position? to the nih rejected 100 lawsuits 187% coach. one hundred act was and they are more popular on the reconciliations. so. >> if you use this for the department of educational this will on these terms of the

department of education and the department of agriculture. >> they are pushing back to stand this and support those loads. >> these programs are proposed on social security or medicaid for billionaires. ...

the more they see it the less they are liking it. thank you. >> thank you. chairman paul, ranking member peers, , distinguished members,

it's an honor to appear before you today as a presence nominee to be the deputy secretary for homeland security. i want to recognize and thank senator johnson for the very kind introduction. i'm grateful to president trump and the secretary for the trust and confidence they have placed in the period i thank the committee for considering my nomination. i am honored secretary noem has taken time out of your schedule to be here with me and support my nomination. thank you for being here. the process has enabled me to better appreciate the high honor bestowed upon me to serve the american people and better understand the critical expectations and committee, if confirmed be the deputy secretary. thanks to my lord for his grace and on my life and the opportunity to serve my country. my family is important to me but they are not here. i would like to recognize them. matt, tyler and economic sense. brother is tracy and honor the

memory of my mother and dad. i would like to introduce my precious wife betty. betty embodies the american dream in a manner that enables me to understand the hopes and aspirations of millions of people who come to america. her story helps to understand the true weight of public service but i'm not only come to the foundation with technical skills and business experience but with a conscious through my personal expense with my wife. betty is an immigrant from iran who spoke farsi and french going up in tehran. her family fled to the united states after the shot was overthrown in 1979. whenkl she arrived she learned english and spanish at attained a bachelors and masters in french. she has been a french teacher in orange county for over 25 years. betty betty rises every morning believing that she has a billy to change come to jake and other students life for the way this

country has changed terms. thank you for being here to support me. i've had the honor of previously working with this committee and the first top administration at senator johnson said in my senate confirmation for being dhs chief financial officer. when i left being the cfo of dhs on january 20, i was managing $90 billion budget and over to what a 50,000 employees. that role allowed me to learn and resource the entire department not just the important border security and immigration component. it is with this unique knowledge and my significant business experience that i intend to honorably serve the american people to the best of my ability. dhs deputy secretary serves as the chief operating officer as senator rand paul has said. and if confirmed i will stay focused on supporting the secretary insuring we're effectively efficiently using the policies and resources provided to meet the present

school on immigration border another national security missions of dhs. furthermore while i fully support the hard-working professionals at dhs by helping provide the resources they need to fulfill the group important missions. if confirmed i look forward to working with this committee and other members of congress to assist you in newport and role of oversight and support of the department. i am committed to investing the time to build a critical working relationships needed to help advance dhs. as stated by like to thank the chairman and ceo of ibm, national sheriffs' association in major county shares for the letters in support of my nomination. thanks again for the opportunity to appear before he and i look forward to answering your questions. thank you. >> thank you come mr. edgar. we will proceed to question for each member will have five minutes. want to be clear from the outset committee will not tolerate any disruptions. i will direct the catholic police to remove any number of the audience at disrupting. mr. edgar mr. bishop do you

agree without reservation to close any request or summons to appear and testify before any duly constituted committee of congress if you are confirmed? >> yes. >> yes with advice of counsel. >> achy. while the sectors you want to put in one plug for both of you. at the dhs there's a national biodefense analysis and countermeasure center called -- they do gain of function research and a highly special safe lab that we will moreover, say as to what specific experience are going on there and with that request and hope you'll keep complaint or i don't need an answer necessarily. with that i'm going to pass my time to senator lankford. >> mr. chairman, thank you. thank you to the witnesses for being careful what you guys are already and the million forge or filled out you done on this. mr. edgar i dread to say that after your reduction of your wife i am open to moving her to that seat rather than you in that seat to have her be able to take charge of this as well.

very kind of you both to energy sure families and your wife and your wife to build a commune. secretary noem good to see. thanks you are begun. but who wants a couple things on this as quick as i can on this. mr. edgar, you done a lot of the work behind the scenes. this committee in the days ahead will work a tremendous amount of trying to get the funds to dhs they need to intimate the border security that is best desperately wanted by the american people. additional dollars are needed but with a question there's waste in the structure. you and i talked about $20 million a month instead on soft side facilities and there's multiple, 20 million a month for giant tents that are up there. we've talked about gsa and the frustration with cbp and gsa facilities that organize were gsa has put in a $14,000 urinal or where they sold the parking lot to a dollar to a local committee only to a couple years

have to buy it back for $1 million on it. the challenge they had were cbpo said we need more lanes and the gsa decides a building that has fewer lanes of increasing this is based on their design. we've got to figure out how to do it with the waste but implement policy quickly. what would you do to help the committees on the grant and leadership on the ground efficiently people to do the mission? >> thank you, senator. i would start first of all having the opportunity to be in cfo for dhs looking all 23 components, the one manger talk about cbp. right now your organization is focused on immigration and border security mission. if confirmed to be the deputy secretary i would work better with cbp but i.c.e. the facilities you're talking about could be leveraged in the same thing isis boniva 100,000 detention beds. cbp has potentially availability within soft sided tents.

my job as being the previous cfo and now if confirmed to be the deputy secretary to make sure we are not being wasteful, , being responsible with arsenic, leveraging all the contracts across the government to be able to get to our mission and will execute on president trump's agenda. >> it would be helpful we walked to the process. we don't mind allocating the dollars of his funds are spt wisely. the american people say that's for my tax software going. hsi, dea and fbi great letters around here but there are a challenge at times to cooperate together on it and try to keep from mission creep here you'll oversight and secretary noem oversight in this process over coast guard all things border come over fema, secret service, there's a lot of tasks out there, a lot of coordination as well. what needs to be done to make sure we are on mission and we are working with other agencies to make sure secret service is

doing what it can do well and not getting into other areas, hsi is that we can do well and not getting into dea areas. >> what has happened at the beginning is president trump set the agenda. he created the executive order for the task force. we followed leader schumer secretary noem. we will be joint task force combination of the department justice with all the law law enforcement agencies you're talking about and within hsi, i.c.e. and cbp, the whole of government that will bring to that. that task force will take on cross government type activity. not only just enable to do border security but i bring the full power of enforcement out to law enforcement has a steering committee that they will point equal, chaired by attorney general bondi and secretary noem and will follow the direction going forward. >> we look forward to that to make sure we're cooperating as efficiently as again. mr. bishop come good to see.

thanks for your leadership and the sacrifices you've yo. you and i talked about there are federal agencies and federal law that requires e-verify for federal contracts. we have now learned that's not being enforced. we don't know how many people are not legally present in the country that are also executing federal contracts or at work for the federal government. that's federal law already and you and i have spoken on this and your assurance to me was were going to make sure where implement the law in that area, were doing the oversight there needs to be done, is a true? >> absolutely. i know you're a student of all the details that omb is in command definitely we will use the office as tools to see to with consistency. >> something called the federal program inventory that's new. that's one of the areas we passed a law secures ago called taxpayers right to know. that's being implemented but for

the first time we will give this body the ability to see in duplication and look for to the full implementation. >> senator peters. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i sent numerous oversight requests to both dhs and omb sense of the start of this administration and, unfortunately, have received little or no response or response of documents or information as result confirmed. under the previous order, the motion to reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table, and the president will be immediately notified of the senate's actions. the clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture. the clerk: cloture motion, we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of lori chavez-deremer, of oregon, to be secretary of labor, signed by 17

senators. the presiding officer: by unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum call has been waived. the question is, is it the sense of the senate that debate on the nomination of lori chavez chavez-deremer, of oregon, to be secretary of labor, shall be brought to a close. the yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule. the clerk will call the roll. vote: the clerk: ms. alsobrooks. ms. baldwin. mr. banks. mr. barrasso.

