Transcripts For CSPAN3 Secretary Pompeo Testifies On Iran Iraq Use Of Force 20240713

Coronavirus outbreak. This is two hours. [inaudible conversations] committee will come to order. Without objection, all members will have five days to submit statements, extraneous material, and questions to the record subject to the length, limitation, in the rules. Well begin, mr. Secretary, thank you for meeting with us this morning. Weeks ago, we invited you to testify about american policy toward iran, iraq, and the use of force. No one doubts that Qasem Soleimani was a dangerous terrorist, but its important that we look at Foreign Policy in terms of whether it makes americans safer and advances our interests. Weeks later weve seen attacks that have injured more than 100 Service Members, the need to move thousands more personnel back to the region, and derailment of our relationship with iraq and a setback in the fight against isis and iran, again, pushing headlong toward a Nuclear Weapon. You promised the American People that they would be safer and iran would be deterred. So by your own metrics, this policy has been a failure. Mr. Secretary, it shouldnt have been so difficult to get you here and your appearance here today is far too short and while weve had to wait for you, the world doesnt wait for anyone, and now were facing another potential crisis, coronavirus. And i imagine youll hear some questions about that this morning as well. There are dozens of other issues wed like to ask you about, including the lawful subpoena that this committee issued in september that youve ignored, so we expect to see you here again, soon, for our annual Budget Hearing and id appreciate if you renewed your commitment to appear for that hearing when i recognize you for an opening statement. Im going to forego any additional opening in the hopes of getting to as many members as possible this morning, and ill yield to mr. Mccaul, our Ranking Member, for any remarks he might have. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Mr. Secretary, thank you for being here. Thank you for your service. To talk about iran and iraq as we agree to as a committee. More importantly, thank you, and the president , for taking Decisive Action to protect americans overseas. Had President Trump not made the Bold Decision to strike Qasem Soleimani, irans mastermind of terror, we might be having a different hearing on why he didnt stop the deaths of more americans. Striking soleimani was a right decision and the world o is saf for it. He organized an escalating series of attacks against our forces in iraq which killed an american. He also directed an attack on the embassy in baghdad. Further, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff general milley said the administration would have been culpably negligent had they not acted to take out soleimani who had the blood of hundreds of americans and american soldiers on his hands. I fully agree with you and the general that this strike was necessary and well within the president s authorities under article 2. The president acted with tremendous restraint. Over the past years wed saw in the white house continually making the choice to deescalate even as iran launched attacks on international commerce, saudi oil assets, and a United States drone, but some people cant grasp that this strike was justified, legal, and our troops are, indeed, safer because of it. And now the Senate Passed a preemptive war powers resolution that the house will vote on in the coming weeks to direct the United States to cease hostilities against iran. I believe this is based on a false premise. So, mr. Secretary, my questions will be to ask you this, are we engaged in active hostilities against iran . And second, as you know better than anyone, we need to show unity, not division, in the congress and as americans. Overseas, especially in the middle east. So what can congress do to support your efforts to curb irans destabilizing activities . I look forward to your answers and your testimony. With that, i yield back. The gentle man yields baman. Thank you, mr. Mccaul. Our witness this morning is secretary of state mike pompeo. Mr. Secretary, without objection, your complete testimony will be included in the record. Ill ask you to please summarize your statement in five minutes. And because were so tight on time, im going to have to be very quick with the gavel. So i know recognize you for five minutes. Thank you. Thank you, chairman engel, thank you Ranking Member mccaul. Ill do this in less than five minutes. I do have a statement that ill submit for the record. Im back from a trip where i traveled to saudi arabia and oman. The central topic of each of the discussions was what were talking about here today, the threat posed by the Islamic Republic of iran. Some basic facts, iran is the worlds number one state sponsor of terror and the Worlds Largest state sponsor of antisemitism. Wanting to wipe israel off the face of the earth. You just have to listen to them. Iran and its proxies are responsible for the deaths of hundreds of americans in iraq including an American Contractor who was killed on december 27th of 2019. Its forces, irans forces, and the militias it supports prop up bashar al assad, undermine democracy in lebanon, iraq, and steal humantariitarian aid in y. Speaking of yemen, Iranbacked Houthis launched hundreds of missiles and armed drones in saudi arabia where 80,000 americans live since the start of the conflict. Indeed, hours after i visited our troops on february 20th, Iranbacked Houthi forces launched an attack at the port city of yanbu. Iran, too, is responsible for the downing of a civilian airliner in january. 176 people killed. The regime lied about the tragedy. The regime has still not turned over the black box. The Iranian Regime slaughtered at least several hundred of its own people with reports of as many as 1,500 during the protests last november. Many millions more have suffered since the revolution began more than 40 years ago. Iranians and those impacted by the regime are thankful that the United States is finally holding their oppressors accountable. The Trump Administration will neither appease nor tolerate the enormous National Security threat that iran poses to the United States, our friends, and our allies, our Pressure Campaign is aimed at reducing these threats and convincing iran to change its behavior. I want to spend one minute specifically addressing the strike on the kuds force commander, Qasem Soleimani. He was the regimes top terrorist and mastermind of the killing of innocent americans, syrians, iraqis and others. Removing him from the battlefield was a deesque la toir measure. His death reduced the risk to our personnel overseas. Of my diplomats and our military and made clear that were willing and able to impose cost on our adversaries if they threaten or attack us. I know that, sadly, some american troops were somewheinj during irans missile attack on al assads base. It indicates that irans leadership is not eager to escalate a military confrontation. They know if we fight, theyll lose. Thats deterrence. Its our policy. Its not just military deterrence, the jcpoa had bankrolled the regimes murderous came pains of terror and destabilize. We reversed that appeasement and imposed the most aggressive economic sanctions campaign in history to deprive the regime of at least 50 billion in revenue and diplomatically, allies and partners, personnel an the middle east and in part, colombia, honduras, kosovo, paragu paraguay, and United Kingdom declared hezbollah a terrorist organization in all aspects. Thats real american leadership. To confront iran, we will sustain our pressure, continue to protect the american peel and american interests by any means necessary and continue to impose costs on the regime for its campaigns of karne arncarnage a with allies and partners for a more stable and secure middle east. Thank you, i look forward to your questions, mr. Chairman skbr tha. Thank you. I recognize myself for five minutes and yield to mr. Cicilline. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Im concerned the socalled maximum Pressure Campaign against iran has not achieved you promised it would, after all, since january 2nd there have been four iranian attacks on american personnel, had to send 6,000 additional troops to the region and iran is once again on the path toward a Nuclear Weapon. The American People heard conflicting information from you and other members of the administration about the reasons for the soleimani strike and detailde t detail of its impacts. Because of the dishonesty from this administration on this and many other issues americans have lost trust in their government. Now were facing a serious Global Health crisis in the form of the coronavirus and trust is more important than ever. Unfortunately, we heard conflicting information when it comes to the administration we spons on this as well. We know this is a threat that doesnt respect borders, impacts victi victims indiscriminately and starting to show up in our own communities. We heard different explanations of who in the administration is responsible for managing the american response to the potential spread of this virus. Successfully managing the global aspect of this crisis will require american leadership, so yun tell can you tell us exactly what your role is in this response . Is that the question . Yes. What precisely falls under your set of responsibilities as secretary of state . Sure. So, mr. Chairman, just so you know, we agreed that i would come here today to talk about iran and first question today is not about iran. Well, make it about iran. Let me make it easier. No weve learned theres been an outbreak in iran of 245 cases. Right. The latest number. Have you or any other seniorlevel american official been in touch with anyone inside the iranian government to coordinate on this response to the virus and to nmitigate th further spread of the virus . We made offers to help and we made clear to others around the world in the region, humanitarian assistance to push back against the coronavirus in iran is something that the United States of america fully supports. We will continue to support. Thats true for every nation. We will bring to bear our diplomatic power and capacity to deliver technical and medical assistance wherever we can. Sir, im worried because of this administrations threeyear history of blatant disregard for facts that the American People dont know who to trust. Because of the policies you championed, we isolated ourselves within the global community, ignored or defunded key government offices or International Entities that deal with Global Health and pandemics and aggressive militaryfocused Foreign Policy of this administration hasnt achieved any articulated goals or made the American People safer. American leadership around the world is paramount in keeping americans safe and im concerned today about this administrations ability to do so. And with that, mr. Chairman, i yield back. All right. I now yield to mr. Bera. Thaunk you, mr. Chairman. Mr. Secretary, im a doctor and on wednesday we found out my former colleagues at university of california davis are treating the first possible case of Community Transmission of coronavirus in the United States. My home county of sacramento has been reminded that disease has no borders. So, following my colleague, mr. Cicilline, im deeply alarmed by our approach to iran in terms of impacting the fight against coronavirus. Mr. Secretary, do you believe that sharing data about new diseases like coronavirus makes american and the world safer . Yes no . Yes. And, mr. Secretary, do you believe that iran is up to the fight against coronavirus . Yes or no. Their Health Care Infrastructure is not robust, and to date, their willingness to share information about whats really going on inside of the islamic of iran has not been robust. And im very concerned that it is it is that iran thats not sharing information. Exactly, reclaiming my time. I agree with some of that assessment that they dont have that infrastructure and im worried about that. As a doctor, i know when were fighting a new disease time is of the essence. That means people and medical supplies at the epicenter because that will help limit the spread before it reaches other countries. It took over a week after the disease was first diagnosed for the Administration Just to clarify sending humanitarian assistance wouldnt trigger sanctions. Will the administration be issuing new licenses for iran sanctions to address issues connected to coronavirus . The predicate of your question is not accurate. There has been a continuously okay. An avenue for the movement of medical and humanitarian goods inside the islamic republ republic of iran. Great. They have not been sanctioned. At any time. Before the advent of the coronavirus and concurrently. Right. Reclaiming my time. Lets make sure we do everything we can to stop and assist iran. Irans isolation has made it less open, less transparent, and as a result, coronavirus is flourishing in that country. It is not making america safer and with that, i yield back. Okay. Time of the gentleman has expired. Mr. Mccaul. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Mr. Secretary, the senate, as i mentioned, passed a preemptive war powers re loo erers resolut the United States to cease hostilities against iran. Again, i believe this is based on a faulse premise. Let me ask you this. Are we engaged in active hostilities against and in iran . We are not. Our posture to push back against the behaviors of the Islamic Republic of iran is designed to deter and defend americas interests. Thank you. What signal does this division in the Congress Send to the largest state sponsor of terror, iran . So as a former member, i always have a high tolerance for people expressing their views, the views of their constituents and so, you know, members of congress have a responsibility to do that. Having said that, it is the case that around the world, leaders observe when there is not a consistent view across all of the United States government and americas policies are best effectuated when theres a consensus that emerges around american Foreign Policy and i would encourage everyone to take onboard what the administration is doing and urge them to come to the consensus and assist us in delivering the change in the regimes behavior that i think everyone in this room today understands is both necessary and in americas best interest. And, you know, im all for article 1, constitutional authorities, but i do believe the president had authorities under article 2 and selfdefense. In addition, hes a designated foreign terrorist under the obama administration. Let me ask you this, the Washington Post recently reported the kuds force has been significantly deterred from retaliating against further against the United States since the death of soleimani. Can you tell us how irans activities have changed since the United States took out mr. Soleimani . So thats thats probably best for a classified setting, but it i can say in an unclassified setting they recognized the serene neserious which america acted to take the strike against Qasem Soleimani and i think they appreciate the seriousness with which President Trump and the administration are taking our obligation to defend america and our partners and it clearly demonstrated our preparedness to continue to deter rairans behavior. I think theyve taken that seriously. And last question, do you believe in terms of a threat in the future, depending not saying on what type of time scale that mr. Soleimani was planning to kill more americans possibly in iraq . Oh, 100 . And that would be based and a very short timeframe. He was in the region actively plotting to kill americans in the region. So we are, in a way, had the president done nothing, more americans had been killed or ho president would be blamed for that, wouldnt he, if he did nothing . It was my judgment this reduced risk to america to take this strike. I think the team all presented that to the president. He made a final decision that that was right, that we would reduce risk both in the short term and the medium term and in the long term to american interests. And so the American People, but most importantly, our diplomats and soldiers in the region are certainly safer because of that decision. Wouldnt you agree with that . Undoubtedly. Id just like to close, ive been in the white house for some of these discussions. The president was very clear, i do not want to go to war with iran. He said that repeatedly. And i still think he believes that. I saw a tremendous restraint when we were looking at how to respond to the u. S. Drone that was shot down by the iranians. U. S. Military asset. 50 of saudis refinery capability taken out. Finally, when they attacked our american embassy, it was not some brush fire. It was bombed out. I had the picture on the house floor. Serious attack on our american embassy. That can motte go without a response. I think the president was very restraint time and time again, but they i think crossed the red line when they attacked our embassy. Killed a contractor. And wounded three soldiers in addition to the hundreds of american soldiers soleimani killed, one of whom is in right of front of me, doesnt not have his legs anymore, mr. Mast, because of soleimani. Biggest terrorist in theladen. I think the world, mr. Secretary, is a lot safer without him. With that, i yield back. Thank you, mr. Mccaul. Mr. Meeks. Thank you, mr. Chairman. For every time you testify, i cant help but think of those days when you were on this side of the dais. I can remember vividly you thundering away at secretary clinton during the benghazi hearing. You know what, she showed up voluntarily, sat there for 11 hours, but with you, sir, we had to move heaven and earth to get you here today for just two hours. To me, that shows disregard for the oversight responsibilities of the United States congress. It is clear that the Trump Administrations decisions in iran are reckless and impulsive. Even after iran emerged as a hotspot of the coronavirus outbreak that is on the verge of being a pandemic, you could only commit today to two hours. After the soleimani strike, the Iraqi Council of representatives passed a resolution calling for u. S. Trips to be kicked out of iraq, which is exactly what soleimani wanted to do for 20 years. Pushing the u. S. iraq relationship to the brink and plunging the middle east into chaos and uncertainty does not benefit the United States of america. The list of actions that are legally and strategically questionable continue to pile up in this administration, and yet the administration refuses to provide clear and honest answers. These include pulling out of the jcpoa, no strategy. Abandoning the kurds, no strategy. Strategic benefit of assassinating soleimani, no strategy. Suggesting that the u. S. Would destroy cultural sites in iran, no strategy. Denying irans foreign minister a visa to go to the u. N. , no strategy. Suggesting that we will punish iraq if it follows through on expelling our military, no strategy. Sir, nobody here mourns the death of soleimani, but it backfired in completely foreseeable ways. Killing him undermined all of the objectives and didnt do anything to make america safer. Now, i had many other things i would have loved to ask you, but i have to give up some of my time because youre only here for two hours. I cant use my whole five minutes because my colleagues would like to have something to say, so i now yield to mr. Sherman. Mr. Secretary, its taken you 2 1 2 months to come here before this committee to explain the actions of january 3rd. Today, the world faces a worldwide pandemic, the coronavirus. Will you come here next week and explain our International Efforts to deal with the coronavirus or will it take us 2 1 2 months to have you back here . We have yes or no. We have briefed congress over 70 times on iran. 70 times. I my question is about the coronavir coronavirus and whether youll come here next week or whether you think we should focus on the coronavirus. Im happy to work with you to find a time that works with everyones schedule to talk about this. Well, lets hope it doesnt take reclaiming my taime. Reclaiming my time. Sir, you limit us to two hours. Secretary clinton spent 11 hours. You must adhere to the rules of this committee. Just as you enforced them when you were sitting in this room. Come on, order. Im reclaiming my time. Order. Let him speak. Mr. Chairman, the my time has been interrupted. I would like order in the committee. Gentleman from california will continue. Now, 110 of our Service Members suffered traumatic brain injuries. The pentagon had thought it would be even worse. But the day after 110 off our Service Members were hurt, the president said no americans were harmed in last nights attack by the Iranian Regime. 19 days after that those injuries, the president said, i heard they had headaches, i can report its not very serious. 30 of them are still in the hospital. All of them will be suffering their whole lives, or be studied their whole lives, for their traumatic brain injury. Mr. Secretary, do you want to take the opportunity yes or no question do you want to take the opportunity here today to apologize to those Service Members for trivializing their injuries . Mr. Congressman, i never trivialized the injuries. But do you want to apologize on behalf of the administration for trivializing their injuries . Sir, ive never trivialized any injury. Youre part of an administration, you speak for that administration, do you want to apologize for the administrations trivializing those injuries . Are you looking for me to answer the question . Yes. Im happy to answer the question if you cease speaking over me. Give me a second. We take seriously every american Service Members life. Its why weve taken the very policies in iran that we have. Gentlemans time has expired. Mr. Smith. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Some of my colleagues, the disrespect theyre showing you, the secretary of state, who i think has done an extraordinary job. The world is a cauldron. You have been everywhere. Leading this nation and leading the world, of course, with the president at the helm. I want to thank you for your service and know i and my colleagues, so many, and most americans deeply respect your integrity, your honesty and, again, i think some this has already gotten very much out of hand and im deeply disappointed in my colleague. As i know as you know, i should say, the iraq and syria jen side genocide relief and accountability act, a bipartisan bill, was designed to provide humanitarian aid relief to victims of isis genocide, religious minorities such as the yazidis first and foremost. They would have returned to their homes in a plane or mt. Sinjar, something contemplated by Vice President s directive of 2018. Now, however, its become apparent the iranianbacked again, just like you spoke early in yemen the Iranianbacked Shia Popular Mobilizations tos or pmfs do not intend to leave the area. I wonder if you can give us an assessment of the permanency of the Violence Organization or organizations, and is it our policy to try to change that . What steps are we taking . And would you support if they do not leave a modified aid directive that would support the displaced minorities in erbil and elsewhere . Ill say briefly, i chaired ten congressional hearings when barack obama would not help the caldanian christians in erbil, 70,000 strong who fleed isis genocide. I went there, there was an idp camp ten minutes away from our consulate in erbil and when they learned i wanted to to go there, they finally visited there but we were not providing that aid. Working with colleagues across the aisle as a bipartisan bill, we said enough is enough and did a bill to direct that that aid would get there and you have delivered and usaid has delivered mightily. I want to thank you for that. And the Vice President and the president. If you could speak to the thank you. These groups. So there were three questions in there. The last one was would we work on a modified policy . Yes. The continued problem and presence of the pmf, the shia militi militias in the niniva region is something we worked hard on. Now our ambassador, second ambassador to iraq, have all worked very diligently on, but we have not succeeded. Weve had repeated promises from now repeated Iraqi Governments that they would work that problem set, move them back, allow Security Forces that would permit this aid to get to the christians, the yazitis, all people in that region, but and weve had some success at getting this in, but we need we need the pmf out. We need the shia militias out. If youre going to effectively and deliver and create space for religious freedom in the north of iraq, in that niniva region, the niniva plain, we got to convince the Iraqi Government and need an Iraqi Government prepared to defend its own sovereignty and pull back those shia militia thes that are controlling that region. I want to say, again, prchmr secretary of state, please dont take from this meeting some of those comments i think were almost to the point where their words should have been taken down. You have been honest, straightforward, and as my good friend Michael Mccaul said, taking out soleimani who was not in iran when he was killed, he was a combatant if ever there was one, and directing what we all know, 600plus americans have died and thousands through his use of the ieds and other methods of destruction were wounded, including our dear colleague. Yield back. Gentleman yields back. Mr. Keating. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, mr. Secretary. Mr. S secretary, fair enough to say you talk a lot with the president. Thats not a tough one. Yes. That was the best question you had this morning, right . Thats true. Ever hear him say i welcome that. Ever hear him say the phrase, well see what happens . Ever hear him say that . Yes, i think i said that many times, myself, as well. Really . Okay. We know youre on the team. I said it to my son all the time. You said consistency. Well see what happens. You said consistency in your opening statement, and what i got to tell you, time and time again is, what were getting back when we help people is this attitude people have of america, our allies, of well see what happens. I mean, just last night, you know, after the president pulled out and took us away from the syrian issue, just last night we found out that its escalating. Now turkeys looking for nato article 4 discussions. Maybe leaning toward article 5, pulling us in with our allies again. I remember the president saying when he did that, he said, well see what happens. I remember with his discussions in north korea, he was having this discussions, well have the discussions, well talk, wooerl well have love letters. Well see what happens. We know whats happened. Theres new escalation of their missile system, their nuclear system. Were seeing by pulling out of the Nuclear Agreement with iran, jcpoa, were seeing, well, well pull out, well, well see. Well see what happens. Well see what they do. And now theyre enriching to a greater extent and moving forward in their program. So, this idea of consistency, i just came back, you were there, at the munich security conference. I have to tell you discussions we had with our closest allies, theyre telling us that were not as sure about your commitment as a country. And its all this if i had to give a watchword for the policy right now, its, well, were going to do something and well see how it happens. Well, im concerned about the lack of consistency, and, you know, with the coronavirus, that issue came forward, the president said it again. He said, well, its going to get warm and we got a vaccine in the corner. Looks pretty good. Well see what happens. Well see what happens isnt being consistent. And now after last nights activities, were going to be moving forward again because of whats happening in syria. Were going to be calling on the united nations, were going to be calling on nato again. Were going to be calling on our allies again. And, you know, we left them on the ground in syria when the president made that decision. Even your own administration told us that was a mistake not notifying our allies. So im just going to say, the policy has to change. Because well see what happens isnt happening. En and i yield back. I yield mr. Deutsche, im sorry. Thank my friend from massachusetts. Mr. Secretary, thank you for being here. First, i want to not miss this opportunity to implore you to do everything you can to bring home my constituent, bob levinson, to his family. I dont have a lot of time left. Id like to share with you what a lot of us are feeling, mr. Secretary. The American People are becoming increasingly worried about coronavirus. We get phone calls every minute of every day. People are really concerned, and when they hear conflicting messages, they dont know what to make of it. So, mr. Pompeo, any misinformation, any misinformation, is bad. A pattern of misinformation undermines our entire system. When the president lied about the size of his inaugural crowd, it was embarrassing. It was hard to believe when he falsified the hurricane weather map. It was disgraceful when he told the American People that iranian bombs injured no one when 110 soldiers were seriously injured and traumatic brain injuries arent just headaches. But now, now we face coronavirus, and the president tells us that a vaccine is almost ready, and it isnt. And then and then he tells us that warm weather will miraculously take care of this. Take care of everything. And it wont. This doesnt just impact the president s supporters at his rallies. And it doesnt just impact democrats voting in the president ial primaries. This impacts everyone in america, and its more important than politics, mr. Secretary. The Administration Must do better. I yield back. Okay. Mr. Chabot. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Mr. Secretary, thank you for being here today. We very much appreciate it. The humanitarian situation in Idlib Province, syria, is alarming. Innocent civilians and women and children have been slaughtered. Could you tell us what iran or its proxies, what their involvement has been there relative to this ongoing assault on those civilians . So, consistently since the Previous Administrations decision to allow the russians to come into syria, that combined with the long history of iranian influence in parts of syria, has led us to where we are today. You can see with the israeli strikes that are taking place against iranians in syria, you can see the work that the United States is doing in the north and east. We have an enormous iranian problem inside of syria. These attacks that are Syrian Regime led, iranian supported hezbollah, supported, underwritten by iran, along with the russians, are now causing a humanitarian calamity in syria that, once again, reups what we saw several years back. The numbers range from three quarters of a million to 1. 1 Million People in that upper northwest part of Idlib Province. Many of whom will be displaced, too many of whom will be killed, and our mission our mission set has been diplomatic to urge the parties to a ceasefire both bilaterally with each of the participants. We have a u. N. Security Council Resolution that, sadly, the regime will not adhere to, that the iranians will not adhere to, which was designed to find the political resolutions, u. S. Security Council Resolution 2254. Weve not been able to make progress there. So, in light of that, weve done what we can with american assistance, stabilization assistanc assistance throughout the region to try to lend both food and assistance and medical through usaid and try to build back some of the institutions so theyll be capable to push back against the russians, syrians, are doing in this hellish place of idlib. Thank you. U. S. Arms embargo on iran exp e expires next year. Are our European Partners committed to extending the embargo . What can we do to put pressure on china and russia to cooperate as well . So, yes, one of the central flaws of the jcpoa was you had very short duration for many of the most important provisions, the first really significant provision expires in october of this year. So now just a handful of months away. Where the very missiles that rained down on our American Forces will be permissibly sold, lawfully sold, to the iranians come october of this year. Thats a big flaw in the deal. So were working diplomatically. We are hopeful that the europeans will take seriously this risk. That there will be chinese russian systems, russian weapon systems, sold into iran. I am confident that they are gearing up already to deliver those weapons come october. With the full authority, with no u. N. Security Council Resolution prohibiting it, we will work at the u. N. , we will try to convince the russians and the chinese not to veto that resolution. And we will urge our european colleagues to use the tools that they have at hand to prevent conventional weapons sales from once again being illawfully sold. Irans proxy in rememblebano course, is hezbollah. How has this administrations maximum Pressure Campaign impacted irans ability to support hezbollah in lebanon . So weve had impact but not enough. Weve had a Material Change in their capacity to do harm. That is, they no longer have access to all of the capital that they had under t. Under the jcpoa, we restricted hezbollahs money, the resources. Theres more work to do there. Weve also used or diplomatic efforts to build out a coalition to support the lebanese government, to do the reforms that you can see. You can see the protests in the streets in beirut and outside of beirut in lebanon as well. With you can see the lebanese people are exhausted from iran. Theyre exhausted from hezbollah. And you see the same thing in iraq. You see protests in tahrir square. These arent protests against the United States of america seeking our departure. They are protests to the people of iraq and lebanon who want a sovereign, nonsectarian, non iraniandominated government. Our Diplomatic Mission is to assist those governments to make this transition from hezbollahbacked or iraniancontrolled in iraq to governments that are sovereign, independent, and deliver on what the people of their countries really want and desperately need. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Yield back. Im going to call on mr. Phillips, but before i do, i just want to quickly express the fact that whats going on in Idlib Province in syria breaks my heart and the world, particularly our country, cannot just stand by while putin and erdogan are killing people. It just breaks my heart. Its not fair to the syrian people. Its just terrible, terrible, atrocities. I wish we had more time to talk about it. Mr. Phillips. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Welcome, mr. Secretary. Thank you for your service. My constituents in minnesota know that american diplomacy is integral to keeping all of us safe in the United States, but theyre afraid. As you can imagine. Afraid about the potential for a far more significant response from iran and theyre, frankly, terrified, as my colleague, mr. Deutch, just referred to about coronavirus. Sadly, they are increasingly lacking faith in the administrations ability to address it. So you can tell them that youve done everything humanly possible both around the globe and even here to keep us safe from coronavirus . I am confident that this administration has taken actions that have significantly reduced risk and will continue to do so. Its a very complex problem the state department has. A piece of it. The work that your state department did to get americans out of wuhan, not only our diplomats, the people who work for the United States government, but civilians who were there as well, is in the finest tradition of the american diplomatic corps. It was done with excellence and with vigor and brought americans home safely. Im incredibly proud of the work my team did there. We will continue to do that. We have diplomats in china today 37 were making sure we keep them safe and keep them in place so we can continue to perform all the missions we need to help china deal with this virus where it began. Okay. I appreciate that. Dh how dou you reconcile wa you jut said . Cuts funding to the w. H. O. By more than 50 and cdcs Global Health budget by more than 40 . How can you reconcile that budget request with your set investment well have plenty of money. Well have plenty of money. Oh, yeah. Yes, sir, im very confident. So we have enough resources, youre doing Everything Possible sir. 50 and 40 reductions in those budgets is much to address the potential for a Global Pandemic that seems to be emerging in front of our eyes . Sir, i commit to you, as we need resources, if we find out that there arent sufficient resources to address a problem where we can create value and reduce risk, we will come to you, we will execute that and we will deliver for the American People. Do you understand why if might be suspect to submit a budget like that in light of what were facing that cuts these budgets by 40 , 50 . I dont understand. I have great confidence that well have the resources. Okay. I dont understand, either. With that, i yield to my colleague, mr. Connolly. Thank