Ambassador\u00a0Mike Waltz
U.S. Representative
New\u00a0York, New York<\/p>\n
AS DELIVERED<\/p>\n
MARIA BARTIROMO:\u00a0Joining me now is the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Michael Waltz. Ambassador, great to have you.<\/p>\n
AMBASSADOR MIKE WALTZ: Good to be with you.\u00a0Thanks so much.<\/p>\n
BARTIROMO:\u00a0Thank you so much for being here. We so appreciate it. So, what should we expect from these talks? And I\u2019ve got to say, it is just incredibly ironic that the UN would name Iran a vice chair of a group which is supposed to be in charge of women\u2019s rights.<\/p>\n
AMBASSADOR WALTZ: Yeah, exactly, Maria. And this is why we\u00a0have to\u00a0clean house at the UN.\u00a0We are putting in a reform agenda.\u00a0President Trump\u2019s direction\u00a0\u2013\u00a03000,\u00a0by the way, UN\u00a0Headquarters\u2019\u00a0bureaucrats are now being cut, first budget cut in history.\u00a0And some of these committees are just unreformable.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0why\u00a0we\u2019re\u00a0not\u00a0participating.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0why we walked away from, for example, the Human Rights Council, where\u00a0we\u2019re\u00a0seeing a lot of this ridiculousness.<\/p>\n
BARTIROMO: Who makes these rules? There is outrage. Iran\u00a0elected\u00a0as the vice chair of the UN\u00a0Commission for\u00a0Social\u00a0Development. This is supposed to be a body promoting women\u2019s rights. We know how women are treated in Iran.<\/p>\n
AMBASSADOR WALTZ: Exactly, and\u00a0that\u2019s\u00a0why, with some of these,\u00a0we\u2019re\u00a0not\u00a0participating.\u00a0We\u2019re\u00a0walking away, and\u00a0we\u2019re\u00a0going to let that one die on the vine. However, where President Trump does see potential. And back to the negotiations. What has set the table,\u00a0despite the fact that\u00a0everyone is focused on the military pieces of this is President Trump\u2019s maximum pressure campaign that we went back to last year that has their currency tanking, their foreign reserves tanking. It was\u00a0actually merchants\u00a0out in the Iranian economy that kicked off this latest round of protests.\u00a0The UN stepped forward with snap back sanctions so that we get the entire world involved in terms of closing off and isolating the Iranian economy. Because the thing the regime cares about the most is its money. The IRGC controls about half of the Iranian economy, and\u00a0that\u2019s\u00a0what allows it to keep such a tight control over the Iranian people. So,\u00a0we\u00a0can\u2019t\u00a0throw the baby out with the bath water, but we are cleaning house at these\u00a0UN\u00a0institutions.<\/p>\n
BARTIROMO: Some people wonder, why are we even negotiating with people who have killed 40,000 people in the last month. So,\u00a0we just want to understand President Trump\u2019s thinking on all of this in terms of Iran and what happens.\u00a0What kind of a deal is possible?<\/p>\n
AMBASSADOR WALTZ: Look,\u00a0he\u2019s\u00a0a peace president. He will always put diplomacy first and give it a chance, but it is backed by the very real stick of the United States military that we\u00a0demonstrated\u00a0to the world through Operation\u00a0Midnight\u00a0Hammer can be incredibly effective. So,\u00a0Iran\u00a0has to\u00a0give up its enrichment capability. It\u00a0has to\u00a0give up its already enriched, highly enriched uranium.\u00a0There\u2019s\u00a0no reason except for a weapon that\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0enriched to that degree, also its support for terrorism, and its\u00a0long-range\u00a0ballistic missiles,\u00a0all of\u00a0those things\u00a0we\u2019ve\u00a0been\u00a0very clear\u00a0are on the table.\u00a0We\u2019ll\u00a0see.\u00a0They should listen. The President means what he says when he means\u00a0he\u2019s\u00a0going to take decisive action.<\/p>\n
BARTIROMO: I know that. Now, the President also announced a $5 billion pledge for aid for Gaza.\u00a0Members of the\u00a0Board of\u00a0Peace, the group of\u00a0nearly 20\u00a0countries will meet again in Washington on Thursday. Tell us what to expect there. The President wrote this on\u00a0Truth Social:\u00a0this will go\u00a0\u201ctoward the Gaza\u00a0Humanitarian and\u00a0Reconstruction efforts.\u00a0We\u2019ve\u00a0committed\u00a0thousands\u00a0of personnel to the\u00a0International\u00a0Stabilization\u00a0Force and\u00a0Local\u00a0Police to\u00a0maintain\u00a0security and peace for\u00a0Gazans,\u00a0Hamas must uphold its commitment to\u00a0Full\u00a0and\u00a0Immediate\u00a0Demilitarization.\u201d\u00a0Your thoughts?<\/p>\n