mr. bennet. mrs. blackburn. mr. blumenthal. ms. blunt rochester. mr. booker. mr. boozman. mrs. britt. mr. budd. ms. cantwell. mrs. capito. mr. cassidy. ms. collins. mr. coons. mr. cornyn. ms. cortez masto.

mr. cotton. vote: the clerk: mr. cruz. mr. curtis. mr. daines. ms. duckworth. mr. durbin. ms. ernst. mr. fetterman. mrs. fischer.

mr. gallego. mrs. gillibrand. mr. graham. mr. grassley. mr. hagerty. ms. hassan. mr. hawley. mr. heinrich. mr. hickenlooper. ms. hirono. mr. hoeven. mr. husted. mrs. hyde-smith. mr. johnson. mr. justice.

mr. kaine. mr. kelly. mr. kennedy. mr. kim. mr. king. ms. klobuchar. mr. lankford. mr. lee. mr. lujan. ms. lummis. mr. markey. mr. marshall. mr. mcconnell. mr. mccormick.

mr. merkley. mrs. moody. mr. moran. mr. moreno. mr. mullin. ms. murkowski. mr. murphy. mrs. murray. mr. ossoff. mr. padilla. mr. paul. mr. peters. mr. reed. mr. ricketts. mr. risch. ms. rosen. mr. rounds. mr. sanders. mr. schatz. mr. schiff. mr. schmitt.

mr. schumer. mr. scott of florida. mr. scott of south carolina. mrs. shaheen. mr. sheehy. ms. slotkin. ms. smith. mr. sullivan. mr. thune. mr. tillis. mr. tuberville. mr. van hollen. mr. warner. mr. warnock. ms. warren. mr. welch. mr. whitehouse. mr. wicker. mr. wyden. mr. young.

senators voting in the affirmative -- barrasso, boozman, cassidy, collins, cotton, cramer, ernst, fischer, gallego, grassley, hassan, hickenlooper, hoeven, husted, johnson, kennedy, mcconnell, moreno, mullin, ossoff, rosen, rounds, schiff, schmitt, scott of south carolina, shaheen, sheehy, sullivan, thune, warner, whitehouse, wicker, and young. mr. lee, aye. senators voting in the negative -- mr. tuberville, aye. schwarzenegger also-- coons, du, gillibrand, kim, king, markey,

merkley, murphy, murray, paul, reed, van hollen, warren, and welch. mr. cruz, aye. mr. graham, aye.

the clerk: mrs. hyde-smith, aye. ms. slotkin, aye. mr. kaine, aye. mr. hawley, aye.

the clerk: mr. risch, aye.

the clerk: mr. mccormick, aye. the clerk: mrs. blackburn, aye. mr. cornyn, aye.

the clerk: mrs. moody, aye. mr. marshall, aye. mr. justice, aye.

the clerk: mr. crapo, aye. ms. cortez masto, aye. the clerk: mr. bennet, aye. mr. heinrich, no. ms. duckworth, no.

mr. scott of florida, aye. mr. schatz, no. the clerk: mrs. britt, aye.

the clerk: mr. wyden, no. ms. smith, no. mrs. capito, aye. mr. ricketts, aye.

the clerk: mr. lujan, no. mr. moran, aye. the clerk: ms. murkowski, aye. ms. cantwell, no.

mr. curtis, aye. ms. hirono, no. vote:

the clerk: mr. lankford, aye.

the clerk: mr. warnock, aye.

mr. banks, aye.

the clerk: mr. schumer, no. mr. budd, aye. ms. klobuchar, no.

the clerk: mr. sanders, no. the clerk: mr. peters, aye.

the clerk: mr. hagerty, aye. the clerk: mr. daines, aye.

the clerk: mr. tillis, aye.

the presiding officer: the yeas are 66, the nays are 30. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: department of labor. lori chavez-deremer of oregon to be secretary. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the senate will proceed to legislative session and resume consideration of the motion to proceed to s. 331, which the clerk will report. the presiding officer: motion to proceed to calendar number 18, s. 331, a bill to amend the controlled substances act with respect to the scheduling of fentanyl-related substances and for other purposes. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture. the clerk: we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the motion to proceed to calendar number 18, s. 33 1, a bill to amend the controlled substances act and so forth and for other purposes, signed by 17 senators. the presiding officer: by unanimous consent, the mandatory

quorum call has been waived. the question is, is it the sense of the senate that debate on the motion to proceed to s. 331, a bill to amend the controlled substances act with respect to the scheduling of fentanyl-related substances and for other purposes, shall be brought to a close. the yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule. the clerk will call the roll. vote: the clerk: ms. alsobrooks. ms. baldwin. mr. banks. mr. barrasso.

>> i am the president and cofounder of of illicit drugs and coach or a project facing fentanyl now. join me today are mr. steve, retired police officer and secretary-treasurer of voice as well as ms. thomas terra project facing fentanyl and ms. peter's ceo of alliance to counter primes the mind and of some who have endured the profound loss of a loved one killed by fentanyl. avoid a california based nonprofit was established to educate and advocate and raise

public awareness about the 80 pages of illicit fentanyl and other synthetic analogs. today i stand before you to give voice to the countless lives lost -- including my own son daniel johnson. my son was not habitual drug use any sense of the word nor had he been diagnosed with substance use disorder but he was diagnosed with adhd and depression. on april 1, 2020 at the beginning of the pandemic i walked into his room and found him practically lifeless in his bed. in the state of shock and panic i called 911 and then his mother. emergency services arrived at her home and immediately began cpr and naloxone was minister. he was transported to los angeles children's hospital where a team especially doctors do everything they could to bring our son back but, unfortunately, were unsuccessful and bring him out of his

catatonic state. his health and become much worse from the been admitted and all they could do was to keep him comfortable until his mother and i may be agonizing decision to discontinue all life support. all life support efforts. on april 6, 2020 at 3:45 p.m. come all life support was discontinued. his mother denise got into his hospital bed and laid next to him. and gently stroking his beautiful head of dark brown hair and and i was holding t hand when he drew his last breath at exactly 508 tm of that april 6 when he quietly passed away. i kissed the bridge of his nose like it did on most nights when say good night and left the hospital to goms home without my son utterly broken, devastated, angry and confused. after my son spazzing i was

contacted by los angeles county sheriff's office and i was told my son had died due to an overdose. half the blue. pill which i latr can find out looked exactly like a pharmaceutical grade blue oxycodone pill had been found on his dresser. it was sent to the laboratory and found that the bill which are taken my sons life was illicit fentanyl. my son had consumed what he thought was a blue in 30 oxycodone pill but, in fact, and annoyingly i repeat unknowingly ingested and illicitly manufactured counterfeit opioid made nothing more, made nothing more than filler abiding agent in illicit fennel. this was deceptively made to look exactly like a pharmaceutical grade oxycodone pill and it killed him. i have shared his story countless times yet the problem worsens. illicit fentanyl remains an insidious threat so what can we do? our organization believes

knowledge saves lives but we also need legislative action. the halt fentanyl act currently under consideration is a vital tool in this fight. illicit fentanyl has no medical use and is highly addictive come working its classification as a schedule one substance under the controlled substance act. for too long this legislation has stalled despite clear evidence of its necessity. my son daniels death is just one of countless tragedies caused by this epidemic. his story is one of hope extinguished of a family left broken but it is also a call to action. no family, no family should have to endure the pain that we have suffered. we have the tools to address this crisis. what we need now is a will to

act. i urge you, i beg you to act decisively and combat this crisis. thank you inviting me and my fellow relieved parents to this esteemed committee. thank you. >> thank you, mr. puerta. the clerk: mr. moody mr. moran. mr. moreno. mr. mullin. ms. murkowski.