you. Thank you, mr. Phillips. Welcome, mr. Secretary. Good to see you again, sir. Mr. Secretary, let me ask you an organizational question because in addition to the budget recommended cuts which seem ill timed at the very least given whats happening with coronavir coronavirus, im worried by the fact that we dont have a permanent structure for dealing with pandemics. You know, we set up a structure in the Previous Administration on ebola and then we dismantled it. On mayor at the National Security council. In light of whats happening today and in light of what could happen year in and year out, we dont know, in retrospect, was that perhaps an unwise decision, mr. Secretary, to abolish a koort na coordinator in the nsc, a coordinator i think we need today . Ive watched this process move forward since the very first days that we became aware of the coronavirus. Watched the part that the state department has responsibility for, the part the secretary azar, has his team working. Ive seen cdc officers when i traveled to ethiopia and kazakhstan, uzbekistan. We ought to focus on actions activities and not charts. Mr. Secretary, lets stipulate that every decision made by the president and this administration is beyond reproach. Including questionable budget so stipulated. So stipulated. Okay. So we get that out of the way. So i want to engage in as we look at the reality today, it is more than an org chart. Its about coordination. Its about having a focal point in the federal government thats specifically mandated with this mission and that person and those persons are networking with w. H. O. And the International Health community. Theyre at the front lines monitoring situations. We felt we had to do it in the previous pandemic or on the brink of pandemic, ebola. This seems more serious in terms of its spread and i just wonder from your point of view because, after all, you oversee an org chart. Wouldnt it be helpful to have somebody at the nsc charged specifically with this mission . Well, i watched the coordination through the task force that secretary azar was leading. Vice president now has his mission set. We now have a woman named Deborah Burkes whos been running a significant Global Health program for me for the United States department of state who will begin to work for the Vice President to deliver o. We will coordinate among our agencies and importantly from my perspective coordinate with our Partner Agencies around the world. Gentlemans time has expired. Thank you, chairman. Mrs. Wagner. Over here. Secretary pompeo, thank you for your time here this morning. On january 3rd, President Trump ended Qasem Soleimanis brutal, brutal, reign of terror that killed and maimed countless americans and Coalition Forces and threatened many more to come, as weve heard today and many times over. For too long, tehran has been limited to act with immunity i was proud when the immunity against u. S. Allies, u. S. Interests and personnel. I was proud when the administration worked decisively, just as i was proud when former president obama succeeded in his decision to kill Osama Bin Laden in pakistan. This was a defensive move to strike one of the worlds terrorists who was organizing attacks against americas in iraq, in defiance of u. N. Security Council Resolution 2231. I applaud the president for making our red lines clear to the Iranian Regime. Attacking americans is never acceptable, and when american lives hang in the balance, iran will be held to account for its actions. The middle east is a safer place when the United States is, as you said, clear and consistent in its intentions. Soleimanis successor, mr. Secretary, head of the kuds force, ismael kani, was sole ma soleimanis counterpart east of iran, afghanistan, pakistan, Central Asian republic. While soleimani headed operations in the west, mr. Secretary, are you concerned that kani will seek to expand irans malign activities in afghanistan, and how is the administration mitigating the risk to u. S. Interests . So, i can say more about iranian activity in afghanistan in a classified setting, but i will say in this forum, they share a long border. There is a history of iran engaging in activity inside of afghanistan to act as a spoiler. Weve seen just these last six days a significant reduction in violence in afghanistan and we are watching closely to see if the Islamic Republic of iran begins to take even more active measures, active measures that undermine our efforts of peace and reconciliation in afghanistan and just as importantly put our american soldiers who are on the ground there in both the kabul area and in the west at risk as well. Yep, this guy had this as part of his yep. Territory. We are very mindful that thats an area he knows well and might well seek to expand iranian activity iranian activity both through the quds force and otherwise. How did soleimani strike change, the irgcs standing in iran, and have we been able to take advantage of any loss of prestige through Information Operations in iran . Soleimani was a strategic target. There was Strategic Deterrence that resulted from that strike. He was absolutely a terrorist. He absolutely had american blood on his hands. He absolutely intended to kill more americans in the immediate future. But he also occupied a position which was very close to the ayatollah, and there is no one that is going to be capable of replacing that strategic input that he was able to provide to the ayatollah. Therefore, we believe not only did we achieve the battlefield deterrence, but we also have changed the calculus inside of iran and the understanding. Your point about the red line. It is not possible for the Islamic Republic of iran to have been surprised by the actions President Trump took. We had communicated clearly that the loss of american lives would result in a strike of significance, that would impose real costs on iran. So, we exercised deterrence by making sure they understood what america was prepared to do and then when they took actions that were inconsistent with the things that we had told them we executed against that. Very quickly, media reports this week show that the Vice President of iran as well as irans Top Health Official have both contracted coronavirus. Are you able to comment on the potential destabilization of iran were their senior Political Leadership to be deathly ill or even perhaps die . Specifically, does the state have concerns about a void in leadership as it relates to their Nuclear Program and the quds force . I dont have any i dont have very much information beyond what we have seen in the open press reporting. We are going to do what we can on the humanitarian side to assist the iranian people against building out their systems inside of the country. I thank you for your time. I yield back. Miss span berger. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Sir, after the strike you were the administrations point person making the case that we had to kill soleimani at that moment on january 3rd. Heres what you said. You said we had specific information onnane imminent threat and the threat streams included attacks on u. S. Embassy period full stop. That was january 10th after you had about a week to get your story straight. Except when we are looking at the fact that taking out soleimani was essential to addressing a blow to malign activity, i question the fact that the day after soleimanis death irans Supreme Leader khomeini appointed soleimanis long time deputy to replace him and continue operation. They didnt stop and they didnt slow down. Isnt that true . Didnt they shoot rockets at our people days later, sir . The answer is yes. The and the same day that you made sthamt, you gave a classified briefing in grease. I was there and you didnt provide evidence to us about that claimed imminence. Thats not true. The evidence of that claimed imminence was not given during that briefing. You and i know that claim of imminence was necessary and pivotal to the administrations justification for action in circumventing congress. [ inaudible ]. I said there was nothing in that briefing. With conflicting information its hard for the American People to know what to believe. We have whats called a 12634 report and the president is required to send this to congress to explain the legal and policy justifications for killing soleimani. Since its a crime to make false statements to congress i assume we can take it at face value. We received this january 31st. How many times does this report rover to an imminent attack on a u. S. Embassy that would be stopped by killing general soleimani . The answer is none. So your own report directly extra dibts what you and the president told the American People over and over. You said there were imminent threats to american lives and thats not true. When the administration was constrained by the law to tell the truth, you abband under the talking points. Mr. Pompeo, there is another report on iran that is due this sunday. Its required by a piece of law that i authored. It should give more transparency to the American People about why you risked plunging us into war and i expect the president will comply with the law and provide that report this weekend. Do you expect that will be the case, sir . We do our best to comply with every legal requirement. I look forward to reading it. Lastly, this administration has been inconsistent with the facts as it relates to coronavirus, on matters of security and Public Health, the American People need credible consistent information and we are consistently not receiving that to the administration. I yield. Is it possible i could respond to a couple of things . I wasnt asked a question, but there were you were, sir. You didnt answer them. I yield to representative there were material misstatements made. Mr. Levin controls the time. We dont have enough time. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Sir, sir, to your left youll see a map of the world. Right there. Would you please point out for us on this map which of our embassies were under threat of imminent attack so that you had to kill general soleimani regardless of the consequences for American Safety on january 3rd, 2020 . I am happy to answer your question. Which four . I am happy to answer your question. I am not going to get into classified material. Sir, reclaiming my time, we all know that soleimani was a bad guy, but what im talking about is the decisions made leading up to january 3rd that brought us to the brink of war and you are not willing to tell us which embassies were under attack . Under threat of attack . I am never willing to disclose classified information. I assume you cant either. You cant classify something that doesnt exist. The administration has given us shifting stories. You, the president , others about what was going on there. On january 10th, the same day you briefed congress, the president said this to fox news. I can reveal that i believe it would have been four embassies. So, this is, again, the same day you were up here briefing us, and i was there on soleimanis strikes. We didnt hear a word from you on the threats to four embassies. Why not . There were multiple embassies which my Diplomatic Security team had enormous concern sir, i have such little time. Are you going to let me answer the question . No, because you are not answering the question, sir. I am not asking you to reveal classified information. Please let the witness answer the question, mr. Chairman. I want the witness to answer the question. I hope that when we run out of time at the end that the secretary will agree to stay for a few extra minutes. I will not. But i am happy to answer whatever questions i can. Well, then mr. Chairman this is the problem, mr. Secretary i have been briefed 70 times, mr. Chairman. Mr. Levin. Here is the bottom line. If we had the time i would play the defense secretarys statement had no information about embassies. We are facing a possible coronavirus pandemic. This administration had three different stories about the events that brought us to the brink of war. So its no surprise that americans are scared because this administration keeps proving it cant be trusted to tell us the truth. I yield back, mr. Chairman. Thank you, mr. Zeldin. Thank you. And mr. Secretary, thank you for being here. I apologize. This hearing has been a joke. You are getting asked a lot of questions that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are choosing either to answer the question for you, if you dont answer