they were just shooting to kill. >> it seemed unbelievable that this thing seem to be spiraling out of control. >> we were wondering as anybody in the family going to get out alive. ♪ [♪] . mark: hello, america, i'm mark levin. this is "life, liberty & levin." i have a special guest, tom cotton. we never met before. you have an impressive background. you went to harvard and harvard law school. but even more impressive you served in the 101st airborne in iraq and later in afghanistan with the provincial reconstruction team. in between tours. you served with the old guard at

arlington national cemetery. you go to harvard law school, then you decide to go into the military? >> some people may say i redeemed myself by joining the army after going to harvard. i started my final year of law school in september of 2001. the second week of school i was in evidence class back when dinosaurs roamed the earth and we didn't have smart phones in the classroom. it was about an hour later when everyone found out what happened. we watched as the towers fell down and flight 93 crashed inning shanksville. we had a prayer vigil. from that point forward i knew i wanted to serve in the country's

military. i thought about rushing out to join right away. some friends in the military discouraged me from doing that. i was into three years of paying for law school. but when that finished i joined the army. signed up in late 2000 and shipped out to basic training in january of 2005. mark: you received the bronze star, the combat infantry badge and the a rain jerp tag. not only is it enormously impressive. but you have knowledge and experience what you are talking about. not just from the senate floor and a television broadcast studio like this. you have been in iraq, afghanistan, you have been on the ground. you have been a congressman. around senator. you serve on the intelligence and armed services community. you see the broader perspective

of things. you are the only united states senator, 98-1 vote. you voted against the iran deal. even thought it allowed for congress to review the deal. you said wait a minute. this is supposed to be a treaty under our constitution. 98-1. where were all the constitutionalists? you are it. you are too nice, you don't want to comment. >> i am saying what a lot of people who supported that measure, they wanted some mechanism to vote up or down on president obama's iran nuclear deal. but a nuclear arms control treaty with a mortal enemy like iran should be a treaty and it should have widespread support reflected in a 2/3 vote of the united states senate. they just voted on a similar nuclear arms treaty with be

russia. they are not outdated and it's a way to have a durable and lasting agreement with the united states and another country. i would also say my history abroad goes back pretty far. far. by the time got to iraq in 2006, it was right before the surge which meant it was in the times when things were deteriorating that necessitated the surge the following year. we saw the our far fueled by iranian meddling. the most deadly weapon we faced was as sophisticated roadside bomb that was manufactured in iran by the quds force led by qassem soleimani. he has the blood of american

soldiers on his hands because of his influence in the iraq war. mark: soleimani. i guess i'm a reaganite. i am an old school guy. you take out a year -- take outa generamaniaclike this. he has massive amounts of blood opening his hands, muslim, syrian, lebanese, ye welleny. the path who is careful about using military force takes him out. the democrat party almost to a man and woman criticize him. they have a phoney resolution in

the house to try to limit his power. the republicans are waving the constitution around bizarrely. >> qassem soleimani was a sadistic terrorist mastermind. there is no country in the middle east whose citizens have not suffered because of him. he killed hundreds of thousands of syrians. last year more than a thousand iranians were killed by their own security forces because they protested against their government. soleimani was responsible for those as well. there is no doubt. i have seen the intelligence he was plotting something large and dangerous. whether it happened in a matter of weeks or days. the question of whether an atakes imminent looks different if you are a senator sitting

behind armed guards in the washington, d.c. or a soldier in iraq. i was disappointed in my senate colleagues because you have the chance to taking a mastermind like soleimani off the battlefield, you take it. i commend the president for doing so. we should have done it a long time ago. mark: you hear people say, what are we doing there? what are we dmoght middle east it pameast -- it's a quagmire. what are we doing there soap we can't allow iran to wage a proxy war against us without fighting back. i saw iraq at some of its worst times in 2006. the surge worked. president bush handed over an iraq that was largely stable in 2008 to president obama. president obama unwisely