the clerk: ms. murkowski. mr. murphy. mrs. murray. mr. ossoff. mr. padilla. mr. paul.

this crisis has many facets and each should be addressed with care and should be encouraged. issues, a lack of accessible affordable mental health and recovery programs and holding drug dealers and traffickers accountable for the devastating loss of life are all important issues to address but we must do more. it is critical we address social media platforms that facilitate drug peddling to children, platforms which make these connections as a matter of design and then profit from them. we cannot say we're protecting our children until we face this fact and pass legislation to stop it. in the spring of 2021 myself and several families were invited to meet with executives from snapchat. today that meeting is what drives my fuel for social media reform. snapchat's executives claim they had no idea this was happening.

even though snapchat and of the platforms have been used for drug lab for years and this is been widely reported by the media. they blamed us as parents and told us due to section 230 we had no power to hold them accountable in court. if someone opened a brick-and-mortar store and sold this drugstore children out of the store they would be shut down so fast. so ask why did the same rules not apply to social media? since losing to have and we watched drug use continue operating on snapchat come instagram, telegram. i'm proud to say we aided in the indictments of individuals which ties to sit alone cartel in minneapolis where there were 19 members of that indictment. i am grateful to the police department drug task force and use the attorney work on this case. in speaking about devens story with middle and high school

students, how on average the spending 26 plus hours a week on these platforms. that's one of them as an others fight hard to support the kids online safety act. i think senator blumenthal and blackburn for spearheading this vital legislation on behalf of of our children.ho because it's a crucial foundation for social media reform. i am blessed toki with my congressional representative senator amye, klobuchar and representative angie craig. i want to thank congressman craig and senator klobuchar for acting on her commitment and promised her parents the cheap accountability for big tech. parents like me, mr. puerta, others and thousands of others cannot do this alone. we look to you to pass the cooper davis and kevin noreen actor we need you to stand with us at the next these pieces legislations are countries kids have a fighting chance and stop

losing their life. i thank you. i'm honored to be look forward to your questions. >> thank you, ms. norring. doctor westlake. [inaudible] >> chairman cotton, ranking member kuster become distinguished members of the committee thank you for inviting me to testify and for your leadership. before i talked sites i wanted to tell you the last time i use narcan. it was days ago. was a quite makeshift inadvertent department and i was mulling over my testimony for this hearing on had to rush out to a car that screeched into the evidence bay. driven by the girlfriend of the patient who took what he thought was a percocet. it was a lethal dose of fennel. he wasn't breathing and was about to go into cardiac arrest. we pulled them out and quickly resuscitate him with narcan. within a minute he went from the blue to being wide-awake. he went home with his family. he was lucky this time. this is my reality and that of so many emergency physicians that we have a problem in this country and it requires all of

us to work together. i like to clarify what fentanyl with her substance is or fsr and wife probably scheduling them as a class is a critical policy tool. frs on active opioids the most identical to fentanyl except for a tiny difference in the chemical structure created by changing a single ingredient during synthesis. the result is a new potent opioid with the same deadly effects as fentanyl and without class scheduling would be legal until the cost numerous deaths. sentinels are so toxic and lethal they can be classified and i been used as chemical weapons. the lethal dose is merely two milligrams equivalent to five grains of sand. meaning one teaspoon can kill 2000. that is what is in this packet of sugar. they can kill 2000 people if this were fentanyl. telling parents tragically on more than one occasion even france friends of mine that their child will never come home is a worst

part of my job. in fact, the inspiration for frs class scheduling arose of the tragedy of my friend son rg. archie was an altar server with my daughters. he started with prescription opioids, then moved to hear when and unknowingly fentanyl. i resuscitated archie on his second to last overdose. at the time i pulled out a body back and laid it down next to him and warned him that that we would end up if he didn't seek help. he stayed clean for six months until alyssa fentanyl ended his life. last things my friend lori saul everson archie was in the zipped up in a body bag. motivated to act by hundreds of such at this frs schedule legislation came together quickly and was enacted unanimously in wisconsin legislature in 2017. dea adopted as national policy shortly thereafter but only congress can make it permanent. some who oppose illicit fentanyl

as proof it does work but this s is a misunderstanding of the fact. frs schedule does not address the blessed to know. it was never designed to do so. only removes the incentive for legal chemical companies to create new frs thus stopping them from ever existing in the first place. there is no quick and easy solution to the scourge of illicit fentanyl but the solution to frs's is a simple legislative fix, one that you have before you now. at its core frs schedule is not an extension of the war on drugs or law enforcement strategy designed to incarcerate. there've been a total of eight federal prosecutions under the language as a 2021. half of which had already been known to have ties to drug cartels. as well the rest never been a prosecution for an non-bioactive frs frs because there are none dare call fentanyl related substances and counter to have been found have potent opioid activity. one of the 7000 times more potent than morphine.

if the schedule and penalties were removed from frs trafficking then would we incentivize their creation is significantly weaken the lost most powerful proactive and preventative effects. there is a time and place for criminal justice reform but frs scheduling is not it. some suggest frs scheduling would have a negative impact on research while theoretical and has been addressed in stakeholder input and is supported by the very agencies and organizations representing academic scientific research including the nih, hhs, fda and the national institute of drug abuse. the halt fentanyl act was significantly loosen restrictions into studying all schedule and substances not just frs's and open up promising areas of substance abuse research. in conclusion for the past six years frs schedule has been federal policy as a primary architect of wisconsin law i could not more pleased. in a few short years the creation and distribution of frs's has ground to a halt.

in her battle against fentanyl elimination of related substances that had previously escaped our scheduling and devastated communities across the nation is surely one bright spot but congress must take action andk: permanently close e spigot of frs is. the fact is you can't die from ingesting something never grid nor can you be incarcerated for trafficking something that does not exist. that's the beauty and simplicity of frs scheduling. thanks again for this time and for to answering your questions. >> doctor, i'm going to introduce you but but i dont to get your last name mispronounce. is it -- >> correct. i guessed correctly. happy to hear your opening statement. >> thank you. chairman corney, ranking member durbin and members of the committee thank you for conducting this hearing and the opportunity to explain why signalized in north america requires productive engagement with mexico. i appreciate invitation to present spate. i am an expert on organized

crime and u.s.-mexico security cooperation. as an alum of the fulbright program i am -- require transactional solutions. to the family success like today i acknowledge your grief pick there are no actions that refers the tragedies you have experienced. my testimony doesn't seek to invalidate your spear on the contrary it is precisely because eyewitness and collaborate with them is a bow sight of the border that of lost loved ones to overdoses, homicides and to the parents that i get off what i believe is a more hopeful and sustainable path forward. on january 22 secretary rubio stater america's foreign policy must be justified by answering three simple questions. does it make america safer? doesn't make america stronger quest does that make america more prosperous? as the scholar must dedicate her professional career to studying and working towards constructive u.s.-mexico relations it is my strong professional opinion that the united states can only be

