Fox News host Mark Levin said Sunday that he believed that President Donald Trump was the &#8220;right man&#8221; to ensure that Iran doesn&#8217;t get nuclear weapons.
Levin made the comment during a discussion on the necessity of eliminating Iran&#8217;s capacity for having nuclear weapons with Arkansas GOP Senator Tom Cotton, the Iraq War veteran who is the Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee and sits on the Armed Services Committee. Cotton has long been a staunch opponent of Iran having a nuclear weapon; he led the charge against the Obama nuclear deal with Iran that permitted the terrorist regime to continue the pursuit of building nuclear weapons.
&#8220;I’m not asking you to violate any secrets, obviously, or anything of that sort,&#8221; Levin began. &#8220;Is Iran really close to having a nuclear weapon and is that something we should take seriously? Or, as some people say, &#8216;It’s very manageable. Don’t be a warmonger. Don’t interfere. Don’t be a neo-con. Just let the good little terrorists do whatever they’re going to do and we’ll be just fine.'&#8221;
&#8220;Mark, Iran is very close to having a nuclear weapon, and it’s something that we should fear and that we shouldn’t tolerate.&#8221; Cotton replied. &#8220;Donald Trump’s been very clear about this; for as long as he’s been in politics, going back 10 years. In fact, the first conversation I ever had with Donald Trump, he was coming to Arkansas to speak at a Republican party dinner. I happened to be going to Vienna that weekend to meet with the International Atomic Energy Agency. And he called me and he said that the one thing we can’t do is let Iran have a nuclear weapon. And he’s been clear about that publicly over and over again because Iran is not a normal nation. It’s a fanatical theocratic dictatorship. And if they get nuclear weapons, they’re likely to use them.&#8221;
Answering Levin&#8217;s question about how close Iran was to having a nuclear weapon, Cotton continued, &#8220;How close are they? They have enough enriched uranium now that they could probably produce enough weapons-grade in just a matter of days, maybe a few weeks. And then it’s only a matter of marrying up that nuclear weapon to the missiles they already have that can reach our friends in Israel and throughout the Middle East.&#8221;
&#8220;But it’s worse than that, Mark,&#8221; Cotton declared. &#8220;They have a space launch program which is really just flimsy cover for a ballistic missile program, and they’re probably just a few years away from having missiles that could hit us here in the United States, that could hit Florida or Arkansas or Washington, D.C. So it is a grave threat, not just to our friends in the Middle East but to the United States itself. And that’s why President Trump has been completely clear that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon.&#8221;
&#8220;And Mark, I think it’s important to remember how we got to this point as well,&#8221; he recalled. &#8220;We got here because of the terrible Obama deal with Iran that allowed them to enrich uranium, that allowed them to keep all their centrifuges, that allowed them to continue research into ballistic missiles. President Trump has been clear that Iran has no reason to enrich uranium. They therefore have no reason to keep their centrifuges, and they certainly have no reason to be developing intercontinental missiles that could hit the United States. If Iran is willing to make a deal on those terms, and as President Trump said last week, we can have peace and they can live happily without death.&#8221;
Trump has recently said, &#8220;Iran has a chance to have a great country and to live happily without death.&#8221;
&#8220;But if they insist on keeping all that enriched uranium and all those centrifuges and their missile program, as he has said, we’re going to have to take a different path,&#8221; Cotton said.
&#8220;In other words, they need to dismantle this, and it needs to be provable in a way in the past it hasn’t been provable, cause they cheat and they lie and they steal,&#8221; Levin stated. &#8220;I mean, after all, they are terrorists and just because they signed a piece of paper, &#8216;Oh, yeah, we’ll sign whatever you give us. Oh, that all you have? Sure, sure, sure,&#8217; it means absolutely nothing.&#8221;
&#8220;I have complete faith in Donald Trump on this; he’s the right man at the right time,&#8221; Levin asserted. &#8220;I have complete faith in Benjamin Netanyahu; he’s the right man at the right time. And I think there’s a lot of static out there by a cabal of individuals who seem to think that nuclear weapons in the hands of an enemy — not just any enemy, but one that doesn’t believe in mutually assured destruction, it just believes in destruction — is manageable or it’s OK. And I’m not willing to bet our country, society, my children and grandchildren, on that. Are you?&#8221;
&#8220;No,&#8221; Cotton said firmly. &#8220;Absolutely not, Mark. And I agree with you: I have confidence in President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu; they understand the stakes here; they understand that the only acceptable deal is one in which Iran dismantles its nuclear program, turns over its enriched uranium, turns over its centrifuges, stops ballistic missile research.&#8221;
Cotton pointed out that the U.S. had intervened before to stop a rogue state from having nuclear weaponry, recalling, &#8220;Libya did the exact same thing in 2003. It was scared straight; it threw open the doors, let us come in and take away all of its nuclear programs as well as biological and chemical weapons programs as well. And we took Libya off the list of state sponsors of terrorism; we lifted sanctions on them. They became a de facto ally, even though Muammar Khadafi still had a lot of American blood on his hands in the past.&#8221;
&#8220;There’s a clear model of what a good, enforceable, verifiable deal would look like here,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;It does not involve any enrichment of uranium, or Iran possessing centrifuges or continuing its production of ballistic missiles. That’s the kind of deal that President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu have both been clear about for many years.&#8221;
&#8220;You know, senator, if Iran doesn’t intend to build nuclear weapons to harm us or anybody else, then what’s the problem?&#8221; Levin asked. &#8220;Why won’t they dismantle it? But if they won’t dismantle it, then they’ve revealed what they’re really up to.&#8221;
&#8220;They claim they want a nuclear energy program; there are plenty of countries around the world that have nuclear energy and don’t enrich uranium, that don’t have centrifuges, that acquire it [nuclear energy] from countries that do,&#8221; Cotton noted. &#8220;There’s no reason for Iran, as you say, to have this vast nuclear infrastructure. That’s why they’re only a few months away from getting the bomb. It’s what Barack  Obama let them get.&#8221;
&#8220;It&#8217;s funny; they sell their oil to Communist China. I guess they’re not exactly running out of energy. But they’re liars, they’re thieves, and they’re terrorists. That’s what the regime is. That’s the bottom line,&#8221; Levin concluded.
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<a href="https://t.co/kESYKQCR3F">pic.twitter.com/kESYKQCR3F</a>
&mdash; Fox News (@FoxNews) <a href="https://twitter.com/FoxNews/status/1914140904534819128?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 21, 2025</a></blockquote>
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MixCollage-21-Apr-2025-02-08-AM-6450