maintained the stance he had taken during the campaign that he would withdraw the troops regardless of the conditions on the ground. we might have fewer troops now if we had maintained that smaller presence then. so you don't see you a vicious group like the terrorist state rise from the ashes. if we withdraw entirely from the middle east it will likely follow us back to the united states like it did on 9/11. it doesn't mean we have to have 100,000 troops and we don't have to make the countries into western democracies. but it means at times we have to have troop presence to project power to make sure threats don't gather there an there and and me

here. iran is building icbms. you don't put conventional warheads on icbms. there is only one reason you build a missile that flies from iran to the united states. on 9/11 someone with a few hundred thousand dollars and committed fanatics could do, it's so essential we don't allow power vacuums to rise in places that have large numbers of highly skilled, highly motivated terrorist fighters as in iraq and syria, because those people, though they may be playing a near game against their second tear yawn rivals in their own

governments. ultimately they focus on what iran calls the great satan, the united states. mark: do we not have businesses abroad and interests? >> embassies in every country. when president trump directed the strike that you killed some money *, w -- -- killed qassem soleimani, we all so killed his top deputy. that man has a long and bloody history as well. he was responsible for bombing the united states embassy in kuwait in 1983. so the threat is not limited to iraq or where we have troops in the middle east. iran just because the president prevailed in this round and they are scared in the united states.

they are not going to pull in their horns. our embassies remain at risk of iranian terror. that's why it's important to stress the red line if one american is harmed by iran or its proxies, they will face consequences. mark: war monger is the word that is pushed out there. the strongest defense on the face of the earth and from time to time the necessity of using it. i am not talking about a quarter million troops using it. you have been called a war morning. what do you make of that? you said you are an sol -- an od reaganite. george washington said the most effective space is to be prepared for war. weakness is provocative and invites attacks upon you.

anyone who happens seen the face of a war up close sees what it does to the soldiers who fight it and the civilians around it. we have to be repaired to fight that war if -- we have to be prepared to fight that war if we want to deter our adversaries. mark: when we return i want to explore the trump doctrine with it comes to use of military force. mark: you can call 844-levintv, or go soblazetv.com/mark to sign up. americans have come to lendingtree.com to shop and compare their loans and credit cards for over 20 years. now with the new lending tree app you can go beyond loan shopping and see your full financial health, including your free

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mark: senator tom cotton. we kept hearing about world war iii. and they treat the president in such disrespectful ways. someone has to tell him to tamp it down. the president, you know him well enough. he makes his own decisions. he takes in the information and makes his own decision. what i think it media and

democrats and many democrats are police is there is a trump doctrine. he seize what obama did -- he sees what obama did. appeasement and the dismantling of the u.s. military. he sees the bush doctrine which effectively was build up the united states military and much more aggressive interventionism and state building. the president said i am not for that. he was against the iraq war. so what does he do? he says i want america to be ought strongest nation on the face of the earth. i will build up the military. he says i will talk to the dictators. but if you are going to attack americans, if you are going to kill americans, and american soldiers, i'm going to stop you.

reagan never sent a quarter million troops anywhere and he defeated the soviet union. he was respected and feared by our enemies. trump is respected and feared by our enemies. the trump doctrine reminds me of the reagan doctrine with a trump overlay. and i think everybody is missing this. >> i think that's pretty well said, mark. the obama doctrine was a bad overcorrection to what happened in the bush years. we badly harmed our military and hollowed it out in many ways and turned the other cheek consistently. even when barack obama promised a red line he wouldn't even 40s. donald trump came into office and said we are not going to

turn them into western democracies. his red line in iran has been very clear for the last several months. if you harm scene american you will suffer severe consequences. when qassem soleimani's proxied killed an mayor can, he did. in 1988 when the u.s. navy vessel was struck by an iranian mine. ronald reagan' ask practiced restraint and forbearance at the time. he had the threat of the soviet union to consider as well. f even if you look at the threats the soviet union posed during the cold war, i think china poses a similar threat.