safer, stronger and prosperous if it's neighbors are afforded the same opportunity. suffering on both sides of the board is inextricably linked. the u.s. is facing one of its worst public health crisis of illicit manufacture fentanyl and mexico faces its own epidemic was 30% of homicides perpetrated with a firearm. more than 40% of americans know someone who has died from opioid overdose. equally important homicide is the leading cause of death for men ages 25-44 and the second cause of death in women ages 15-24 in mexico. worryingly the urgency to save lives is reviving the worst policy failures of the war on drugs. with thousands of lives at risk on both sides of the border it is urgent the u.s. and mexico element policies based on facts. through the public sectors society academia both countries have developed evidence on how to acquire and maintain the health and safety of our

communities. fentanyl and firearms trafficking us change dynamics in criminal markets. these changes are not as simple narratives as organized crime suggest. even the places like send a lower mexico have been portrayed as -- transnational drug trafficking mexico to the u.s. is not masterminded by three men hiding in the mountains. there is no special narco highway connecting the highlands of sin alone to the streets of l.a. or philadelphia. but actors in mexico and the u.s. that take advantage of legal economies for the advancement of illicit activities. for example, the most recent data from the u.s. sentencing commission shows that for fiscal year 202386.4% of people since for fentanyl trafficking were u.s. citizens. serious policy conversations in addressing mortality caused by the synthetic drugs cannot be separate from firearms trafficking. low production costs are often set at six cute districts of mood with a with an interesting

fentanyl. overlooked in the conversation is the same was happen with firearms and ammunition. the ease of acquiring firearms from the u.s. has lowered the cost of perpetrating violence for criminal groups in mexico. even though their there st variations as to the frequency and ways criminal groups you filers they perpetrate the violence. their businesses depend on it. the morse affected the armament is, then the more credible fees threats to come. why intimidate potential victims with a rifle left over from the mexican revolution when your arsenal can include 50 caliber weapons? this strategy has paid o for organized crime including those involved in fentanyl trafficking. according to data released by the atf of the firearms recovered in mexico that were submitted for tracing more than two-thirds were sourced from the u.s. ..

one hundred largest and one third of our nations population. jesse of one to 4000 and 3.1 million residents. consistently ranks as one of the safest in the nation. like every community, the public health a few short years a direct correlation and we saw a slight decrease in this. an alarmingly high budget of 100,000 annually.

and it's flooded our communities. during that same time. given our close proximity and drug trends and proposition 47 largely decriminalized this

grade the date legislature when we first saw this in 2025 and traffic, this will failed year after year. in some states ridiculed into incarceration the complications due to california sanctuary law mitigation with federal partners. thirteen and continues to rise. it is a supply and demand and includes dollars in these

resources. innovative education program 2016. supported by members of this committee. in this the members of the committee. static over the next ten years.

and the station for law enforcement investigate the organization's and lawful access which is crucial to identify those responsible to the supports bipartisan legislation within the criminal justice system integration and variety. i'm on today. >> thank you, sheriff. i'll start by a round of questions.

and if there's any way tragic. so thank you for being courageous, i know it's not easy but it's important across the country how this can happen the families. i've come to this approach at the kitchen table with awareness of our children because none of them counterfeit drugs knowing it will take their lives but i

do believe it will take all of us parents and families will districts and law enforcement. the chemicals that go into fentanyl traced back to china back there is an issue directly to china. >> some of the announcements relating to the tariffs president trump announced his administration said it's not so much a trade policy as it is anti- fentanyl policy and the chinese government's attention to do something about the precursors.

as he pointed out, they make their way to texaco in the cartel putting them in them look like binoculars drugs and turn out to be contaminated lives unbeknownst to them to stop the flow of illicit drugs coming across the border? >> what you describe is a complex system transit going to mexico. it's doing 12 things simultaneously complicated than just one thing but when you look at the presses, that's one issue. the poor obviously will be the

most significant and they will make its way back. the nays are 12, the motion is agreed to.

some friends in the audience and

today i think we are to discuss the most complex challenging administration the largest war in europe since the end of world war ii. president trump recognizes and acknowledged the gravity and complexity of bringing and remarked even more difficult than resolving the ongoing betrayal and hamas for. president trump successor russia ukraine for has become the largest world war ii. death and destruction could be israel surpassed 1 million individuals.

the more soldiers killed, the united states lost in the vietnam war combined a course that is larger and ukrainian city. the city that i visited, 70000 and less than 20000 and cooking was done on the street hospitals on generators the crisis throughout europe for refugee energy security, food there scarcity across the entire

continent. the direct military engagement is found in the toy and in alliance structure effort is led to come to start goals and by roxy and if russia is not stopping ukraine, spillover spending three days talking to them when we discussed the complexity it comes from an understanding bringing the score to a conclusion requires making root causes and entails the

united states european allies global adversary alliance after. openly proclaim the united states must be involved in clear that the united states primary in this for to stop the killing at both sides of the table and america has funded this war. this year alone will is larger and donald j trump is american people put the interests and empower citizens first keep our

nation out of and this worse. professor paul kennedy from yale university of the rise and fall and noted great powers fail when they involve themselves in overreach but make it simple. when the nation is concerned about filling potholes, they fail. as the same second administration. this did not start on donald trump's watch and i believe he's right. the strategy and how much

officials and negotiate peace is to me and mike will. and export every avenue we can and this administration knows, peace is only possible through strength which brings us to where we are today. the trump administration strength in the moment and the

american first behind this administration's approach totally different and that policy establishment and the apparatus. trump is already engaged putin and zelenskyy and we found from his approaches you cannot adversaries and friends alike and elevated united states to both sides rather than framing the work is one side winning than the other. the national security interests if you want ukraine or russia to win this war responded by saying i just want everybody to stop dying it's not a public

commitment to peace but a proactive signal united states with serve as a positive force and resolve this approach as it played out president trump and zelenskyy last friday and was standing behind secretary rubio. two nationstate leaders coming in with objectives not been aligned with one another and the district probably between the two administrations and approaches engagement with president trump united states in front ukraine ukrainian advantage over russia. he clearly wanted president trump to set publicly but the united states is russia and

negate will. focus on peace dating president zelenskyy is not ready for peace america is involved because he believes the involvement is in associations. i want. there's a human cost for and they've surpassed 1 million an average of 600 voters short of u.s. efforts and ukraine is quickly approaching a lost generation from warfare about a year ago i was with president

trump i will angry discussed in the new, he understands and i just returned from ukraine received toll in the ukrainian soldiers. and they treat will it falls apart so drunk elitist injuries involving partial financial and and where it is coming from. the american strategic and

reform by the united states in the united states failed to engage one on support and agent direct diplomacy our nation is in a united states and continued isolation. no longer a viable strategy.

and the need to set goals to get someone's and president trump approach and publicly so what you now our efforts by the trump administration in order to get to a peace settlement both sides to the table having pressure points in the senate and agreed to these terms. there are aggressive movements to apply pressure points and ukrainians as well.

and a few of the tools and look at the current sanctions and 70% sanctions them by name. the president has been clear all options on the table ukraine and the president needed ukraine to the table. america's first model the

transactional diplomacy approach is in discussions with more leaders between the united states and ukraine. it sets the foundation driver direct return. they extended over 170 billion in the mechanism in which the american taxpayer begins to be recuperated.

and with ukraine going forward. in the correct interest for the economic interest too well. it serves as a de facto guarantee for ukraine and bring sides to the table. and it can be consequential not just here but the world as well. i'm not thank you for your

remarks. and before we open up to questions and it's on the record. and a lot of good questions we have seen a flurry of news and they are cut off. all inheritance sharing we

provided weapons. there is some defensive intelligence to protect. european command issued a statement saying their security assistant to ukraine including the biden administration so on top of five billing president trump the issue. what is the big ask ukraine has to deliver on x. >> the pushes to get them and diplomatic activities and the approach to going forward. both sides are going to have disagreements so the russians

may say we want to sell it back, but probably won't happen. it comes right down to it. and 70000 troops installed in six months. and bottom line, it is.