AMBASSADOR WALTZ: Well,\u00a0you\u2019re\u00a0hearing and seeing\u00a0\u2013\u00a0I certainly did out in Munich\u00a0\u2013\u00a0a\u00a0lot of hand wringing from the Europeans that the President\u2019s creating this alternative to the UN.\u00a0I reminded them all that\u00a0actually it\u00a0was the UN Security Council that unanimously voted in the\u00a0Board of\u00a0Peace,\u00a013 to zero.\u00a0And I was proud to help shepherd that effort through. Look, the President is not focused on process or\u00a080 year old\u00a0institutions.\u00a0He\u2019s\u00a0focused on results. And what is the\u00a0Board of\u00a0Peace and his 20\u00a0Point\u00a0Peace\u00a0Plan already gotten done. The ceasefire is still in place, shaky, but still in place. The hostages are out. The aid is flowing. We now have a technocratic committee of Palestinians to restore government services. We have a fund that international donors are contributing to, that\u00a0$5 billion,\u00a0and we have a stabilization force of international troops, 8000 pledged so far, and more will be coming this week. So again, back to the kind of good parts of the UN,\u00a0these countries need that stamp of international law\u00a0in order to\u00a0contribute their troops in their own domestic constituencies. So,\u00a0we\u2019re\u00a0getting it back to basics, back to focused on peace and security, and stop trying to be everything to everybody with these ridiculous committees.<\/p>\n
BARTIROMO: Well, it\u2019s a good point, and maybe the powers that be at the UN\u00a0need to understand, if we\u2019re going to see countries like Iran in charge of, you know, protecting women\u2019s rights, maybe the\u00a0Board of\u00a0Peace should replace the UN, by the way. I\u00a0mean, if\u00a0these are the kinds of decisions that that the UN continues to make.<\/p>\n
AMBASSADOR WALTZ: Look at the effectiveness that\u00a0we\u2019re\u00a0seeing and the action and the results that\u00a0we\u2019re\u00a0seeing, versus decades of meaningless resolutions and strongly worded letters that we saw from the Security Council.<\/p>\n
BARTIROMO: Tell us more about Munich and the\u00a0Security\u00a0Conference this past weekend,\u00a0we\u2019ve\u00a0been talking about how AOC and Michigan governor, in many cases, embarrassed themselves. They were asked simple questions about foreign policy, and they could not deliver.\u00a0I mean, I know it was a lot about security and Marco Rubio\u2019s speech in terms of tough love for Europe. What else struck you?<\/p>\n
AMBASSADOR WALTZ: Well, you know, look,\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0this balance. Tough Love is exactly the right word. There was really a lot of angst and a lot of hand wringing there in the European audience. I did a panel as well, and said,\u00a0look, guys, relax.\u00a0We\u2019re\u00a0not getting a divorce. We can be friends and allies and have tough conversations.\u00a0They need to be had. And you\u00a0can\u2019t\u00a0tell me, for example, that NATO\u00a0isn\u2019t\u00a0better off now than it was 10 years ago when President Trump took office and barely seven of the 30 were living up to their bare minimum commitments. Now you have all of them, and now\u00a0they\u2019re\u00a0going from 2% to 5% thanks to his leadership. Look,\u00a0we\u2019re\u00a0going to do the same types of reforms at the UN.\u00a0We\u2019re\u00a0going to\u00a0MUNGA\u00a0\u2013\u00a0make the UN great again\u00a0\u2013\u00a0just like\u00a0he\u2019s\u00a0done for NATO. But these multilateral institutions\u00a0have to\u00a0get focused, and they\u00a0have to\u00a0get results oriented. And the other piece was the Europeans need to own up to the fact that mass migration over regulation and lack of defense spending have left them in an awful place. And what I think Secretary Rubio did so effectively, was say,\u00a0we\u2019re approaching this from a place of caring and a place of partnership, you got to clean up your act so that we truly can share the burden\u00a0that\u2019s a two way street as we tackle the world\u2019s problems.<\/p>\n
BARTIROMO: Yeah, well, the Secretary\u2019s speech\u00a0\u2013<\/p>\n
AMBASSADOR WALTZ: Fantastic.<\/p>\n
BARTIROMO: Wide praise, for sure. He led the delegation, obviously, but the congressional Democrats who showed up really struggled with answers, and one of the answers that AOC struggled with was having to do with China. So,\u00a0what do you want to say about China? I mean, she was asked about Taiwan.\u00a0Let\u2019s\u00a0watch this exchange and get your reaction.<\/p>\n
QUESTION:\u00a0Would and should the U.S. actually commit U.S. troops to defend Taiwan if China were to move?\u00a0<\/p>\n
ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ:\u00a0This is, of course, a very long standing policy of the United States. And I think what we are hoping for is that we want to make sure that we never get to that point, and we want to make sure that we are moving in all of our economic, research, and our global positions to avoid any such confrontation and for that question to even arise.\u00a0<\/p>\n
BARTIROMO: I mean, she\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0want the question to arise. The question is here. I mean, the question has been here.\u00a0We know that China wants to unify, reunify with Taiwan.<\/p>\n
AMBASSADOR WALTZ: Yeah.\u00a0Chairman\u00a0Xi has said\u00a0he\u2019s\u00a0going to do it on his watch, and\u00a0he\u2019s\u00a0in his early 70s, so do the math. Look, she, after stumbling and bubbling painfully on the world stage, got to what our current policy is, which is strategic ambiguity. And I\u00a0firmly believe\u00a0that President\u00a0of the\u00a0United States,\u00a0Commander in\u00a0Chief should have that flexibility. But there\u00a0was\u00a0all kinds of things to talk about, in terms of supply chain reshoring,\u00a0critical minerals,\u00a0all of\u00a0the things that\u00a0we\u2019re\u00a0doing to make sure our economy is resilient and that we can defend ourselves. Just blew it.<\/p>\n