and donald trump has done a lot to deal with that threat. he has done a lot to bringing through and changed the views of a lot of republicans on china. that may be why our views of china are the most durable parts of the trump doctrine and foreign policy. it's probably the most bipartisan point. mark: let's talk about china. i consider china is the greatest threat. iran is a threat, too. but china has stolen our technology to the point where they are probably as sophisticated or more sophisticated when it comes to technology. cyber warfare they are on the cutting edge. they are developing a global military.

both sides of the panama canal. chinese contractors. reagan never would allowed that, i don't believe for a minute. trump inherits this stuff. he didn't create this. the chinese were building the phoney islands when he became president of the united states. the iran deal was something he had to fix. that he had to address when he became president. he gets almost no credit. the constant attacks in the media by these former obama appointees and others going on and on about how he's rash. where was he rash? i think he has been cogent and systematic. what do we do with china? >> there is no question china is the greatest threat we face in the years ahead. iran and north korea are threats. they have a tendency because they are rogue nations to

general straight crises. but they do not have the ability to displace the united states as the world super power. russia is a declining power. they are increasing their military capabilities. but russia is a troubled, declining power. china is still a rising power. a lot of people in washington made mistakes about china over the last 20 years thinking if we sent jobs and outsourced our factories and brought cheap stuff over shee -- overhere, thy woulding become a peaceful western democracy. xi jinping is the most powerful ruler since mao.

they are trying to compete with us in space and cyber technology. trying to displace us as the world's largest economy. the president has china 100% right. we need to draw bawn dris with china and defeat them. economic, military. mark: you are saying and i agree, president trump is way ahead of the curve on this. that's why watching last week, the attacks on him and his staff and advisors are so way off the mark. he's way ahead of everybody when it comes to china. i think what he's doing as he's dwielgohe's -- he's dealing witt

economically. he's not a codepink republic kahn. he's not a radical ideologue. he's bringing prudence to the job. he sees a problem and he's trying to fix it without an ideological approach. >> he campaigned against the iran nuclear deal. i remember talking to him repeatedly during the campaign about how bad the iran nuclear deal was. he talked about how bad our trade deals are with china. he said in the campaign he would put america first. that gives the vapors to most folks in arkansas or outside of wash it makes sense. of course, you want our president to put america first. if you have moderate to severe psoriasis,

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by roadside bomb in afghanistan. * sergeant ian mclaughlin of newport, virginia and miguel villalon. the u.s. is getting ready to move more than one dozen military students from a training program in pensacola, florida. the action follows a deadly shooting last month when the doughty air force officer called killed three officers. now back to mark levin. [♪] mark: senator tom cotton. you wrote a book, "sacred duty," it's a beautiful book. ways your relationship to this. >> between my tours of duty in iraq and afghanistan, i served in the old guard. it traces its lineage back to

george washington. since 1948 it has been our nation's ceremonial unit. it has performed funeral ceremonies and most famously guarding the tomb of the unknown soldier. i conducted hundreds of funerals for our veterans and comrades. arlington get 4 million visitors a year. there have been many books written about a luno a -- writtt arlington cemetery. but i wanted to write a book about the old guard. mark: just to see what the men and women do with their

uniforms, how meticulous they are with the medals and everything else, it's beautiful. so i want to thank you for that as well. i want to get into the foreign policy issue with israel. president trump has been the most pro israel president since there has been a state of israel. he promised certain things and did certain things. he has an 80% popularity rate in israel. you have been around long enough to see presidents make promises and not follow through. >> i have seen the change in congress with president obama and now president trump with the relationship between the u.s. and israel. obama wanted daylight between the u.s. and israel to push them to make peace.

israel is a natural ally. we have a long deep kinship with them. it helps israel in its neighborhood have better relations with saudi arabia and the emirates. you mentioned keeping promises. this an example how the president's instincts are often right and the experts in washington are wrong. they always renege on the promise to move the capital of israel to jerusalem. they predict dire consequences. there will be rioting in the streets or attacks on israel. donald trump kept his promise. he moved the embassy to jerusalem. where are the riots. the protests. where is the war?