in the first split second of them finishing with a question mark, or if you attempt to answer they cut you off to reclaim their time. So i first of all would like to give you the opportunity to answer any of the questions posed because we just witnessed for anyone at home, witnessing the last five minutes, its an embarrassment. Mr. Secretary, go ahead. Let me say whats an embarrassment is we couldnt get more than two hours interest the secretary of state. Thats really an embarrassment to this committee. Mr. Zeldin. Mr. Secretary. So the record should reflect that the United States government has briefed congress over 70 times on the issue of iran. So, i think its difficult to claim that we have not been prepared to share. I briefed all of you. Some of you referred to that briefing. I briefed the senate side as well. The entire member every member of congress was invited to a hearing where we had myself, secretary of defense, an individual from the donald j. Trump department of justice and the intelligence community. We gave a thorough and complete briefing. I let me just respond to the question that came in previously about the embassies that i have responsibility for security for in the days that led up to this strike that we took. Our embassies all across the region went to heightened security posture. We moved resources around the region. We did that for two purposes. So we could respond and deliver medevac capabilities in the event that we had to do so as well as to deter attacks on the embassies. We took these threats from Qasem Soleimani on our embassies seriously. We responded appropriately and we delivered for the American People. And i will tell you that today i still have officers in these places. I have a significant embassy in baghdad, officers in beirut. These are amazing people who are living under a threatening region. We are doing everything we can to reduce that threat. Thank you, mr. Secretary. For anyone posing questions to you at the hearing today, i think it would be great to give you an opportunity to answer any of the questions that you are posing to you. You are doing a great job. Im proud of you. Im honored to have you add our secretary of state. Weve seen al dadbaghdadi, a caliphate destroyed in iraq and syria decisions to move the embassy in israel to jerusalem recognizing israeli sovereignty over the golan heights, obamacare era policies and suemeria. The decisions with regards to Oil Sanctions and taking out Qasem Soleimani as going after the fuel and then taking out the driver. Instead of seeing oil from iran go from two to three to five Million Barrels a day and 140 million a day in proceeds to the iranian government to fund their bad activities instead we see it going down to 300,000 barrels a day and then you take out Qasem Soleimani. The amount of attacks that you have endured for the decision of the administration to take out Qasem Soleimani is insane. And i have used i have heard the speaker refer to it as disproportionate to take out Qasem Soleimani and i impose the question, i still havent gotten an answer, at what point is it proportionate . There were 600 u. S. Troops got killed at the hands of Qasem Soleimani. Thousands of u. S. Troops were injured at the hands of Qasem Soleimani. In the days leading up to taking out Qasem Soleimani our embassy was attacked and we saw u. S. Civilians end up getting killed and injured. At what point is it proportionate to take out the one person who is responsible for killing 600 u. S. Troops and wounding thousands of others . I think the problem is, is that people are getting antsy at what a good job you have been doing. I saw it posed in the transcripts now revealed when mr. Mckinley was at the closed door deposition and he was asked about the state department under mike pompeo and has it gotten worse. And they were shocked that mckinleys answer was, no, actually, the state departments gotten better. And they thought that this guy who had just left just retired from the state department was going to come in, throw you under the bus. Even in that situation, that person comes to that situation of the house intel committee, the House Impeachment Committee and posing that question and getting an answer that you are doing a great job. Thats really the problem. I encourage my colleagues to let you answer the questions going forward. I yield back. Gentleman yields back. Ms. Wild. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Good morning, mr. Secretary. We know that iran has a long history of revenge killings. Im sure thats something you and i can agree on. And its one of the reasons that iran is one of the most dangerous and unpredictable countries in the world, right . Thats all true, yes, maam. Do you think that the iranians revenge strike on bases in iraq that injured more than 100 Service Members is the last that we have seen of iranian retaliation for the Soleimani Killing . Thats a yes or no. Yes. The reason i often pause is i try to make sure to give answers that are not classified. So you believe it is the last weve seen . I didnt say that. No. I think the strike on Qasem Soleimani was necessary, but not sufficient. Not my question. My question i think im going to reclaim my time. Do you think that the strike by the iranians on bases in iraq after the Soleimani Killing was the last that we have seen of retaliatory action by iran . Thats a no, we have seen we have seen the iranians take actions after that already. Whether you okay. Characterize them as retaliatory, this is a 40 year theecratic revolutionary regime. I am with you on that. I am concerned about the likelihood of tragic and severe retaliation going forward. We know, as you a have alluded to, iran has a pattern of waiting before retaliating. You recall in 1994, hezbolah bombed the Jewish Community center in buenos aries. Those attacks came two years after israel killed hezbolahs cofounder in 1992. Iran waited two years to get revenge. We know that retaliation is not immediate. They will be patient. It would be foolish of us to think that revenge for the killing of their general is over. And im terribly concerned that iran is going to be looking for even more vulnerabilities and opportunities to harm americans as retribution that will play out over the years. Are you worried about that, too . Oh, yes, we are very worried about rarn. This is why we have strategic campaigns to change the course of their behavior. Well, let me just say that i think every day of the diplomats and troops spread all over the world. Some of whom i visited over christmas. They are already doing dangerous work, and thats what they sign up for, but im worried that we have increased the chances of harm to these people who serve us. I think its just let us down a more dangerous and unpredictable path of iran seeking revenge, and i fear for the brave Public Servants who are going to brave who are going to bear the brunt of that. With that i yield to ms. Omar. Thank you. Sir, im just i want to follow up to see if enough has been done to protect americans in harms way. The day of the strike, your department issued a warning against all u. S. Citizens to depart iraq immediately. Was there a concern before or after the strike that americans could be targeted for retaliation . We have known that americans traveling not only in iraq yes or no would be yes. The answer is a little i know, we dont have that much time. So did you warn i need to be accurate sir, did you warn the embassy either before or after the attack . The embassy was completely in the loop as we were working through not only hours okay. The people the people the people at the embassy who are the ones in harms way said that they were not warned. I hope you are not saying that they are lying. Sir, were you aware were you not aware that americans might be targeted by this assassination and be retaliated against . Well, the threat from islam republic is now 40 years on. I ask this because brian hook, your special representative on iran, received extra security. At a speech in los angeles after the attack, not in baghdad. Los angeles. Mr. Hook got protection from Diplomatic Security, the lapd, and Counter Assault team. Look, i think making sure our Public Servants have proper security is incredibly important, but i have to ask if we were so much safer after the strike, why did a u. S. Diplomat need counterassault team to protect him at a speech in california . Yes, its undoubtedly the case we are all safer. There are distribution al elements to this. That is, there are certain persons who made certain decisions that might be more at risk. Let me assure you i will say, sir, if you are claiming that americans are safer after this attack, apparently your department disagrees, at least as far as your time is up and in baghdad are concerned. I yield back. Okay. Mr. Perry. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Great to see you, mr. Secretary. Welcome to masterpiece theater. Unfortunately, this a really serious business. I am going to read a quote, see if its familiar to you. Turns out im really good at killing people. Didnt know that was gonna be a strong suit of mine. You know who said that . No, i dont. That was the previous president. That was president obama. So, the country of pakistan, 2,741 killed. Not including civilians. In yemen 975 killed. Not including civilians. In somalia, 286 killed. Not including civilians during the last administration. Do you remember when it occurred in congress. Sorry, i dont understand the question. Sorry. When did we declare war on pakistan, yemen and somalia. Did you miss that . It didnt happen during my six years. Im highly confident of that. I dont remember it either. Do you remember this committee or any committee dragging in the secretary of state and asking them what the strategy was during that period of time when we killed when the United States was responsible for killing 4,000 combatants around the world, not on the battlefield declared by the United States of america . Do you remember when that happened . I am sure there were oversight hearings where Congress Asked questions about it. I cant recall. Do you remember what the strategy was . In which particular theater . Any one of those places. I know what the administration said they were trying to do. Do you remember any of my and your colleagues on the other side of the aisle, quite honestly, do you remember any colleagues on this side of the aisle complaining removing terrorists off the face of the earth . I dont recall that happening. I dont remember it either. When you have, mr. Secretary, actionable intelligence regarding impending or imminent attacks on u. S. Citizens or u. S. Interests, including embassies, what is your duty . Its to ensure to the maximum extent possible that none of the americans that are in any of those places, civilian, state Department Officials, or military folks have any harm brought to them so to reduce that risk with every tool that we have in our arsenal. And so you were made aware of security risks prior to the strike on soleimani to u. S. Interests and individuals, personnel, and took corrective action to make sure that the risk was mitigated . Yes, thats the decision that the president made. Do you remember, we had a consulate in benghazi, libya, when the ambassador asked repeatedly for increased security at the time for the Previous Administration. And do you recall what occurred . Did he and the embassy receive the increased security or did it not . My recollection is that some of the requests for increased security were made available to them and others were not. And what was the result . There was a tragic day where four americans were killed. Four americans were killed. We had hearings up here. The bottom of it was never gotten to as far as Many Americans are concerned, yet we sit here today and secondguess your decisions and the administrations decision to keep america and americas interests safe. In the face of a terrorists with the responsibility of hundreds if not thousands of zets and maimings on his hands. Mr. Secretary, are we or were we at the brink of war as has been claimed in this committee with iran . Yeah, i we were at a heightened sense of risk on both sides, but i i never observed that we were at a risk of anything that when i hear people talk about i hear people talk about world war iii. That is not where we were. Yeah, i mean at any time during this these moments from the first of november through to date. You could i having said that, i will