Levin, Cotton On Iran: President Trump The ‘Right Man At The Right Time’

Donald Trump

Iran

Mark Levin

Nuclear Weapons

Tom Cotton

The Biden administration authorized the use of the unclassified Signal messaging app for official communications before top Trump administration officials began using it, according to Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR).
Cotton, who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, appeared on Fox News on Tuesday and suggested that the outcry over top Trump officials using the encrypted messaging platform to communicate is misdirected as the use of the app began under the previous administration.
On Monday, The Atlantic&#8217;s editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/03/trump-administration-accidentally-texted-me-its-war-plans/682151/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">revealed</a> that he was mistakenly added to a Signal group of top Trump officials discussing plans to attack the Houthis. A Senate Intelligence Committee hearing scheduled for after Cotton’s appearance on Fox News featured two of the officials also included in the group, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe.
“I bet a bunch of those senators that you see at the hearing today are using Signal, as well, to speak to each other or to speak to their aides,” Cotton said ahead of the expected questions over the Signal group at the hearing. “It is my understanding that the Biden administration authorized Signal as a means of communication that was consistent with presidential record-keeping requirements for its administration, and that continued into the Trump administration.”
“It&#8217;s simply another messaging app like the iMessage app on your iPhone or email servers that every administration has set up in which senior administration officials can communicate with each other,” Cotton said.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
I joined Fox &amp; Friends to preview today’s open Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on the Worldwide Threat Assessment. <a href="https://t.co/F807jZsKcC">pic.twitter.com/F807jZsKcC</a>
&mdash; Tom Cotton (@SenTomCotton) <a href="https://twitter.com/SenTomCotton/status/1904517075273420865?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 25, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Revelations about the Signal group chat, parts of which were published in The Atlantic on Monday, sparked questions about National Security Advisor Mike Waltz’s future in the administration. Goldberg reported that he had been added to the sensitive group chat by an account labeled “Michael Waltz.”
President Donald Trump dismissed suggestions that he could fire Waltz over the Signal group on Tuesday. Trump told Fox News that “he’s not getting fired” and called the Signal group a “mistake,” but added that “nothing important” was shared in the thread.
Goldberg said that sensitive information was relayed in the Signal thread that had the potential to damage “American military and intelligence personnel, particularly in the broader Middle East” if it were to be released. He did not publish the alleged messages he referred to.