to target and hit russian forces and impacting what they do on the battlefield. >> we were in the oval office i'll give you the background we talk with president zelenskyy

will in those questions in public. they don't try to challenge united states oval office and russians. let's keep was made will go here and make a decision on these. with real policies. >> president zelenskyy willing

to he left the white house and what they need to do have a back on or is that off the table entirely? the military operations? and for this cause and say it was over -- >> how long this the cost? >> it's a great question but contracts for a car or house it

is a signed contract and it is okay, sign. the reason he came to the white house was to send the document and say this is us going forward. my thing would be, my personal belief would be you don't move forward until you get a signed document. he had an option ukraine and didn't do it and they have the option to do it, i wouldn't do. >> he is offering publicly at least. because that seems pretty quick to resolve. >> marco rubio chief diplomat from ukraine i think can move

forward. we seen too many missus as we go forward and for peace discussions. look at the private discussions and tml this is not something that's unusual. scope i was very clear zelenskyy outcome, i was blocked. this was the thing that could happen i would be honest, some people misread the room with

president trump it understand where is going for some type of the deal president zelenskyy last friday i think he misread it. >> that sounds personal rather than strategic. >> i think it is your teacher, not personal. and an education we are going back to what happened but teddy roosevelt russians on a personal level. most famous

players in red sox recent history is manny ramirez. he was a good baseball player, but he had a habit of doing some pretty ridiculous things on the field and off the field that were really detrimental to the team, some really bizarre onfield behavior, cutting off throws from other outfielders before they got to the infield, bizarre off the field behavior that disrupted the team. it became so regularly that a phrase was adopted among the red sox fans. that's just manny being manny. over the years it was just accepted that every year manny ramirez was going to do a whole bunch of stuff that was really detrimental to the team. and over time it just kind of became accepted, that that was a fact of life, a way of life with

manny ramirez. and as time went on, people reacted less hostilely. it barely got noticed in some cases when he was engaged in these detrimental forms of conduct. and i tell that story because it stands for kind of a universal concept. when bad behavior gets normalized, it no longer feels like bad behavior. even if that behavior is hurting people. today the world is littered with corrupt government. governments where the leaders and the really rich men who surround the leaders, the ole goshes -- oligarchs, they steal from people. that's what they do, the leaders and the leaders' friends just keep a hand constantly in the government treasury. and they steal taxpayer dollars. they rig the rules of the economy in order to make themselves fabulously rich.

they hurt the citizens of those countries. vladimir putin, for instance, has never had a job outside of government, but he's reportedly worth $200 billion. one of his many houses cost $1.4 billion to build, supposedly the landscaping costs on an annual basis for that house are $2 million alone. that $1.4 billion house was paid for by money he stole from the russian treasury. in other words, he stole it from the russian people. putin and his friends have been doing it for so long and doing it so openly and brazenly, putin, for instance wears a watch that retails for half a million dollars -- excuse me. for half a million dollar, even though his official salary is only $140,000.

they've been doing this so openly and brazenly, they're so public in their corruption in russia that it's just accepted. it's just mainstream, the fact that putin and his cronies steal from the russian people. that's what's happening in america today. and it's heartbreaking for me to say this. but in the first six months of the trump presidency, trump and elon musk and their billionaire friends have engaged in a stunning rampage of open public corruption. it's not fundamentally different than what happened in russia. these are efforts to steal from the american people to enrich themselves. and their strategy is to do it all out in the open, to do it at such a dizzying pace that the country just gets overwhelmed or

anesthetized or doled into a sense that we just all have to accept the corruption or maybe more charitably that this is just how government works, that government is just corrupt and so the fact that it's happening out in the open instead of happening secretly, well, it's really nothing new. but this is not how government works. the things that have happened over the last six weeks are unprecedented. the president and his billionaire friends are not supposed to steal from us. they are not supposed to use their power and their access to power, their access to government levers to rig the rules to enrich themselves. that has always been wrong. it is still wrong. and we do not have to accept this. and so in the next few minutes,

i want to try out an exercise. i want to try to lay out for you as quickly as i can just some of the most significant instances of blatantly corrupt activity that's happened in just the first six weeks of trump's presidency. when you see it all together, there is no way to avoid a simple conclusion. this white house is on its way to being the most corrupt in the history of the country. and just because they are doing it out in the open for everybody to see doesn't mean that it's not corrupt. and my hope is that if you see it all in one place, the gravity of this moment may hit you. my hope is that my colleagues and the public choose not to normalize a president or his advisors using the oval office as a blunt mechanism to make themselves even wealthier. it is our decision, our decision

to have zero tolerance for corruption. it's also our decision to just decide to become a place like russia where our leaders are allowed to routinely steal from us. so this is a heartbreakingly long list. this is just 20 or so examples of corrupt behavior in the first six weeks of the trump presidency. so here it goes. we're going to start on january 17. on january 17, trump launches the meme coin. what is the meme coin. it is essentially a mechanism by which russian oligarchs or corporate ceo's can literally send money privately directly to donald trump. nobody knows who buys the meme coin but trump makes money when people buy it. and so it is just an open sewer valve that allows for anybody

who is trying to influence the trump administration to be able to secretly funnel money to donald trump. he reserves 80% of the coin. he waits to release that coin until the price jumps back up again, which essentially means he's waiting for people who want favors from him to buy a bunch of the coin to inflate the value so that he releases more and makes more money. it's a disgusting kind of corruption because this is essentially trump just posting his venmo for anybody secretly to wire him as much money as they want. we've never seen something like this before where anybody who has anything to gain from the trump administration through a manipulation of the value of trump's meme coin, can funnel money and whisper in his rear, that was me. hey, take care of me on the back

end. on january 20, when he's sworn in, he institutes his new energy agenda. now, open reporting suggested that during the campaign he met with the oil and gas industry and they cut a deal in which the oil and gas industry would give him a billion dollars of campaign contributions in order to receive favorable treatment when trump was sworn in. and guess what happens on january 20? trump unveils his energy strategy. and what does it do? it preferences oil and gas and it punishes oil and gas' competitors. it, for instance, freezes all permits on wind projects, both for the land and the sea. it undercuts permitting processes, not for oil and gas but for oil and gas' competitors. oil and gas got exactly what they asked for. they gave a campaign contribution and they got the favorable treatment. five days later, trump fires 17 inspectors general. what do inspectors general do?

