first, we start with congressman adam smith. the democrat of washington state. and the ranking democrat on the house armed services committee. congressman, we were following another news conference this afternoon. from east palestine ohio. a regional administrator from the environmental protection agency said the agency has identified additional disposal or disposal sites for the derailment. the agency also said railroad service will resume tomorrow. now, tonight i'm interested in your take on republican lawmakers criticizing the administration's handling of the disaster. as i lay it out at the top of the show, while donald trump wasn't east palestine last week, essentially for a photo op as he runs for president a third time, president biden was taken flak from some of trump's allies in congress are going to ukraine and not ohio even though you had top biden officials, the epa and fema all underground working with local authorities to clean up the mass. it seems to me that this administration can walk and chew gum at the same time. why do republicans suddenly t

we heard top ranking democrat on the committee adam smith say sending f-16 fighter jets to ukraine is not a wise use of resources, even though ukraine wants that. repawn can matt gaetz tried to enter propaganda. tell me about. >> gates seemed to be surprised. it seemed to be an accident on his part, citing the propaganda outlet. he was asking a policy official at the defense department about a report from this organization and the report cited u.s. giving weapons to the far right battalion in ukraine. g arks tz asked call whether or not he was aware that this actually occurred in the u.s., supplied these weapons. call didn't seem to recognize this or was aware. he cited this global times report from china, call said i don't agree with chinese propaganda. g arks tz said, well, i agree with that assessment. but, jake, this all coming as, you're right, adam smith, the top democrat on the committee, making clear he does not believe supplying fighter jets to ukraine is a wise use of resources, but not all republicans and democrats agree with that. >> thanks so much. >>> now to china where

and joining me now for more is congressman adam smith, the ranking member of the armed services committeepresident biden said he is ruling out, right now, sending f-16 fighter jets to ukraine which president zelenskyy has been asking for repeatedly. let's take a quick listen to what president biden had to say. >> we are sending him what our season military thinks he needs now. he needs tanks, he needs artillery, he needs air defense, including the high mark, there are things you needs now that we are sending him to put in a position to be able to make gains this spring and summer, going into fall. >> you don't think he needs f-16s? now >> no, he does not need at 60s now. there is no basis in which there is a national to provide f-16s. >> you are not ruling it out? >> i am ruling it out for now. >> representative, based on what we heard from my colleague, who is actually in kyiv about this being a race against time. do you think president biden's decision hurt ukraine's ability to end the war sooner than later? >> no it does not. really, the whole thing is puzzling to me, as i spoke to the

a veil of frustration from adam smith. ., a veil of frustration from adam smith. . ., ~ ., smith.h, and i think lord west is among those who _ smith. yeah, and i think lord west is among those who think- smith. yeah, and i think lord west is among those who think that. - smith. yeah, and i think lord west is among those who think that. we j is among those who think that. we need _ is among those who think that. we need to— is among those who think that. we need to backfill our own defence because — need to backfill our own defence because the amount of weapons we're sending _ because the amount of weapons we're sending to _ because the amount of weapons we're sending to ukraine. he's also been sending— sending to ukraine. he's also been sending out some fairly sensible warnings — sending out some fairly sensible warnings ahead of the invasion last year, _ warnings ahead of the invasion last year. that— warnings ahead of the invasion last year, that the west should take lessons — year, that the west should take lessons from the withdraw from kahuh — lessons from the withdraw from k

k, the center for policy studies, the adam smith institute, but they were regarded as totally fringe and they were not re listened to a toll until you get a political entrepreneur like margaret thatcher. who is interested in decisively resolving the crisis of the seventy's. and these ideas, a sort of sitting around and they provide policy templates. she then implements sy, much of opportunity and enterprise, less tax, less regulation, more flexibility, more freedom. those will be our guidelines. she says you have to dial down political institutions. you have to roll back democratic accountability, you have to open the market to the least idea of market forces, which means that you, cattail social forces. and a big part thought is absolutely discredit taking the idea of the welfare state that she was willing to go whole hog and tear up the post war consensus. basically been defeating the trade unions, which she regarded as the enemy with it. and then restoring the conditions for businesses to make profit. so it is left to the market to decide which areas will flourish and prosper, whi

the words for adam smith, international consulting, which in 2017 to be revealed, had provided funding on a 12 k e to navigation. they denied at the time that london later, upon termination of its funding admitting some parts of the accusations may hold weight on the agents were allegedly sent to several refugee comes in, jordan and lebanon in the west bank to interview palestinians, apparently under the pretext of academic research when in fact they were reportedly that to monitor criticism of western israeli foreign policy. among other things that we spoke to, one of the investigative journalists who brought the story as the winstanley need told us how the intelligence contracts had funded militants. scandalous rarely that the british government is still using this organization essentially to combat al qaeda when it has this proven track record of support in al qaeda. now of course they say that it was done inadvertently, but it denials at the time were very incongruous. i think they were very in my view, very unbelievable. because at 1st they said all this is completely untrue. but