Tom Cotton: Biden Admin Authorized Signal App For Communication Between Top Officials

Congress

Mike Waltz

Politics

The Atlantic

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) warned this week that the threat of a surprise attack in the Pacific from Communist China was much higher than people realize because they have managed to lull the world to sleep with their repeated military exercises.
Cotton made the remarks during an interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt this week while talking about his new book &#8220;Seven Things You Can&#8217;t Say About China.&#8221;
&#8220;China is justly unpopular with the vast majority of Americans, and most of those Americans are very worried about China,&#8221; Cotton said. &#8220;But if anything, it&#8217;s actually much worse. The threat is pervasive. It&#8217;s present today. It&#8217;s not remote in the future, and it is something that affects your everyday life in America, not just, you know, something that might affect our strategic position in the world years from now.&#8221;
Cotton said that one of the greatest threats China poses to the world is with its &#8220;gray zone&#8221; activities, a term that refers to coercive actions that are shy of armed conflict, but go further than normal diplomatic, economic, and other activities, and are used to advance a nation&#8217;s interests.
He was specifically asked about the numerous incursions into Taiwanese waters and airspace by the Chinese military and whether China may one day pull the trigger and launch a surprise attack on Taiwan.
&#8220;I don&#8217;t think we can ever take that for granted. I know that Taiwan, and, for that matter, Japan does not either,&#8221; Cotton said. &#8220;That&#8217;s why the increasing number of recent years of naval and air patrols by Communist China in Taiwan&#8217;s airspace and its waters, just like in Japan&#8217;s southwest islands, are so deeply troubling.&#8221;
&#8220;It gives the people, Liberation Army, Air Force, and Navy more opportunities to train for the operation in which they might go for the jugular in Taiwan,&#8221; he said. &#8220;It puts severe stress on Taiwan and Japan&#8217;s military — both their equipment and their people. You know, in times when you might be, say, doing operations or maintenance or training or just giving your troops a break, they have to scramble to intercept those Chinese aircraft and ships, and I think it also can&#8217;t help but to lead to a bit of a sense of complacency and dull the acuity of the antennae of everyone who&#8217;s involved.&#8221;
Cotton warned that on the 2,000th time that China illegally enters Taiwanese airspace, nothing may happen, and then the very next time, they may decide to launch a full-scale invasion.
&#8220;So I think that we have serious reason to be very concerned about all of these incursions,&#8221; he said.
WATCH:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Senator Tom Cotton on the budget/reconciliation process and the resources the Intel Community needs" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3nNZ_8IV8Kw?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Tom Cotton Feb 19