so-called foreign policy experts were predicting world war ii because the president took a terrorist off the battlefield. this is how the president's instincts are often correct. in this case with the embassy, the same promise all presidents have made for decade and he's the only one keeping them. mark: you have been outspoken about anti-semitism, the bds movement. the think tank, the combination of koch and soros. you are a senator from arkansas. you are looking at this from a humanity perspective. do you see a growing anti-semitism in our country, on our college campuses, in the media, and the democrat party,

worldwide? >> there is growing anti-semitism including here in the united states. you saw the terrible vicious attacks over the holidays in the middle of hanukkah. the criminals who attacked those jews were released the next day because new york has eliminated its bail system. then they go out and attack jews the next day. it's an effort to single out the jewish state, the home of the jewish people for economic warfare. you see it on our college campuses. it's the heart of the bds movement. one of the first bills we voted on in the senate was a bill to combat anti-semitism and the bds movement. mark: it was controversial. >> nancy pelosi has refused to bring that bill up for a vote.

in the middle of last year when ilhan omar made anti-i mitti anc remarks, nancy pelosi brought a watered down resolution instead. it's an ancient hatred and wherever it festers conditions get worse for every one. mark: next we'll talk about impeachment. whether it was unconstitutional in the house and whether the delay is unconstitutional. remind me to call petsmart for ralphie's appointment. who's his groomer? carrie. full groom for sure what? i just booked ralphie's appointment online. that work? wait you what? it's that easy! download the app or book online at petsmart.com

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is the senate part of congress? i think so. then we have what's the other one? something about abuse of power. now, you went to harvard law school, you are a smart fella. i studied this my entire life. the impeachment clause. obstruction of congress, abuse of power would fall into the category that was rejected at the constitutional convention. too ambiguous. you could drive a truck through this stuff. the wait they conducted themselves -- the way they conducted themselves. no construct of due process. we are talking about the rules that applied to past presidents and judges who have been impeached. they conduct the hearing in the intelligence hearing which i

understand didn't hold a single hearing on iran. she holds it up and says i want to see what the senate is going to do. who elected nancy pelosi queen of america? she is one congresswoman. what does the senate do? >> you are right about the two articles of impeachment. they are similar to what was rejected at the constitutional convention. they rejected it because it was too vague, too generic. it would be used as a political tool just because someone disliked the president's policies. that's what many of the witnesses alleged. they alleged they want to support ukraine. and that this was a bad or unwise decision. they are entitled to that

opinion but they are not empowered to make those decisions under our constitution. only president is. i remember when nancy pelosi took the country down this path in september. speaking to the president by the win said i know it's frustrating. but you have to remember they started impeaching you the day you got elected. they filed the first articles a few weeks after you were sworn in. depending on how you count things, the third or fourth effort to impeach the president. it goes back to one single sin. defeating hillary clinton in 2016. as nancy pelosi and adam schiff said if the senate doesn't convict president trump on this impeachment round, they will impeach him in the future. they refuse to accept that he won in 2016. even though we have an election

in barely 10 months. they want to present their case and call witnesses. the senate will not let nancy pelosi dictate to us. i suspect in the coming days when she sends the articles that we'll pass the resolution that is similar if not identical to the resolution that passed 100-0 in the clinton impeachment trial. setting a timeline and then the senate can decide what to do at that point in the senate trial. i hope the democrats join us in this measure as they joined in 1999. but given their behavior so far i don't hold out much hope. mark: she has done enormous damage to the constitution. including the impeachment clause. if she and a small minority of democrats, the faction, the mob if you will in the house of

representatives gets away with this, and the senate processes this like a normal impeachment for a trial, the standard for impeachment has been changed without an amendment to thes constitution. just make endless allegations, trigger the appointment of a special counsel. just keep throwing, throwing, throwing. try and cripple the president and come up with lame, overarching allegations. they haven't found that the president committed any offenses. now the impeachment clause of the constitution has been changed. the only body that can stop this is the united states senate. >> it's like nancy pelosi and adam schiff sat down and read