you know, he's the top democrat on the armed services committee in the house of representatives, adam smith. so he's pretty serious about these issues. and i think that he's probably right, smith is, when it comes to this. the fact that this is on live tv everywhere, the entire world is watching, you know? the chinese, it's been said that they have been running some of these balloons around for a long time. they aren't picked up on radar. there's no launch, it's easier to do. but the fact that they were doing it and were caught red-handed. this is where you have to look at some more recent history that las touched off some pretty tight moments between the united states and china. the united states mistakenly bombed the embassy in downtown belgrade in the late '90s. that was an issue in the balkans war. so that's one issue. you might remember in the early 2000s when there was a u.s. spy plane, surveillance plane, that went on hainan island and, you know, touched off a major diplomatic issue where there were american service members who were held for several days because they were doing surve

the work, the group words for adam smith international consortium in 2017 the b b. c revealed had provided funding to al qaeda and allegation that they denied at the time, but london later upon termination of its funding, admitted some parts of the accusations may hold. weight. undercover agents were sent through several refugee camps in jordan lebanon in the west bank to interview palestinians under the pretext of academic research, allegedly, when, in fact they were there to monitor criticism of weston and israeli foreign policy. among other things. earlier we spoke to one of the journalists behind the reports, you brought the story when stanley and he told us how the intelligence contractor had to funded teresa allegedly, i mean to post serial or scandalous, really, that the british government is still using this organization essentially to combat al qaeda when it has this proven track record of supporting al qaeda. now of course they say that it was done inadvertently, but that denials at the time were very incongruous. i think they were very in my view very unb

the great work for adam smith international, a consortium, which in 2017 the b. b. c. rebuilt and provided funding and aids to al queda and allegation they denied at the time, but london later upon termination of its fund, they get admitted. some parts of the accusations may hold weighed on the cover agents were sent to several refugee comes in, jordan and lebanon on the west bank to interview palestinians on the pretext of academic research. when in 5 they would that the monitor criticism of western and israeli foreign policy. among other things. earlier we spoke to one of the investigative journalists who broke the story assa winstanley. and he told us how the intelligence contractor had funded terrorists aimed to impose. i mean, to impose sharia law. scandalous rarely that the british government is still using this organization, essentially to combat al qaeda when it has this proven track record of support and al qaeda. now of course they say that it was done inadvertently, but there denials at the time were very incongruous. i think they were very in my view ver

host: that was ringing member adam smith.e are talking about the defense budget and what do you think about defense spending? do you think it is too much, too little, or just right? the numbers are onscreen. too much call us on (202)-748-8000. too little, (28-8001. if you think it should be kept write about here, (202)-74 . we have a special line set aside for activretired military members that is (202)-748-8003. let's look at what the wall street journal editorial set about this topic. they said, "defense spending as ye.hare of gdp fell to 3% last far below the average. it barely grows for a decade under current law. the only times in history u.s. defense spending fell this low were in 1940 and 1998 to 2001. no bonus points for noticing these came on the people of world war ii and the 9/11 attacks. those defense troughs did not last." let's take a look at the health speaker. kevin mccarthy was speaking on fox news in january and he talked about possible budget cuts in defense spending and spending caps. [video clip] >> did y

host: that was ringing member adam smith.e are talking about the defense budget and what do you think about defense spending? do you think it is too moo little, or just right? e mbers are on your screen. tooh call us on (202)-748-80. o little, (202)-748-8001. if you think it should be kept write abt re, (202)-748-8002 . for active and retired militarye members that is (202)-748-8003. let's lot athe wall street journal editorial set about this topic. they said, "defense spending as share of gdp f 3% last year. far below the average. it barely grows for a decade under current. the only times in history u.s. defense spending fell this low were in 1940 and 1998 to 2001. no bonus points for noticing these came on the people of world war ii and the 9/11 attacks. those defense troughs did not last." let's take a look at the health speaker. kevin mccarthy was speaking on fox news in january and he talked about possible budget cuts in defense spending and spending caps. [video clip] >> did you make an agreement with the freedom caucus