Tom Cotton Sounds Alarm Over Threat Of Surprise Attack From Chinese Military

Communist China

Global Politics

Taiwan

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Tom Cotton (R-AR) praised President Donald Trump on Sunday for conducting &#8220;long overdue&#8221; strikes on Iranian-backed Houthi terrorists in Yemen.
Cotton made the remarks during an interview with Maria Bartiromo on &#8220;Sunday Morning Futures&#8221; when asked about the message that the U.S. aimed to send to Iran with the strikes.
He said that all of America&#8217;s adversaries — Russia, China, Iran, North Korea — want is to &#8220;upend the United States led order that has benefited our citizens for so long by keeping America safe and prosperous.&#8221;
&#8220;The strikes against the Houthi rebels in Yemen last night was long overdue,&#8221; Cotton said. &#8220;Going back to the October 7, attacks against Israel, they&#8217;ve been shutting down shipping in the Red Sea. That&#8217;s dangerous, not just for America&#8217;s sailors who are there, but also it&#8217;s bad for your wallet here in America. It drives up shipping costs, which drives up the prices you pay.&#8221;
&#8220;Yet Joe Biden, let our ships, let our sailors just sit in the Red Sea like sitting ducks,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;President Trump made it clear that it was long overdue. We&#8217;re not going to allow it anymore. We are going to protect our interests. And he also made it clear to Iran that we know what they&#8217;re up to. Where did a bunch of goat herders in Yemen get one-way attack drones and cruise missiles? They got them from Iran.&#8221;
Cotton said that the Houthis should know moving forward that if the Houthis &#8220;don&#8217;t get the lesson, then of course, I believe President Trump will strike back even twice as hard.&#8221;
&#8220;And once again, the most important threat is the threat of Iran&#8217;s nuclear weapons program,&#8221; he added. &#8220;It&#8217;s not just a threat to Israel or our friends in the Middle East. They&#8217;re also building intercontinental missiles under the flimsy cover of a space launch program that could strike the United States in just a number of years. So this is a direct and imminent threat to the United States. That&#8217;s why President Trump has said repeatedly, we&#8217;re in the final days of this dispute over Iran&#8217;s nuclear program. It&#8217;s really up to them how it ends.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Today exclusively on <a href="https://twitter.com/SundayFutures?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SundayFutures</a> with <a href="https://twitter.com/MariaBartiromo?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MariaBartiromo</a>, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Tom Cotton <a href="https://twitter.com/SenTomCotton?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SenTomCotton</a> about President Trump moving to unleash America&#39;s Energy Independence. <a href="https://twitter.com/FoxNews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@FoxNews</a> <a href="https://t.co/NIAMEvaPKq">pic.twitter.com/NIAMEvaPKq</a>
&mdash; SundayMorningFutures (@SundayFutures) <a href="https://twitter.com/SundayFutures/status/1901294084376994282?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 16, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Senate Impeachment Trial Of President Donald Trump Begins

Tom Cotton Praises Trump’s Strikes On Houthi Terrorists

Houthis

Security officers escorted <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/usda" target="_blank" rel="noopener">U.S. Department of Agriculture</a> Inspector General Phyllis Fong out of her office this week after she refused to leave following her termination by President Donald Trump.
Reuters reported that the incident happened on Monday after Fong, who served in the department for 22 years, told colleagues that she intended to stay after being fired.
She reportedly claimed that the administration did not follow the proper protocols in firing her, the report said.
In an email, she claimed that the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency “has taken the position that these termination notices do not comply with the requirements set out in law and therefore are not effective at this time.”
Trump fired 18 inspectors general across the U.S. government last week, which triggered opponents who claimed that he did not follow the law in doing so because he did not give Congress advance notice.
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee and Chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, defended Trump’s decision over the weekend.
“Time and time again, the Supreme Court has said that Congress can’t impose restrictions on the president’s power to remove officers,” Cotton said. “In President Trump’s first term, he removed the Director of the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau despite limitations on the President’s constitutional power to remove officers, that was litigated at the Supreme Court and the president won.”
“So ultimately, these inspectors general serve at the pleasure of the President,” he added. “He wants new people in there. He wants people who focused on getting out waste and fraud and abuse and reforming these agencies, he has a right to have to get in there who he wants.”

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee

Security Escorts USDA Inspector General Out Of Building For Refusing To Leave After Being Fired

Executive

USDA

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee and Chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, urged President Donald Trump over the weekend to reconsider pulling the protective security detail off of several administration officials who served during his first term in office.
Cotton made the remarks during a Sunday interview on &#8220;Fox News Sunday&#8221; when asked about Trump&#8217;s decision to pull the details off of former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, former national security adviser John Bolton, and former Iran envoy Brian Hook.
&#8220;I would encourage the president to revisit the decision for those people who are being targeted by Iran,&#8221; Cotton said, noting that even Trump has been a target for Iranian assassination over the last few years in retaliation for the killing of Iranian terrorist commander Qasem Soleimani.
&#8220;As the chairman of the Intelligence Committee, I&#8217;ve reviewed the intelligence in the last few days, the threat to anyone involved in President Trump&#8217;s strike on Qasem Soleimani is persistent,&#8221; he said. &#8220;It&#8217;s real. Iran is committed to vengeance against all of these people.&#8221;
&#8220;In fact, the chief of staff of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence agreed with me that if these threats were against him or his family that he would want security because the threats are real,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;There are gaps in our coverage. We don&#8217;t know what we don&#8217;t know, and it&#8217;s better to be safe than sorry, because it&#8217;s not just about these men who helped President Trump carry on his policy in his first term.&#8221;
Cotton said that the protective details also protect other innocent people who could get caught up in any kind of assassination attempts, including random bystanders in public spaces.
&#8220;It&#8217;s also about the President being able to get good people and get good advice,&#8221; Cotton said. &#8220;If people are saying going to work for the president now on Iran or China or North Korea or the Mexican drug cartels, they might hesitate to do so, or they might hesitate if they&#8217;re in office, to give him the advice he needs or carry out the policies that he decides upon.&#8221;
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) urges Trump to reconsider pulling the security details of former officials who have been threatened by Iran:
“I would encourage the president to revisit the decision for those people who are being targeted by Iran as the president was targeted for… <a href="https://t.co/uquQyjNoeN">pic.twitter.com/uquQyjNoeN</a>
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) <a href="https://twitter.com/RealSaavedra/status/1883555853044732330?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 26, 2025</a></blockquote>