they look for corruption inside of these agencies. what do you do if you are trying to engage in corruption, if you are trying to steal from the american people? you fire the inspectors general. two days later, on january 27, trump fires wilcox from the nlrb. when she's fired, the nlrb cannot function any longer? why does this matter? because the person that's been put in charge of reviewing the hirings and firings of these agencies is elon musk, who by the way has lots of cases before the nlrb. so do the people that are standing behind trump during the inauguration. almost all of them have active cases before the nlrb, the billionaires supporting donald trump now don't have to worry about the nlrb because on january 27, the nlrb is rendered powerless. three days later on january 30,

trump awards more than $800,000 worth of stock to several of the board members of the trump media and technology group. this is the publicly traded company behind his social media platform. so now his cabinet members, people like kash patel and linda mcmahon, are owning equity in trump's media platform, equity that can be cashed out, sold to people who want to buy them out of their interest at any time. those people who might want to buy them out, cabinet members, could be individuals with issues before the department of education, before the fbi. yet another avenue in which people who have influence, who want to gain influence inside the trump administration, have a conduit to be able to move cash from their pocketbooks, from their treasury, from their bank accounts into the bank accounts of trump cabinet members. shortly thereafter, we start to

see the weaponization of the doj. on february 23, a civil complaint from doj that had been pending against spacex -- elon musk's signature company -- is dropped. eight days later the doj drops a case against a republican congressman. on february 19, two or three weeks later, the doj opens up something called operationwhile wind, which -- operation whirlwind, which threatens anyone who dares. over the course of the next three weeks, the doj is turned into an entity that drops cases against those who are loyal to donald trump and pursues aggressively investigations against those who a on february 1, trump fires the director of the cfpb and announces plans to shutter the

cfpb. this is an agency that was at the agency it was rendered powerless investigating elon musk and many of the biggest financial backers of donald trump. so once again those that have access to donald trump, the billionaires that are close to him, now don't have to worry about labor violations being investigated by the nlrb, now they don't have to worry about consumer protection actions being taken against them by the cfpb. on february 4, there is the first of two extraordinary meetings in the white house in which donald trump convenes his business partners, his business patterns, the saudi golf league and the pga to try to negotiate a re dispute. the saudi golf leak e. league

plays at trump's golf courses. if the white house using its official power can negotiate a settlement between those two grurngs trump stands to make money. on february 6, something absolutely stunning happens. pam bondi, the ag, issues a recommend dumb in which she proposes to dull the criminal enforcement of the foreign agents registration act. if you are representing a foreign government before the united states, you have to register so that we know if you are acting on behalf of american interests or you are acting on behalf of foreign interests. in the prior trump administration, trump officials got in big trouble for secretly working for and getting paid by foreign governments without registering. well, what does trump announce? that they are going to limit the applicability of the enforcement of that statute, making it much

easier for trump's friends -- for his maga crowd, for the people who show up to mar-a-lago -- to get paid quietly by foreign governments in order to influence donald trump. on february 10, maybe aside from the meme coin, the most stunning act of corruption -- the eric adams quid pro quo, in which eric adams insdied dieted for corruption -- indicted for corruption is let off the hook. his charges are dismissed in ex-chaplaining for the mayor's pledge of political loyalty to donald trump. they literally went on tv and announced the deal that we're getting rid of the charges against eric adams as long as the mayor pledges political loyalty to the president. that was so corrupt that six or seven doj officials resigned because they refused to withdraw those charges, but the deal went through because the seventh or the eighth or the ninth official

finally filed the withdrawal. now in america it is 100% clear that if you want to get away with corruption, if you want to steal from your constituents and you're an elected official in this country, all you have to do is just sign up for political loyalty with donald trump and he will instruct the department of justice to let you get away with it. on february 010, donald trump directs the doj to pause enforcement of u.s. laws that prohibit companies from paying bribes overseas. come on! like, come on! he instructs the doj to pause enforcement of u.s. laws that prohibit companies from paying bribes overseas. goldman sachs was engaged in bribes to malaysian officials so that they could get a contract to manage the resources of the malaysian sovereign wealth fund. american companies should not be overseas bribing foreign governments. that compromises america's reputation and america's national security. but now we are going to pause

enforcement of the laws that stop american companies from bribing foreign governments because corruption is now being normalized. this is what you do if you want to normalize corruption, is that you make it legal for american companies engage in corruption overseas. that makes it easier for trump to get away with corruption here. two days later, on february 12, the aous inment comes out that the state department is is going to buy $400 million of armored teslas. now it is getting even more brazen. the state department is just going to buy a whole bunch of product from elon musk, product they were not previously scheduled to buy. it is true that the biden administration had a blueprint that it was going to buy some electric vehicles, but it was around $4 8 3,000 worth of vehicles. trump revises that so that now the federal government is going to spend $400 million on armored teslas from elon musk.

that's february 12. that same day, elon musk's people infiltrate the department of labor and reporting suggests that during that infiltration, elon musk's personal representatives get access to enforcement information at osha, not only against elon musk's companies -- and by the way spacex has an employee injury rate that is nine times higher than the industry average, but also workplace safety violations against muck m-- against elon musk's competitors. if you are close to trump politically, you can get secret access to enforcement data against your companies and your companies' competitors. that's what happens on february 12, three days later, there's some suspicious firings at the fda. again related to elon musk's personal financial interests. elon musk owns a medical device

company called neuralink. it is currently being reviewed by the fda. guess what? on february 15 and 16, all over a weekend, there are 20 people fired from the fda's office of neurological and physical medicine devices. fired by doge, run by elon musk. clear message -- you're going to get fired if you aren't on the right side of elon musk's application. now, whether that was explicit or not, if the guy who was firing you has a pending application before your department, aren't you going to think twice? aren't you going to think twice about ruling against his interests? this is why this is all unprecedented. again, this feels norm balls it's been happening every day. but never before in american history have we allowed someone who has a pending application for approval of a medicine or a medical device to be able to personally decide who gets hired and who gets fired at the

regulatory agency, making the decision over that medical device. but now this stuff is happening every day. because on february 15 as well, that same weekend, there's an announcement that the fda cuts are going to be even deeper, perhaps as big as 50%. that means that hundreds of drugs and devices won't get approved at the fda. and you know who benefits from that? the folks that are selling the neighboring oil products. and -- the snake oil products. and guess who that is? the people work being for donald trump selling gummy vita pills. on february 19 is four days later, we find out that the irs is going to be cut by the 7,000 people.

and the biggest chunk of the folks that are going to be laid off are the people who do the audits of the billionaires and millionaires and the corporations. and so once again elon musk and the people standing behind donald trump on inauguration day are going to get off because the irs just had its enforcement powers, its audit powers absolutely gutted. that same day, on february 19, you start to receive word that advertising on elon musk's platform is starting to grow again, and the reporting on february 19 indicates that american companies have come to the collective decision that they need to keep advertising on elon musk's platform because elon musk has so much regulatory power inside the federal government.

they need to make sure that they're paying musk through twitter and through x so that if they ultimately need something from the federal government, they can get it. this again is why we have never, ever in the history of this country allowed for the richest man in the world, somebody who controls major companies, to also have an official position inside the government. because, of course, of course, it opens up these clear avenues where people are going to do business with him privately to try to curry favor with him publicly. i'm not done. it just keeps going. the next day, on february 20, the cdc's advisory committee on immunization practices monthly meeting is canceled and not rescheduled. and so we were very worried that robert f. kennedy jr. who makes

money off of his attacks on vaccines would continue those attacks when he took over hhs. because if faith in vaccines continues to plummet, it is very likely that rfk jr. will make money. why? because the not-for-profit that he will likely return to the company that he will return to after he leaves, makes money as vaccine misinformation spread and he also continues to collect fees for referring cases to a company that handles claims of personal injury due to vaccines. when the cdc advisory committee immunization practice is canceled, it is a clear indication that this campaign of assault on vaccines is going to continue which, not surprisingly, is likely to make rfk jr. even more money.