we've had a sinister situation where in one video authorities arrested a gentleman called adam smith an army veteran, asking what he was praying about. that was whether or not they decided to charge him in that case. so people are waking up -- starting to realize really that rights that you mentioned, taken for granted, that have been well established in the history of this country, are being eroded significantly over the last number of years, and quite the situation where even as i speak, parliament in the picture behind me, debating in the coming weeks, whether or not to expand the ce censorship zones further. we're not talking about a few feet outside the clinics. these are over 160 yards censorship zones, which means across the street and right around the block, people are prohibited from praying, offering help to women, helping them make decisions. it's absurd, as father sean said, situation. and quite sinister. >> tucker: that's the right word. thank you for joining us tonight. these attitudes are authoritarian. thank you. >> thank you, tucker. >> tucker: so much going on, you

rogers and adam smith having the top two positions. robins is going to stay, better state. [laughter] and my friend kelly is positioned to be the chair. i expect to be a ranking member. there is a lot of carryover in terms of the people i think are going to head up some of these committees. i have to say one thing that is of concern to me even though it was a good thing is not in the rule adopted yesterday but talk about trying to roll back the top light of the federal government to fiscal year 22 is in my opinion a completely unrealistic policy. going to put downwardnw pressur. there are what ways i know people trying to backfill. the fact is we went through this drill and at the end of the day that is a fools errand in my opinion. we've got to come to grips with a realistic framework for what is4. going to look like for fisl year 24 which will create the space new starts are still waiting to begin. the navy installed base of the fast program. if you want to get to three subs a year the coast guard has to get this new program that was not funded at fy 23. people completely

here's house democrat adam smith. >> we're looking for allies and friends across the world as we try to figure out how to deal with the threat that china is increasingly posing. we don't want to look like we're the shoot-first-ask-questions-later approach. i think the president handled this correctly. he protected the u.s. it was in order to gather intelligence from the balloon. i think it was the right decision. >> republicans disagree. a senator say, quote, allowing a chinese balloon to travel across the entire continental u.s. before discontesting its presen is a disastrous projection of weakness by the white house. and what damage to our national security occurred from this decision? cnn's ivan watson is standing by in hong kong with more on the reaction from beijing. ivan, china says the u.s. is overreacting after bringing down that balloon, so take us to the reaction from beijing. >> reporter: sure. not only saying the u.s. is overreacting but potentially threatening to shut down any u.s. balloon that might go over any chinese airspace. look at this. the u.s. used force to atta

. >> what we talked about mount previous hour with congressman adam smith, he said it was a mistake forlinken to cancel his trip. and he should confront the chinese about this. what do you? i do you agree? >> i absolutely agree. you engage in an on going basis. the opposite of diplomacy is something you don't want. we are seemingly in a cold war with the chinese right now? we have a lot to be worried about with the military aggression, surveillance like this. from tiktok to the human rights violations, we're all aware of. we need to address these issues. reminding ourselves that these two governments' economies are intertwineded. t the immedpact on one affects th other. i understand what they felt to postpone the trip but i agree, the discussions should continue as terse as they might be, and the on going diplomatic efforts with the allies to pressure china are more effective when we are in china as well. >> all right, congressman, thank you very much for your time. we appreciate it. >> thank you. >>> still ahead, we are still awaiting a response from china on the shootdown of the spy b

i spoke with adam smith of washington and terms china as a reckless bully on the international stage. don't know what message they're trying to send but the message that china's been sending now for the last several years is they are reckless bully in many different areas. not just in the way they treat the u.s. you know, they went after australia launching a trade war against australia when australia dared to suggest that china could be more open and transparent on covid. i was in indonesia last year. indonesia's doing some exploration in their territorial waters looking for natural gas. china moved in and pushed them back off of that, claiming territory that isn't theirs. they've now trapped numerous countries in the developing world in a death trap by loaning them money and running up the bill on that. china is behaving like a reckless bully and what we need to do is work with the rest of the world to reign that in. in a way that deters them without launching a full out war with china and that's what i hope people understand. china's a big, powerful country. they're going to be a b

i spoke to congressman adam smith who sits on the armed services committee, a democrat, this afternoonand met with the chinese president xi jinping and confronted him about this. what do you think is best at this point? >> well, i thought it was quick to cancel the trip. everything was still playing out. and at this point, the united states is quite legitimately and lawfully downed this chinese property. i would love to see secretary blinken bringing it back after it's been examined or just have the conversation while it is in u.s. possession to say, what are you up to? this is, of course, an embarrassment to the chinese government and to xi jinping. it is a global embarrassment. it is a good time the talk. there is a little high ground the united states has. we do have to keep the big picture in mind. this is a $600 billion trade relationship. we are the two biggest car been emitters on the planet. there is a whole range of issues that we have to keep a dialogue about. whether we'll compete or cooperate. and the problem is something like this, if it is allowed to cut off the dialogue,