Senate Judiciary Committee Considers Nominations For Judges

Cotton Urges Trump To ‘Revisit’ His Decision To Pull Protective Details Off People Targeted By Iran

John Bolton

Mike Pompeo

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) said defended President Donald Trump&#8217;s nominee to be the director of National Intelligence, former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI), saying that no one should be questioning her patriotism or integrity.
Cotton made the remarks during a Sunday interview on &#8220;Fox News Sunday&#8221; ahead of Gabbard&#8217;s confirmation hearing this week in front of the Senate Intelligence Committee, a committee that is chaired by Cotton.
Host Shannon Bream asked Cotton about concerns that some members had about Gabbard&#8217;s past interactions with foreign adversaries or things that she has said about people who betrayed the U.S.
Cotton said that he has spoken with Gabbard on many occasions, as have the other senators, and that they have also received her background back from the FBI along with her financial disclosures.
He said that she will receive a full hearing on Thursday that will be &#8220;just like the hearing that we conducted for John Ratcliffe and the hearings that the committee has conducted for nominees from both the Democratic and Republican Presidents alike. No more, no less, no better, no worse.&#8221;
&#8220;I understand that people have their differences of opinion with Mrs. Gabbard, probably some Republicans disagree with the votes she&#8217;s cast as a Democratic Congresswoman,&#8221; he said. &#8220;A lot of Democrats may be upset that she finally saw the light and left the Democratic Party.&#8221;
&#8220;I do hope, though, that we won&#8217;t see anyone questioning her patriotism,&#8221; Cotton added. &#8220;Hillary Clinton has basically called her a traitor in the past. This is a woman who served more than 20 years in our nation&#8217;s army. She&#8217;s passed five different background checks. I reviewed the latest one. It&#8217;s clean as a whistle. It&#8217;s fine for people to have policy differences and ask questions about those differences. I hope no one would impugn Mrs. Gabbard&#8217;s patriotism or her integrity.&#8221;
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
WATCH: Sen. Tom Cotton defends President Donald Trump’s nominee to be the next Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard.
&#8220;A lot of Democrats may be upset that she finally saw the light and left the Democratic Party.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/ELKyk0C1dL">pic.twitter.com/ELKyk0C1dL</a>
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) <a href="https://twitter.com/SteveGuest/status/1883601397385736616?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 26, 2025</a></blockquote>

Donald Trump Meets With Republican Senators At The NRSC

Tom Cotton Defends Tulsi Gabbard: No One Should Question Her ‘Patriotism Or Integrity’