on february 26, we see trump's maga hats that are for sale on his website displayed in the oval office. it's just a reminder that so many people inside trump's universe continue to sell merchandise on the side in order to make money. donald trump has always done this, and we've just kind of accepted it even though it is a kind of corruption in and of itself. but kash patel, the director of the fbi, is still selling kash branded merchandise even while he's going to run the fbi. elon musk and others are selling doge merchandise. so as they trumpet their brand inside the government, they're making money off their brand outside of the government. on february 26, maybe the third-most significant of brazen corruption happens. news breaks that elon musk is just going to have the faa

cancel a contract with verizon that has been in the works for years. and instead just substitute in starlink for verizon. just extraordinary that this is happening in plain view of everybody. elon musk takes his private company, uses his access to government to just shove out of the way his competitors and instead insert himself and his company. we've never seen this before. now we get to this week. wired reports that guests are paying millions of dollars to dine with donald trump at mar-a-lago and business leaders are being pummeled with advertisements that sell access for a one on one meeting with the president of the united states for $5 million come on, like seriously. there's advertisements that say

if you're a business ceo and you pay $5 million to donald trump, you can get a meeting with him. like, this isn't okay. and yet, because it happens every single day, every single day they're asking for us to pretend that this is normal. this is just six weeks. it's just six weeks. weeks. and the last thing on the list is an offer to meet with the president for $1 million or $5 million. if any previous president had so i want an advertisement suggesting that you can meet with him for a payment to them of $1 million to $5 million in and of itself we would deem that to be unacceptable. but donald trump and elon musk

believe that because they have arranged this dizzying pace of corruption in which not a day goes by in which something doesn't happen inside our government in which elon musk or donald trump use their power in order to rig the rules to enrich themselves, that we are all going to feel that it's normal. this is how democracies die. democracies die when the very powerful people steal from us so regularly, so openly, so unapologetically that we come to believe that it's normal. and listen, i understand that many americans may think that all of this stuff just used to happen quietly, and the only difference is that trump and

musk are just putting it all out in the open. and i'm not saying that there haven't been instances of corruption, democrats and republicans in this body have been accused of and convicted of acts of corruption. it has been a fact of life in american politics for a long time. but never before has the corruption happened this openly or this frequently. and so i lay it all out for you this afternoon in the hopes that it is not too late for us to decide to stand up as a body p and as a nation to say that this isn't okay. the trump meme coin is not okay. it's not okay for people who have interest before the federal government to be able to anonomously funnel money to the president of the united states. it's not okay for elon musk to

have access to department of labor enforcement data against him or his competitors that nobody else gets access to. it's not okay to just cancel contracts that were going to musk's competitors and substitute in his own business just because he has the ability to do it as a friend of donald trump. the rule of law matters. doing things by the rules matter. this level of corruption was not occurring behind the scenes prior. it is not just that the cover got pulled off of it all. and it's our decision as a body and as a country to decide not to normalize this scale of corruption. i yield the floor.

presiding over this discussion. thank you for staying with us for this. there will be another panel left afterwards. he is the foreign minister of ukraine and he is also nonresident senior fellow. we also have with us philip, the former supreme allied commander in europe. the school of international affairs at georgia tech. thank you for joining us.

for the president and senior director of russian affairs at the national security council from 2007 to 2019. the president and chief executed officer as european policy advisor. then we will have enough time for questions and comments. you have published foreign affairs it was published just in time for the new year. the trump administration should pursue a maximum pressure . some extent in the first weeks of the administration. it was heard this morning that the it continues ukraine coming

to the negotiation table. it is always great to be part of these conversations. i think it tends to be quite insightful and revealing in the various ways. of course maximum pressure campaign continues. the shift at how the united states was pursuing the ukraine and europe. given the last week of events which we all have followed very, very closely. there were multiple potential pathways that were being discussed. they were entering the

administration being appointed to various roles. the trajectory early on where we need to get the russians to the negotiation table. so the question was how do we avoid the situation where it is not in good faith which tends to be the pattern of russian negotiating which is for the sake of negotiation switches to see what the other side is willing able to offer, what the lines are, constraints are, there is no follow-up, it is not an actual negotiation. just a way to assess your opponent. my view has been always that the only way to avoid them is to be the russians is to of flies far more pleasure and to come from negotiation table making it painful for them so that they have no other choice but to

compromise. i think until we are in that situation they have no incentive to compromise. they certainly think that they are winning now. i was just looking at some russian media, mainstream media if you can call it that, state owned propaganda outlets in russia. it is shifting quite dramatically. we seen for decades russia and state media called the united states the enemy, the adversary. all kinds of terms for the so-called west as they say. shifted pretty profoundly. i think that it is always a signal that they see a major geopolitical shift happening right now. so that administration has probably moved away from pursuing the kind of negotiation tactic and as a result we sought in a much bigger position as we did in the united states and on the other hand, we have seen a strategy of carrots for the russians and a strategy of

sticks for the ukrainians. you know, i hope that the carrots that were giving to the russians right now that are weakening our negotiating hand because we are basically playing with open cards while the russians are not. they have very clearly understood were willing to give because just giving it all. i think on the ukrainian side, they are being pressured. they are being pressured to probably accept a negotiation eventually that will not benefit them in the short medium or long term. and i think we sell very much and display in the white house meeting. i think we all watched and followed very closely the implications of. i think that that was a shift the administration's policy has gone in the maximum pressure direction towards ukraine.

you have a lot of experience the number one meeting. he understands that trump administration stance how the russians negotiate. he told the antidote that russians are coming into the movements coming next hathaway into the room. what is your experience, what are the greatest pitfalls in negotiating which that side? >> first of all, i just want to commend you for doing this. i think that it is an extraordinarily important presentation. he was 1000% honest. i worked with the general colleague at the national

security council and trump one point oh. he was just laying it all out for all of us. i know lena did not manage to make it in time but i hope she will listen to it and afterwards i think everybody should go back and listen to that again because there are some very important messages from him. the general does know about russians and how they negotiate. he's -- he has been around the block many many times. i think if the general was listening to this as well and the foreign minister, you know, i am sure that they will some comments, particularly from the military perspective and on the ground in ukraine. but, i would not then, you know, attribute the views of general kellogg his analysis to everyone else on the team around president trump because everyone else there including with all due respect to which cough having that same experience. angela is often commenting in the same way that alina did

about the danger of giving carrots to the russians. depending on the text or the carrots allowed to eat them or they will take them and hit you over the head with them. i think that that is kind of one of the risks that we are seeing at the moment. what i've seen coming back not from general kellogg but some from a special and others is they have taking it completely on board with the russian talking points in the russian positions. the question margaret brennan tried to get to this in the questions asking about what was the term sheet from the russians i think that we can see very clearly first of all bilateral and one of the announcements is russian code for absolutely every single thing that they are angry with the united states about. it is not the solutions from the united states point of view because we do not pay attention to some of these issues. it is the russian positions. when general kellogg was talking about the ukrainian term sheet i think they have been pretty

consistent. everything is a loss to ukraine. let's be clear about this. every single thing that ukraine is having to negotiate with is a loss. every single thing as a concession because they are the country that was inverted. the russians have made it very clear which was also their doubt and some of the discussion that they want territory that they currently do not control. the concessions going to be there currently do not control and that they will not go farther. that will be, you know, not much of a concession from the ukrainian point of view. everly single thing they're being asked to do is to concede. i also understand from listening to general kellogg very carefully, i just want to say we should all be very grateful he has let all of this out. it was very clear. something was completely lost in translation. again i think zelensky made a fatal error by not having everything translated.