congressman from washington adam smith. congressman smith, you said china almost certainly launched objects shot down in recent days and you think this is a case of china trying to come up with ways to spy on the united states. is that just a hunch or do you have evidence beyond that chinese spy balloon that was the first of the four objects? >> i would amend that slightly. we know china has been using these balloons, you know, here in the u.s. and also elsewhere for sometime. we also know that they represent a gap in our surveillance, a gap that had existed for a number of years as we've gotten reports about after the fact determining this had happened, gaps we closed and that's part of the reason we see so many objects more often is because well, our radars in the u.s. we're primarily looking for incoming missiles and jets. a slow-moving balloon was apparently more difficult to track now that we're tracking, we see them. the main thing is there is a lot of reasons why balloons could be up in the sky. but typically, if tha

adam smith suggested the decision was less and transparency and more about fuelling conspiracy theorieslengthy statement and a warning about what could come. saying quote, it's hard to overstate the potential security risks if this material were to be used irresponsibly. joining me now is ali vitali. it's not like he just gave anybody this material. he gave it to tucker carlson who did that whole special that was misleading and the insurrection and misleading is putting it mildly. >> yeah. who has consistently down played what happened here even after we saw throughout the entire summer, fall, and part of the winter, the findings in granular detail of the january 6th select committee. so it makes sense that those members and former members are now speaking out about mccarthy's decision to give these tens of thousands of hours of footage to tucker carlson, but there's also a question of the security implications of this. the january 6th committee, for example, and bennie thompson alludes to this, were very careful about the chain of custody. who was able to access this. they limited the

do you agree with your colleague, congressman adam smith that president biden ultimately handled it allreat to see you. yes, i do agree with representative smith. i think the thing here is the president prioritized the safety of the american people. that was his number one priority. it should have been, but also the way in which the balloon was taken down allows us to retrieve the parts of the balloon to see what was actually in there. that's also a really good thing. i think he handled it well. this is not the first time it happened. it happened three times under donald trump. nobody ever talked about it. in fact, i saw former defense secretary mike espy said he didn't even know about it. >> esper. >> esper, excuse me. said he didn't know about it, didn't remember it. >> i think you're thinking of congressman esper? >> i was. >> you've got house on the brain you heard the vice chair of the senate intelligence committee, marco rubio on the show basically saying he's got a lot of questions. one of them is why did it take so long for president biden to disclose this to the american people

adam smith ranking member, all of that and then after this. but at the end of the day, you know you haveot having to worry about the future makes it possible to make the present as best as it can be for everybody. ... cole hauser is an award winning actor. beyond his impressive career, he is a proud supporter of the tunnel to towers foundation. i was able to spend some time with cole and his family to reflect on those who have sacrificed so much to defend our freedom. you know, as i started to be more and more successful, i was like, how can i help? but when i heard of the tunnel to towers and i met brandon in idaho and his family, i was like, wow. there's actually a charity where we know where the money's going to go. you saw all the stuff we put in these homes? i was i was blown away. why should americans help tunnel to towers foundation? i mean, is there any better organization to help the people that has fought for this country and freedoms that we have? and you're going to join us on that mission. thank you. hey, i'm cole. hauser. i want you to join me in supporting our nation's her

the top democrat on that committee representative adam smith said that the munich security conference quote, there is more of a consensus there that people realize that ukraine is not going to military retake crimea. i'm wondering if you agree with that assessment. >> statements like that, pamela, are not helpful. we're at an international conference. you mentioned republicans and 20 democrats sent a letter to biden saying we should have immediate negotiations and bring an end to the war -- >> right, but they retracted that letter. >> pamela, pamela. >> you can't retract. [ overlapping speakers ] >> go ahead. >> pamela, you can't retract a letter from putin hearing it. so it doesn't have any effect -- >> right, but that letter was about peaceful resolution, not withdrawing -- go ahead. >> democrats write a letter to the president -- by the way, pamela, none of the conversations we're having here on the kind you're asking of questions of -- >> that's good to know. tell us more about the conversation -- >> only when we're in this interview has people talked about republicans and democra