Tulsi Gabbard

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, defended President Donald Trump&#8217;s decision to fire 18 inspectors general this week, saying that the U.S. Supreme Court has already ruled in Trump&#8217;s favor as it relates to his power to fire federal employees.
Cotton made the remarks during a Sunday interview on &#8220;Fox News Sunday&#8221; when asked about the firings by host Shannon Bream after critics have called the move illegal because Trump did not first notify Congress.
&#8220;Time and time again, the Supreme Court has said that Congress can&#8217;t impose restrictions on the president&#8217;s power to remove officers,&#8221; Cotton said. &#8220;In President Trump&#8217;s first term, he removed the Director of the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau despite limitations on the President&#8217;s constitutional power to remove officers, that was litigated at the Supreme Court and the president won.&#8221;
&#8220;So ultimately, these inspectors general serve at the pleasure of the President,&#8221; he added. &#8220;He wants new people in there. He wants people who focused on getting out waste and fraud and abuse and reforming these agencies, he has a right to have to get in there who he wants.&#8221;
When asked if he thinks that those roles will be filled by Trump, Cotton said: &#8220;I believe so.&#8221;
&#8220;When he says he wants to fill those offices, maybe he won&#8217;t fill them immediately, because there&#8217;s an entire administration to staff, and he may have other priorities, but I think the President&#8217;s inherent power to remove officers will be upheld if it&#8217;s challenged in court, as it has been time and again for Democratic and Republican Presidents alike,&#8221; he said.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
WATCH: Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) defends President Trump firing inspectors general:
“Time and time again, the Supreme Court has said that Congress can&#8217;t impose restrictions on the president&#8217;s power to remove officers&#8230;” <a href="https://t.co/c6rf7RJFGX">pic.twitter.com/c6rf7RJFGX</a>
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) <a href="https://twitter.com/SteveGuest/status/1883600582688244222?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 26, 2025</a></blockquote>

Elise Stefanik testifies at UN ambassador confirmation hearing

Tom Cotton Defends Trump Firing 18 Inspectors General

Inspector general

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) warned Senate Democrats on Tuesday night that Senate Republicans will confirm President Donald Trump&#8217;s nominees to their chosen roles, with or without their help.
Cotton made the remarks during a speech on the Senate floor after Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) blocked a vote to confirm former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe to become the next director of the CIA.
&#8220;I don’t really understand the objection to Mr. Ratcliffe,&#8221; Cotton said. &#8220;He was confirmed by the Senate to be the director of National Intelligence. He was fully vetted through the bipartisan process on the Senate Intelligence Committee. We voted him out yesterday, on a 14 to 3 vote. Senator Schumer stood here yesterday and talked about how we’re going to cooperate on highly qualified capable nominees with integrity, which John Ratcliffe is.&#8221;
Cotton noted that the intentional delay meant that on Tuesday, only Secretary of State Marco Rubio was confirmed to his role, and there would be no more votes on Wednesday.
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&#8220;I hope nobody’s making any plans for the weekend or the evenings cause we’re going to get these nominees confirmed,&#8221; Cotton said. &#8220;Starting with Mr. Ratcliffe and then moving on to Mr. Hegseth and moving on to [Mrs.] Noem. The easy way or the hard way. We tried to cooperate with the Democrats. The cooperation has not been forthcoming, so I guess it’s going to be the hard way. Starting on Thursday.&#8221;
Cotton said that Democrats were &#8220;trying to drag out all of these nominations to play procedural games, as we’re about to with Pete Hegseth’s nomination, to try to deny President Trump his cabinet in a prompt and timely fashion, just like the Democrats did in 2017.&#8221;
WATCH:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Tom Cotton Issues Warning To Democrats After They Block Vote On CIA Director Nominee John Ratcliffe" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/jo7GiFo1Ivk?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

‘The Easy Way Or The Hard Way’: Tom Cotton Warns Dems About Delaying Confirming Trump Nominees