tell that the Islamic Republic of iran considers themselves at war against the United States of america and against israel. It would seem to me listening to some of my colleagues we should allow iran to kill as Many Americans as they want to and not respond for the fear that they might kill even more. I dont know how you cant reach that i ses. Here if you listen to the oops rhetoric in this committee. Let me clear something up. Is there any reason to enrich to the level that iran has or have heavy water reactor constructed for a Peaceful Nuclear power program, is there any reason at all to do that . The current set the current installation set for entfuges in iran and the magnitude and levels of enrichment taking place are not consistent with what one would historically find for medical isotopes and the like. I yield. The gentlemans time has expired. Before i call on miss houlihan let me say that the strikes my colleague referenced were authorized by congress under the 2001 aumf. Congress has not authorized a strike against soleimani. There is no authorization for use of force against iran and thats really the difference. Miss houlihan. Thank you. Sir, thank you for being here. On january 7th, iran responded to the soleimani strike by launching missiles at american personnel housed at iraqi bases. We now know it caused permanent brain damage and traumatic it our Service Members and the story the administration tells us about what happened keeps changing. The day after the president told the nation that, quote, the American People should be extremely grateful and happy no americans were harmed in last nights attack, end quite, like Many Americans i believed them and i was relieved. But that wasnt true. Many people were harmed. Following the attacks and ensuing reports of injured Service Members the president had this to say, and i quote, i heard they had headaches and a couple of other things, and i can report its not very serious. Just briefly, mr. Pompeo, with a yes or no, do you believe that traumatic brain injury is serious . Yes. I do, too. I am a thirdgeneration veteran and i have family currently serving in harms way and im familiar with the zef station these kinds of injuries can cause. January 24th, the pentagon told us that 34 Service Members had suffered traumatic brain injuries as a result of these strikes, and then on january 28th, four days later, we were told that, no, actually, that number was 50. And then two days after that the number was 64. Sir, with a simple yes and a number, what is the number standing at now in terms of u. S. Service members who have sustained traumatic brain injuries with the president previously dismissed as simply headaches . You will have to go to the department of defense to get the precise number. I can give you the number. Its 110. And thankfully, many of them have been cleared and returned to duty and we heard that about 30 still remain in hospital care. Sir, the administration claimed that the strike on soleimani was, quote, to deter iran from conducting or supporting further attacks against the United States forces and interests, end quote. This wasnt deterrence. It was a decision lacking strategy and an endangerment of our National Security and men and women in uniform. The president s decision had clearly very real consequences. 110 Service Members suffered tbi. What the president has called headaches and away we know isnt even close to ending is the campaign against us and the allies on behalf of iran. And they are currently enriching uranium again by your own admonition you told us we are not in safety and we are clearly still in harms way. So i guess my concern to you, sir, is that im not sure what we have accomplished other than injuring 110 Service Members and other than making our nation a less safe place. With the remainder of my time i yield to miss tyas. Thank you for yielding. Let me point out that that quote attributed to president obama was in a book allegedly overheard, reviewed in the washington times. I dont think anybody here heard him say that. Who knows if its true or not. Id like to ask you, mr. Pompeo, about something that was said after the soleimani strike. On january 6th, the president told the American People in a tweet in all caps, i think we have it here, iran will never have a Nuclear Weapon. It will never have a Nuclear Weapon. Now, i agree iran should not have a Nuclear Weapon. But in that now famous radio interview with mary lieu easy kelly, i think you know her, she asked you not once, not twice, but three times what the administration was going to do to stop iran from having a Nuclear Weapon. Heres what you said. My question again, how do you stop iran from getting a Nuclear Weapon . Well stop them. How . Well sanctions . Well stop them. Well, since you made that comment, iran has tripled the amount of stockpiled uranium it has. I will give you another chance to answer the questions. How are we going to stop iran from getting a Nuclear Weapon . Well stop them. [ laughter ] well, you know, thats really not a plan. Let me give you ill take my time back since you are you are making fun of my questions. Ill take my time back. Well stop them is like a bumper sticker. Thats not like a plan. You decided to have a fun, i thought i would have a moment. Excuse me, i have my time back. To use your words further on in the interview, i guess you think this is funny, she asked you, told you that iran had admitted that they had removed all limits on their centrifuge program and you said, in effect, well, he is blustering. Frankly, mr. Pompeo, i agree blust ring is dangerous, especially when it comes to Nuclear Weapons development, but today you are just blustering. This is not a plan. This is not an acceptable sub sfut for a plan, and were just not going to allow that. I yield back. Mr. Kinsinger. Thank you, mr. Chairman. This is exhausting. I mean, this multimedia dog and pony show thats being put on. And nobody thinks the secretary of state thinks this is humorous. We can have a moment of levity without trying to get a youtube moment out of it or without, you know, being upset and feigning anger so you can get a tv hit tonight on a cable station. Mr. Secretary, you were on this you understand this committee. I felt li fought like hell to get a waiver to get on this committee. The thing i love about this committee, loved, is its bipartisan. We never took one vote that was partisan on this committee. Not once. Our very first thing that we did on this committee under the new majority was take a partisan vote. I think we took two. One of the first was yemen. Preventing the u. S. From doing in yemen. Thats a Campaign Issue right now, even though most people have no idea whats going on. I will ask you real quick, mr. Secretary, how much humanitarian aid has iran provided to the yemen crisis . Zero. Thank you. But you have been on this. You understand whats going on here, this show. You know, the soleimani initially i think a lot of folks in did not even know who soleimani was and then all of a sudden find out hes killed and then they are outraged about it. A point id like to make is we operated and i was part of those operations against iranians in iraq during the iraq war. So, by killing soleimani in iraq, protecting u. S. Troops like we did in task force 17, we were operating under the same authority that we had to defend american troops against iran that we did when we killed soleimani in iraq, by the way. So, when all of this discussion about not having the authority, then you are saying that we didnt have the authority to defend ourselves and operate against iranian ied networks in iraq in 07 and 08. So all of those all of that positive movement we made to defend our troops was totally illegal because congress didnt thor size it. It is the same authorization that that we have today. I would argue that it was quite proportional because instead of blowing up sites where there is 100 soldiers working that want to pay a paycheck in iran, it may come to that someday if iran decides to escalate. Instead of doing that we killed the man responsible for these deaths. Mr. Secretary, let me ask you quickly, how Many Americans have been killed and injured as a result of mr. Soleimani . Hundreds. How many people around that region do you think are dead, including the syria crisis, because of mr. Soleimani . Thousands from every faith, including thousands and thousands of muslims. So, i think, you know, my friends on the other side of the aisle say, we get it, he was a bad guy. Yeah, he was a bad guy. However, x, y, z, its like saying Osama Bin Laden was a bad guy. No, he was a demon. Mr. Soleimani also was a demon. This is a guy that traveled around arrogantly in the middle east bragging about the amount of people he killed, bragging about his ability to expand the iranian empire and the methods that come along with that, half a million dead syrians right now. By the way, assad would not be in power if it was not for iran. He look at the destabilization of lebanon, the innocent dead people in yemen at the yemen conflict, thats not america in saudi arabia. Thats because the Iranian Regime overthrew the legitimate government of yemen, parks weapons in the middle of populated territory so when they are bombed, when they threaten airplanes, it kills civilians and they parade the civilians out. Thats the heartlessness of what were talking about. Mr. Secretary, i also want to mention on the airliner, after the iranian shot down the airliner, it was amazing to see the number of people that blamed President Trump for shooting down none of this would have happened if it wasnt for President Trumps irresponsibility is what i was told. I think an important thing to remember is we killed soleimani, the right move. Iran reacted. And then fully expecting us to react, they turned their service to air missile sites on trying to defend their airspace, fully assuming america would react, and we didnt, because we showed restraint. And then a trigger happy or whatever the situation was, surfacetoair missile operator shot down the airliner. That wasnt President Trump. I would argue President Trump showed a great deal of restraint. I appreciate you coming in here. I am sorry. Some of my colleagues have been respectful with questions, legitimate questions, but im sorry some hasnt. I yield back. Mr. Castro. Thank you, chairman. Mr. Secretary, you and i were on the Intelligence Committee before you left to go to the cia and im still on that committee. I listened to your answers on classified information and i have seen that classified information and after reviewing it i dont think that you are telling us the truth. And i would encourage the president and you to declassify as much of that as possible. I think if the American People read it, they wouldnt believe you are telling us the truth. Here is my question. My colleagues have shown killing soleimani made america less safe in ways that were entirely predictable, and yet it doesnt seem like the administration was at all prepared for a vote to expel American Forces from iraq or for guided missile strikes that forced our Service Members to hide in bunkers or for a complete halt to the fight against isis. Just like the pull out from syria, the president made a decision with no planning and no understanding of the consequences. This is exactly why the framers of our constitution decided not to entrust any Single Person with the power to take america to war. Instead of following the law and seeking authorization, you said there was an imminent threat, which we know isnt true. You then concocted a theory that congress had somehow already authorized you to attack iran. Mr. Secretary, do you really believe congress authorized the president to attack iran . I am very confident that every action that this administration has taken is fully lawful. The president and the administration has referenced the 2002 aumf. Let me ask you, how many times has the 2002 how many times does the 2002 Saddam Hussein authorization which you are invoking here mention iran . Ill leave it to the lawyers to debate the scope of that. But i know that this was discussed, vetted, approved by the lawyers as has every action this administration has taken. We conducted this attack fully inside our statutory and constitutional responsibility. The president acted lawfully. You know, mr. Secretary, it doesnt mention iran every member of this body knows that Congress Never authorized war with iran and we certainly didnt do it 18 years ago on anthorization for an entirely different war. I yield to the gentleman from new york. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Secretary, good morning. We came here to discuss some very important issues. Issues of life and death, war and peace, ultimately also about separation of powers and our Constitutional Rights as a duly elected branch of government to know whats going on and whether or not we will engage in warlike action. But the fact of the matter is that americans across the country, as they send their children to school, are saying they went to work, what we are terrified as a nation about the coronavirus, particularly when we are reading the papers that one of the top officials, the Vice President of women and Family Affairs in iran contracted the disease. And we saw yesterday how wall street took an unprecedented dive. Americans are terrified. Im terrified about the coronavirus. My question, i know you want to answer questions, so my question is a verying direct one. Do you feel that we should divert funding to build the wall to stop the spread of this coronavirus thats terrifying American Families across our nation. We have a money problem. The president has presented a deep cut to your department. Do you feel we should divert money from building the wall to stop this pandemic . Yes or no . Thats a straw man argument. Yes or no. Its a straw man argument. Yes or no . Give me an answer. You want to answer questions. Y yes or no . We can do all i reclaim my time. Yes or no . Do you feel we should divert funding from building the wall to stop this pandemic thats terrifying American Families . Yes or no . America has the resources you are not answering my question. Let me ask you another question. Your state Department Personnel are the first point of contact, the first point of contact overseas from diplomatic engagements to consular service. Do you feel your employees are at risk, exposed to the coronavirus . They are in china. Never all over asia. Do you feel your employees are in danger, in risk of contracting the coronavirus . Weve taken a number of are they at risk of contracting this virus, yes or no . Sir, would you permit me to answer. Give me a yesorno answer. Its more complicated. No its not. You are sitting in a Consular Office interviewing people in china or in japan or in asia. Are you at risk of contracting this disease . Everyunof our ambassadors evaluates the risk to their officers every day. Our officers across the world, not just from coronavirus are at risk your time has expired. I yield back. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you for being here. Ill answer that question. Yes, everybody is at risk. Yes, everyone. Mr. Secretary, you said in the beginning the Trump Administration will neither tolerate nor appease the iranian terrorist regime. Yet the president has said he would be open to talking to them. And i think thats great. And were thankful for that. That should be the policy of america beyond this at administration and hopefully for the next administrations that we will not tolerate this kind of activity against our country. I appreciate them standing strong. My colleagues have i was just going to point out one, but many have laid out claims there is in strategy pulling out of the jcpoc, eliminating soleimani, sanctions on iran. The other things, no response to the coronavirus. But a lot of the things we did do pulling out of the jcpoa, those are the strategies. I think you will see the response down the road. As far as the coronavirus, my colleagues said this administration has done nothing. We have had two hearings, chairman bera and myself, we have had the administration here. Two epidemiologists showed up. Two hearings on coronavirus, state department employees, dr. Redfield from the cdc, and we have offered help to iran and to china and they have not taken it. Today, you know, everybodys worried about coronavirus. You know, the last thing we need to do is dramatize it that everybodys going to get coronavirus. We did that with zika. We did that with ebola and we were blessed because the system we have in this country. To date, there are 57 cases confirmed of coronavirus of americans. 40 of them were on a cruise ship. I wont mention the name. Three were from wuhan. 12 are travel related and two are person to person. So i think in a country of 330 million some people, thats pretty darn good. So i applaud the administration. We talked to dr. Redfield yesterday. He says they are staged, they are ready to go. We talked to patrick kern thnne that received the cruise ship in cambodia. The state department was there. They had six staging areas. They worked with the cambodian government, which i appreciate, and they got those people home safely. I do have some questions that are pertinent to this hearing. With soleimani being eliminated, can you report in this setting, have you seen a weakening in irans quds force or their proxies in syria, lebanon, or yemen or anywhere else . I prefer to answer that by saying that the cumulative effect of the actions that we have taken since this administration has come into office have reduced the capacity the Islamic Republic of iran to inflict terror around the world. No doubt about that. Do you have a sense on the replacement, mr. Kani . Ill simply saying that Qasem Soleimani was a unique leader in that the broader institution and array of the Islamic Republic of iran, he was a loud voice, a voice that had lots of people who were willing to rislisten t him. There is not a leader that is likely to be able to replace him completely, adequately, and fully. I think that is justification enough. If we look at our servicemen and women that were either killed or were wounded in iraq and afghanistan, we know 70 of those came from ieds. 90 of those came from iran. Who is in charge of those . They were those were quds force operations led by soleimani xoloitzcuintli right. And then when bill clinton and president obama or prior to president obama, bill clinton had the opportunity to remove Osama Bin Laden. He had 10 to 12 different times he had the opportunity to apprehend him or eliminate him. He chose not to. The question is would 9 11 have happened had we not done that . I dont want to pespeculate. We cant speculate. But we can probably look into the future, had soleimani stayed, there would have been more deaths attributed to iran and the ieds. So i commend this administration for doing what they did. Sir, you have a tough job. We need to focus on whats going on in the world. Its not just iran. We have got china. Weve got north korea. Weve got whats going on in venezuela. Weve dot the economies, you know, being adjusted all over the world. And so we cant just focus on one area. Weve got to look at the whole picture. I would think congress would come together to focus on that and i yield back. Thank you. Thank you. Gentlemans time has expired. Mr. Mellanowski. Thank you. Mr. Secretary, we had what i thought was a con strestructive conversation at the munich conference about the importance of defending state Department Personnel. I appreciated some of the things that you said to us about that. But since we got home weve heard the following statement from the White House Deputy spokesperson. It said, too often we have people in this government, i mean the federal government is massive with millions of people and there are a lot of people out there taking action against this president and when we find them we will take appropriate action. Weve seen reports that the White House Personnel Office is compiling lists of socalled deep state people, disloyal people to punch. Purge. There are some 24,000 civil and Foreign Service officers who are also listening to you right now. They know that they have a duty to implement this president s policies and they do. You called them just a moment ago amazing people. You know they are not working against this president. But they also feel they have a responsibility to share with you and their president their best judgment, to tell you the truth as they see it, whether its what the leadership wants to hear or not. So, my question is, if they do that, if, for example, a state Department Official goes to a meeting at the white house and reports that there are more isis fighters today than when isis took over half of iraq in 2014, that the strike against soleimani may have temporarily hampered our ability to fight them, or if a Public Health expert working for you tells the public or the president that, you know, this virus isnt necessarily going to go away when it gets warm, are you going to back them up when they speak what they believe to be the truth . Are you going to stand by while people in the white house talking about purr jing your employees . This is an easy question. There is not a day that goes by state Department Officials dont tell me things that i disagree with. Not one. Cant imagine a Big Organization i welcome it. All my ambassadors this week, the chief of Mission Conference was in town. I heard lots of voices. What i always demand is the truth as best they know it. Their policy judgments as well. They have lots of experience, time on the ground in many places are you willing to get into a fight with the white house if necessary as all of your predecessors would have in the face of these comments like a 29yearold guy in the White House Personnel Office . Its not about fighting. Its about being right. Its about making sure we deliver on behalf of the american peoplism do this every day. I work to make the case for delivering american diplomacy in the way this institution always has. We have built it up. We made it better than when my predecessors were there. Thank you, mr. Secretary. I to see you do that publicly. I yield to mr. Lieu. Thank you. Mr. Pompeo, on january 7th, irans foreign minute stister s following the soleimani strike iran was going to get rid of all of centrifuges they use to enrich uranium. Let me put that in context. As of last november, irans stockpile had grown to over 800 pounds. Then after soleimani attacks, iran told the world that stockpile has tripled to about 2,600 pounds. So, my question to you is, does iran have more enriched uranium now than when Donald Trump Took Office . Yes. Okay. I want to switch to coronavirus. And may i just make sure thats fine. Yes is good. Heaven richaf they have e a higher level than when we took office. Thats a true statement. The maximum its a little more complicated. I want to be more precise. Thank you. Switching to the coronavirus which is top of peoples minds. Donald trumps chief of staff Mick Mulvaney said that the coronavirus was the hoax of the day. Do you agree with Donald Trumps chief of staff mulvaney that the coronavirus is the hoax of the day . The state department is doing everything it can to protect american citizens do you believe the coronavirus is a hoax i am not going to comment i am asking you, do you believe the coronavirus is i am telling you what the secretary of state is doing. Do you believe the coronavirus is a hoax . We are you cant answer that question . Its not a gotcha question. Its a gotcha moment. Its not useful. Is the coronavirus a hoax . Can you answer that question . We are taking it seriously. This is a all right. At 12 15 today are you speaking at cpac . Yes, i am. So you can only give two hours this Bipartisan Group of members of congress and instead of answering questions on life and death issues from a Bipartisan Group of americas representativ representatives you are going to talk to a special Interest Group . Yes. You represent all americans. It is shapefmeful you cant ans basic questions. I yield back. The gentlemans time has expired. Mr. Mast. Thank you, mr. Chairman. The first question that i would offer, i offer to yield you ten seconds to mr. Chairman. Was to appropriate for mr. Lowenthal to offer classified information from a classified session . What . I did not yield you any time. I think we have i dont decide on the appropriateness of it. Every member of congress has a right to say whatever they feel they need to i will be asking that the Ethics Committee determine whether that was appropriate for her to offer information from a classified setting. I want to talk about some important points made in the very beginning of this hearing. The first comment from the other side today was how can we offer how can we make sure that we offer iran aid from mr. Can we ensure that we can offer aid over to iran . That was the first question that came