all the concerns james madison had. and said let's pass impeachment on a party line vote. it's there are incumbent on the senate to perform the role the founders wanted us to perform. that's why we have a senate. that's why it's structured in the way it is and that's the role we play. to make sure the president gets a fair way to present his case in a way he didn't in the house of representatives. and not all constitutionality procedures you have in a criminal trial. impeachment is not a court of law. it's a political inquiry that will be connected to preexisting parties. that's why they gave it to the senate and not the supreme court

or an independent body. it's our role to stop the damage the house of representatives has done so they don't use this as a precedence in the future in the house. they recognize it was an unwise decision the house made in 2016. there he is. oh, wow. you're doing, uh, you're doing really great with the twirling. dad, if you want to talk, i have a break at 3:00. okay, okay. i'm going. i'm gone. like -- like i wasn't here. [ horn honks ] keep -- keep doing it, buddy. switch to progressive and you can save hundreds. you know, like the sign says. it'scan it helphe january andsale keep me asleep?mber 360 smart bed. absolutely, it senses your movements and

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mark: senator, when talked about this unconstitutional impeachment process followed by a non-binding resolution where they vote to extend the war powers act to tie the president's hands. is the war powers act of 1973 ebb constitutional? >> of course not. it was passed bid liberal democratic majorities because they were angry at richard nixon has been regard as you be constitutional by every president since then. congress has an important role to play. the treaty clause required the senate to ratify treaties.

we confirm ambassadors and cabinet members, we fund and provide rules and regulations for the armed forces. those are important roles we play. we can declare war as well which traditionally has been about the relationships between two warring nations. the fundamental way we have to stop the president from making war whether it's limited strikes like the president too or a major ground war. is our staying power. you simply refuse to fund it. it happened with ronald reagan in the 1980s. and it happened with the vietnam war. that's why we had a evacuate from our embassy in 1975. if fact congress tried to do that just a few weeks ago.

there were amendments arounded to the national defense bill that we passer yea pass -- we py year. and it failed it doesn't have the votes. the war powers resolution is not the way congress can restrain the executive. congress can't micromanage the way the president uses the armed forces. the federalist papers explain why we have a single executive. the founders wanted one executive who could act with dispatch and energy and sometimes in secret. if they rejected the idea of having three or four or five executives, imagine what they would have thought about 535 commanders-in-chief. mark: we are a constitutional republic with three branches.

congress has a lot of powerful tools. they could cut off funding but they don't have the votes to do it. >> if you don't like what the president did in killing qassem soleimani, or striking hezbollah. that's fine. introduce a bill to prevent the president from using any fund or the armed forces against iran. if you have the votes, pass it and send it to him. mark: we need to debate iran. debate. if the house intelligence committee wasn't so busy trying to topple the united states, maybe they would hold a hearing. maybe it's god godo -- maybe is good i don't know it. you can contact us

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started world war iii. you see it on guns. the media abandons any pretense of being neutral. they have become the media wing of the democratic party. that's a disservice to americans who want good, reliable news that's gathered every day. in arkansas our newspaper the arkansas ga set celebrated -- gazette celebrated its 100 years. it celebrates gathering news in a way that too many news organizations have abandoned. mark: so-called climate change, immigration, military, law enforcement, the american founding that the media in this country doesn't embrace the

democratic party and far left. i want to thank you for appearing today and giving us your expertise. and don't be a stranger. see you next time on "life, liberty & levin." [♪] steve: breaking tonight. big news on president trump's iran strategy. the president said he couldn't care less if they negotiate despite what his national security advisor said this morning. the president reiterating his insistence iran will not get a nuclear weapon and surging iran not to kill protesters as thousands of people took to the streets to condemn their leaders for shooting down a ukrainian passenger plane. i will be joined by matt gaetz for reaction. look at this.