John Ratcliffe

Leading <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/u-s-senate" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Senate</a> Republicans have been delivering fiery rebukes as their Democrat colleagues slowed down the process of confirming President <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/donald-trump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Donald Trump</a>&#8216;s Cabinet nominees for his nascent second term in the White House.
After Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) objected to a so-called <a href="https://x.com/AndrewDesiderio/status/1881841277626671515" target="_blank" rel="noopener">time agreement</a> that would have allowed a final vote on <a href="https://x.com/CraigCaplan/status/1881476717325558114" target="_blank" rel="noopener">John Ratcliffe</a>&#8216;s nomination to become CIA director on Tuesday, Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) voiced his dismay in <a href="https://www.c-span.org/event/us-senate/us-senate/430291" target="_blank" rel="noopener">remarks</a> on the Senate floor while stressing that the upper chamber would press ahead with Trump&#8217;s picks.
&#8220;We&#8217;ve now wasted a whole day where we could have been acting on that nomination,&#8221; Thune said, adding that the question before the Senate was &#8220;do we want a vote on these folks on Tuesday or vote on them on Friday, Saturday and Sunday? Because that&#8217;s what we&#8217;re going to do. This can be easy or this can be hard.&#8221;
Thune highlighted that Ratcliffe, a former House Republican from Texas who served as director of national intelligence at the end of Trump&#8217;s first term, sailed through the Senate Intelligence Committee by a 14-3 vote with bipartisan support.
&#8220;This is about America&#8217;s national security interests. And we&#8217;re stalling,&#8221; Thune continued. &#8220;So that&#8217;s not going to happen. We&#8217;re going to file cloture on them. You can force us to stay here, staying around here. And we can vote on these things Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. But we&#8217;re going to vote on them.&#8221;
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
As I’ve repeatedly said, Senate Republicans are ready to work as long as needed to confirm President Trump’s nominees. Nights. Weekends. Recesses. <a href="https://t.co/yLl2hIo0pc">pic.twitter.com/yLl2hIo0pc</a>
&mdash; Leader John Thune (@LeaderJohnThune) <a href="https://twitter.com/LeaderJohnThune/status/1881880780319944809?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 22, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Thune also took procedural steps that will pave the way to final confirmation votes in the coming days for Ratcliffe&#8217;s nomination, as well as South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem&#8217;s nomination to become Homeland Security secretary and Pete Hegseth&#8217;s nomination to become Defense secretary — both of whom have advanced out of committee, too.
With a post to X featuring a video of his remarks, Thune suggested there could even be recess appointments. Trump has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/this-is-how-recess-appointments-work-and-how-they-could-help-trump-fill-his-cabinet" target="_blank" rel="noopener">advocated</a> for installing his own nominees in such a manner, during a recess, if the Senate fails to confirm them in a &#8220;timely manner.&#8221;
In rejecting the Senate Republicans&#8217; bid to proceed more swiftly with a confirmation vote on Ratcliffe&#8217;s nomination, Murphy <a href="https://www.c-span.org/event/us-senate/us-senate/430291" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> he wanted a &#8220;full&#8221; debate that lasted a couple more days while insisting that some members had &#8220;serious concerns&#8221; that the CIA pick would not be able to &#8220;distance himself from the political interests of President Trump.&#8221;
But Senate Intelligence Chairman Tom Cotton (R-AR) wasn&#8217;t buying it. He rejected Murphy&#8217;s claim about Democrats needing more time to discuss Ratcliffe&#8217;s nomination and surmised that &#8220;what this is really about is trying to drag out all of these nominations to play procedural games, as we&#8217;re about to, with Pete Hegseth&#8217;s nomination to try to deny President Trump his Cabinet in a prompt and timely fashion.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
My message to obstructionist Democrats:
Don’t make plans this weekend. We’re going to get President Trump’s nominees confirmed the easy collegial way, or apparently the hard way. <a href="https://t.co/DJrA09bTqk">pic.twitter.com/DJrA09bTqk</a>
&mdash; Tom Cotton (@SenTomCotton) <a href="https://twitter.com/SenTomCotton/status/1881851088980279482?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 21, 2025</a></blockquote>
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So far, the GOP-led Senate has approved just one of Trump&#8217;s Cabinet nominees: now-former senator from Florida, Marco Rubio, who on Tuesday was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/marco-rubio-sworn-in-says-war-in-ukraine-must-end" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sworn in</a> to office as U.S. Secretary of State after being confirmed by a unanimous vote on Monday.
While some delays may be <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/confirmation-delays-stack-up-trump-nominees-paperwork-lags-federal-offices" target="_blank" rel="noopener">due to paperwork</a>, the Senate Judiciary Committee <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/senate-democrats-put-arbitrary-hold-on-pam-bondi-nomination" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> that Democrats pushed back a meeting to vote on advancing the nomination of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/pam-bondi" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Pam Bondi</a> to become U.S. attorney general by a week with a hold allowed under the rules.