the advice of being in the administration, all the people here that i've worked in farm services would be do not negotiate, not your native language no matter how you speak it. if i was the brits i would have someone translate from british to american all the time as well just to be very clear. i know the prime minister was already here. you are an american interpreter. things are lost all the time. i think what zelensky did not understand that he was being offered a treaty of sorts. because president trump does not abide by any of the contracts or treaties signed by any previous government. and when zelensky said to president trump and i watch that press conference five times to kind of figure out where things went wrong, there were multiple points, but one of them was when president zelensky pointed to your president he kept saying to president trump who already signed agreements and president

trump cast those aside. what president trump was actually telling zelensky was signing something with me. this will be the only thing you are signing. it is kind of a treaty of sorts. resident trump does not care about the memoranda from 1994. he was not there. he does not care about the recognitions for ukraine because they were not made by him. up until this point there has been no agreement between ukraine and president trump and that is what we were being told. sitting at the back when i kind of realized that that was the case. i do not think that president zelensky understood that. his english is not that good. the english speakers not always understanding because we do not fully understand as general kellogg does. remember general kellogg has been with resident trump from the very beginning from his first campaign. he understands him better than anyone who was still there with him. other people do not understand

that in exactly the same way. you have different levels of interpretation what does president trump himself mean. what does the actual translation of the words mean? it is a context in the content. that is why would actually go back to your initial question. with all due respect to which cough, secretary of state marco rubio and everyone else that went there without any interpretation or context, i have no clue what the russians are actually talking about. there interpretation coming directly speaking to those that speak excellent english and have been around this block forever. completely understanding who they are, how they interact in the system, how the other system interacts, going to harvard, worked for goldman sacs, all kinds of other western entities. he knows exactly who he is, who he is talking on behalf of, how

far he can go into his english is impeccable. i think, you know, unfortunately , this is what the russians are telling us. if you look at what they are doing at the russian interpretation, they are being quite scathing. we have not even gotten the junior varsity on the team here. we have the intramural or basically the pickup game. they are thinking right now that they can manipulate this. general kellogg is saying we will see when we get there. at this point the united states is going out the door with the russians on their side of the table, not just reaching that point. general kellogg himself understands this, but i'm not so sure that other people around him do. >> that is a very helpful analysis, fiona. the speech and the past meetings let me turn now. thank you for joining us for this discussion. there had been some help from a ukrainian perspective that there could be a reset and u.s. route -- u.s. ukraine relations after this meeting in the white house.

it is unclear how any reset would look like that some of the negotiation levels see it has towards ukraine will be cap in the hands for longer period of time to try to use them not only for the economic partnership but potentially for other concessions that they want to see from the ukrainian side. what is the strategy to react to that? i know that it is tough to develop a strategy at such a high pressure. what would you recommend? >> dual power strategy. we have to get an answer. talking to ukrainians. i have been browsing a lot around the country. it is a sort of emotional shock for many, many people. firstly, many welcome.

but now people see a lot of to ukraine and the russians. so, someone should have exchanged their buckets and something else. if you are not in keys. the second point which worries me even more, it is a kind of focus on nato extension as a fundamental there. it is a fundamental to understand him.

anybody in russia and anybody in the russian leadership the effect that ukraine is out. ukrainians estate to basically everything. and 24 teen when the invasion into ukraine started, we were institutionally. it is really important you understand because the fundamental reason for that is that russia sees us as a kind of ill-fated russia. so, if you kind of ask what to do if you need to eliminate, you get your answer.

so, if you ask the wrong question and if you mention foreign origins, you are fundamentally nowhere. it is what is happening now. we clearly understand that we need a license on our side. we need a strategy. sort of a common strategy. there is no way our european security or european security connection but also by definition the european security without ukraine. unfortunately, this point is coming down into the minds of many european politicians. but not really the european societies. there is sort of a clear

symmetry here. but what u.s. administrations have already achieved is actually the chinese talking directly to the europeans saying you should be at the table. of course europe is a bottle. i send a cloture motion to the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture. cloture undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby bring to a close debate on the nomination of steven bradbury, of virginia, to be deputy secretary of transportation, signed by 17 senators as follows. mr. thune: i ask consent the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: i move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion to proceed. all those in favor say aye. all opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. mr. thune: i move to proceed to executive session to consider calendar number 28.

the presiding officer: the question is on the motion to proceed. all those in favor say aye. all opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: nomination, department of justice, abigail slater, of the district of columbia to be assistant attorney general. mr. thune: i send a cloture motion to the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture. the clerk: cloture accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby bring to a close debate on the nomination of abigail slater, of the district of columbia, to be an assistant attorney general, signed by 17 senators as follows. mr. thune: i ask consent the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its , i ask that the senate prove to legislatives session. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: i ask that the senate

proceed to s. res. 11 -- 117. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: senate resolution 117, providing for members on the joint committee of printing and the joint committee of congress on the library. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection. mr. thune: unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. i ask that the senate proceed to s. res. 118 are. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: designating march 6, 2025, as national slam the scam day. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection, the senate will proceed to the measure. mr. thune: i ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be considered made

and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. thune: i ask that the appointment at the desk appear separately in the record as if made by the chair. the presiding officer: without obje objection. mr. thune: i have seven requests for committees to meet during today's session of the senate. they have the approval of the majority and minority leaders. the presiding officer: duly noted. mr. thune: i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to executive session to consider the nomination on the secretary's desk in the coast guard, that the nomination be confirmed, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate, no further motions be in order, the president be immediately notified of the senate's action and the senate then resume legislative session. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today, it stand adjourned until 3:00 p.m. on monday, march 10. that following the prayer and pledge, the journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed expired, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, morning business be closed, and the senate proceed to executive session and resume consideration

of executive calendar number 29, the chavez-deremer nomination. further, that the senate vote on confirmation of the nomination at 5:30 p.m. further, following disposition of the chavez-deremer nomination, the senate resume legislative session and resume consideration of the motion to proceed to calendar number 18, s. 331, and the senate vote on adoption of the motion. finally, if any nominations are confirmed during monday's session of the senate, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, and the president be immediately notified of the senate's action. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: mr. president, if there is no further business to come before the senate, i ask that it stand adjourned under the previous order. the presiding officer: the

>> the senate continued work on president trump nominations today confirming troy edgar as deputy homeland security secretary. lawmakers also advanced the nomination of labor secretary and permanently classifying doge with the highest control of penalties. or live coverage here on c-span2 when they gaveled back in. >> looking to contact your members of congress, c-span is making it easy for you with our 2025 congressional directory. get essential contact information for government officials all in one place. this compact spiral-bound guide contains bio and contact information for every house and senate member of the 119th

congress. contact information on congressional committees, the president's cabinet, federal agencies and state governors. the congressional directory cost 3295 plus shipping and handling in every purchase help support c-span's nonprofit operations. scan the code on the right or go to c-span shop.org to preorder your copy today. >> c-span, democracy unfiltered. we are funded by these television companies and more including comcast. >> you think this is just a community center, no, it is way more than that peanut partnering with 1000 community centers to enable wi-fi so students in low income families can get the tools they need to be ready for anything. comcast support c-span as a public service along with these other television providers giving you a front row seat to democracy.

american history tv saturdays on c-span2 exploring the people and events that tell the american story. this weekend at 5:15 p.m. eastern, historian rebecca or grant talks about the first female cabinet member labor secretary frances perkins who worked to aid refugees fleeing nazi germany. then at 7:00 p.m. eastern watch american history tv series first 100 days. as we look at the start of presidential terms. this week we focus on the early months of president gerald ford's term in 1974 including his part in the former president richard nixon who resigned from office during the watergate investigation. at 8:00 p.m. eastern on lectures in history, georgetown university derek gannon on the irish diaspora in the role of the united states during the troubles and in the northern ireland peace process and at