BARTIROMO:\u00a0What\u2019s\u00a0going on with\u00a0Anthropic?\u00a0I mean, and the Pentagon\u2019s new new stance there.\u00a0The Chinese Communist Party has been working to rebuild its nuclear arsenal. We know that\u00a0The New York Times reporting that deep in China\u2019s mountains, a nuclear revival takes shape, adding satellite imagery of secretive nuclear facilities reveals Beijing\u2019s efforts to expand its arsenal, just as the last global guardrails on nuclear weapons vanish. Talk to us about this, because we talk about China every day,\u00a0Ambassador,\u00a0and\u00a0I think this\u00a0is a region of the world where American\u00a0business people\u00a0are\u00a0very interested\u00a0in understanding a clear policy here.<\/p>\n
AMBASSADOR WALTZ: Yeah, so two things there. One, there was the\u00a0New\u00a0START,\u00a0basically the\u00a0Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, both on Russia and the United States. The\u00a0President has allowed that to lapse because, one, Russia\u00a0wasn\u2019t\u00a0abiding by it, so we were self-regulating ourselves in terms of our nuclear arsenal. Meanwhile, China, which\u00a0isn\u2019t\u00a0a party to it at all, is tripling theirs across the board. So that needs to be renegotiated, and needs to be a three way, if not a full multilateral treaty that takes care of everyone.\u00a0That\u2019s\u00a0incredibly important. And then to your other piece, kind of back to my foxhole in the UN\u00a0\u2013\u00a0feels like a foxhole some\u00a0days\u00a0\u2013\u00a0that Chinese are pushing into these institutions in a big, big way.\u00a0Here\u2019s\u00a0why that matters. There\u2019s, for example, the World Intellectual Property Organization.\u00a0We need to make sure our IP is protected as our entrepreneurs and our venture capital and others innovate.\u00a0If we just walk away from\u00a0all of\u00a0these\u00a0UN\u00a0institutions, then China is going to be there with the rest of the world without us.\u00a0There\u2019s\u00a0the\u00a0International Telecommunications Union. Never heard of it, but it does global standards on space, on\u00a0telecom, on 6G,\u00a0on radio, and\u00a0all of\u00a0these things that are critical to our businesses, our industries,\u00a0and\u00a0our ability to compete around the world. My argument is we\u00a0have to\u00a0get in there and reform and fight and particularly where the People\u2019s Republic of China is incredibly active for their industries, rather than just walk away.<\/p>\n
BARTIROMO: Yeah, and\u00a0that\u2019s\u00a0why I began the question with\u00a0Anthropic.\u00a0Do you think a corporate America gets it that these are all national security issues? You just mentioned a handful of them, like intellectual property theft that has been going on for decades. Does business understand this? I know they understand it better with President Trump spelling it out to them. But do you think\u00a0they\u2019re\u00a0on board now?<\/p>\n
AMBASSADOR WALTZ: I think\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0still a mixed picture, Maria. You know, some absolutely do.\u00a0We\u2019ve\u00a0seen like, you know, the\u00a0Andurils\u00a0and the\u00a0Saronics\u00a0and others, these new defense tech startups that are there to defend our great nation and to innovate and to work with the Pentagon in a better way. And then you see others that are just, I think, focused on the bottom line, regardless of its impact on national\u00a0security.<\/p>\n
BARTIROMO:\u00a0And it\u2019s important because our adversary, China, while those companies are going to listen. That\u2019s real top down. We know that.<\/p>\n
AMBASSADOR WALTZ: That\u2019s\u00a0for sure.<\/p>\n
BARTIROMO:\u00a0Ambassador, it\u2019s a pleasure to see you again. Thanks very much for coming into studio.<\/p>\n
AMBASSADOR WALTZ: Thanks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ambassador\u00a0Mike Waltz U.S. Representative New\u00a0York, New York AS DELIVERED MARIA BARTIROMO:\u00a0Joining me now is the U.S. Ambassador to the United…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":474580,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,3,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":{"0":"post-474579","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-united-states-of-america","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","14":"tag-us","15":"tag-usa"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=474579"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474579\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/474580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=474579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=474579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=474579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}