John Thune

Senate Republicans Erupt Over Dem ‘Stalling’ Of Trump Nominees

Chris Murphy

Kristi Noem

Pam Bondi

Pete Hegseth

Senate Democrats

U.S. Senate

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/tom-cotton" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tom Cotton</a> (R-AR) signaled stiff opposition on Sunday to efforts to try to revive TikTok in the United States.
Cotton, who has been one of the leading voices against China in Washington over the last decade, released a statement with Sen. Pete Ricketts (R-NE) in response to U.S. tech companies complying with U.S. law to remove TikTok from their app stores.
&#8220;We commend Amazon, Apple, Google, and Microsoft for following the law and halting operations with ByteDance and TikTok, and we encourage other companies to do the same,&#8221; they wrote. &#8220;The law, after all, risks ruinous bankruptcy for any company who violates it. Now that the law has taken effect, there&#8217;s no legal basis for any kind of &#8216;extension&#8217; of its effective date.&#8221;
&#8220;For TikTok to come back online in the future, ByteDance must agree to a sale that satisfies the law&#8217;s qualified-divestiture requirements by severing all ties between TikTok and Communist China,&#8221; they continued. &#8220;Only then will Americans be protected from the grave threat posed to their privacy and security by a communist-controlled TikTok.&#8221;
Cotton responded directly to TikTok later on Sunday after the company released a statement saying that it was coming back online because President-elect Donald Trump released a statement saying that he wanted to save the company.
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&#8220;Any company that hosts, distributes, services, or otherwise facilitates communist-controlled TikTok could face hundreds of billions of dollars of ruinous liability under the law, not just from DOJ, but also under securities law, shareholder lawsuits, and state AGs,&#8221; Cotton said. &#8220;Think about it.&#8221;
After the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously last week to uphold the Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, Cotton noted that the company had nearly an entire year to be sold up to this point.
&#8220;ByteDance and its Chinese Communist masters had nine months to sell TikTok before the Sunday deadline,&#8221; he said. &#8220;The very fact that Communist China refuses to permit its sale reveals exactly what TikTok is: a communist spy app. The Supreme Court correctly rejected TikTok’s lies and propaganda masquerading as legal arguments.&#8221;

Confirmation Hearing Held For Secretary Of Defense Nominee Pete Hegseth

Senate Intel Chairman Tom Cotton Leads Charge Against Reviving TikTok

TikTok

The National Sheriff’s Association urged the Senate on Monday to quickly confirm <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/tulsi-gabbard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tulsi Gabbard</a> as Director of National Intelligence, saying she had the organization’s complete endorsement.  
In a <a href="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/National-Sheriffs-Letter-Endorsing-Tulsi-Gabbard.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">letter</a> to Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), National Sheriff’s Association President Kieran Donahue, a sheriff from Idaho, wrote that the Senate should “expeditiously” move to confirm Gabbard, saying her confirmation was needed to increase trust between local law enforcement and the intelligence community. The association represents more than 3,000 sheriffs across the country. 
“Ms. Gabbard has demonstrated a commitment to addressing the critical disconnect between our intelligence agencies and local law enforcement in preparing for sophisticated and pervasive threats,” Donahue wrote to Cotton, who heads up the Select Committee on Intelligence. 
He wrote that the need for cooperation was on display when sheriffs in Texas and Georgia played a significant role in the investigation into the New Orleans terror attack that left 14 people dead. 
“The recent terror attack on New Orleans serves as a stark reminder of the need for seamless coordination. In the immediate aftermath of the attack, actionable leads provided by Sheriffs in Harris County, Texas, and Fulton County, Georgia, proved instrumental,” Donahue said. “These events, like the attacks of 9/11, underscore the urgent need for local law enforcement to have a seat at the table during strategic planning discussions. Ms. Gabbard has pledged to make this a priority.&#8221;
The Idaho sheriff also said Gabbard’s previous government experience and leadership in the U.S. Army Reserve made “her uniquely qualified for this critical role. Her proven ability to lead and her deep understanding of national security threats have earned the confidence and respect of Sheriffs across the country.”
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Hearings for several of President-elect Donald Trump’s cabinet picks will begin this week, starting with Pete Hegseth&#8217;s meeting with the Senate Armed Services Committee Tuesday morning. Gabbard’s hearing has not yet been scheduled but could be set for sometime next week. 
Gabbard <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/john-barrasso-republican-senate-whip-tulsi-gabbard-confirmation-hearing/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> CBS News on Monday that she is &#8220;focused on continuing to meet with senators as we continue to go through this process” and working “closely” with Cotton to get a hearing scheduled. 
Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY), the Senate majority whip, told CBS that he expected GOP support.
&#8220;She continues to have promotions in the military. She&#8217;s a lieutenant colonel. She now has top level security clearances,&#8221; Barrasso said. &#8220;She&#8217;s the right person to keep America secure and safe.&#8221;

President-Elect Trump’s Nominees For Upcoming Administration Continue Meeting With Lawmakers On Capitol Hill

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