
293. 11:30>> All right, Senator Mark Kelly, thank you
294. 11:32so very much for joining us. We really
295. 11:34appreciate it.
296. 11:36>> Thank you for having me on. We thank you
297. 11:38for watching, and remember, stay updated
298. 11:40on breaking news and top stories on the
299. 11:42NBC News app or watch live on our
300. 11:44YouTube channel.