. >> adam smith said today that giving ukraine f-16 fighter jets is currently, quote, not a wise use of resources. do you agree with him? >> so what i think needs to happen in ukraine is a balanced investment of america's taxpayers investment as well as the europeans. right now it is disproportionate. public resources suggest that the united states has spent $30 billion there while our european partners have only spent $20 billion. that's a disproportionate investment of the administration needs to tackle right away. this is a worldwide problem, but first and foremost a european problem. the investment needs to be more balanced. >> on the f-16s specifically, do you agree with him that now is not the time to provide ukraine with them? >> yeah, i need to talk with more of the generals and admirals about the tactical situation on the ground there. i'm not ready to commit to a position on that. >> let me turn back to the issue of china. the chairman of the house foreign affairs committee introduced legislation that would ban tiktok. i know you supported that move in the past. you said ti

the top democrat on that committee representative adam smith said the u.n.y conference, there's more of a con consensus that ukraine will not militarily retake crimea. i'm wondering if you agree with that assessment? >> statements like that, pamela, are not helpful. we are at an international conference. you mentioned republicans. there are 20 democrats that sent a letter to biden that said that we should have immediate negotiations and put an end to that war. >> they retracted. >> hold on, do you agree there's a difference? >> pamela, you can't retract -- >> go ahead. >> pamela, you can't retract a letter from putin hearing it, so it doesn't have any effect. >> that letter was about peaceful resolution and not withdrawing fighting. >> who are democrats and write a letter to the president. by the way, pamela, none of the conversations here are the kind that you're asking us questions of. >> that's good to know. tell us more about the conversation. >> only in this interview have people talked about republicans and democrats. is there bipartisan support. in fa

neil: so i talked to democratic congressman adam smith.ecurity and other related committees who said that china right now is the one that should be embarrassed. this is from congressman smith, take a look. do you think china wasn't embarrassed by this but might like this, might like showing the united states what it can do and leave the u.s. flummoxed? >> yeah, no. actually i think china is very embarrassed by this for several reasons. first of all, it is not a particularly effective surveillance tool. you know, we're familiar with the technology and what it can and cannot do. really nothing that their satellites can't see to a certain extent. neil: what do you make of that? >> well, first of all, we don't know what was on the chinese surveillance platform. we're taking a guess because now we're combing through off the coast of north carolina to see if we have, can recover any remnants of it. and secondly the embarassment i would believe of our allies look at this as, look, the decision should have been made very early to inform the chines

the last hour, democratic making member of the house adam smith spoke with me about the questions and concerns that still remain over the spy balloon that moose mystery objects. >> if the hobbyist and meteorologists can do this, so can the russians and the chinese. it seems fairly obvious when you look at the extensive nature of the chinese balloons. not just the u.s., but across the world. china felt they had found a weak spot, a place where we weren't looking. so yes, there are clear intelligence implications in all of this as well. >> we have some reporters in place to talk about the days big developments. we have nbc's -- for nbc news, courtney is joining me now from munich. so, welcome my friend. does this declaration about crimes against humanity, does it change the u.s. military's efforts to support ukraine courtney? >> no. you will remember that back in march, about a year ago, the u.s. declared not crimes against humanity, the war crimes, they believe that russia was guilty of war crimes. this is a step beyond that. basically, what that means is that they have the belief that

of nations, published the same year as the declaration of independence, the scottish philosopher adam smith, who was the champion of free market capitalism, made a strong case for the private ownership of land, but for a single exception, a great and civilized nation, he wrote, ought to hold and own and hold land for the purpose of pleasure and magnificence, for everyone's benefit. that the national government responding to public opinion has heeded smith's advice. is a bipartisan success deserving of celebration. a welcome counter to the political polarization. distrust that currently plagues. thank you very much for listening, and i'm happy to try to answer questions. john thank you very much for that. in lecture and for sharing observations about the trajectory of public land policy, i neglected when we before started to advise everyone, both here in the audience and virtually. that you can ask questions. making use of the instructions that are on the behind. professor. and if another attendee has asked a question. you can put a thumbs up icon that you like that question and. i will proc

arreister situation where in one videoalle we've seen authorities arresting a gentleman calledy v, adam smithconnery's, an army veteran, asking wha pt he was prayingrg about, and that was whether or not they decided to charge himp- in that case. st so people are waking up,ar starting to realiz thae that rights, as you mentioned, that b had taken for granted that have been well established in the history of this country are being eroded significantly over the last number of years. and it's quite a sinister situation now where we havere et even as i speak, the parliament you see in the picture behind me will be debating in the coming weeks whether or not to expand these censorship zones furtheto expr. and i think your audience mayhe. be interested here. we're not talking about a few we'ra fe feet outside the front door ofns these clinics. these ar.e over one hundred and sixty yard censorship zones,h mn which means that right around the block and across the street ,people are prohibited fromed fo praying, prohibited from offering help to women, prohibited even from in any wayi influencing decisi