out of this committee. Second comment from the other side. Would the gentleman yield . No, i will not. Second question that came out. It was this. Offering that you should spend more time here and that secretary clinton spent 11 hours here. Wow, we should give her a hand of congratulations. Not even one hour for every hour that she allowed our men and women overseas to be killed without dispatching any qrf, any Quick Response force. Congratulations for that. I want to ask a questicouple qus here. It makes sense to me that many on the other side are upset about killing somebody who was attacking our embassy of the that is consistent with not defending benghazi. That would be consistent. I want to ask here, are any of my colleagues, im willing to offer time for this, who have been chastising the president , who keep saying over and over and over that we are less safe because of killing soleimani, willing to say right now, ill offer you time, that you wish soleimani was still alive . Im willing to yield you time. You said we are less safe. Im willing to yield your time. Im happy to answer your question. Of course, we think. I didnt yield you time. You said do you want to ask me if i want to yield a moment . Yes. We believe the principal responsibility of the United States is to keep the American People safe. We believe this has made us less safe. You know better than that. Shame on you for is asking that question and for suggesting we are not will the gentleman yield . Ill offer will the gentleman yield . Would you like to offer that you wish soleimani was still alive . I am congresswoman spam berger from virginia. And referencing what you stated earlier, the point of it was there was no evidence given in the classified briefing. None. None of imminence. None. As a former cia case officer i am very happy that soleimani is dead. But we need to have i reclaim my time we need to make sure we are protecting the American People and these are the focus of our questions today everyone yield. The gentleman reclaims his time. No less than ten times w less safe, were less safe, were less safe because soleimani was killed. It was said over and over here. Thats a simple question. Do you wish he was still alive . I still hold on for another moment if anybody wants to offer will the gentleman leeld . No. You used up enough. Thank you. Well try to get the gentlewoman i have another question. At this point would any of my colleagues like to offer this . At what point would you say that iran has gone too far . Im willing to offer time for that. When can you say iran has crossed a red line . Will the gentleman lead . Absolutely if you want to offer when iran goes too far for you. If not the question was when iran crossed a red line. I am asking in response i would like you to define what a red line, what red line. What is your red line . When for us does iran go too far that is justifies killing soleimani or taking some other sort of action. What is your red line . For any of my colleagues iran went too far decades ago. The question is whether or not there is authorization for this particular strike. When we label somebody a designated terrorist, with we put that wanted sign on their back, there is justification for a strike just as it thats a sanctions designation. That has nothing do to do with force im reclaiming my time. His replacement has a wanted poster on his back being the head of a designated terrorist organization. Would anybody else care to offer that they have a red line for actions of iranian aggression . In my last couple seconds, i will offer this. I heard i heard one response for a red line of iranian aggression. That leads me to believe there are no red lines for many of my colleagues the gentlemans time is expired. Mr. Deutsche. Ill pass, mr. Chairman. S. Mr. Thrown. Thank you, mr. Chairman. 11 hours of testimony by secretary clinton on benghazi. Two hours, two by secretary pompeo on iran. Arrogance. Arrogance. Mr. Pompeo, i think the way the administration has handled iran policy in recent months explains why so many of us are concerned about the response to coronavirus. If the administration isnt going to tell the truth about the alleged imminent threat to our people in our embassies, why should the American People have the confidence in the statements about the threat this disease pose snz . s . If the administration hides the fact that the number of Service Members who are injured in an attack, how can we know the numbers about diagnosis and quarantines are accurate . When the administration fires or sidelines people like ambassador yovanovitch, Lieutenant Colonel vindman, maguire, or the hhs whistleblower who is being targeted just because they told the truth. Should we believe when what you tell us about another looming crisis . The American People are scared, sir. My constituents are scared. And the administrations track record of incompetence in dealing with crisis doesnt inspire confidence, and to make it worse the president has tried to slash the personnel and programs that can make us better equipped to grapple with the Global Health crisis. Its reckless. So, we end up with mixed messages, muddled information, confusion. Its one of the last things we want in this situation. We need to do better. The American People clearly deserve better. I yield to mr. Allred. Think the gentleman for i thank the gentleman for yielding. I am going to make a statement, mr. Pompeo. No one disputes that soleimani was a dangerous, harden terrorist and no one over here mourns his death. I know that some would prefer to take a simple path to call hardfought negotiations to cap irans Nuclear Program that is now back on as has been evidenced today, appeasement, a term with we know historic freight, or declare an unauthorized strike to kill one of irans most senior general the same as taking out any other terrorist as if there are not geopolitical consequences at stake. Its our job to ask, and then what . Because Foreign Policy and the actions taking on the global stage cant be shortsighted. They have to consider what comes next. What happened after the strike was a series of actions that were predictable and hurt the longterm National Security interests of the United States, similar to some of the impulsive decisions we have seen from this administration such as turning our backs on the kurds after a phone call, or inviting the taliban to camp david on the week of 9 11. And now we face the possibility of a historic Global Pandemic led by a president and an administration that have a pres administration that has shown theyre incapable of thinking about what happens next. This administration has left the state department, key positions vacant, the National Security council and cdc with key positions vacant. And of course as my colleagues pointed out sought to slash critical funding. Governing and leading the world requires stable leadership. The world looks to us for that leadership. They watch us. They fear our military, but more than that, they respect our values. And how we lead. Government by chaos makes us less safe and the world less safe. I hope and pray for our great country that we will get our act together as we face this coronavirus, and i will work with this administration to do everything i can to protect my constituents and our great country. I hope that you will, in the future, give this committee the time that it deserves to discuss these issues. The American People want to know why we took this strike, what went into it. What the explanation is. There has been no debate. Need to talk about the authorizations for such actions. Thats our role in a democracy. And i encourage you to give us the time to have that discussion. I yield back. The gentleman yields back, mr. Wright. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Mr. Secretary thank you for being here today. As you see ringling brothers has nothing on this committee. Rarely have i seen adults behave in such a rude manner as they have today. Including employing bullying tactics, which i think is reprehensible. I want you to know that i think youre doing an outstanding job and that the United States and the world are safer because youre the secretary of state. I have a real simple question then im going to yield because were about out of time for the committee. It has to do with the protesters in iran. And realizing the limitations we have to affect things internally, do you believe were doing everything we can to support those protesters, is there Anything Congress can do that would help the protesters in iran . We have taken a very different approach with respect to the protesters than the Previous Administration did. We are doing all the things that we have in our tool kit. This is what we do in countries where people are demanding freedom, liberty, they want simple basic human rights that have been denied them so long inside the islamic public of iran. We saw what happened with the fraudulently le fraudulent election, people didnt run but then they also didnt vote because it was a fraud election. Im happy to share with you in another hearing the things the administration is trying to do so the protesters, at the very least, will not be harmed. And our effort broadly is aimed at standing up a free and sovereign iran. Lebanon that is not suffering under the hands of hezbollah. If we get it right, the people of that region will be better off and people of america will be more secure. Thank you. Im going to yield the rest of my time. Thank you, sir. I appreciate that. Thank you, sir, for being here. I havent been in Congress Long enough to be bitter or shout at you or anything to cause any great attention youll learn quickly. Kind of hoping i would so i could get more tv time but nobody has taken my picture as you can see, so ill keep thank you, brother. I appreciate that. Ill put you on my Christmas Card list. Since we took out soleimani, have irans actions changed any that youve seen . I suspect they walk out every morning in look up at the ask you sky, but besides that theres no single act you can stare at and say this is the one variable that moved. Its more comprehensive, bigger than that. This is one element of the efforts weve taken. So draw a correlation like that, i want to be very cautious about. More of a longterm thing. Thank you for that. How is the administrations maximum Pressure Campaign affected irans ability to fund hezbollah . You can see it in the classified setting were happy to share the data, but hard decisions are being made. Difficult decisions about whether you should make payroll for hezbollah, how big a militia can you support in iraq, should you underwrite activity in afghanistan, finite resources, they were shipping somewhere between 2. 7 and 2. 9 Barrels Per Day of crude oil closer to market barrel, theyre getting deeply discounted or having to ship it to syria in exchange for their work on the ground there. This has put enormous constra t constraints on the regime and the ability to foment terror around the world. What can be done to fix the rift between the gulf countries. Were encouraging the gulf states to join us in this effort. They see the threat from the islamic public of iran. Disputes amongst them make that more difficult to prosecute effectively. We hope theyll get this figured out. Thank you, mr. Chairman, i yield back the remainder of my time. Thank you. The gentleman yields back. Weve just about run out of time. Let me say two things. First of all, mr. Secretary, we hope youll come back soon, we hope youll give us more time when you come back. I think you can sense the frustration on this side of the aisle that we only had you for two hours. Theres a lot more time we could have done. Ive been on this committee for over 30 years and most secretarys give us three or four hours when they come. We hope we can get back to that as well. Thats the frustration on this side that we didnt feel we were able to get into a lot of topics that we think are necessary to discuss with the secretary of state. But i do want to thank you for coming here and let you know that youre always welcome, whenever you want to come to discuss matters with us. Were always happy to have you. Let me ask so thank you. And safe travels to wherever youre going. Before i adjourn the committee, id ask everyone to please keep their seats while the secretary departs. So we can do that now. The committee stands adjourned. On the eve of super tuesday, President Trump holds a Campaign Rally in charlotte, north carolina, one