Adam Schiff says war with Iran is ‘simply unsustainable’: Full interview

[0:00] And joining me now is Democratic Senator Adam Schiff of California. [0:04] Senator Schiff, welcome back to Meet the Press. [0:07] Good to be with you. [0:09] It's good to have you back. [0:11] Let me ask you about the big picture argument that we are hearing from the Trump administration [0:16] with top officials, you just heard Secretary Chris Wright argue, [0:20] that the threat from Iran is so significant, not just to the world, [0:25] but to the United States, that invading now will ultimately make the world more secure. [0:33] Do Trump officials have a valid point there, Senator? [0:38] No, I don't think they do. [0:39] And I don't think the president has really leveled with the American people. [0:43] First, by promising the American people he wouldn't bring us into another foreign war. [0:47] Then being unwilling to tell us what the real cost of this war are going to be. [0:52] And we still don't hear from the secretary, don't hear from the president [0:55] what the real cost of this will be, [0:57] how long it will take, [0:58] how long it will go on. [0:58] Already we've spent billions and billions of dollars. [1:01] And more significant, we've lost 13 service members as a result of the war. [1:06] And we still haven't heard a clear articulation of why we're at war. [1:10] What was the imminent threat we were facing? [1:12] They've said it was a nuclear threat, but the intelligence doesn't back that up. [1:16] They said it was a threat of being hit in the United States by ballistic missiles. [1:21] That is years and years away. [1:23] They want regime change, but then they say they don't want regime change. [1:26] And when you ask how long, [1:28] how long this war is going to go on, [1:30] the secretary can't tell you, the president won't tell you. [1:32] And it's because not having a clear object in mind when we began this war, [1:37] it makes it very difficult to tell when its objectives have been accomplished. [1:42] This is why I think the president was so vague with you [1:44] when he wouldn't describe to you what kind of a deal is he looking for with Iran. [1:49] Because it just isn't clear. [1:51] And now there's the prospect with the 31st Marine Expeditionary Force going to the region [1:57] that we have boots on the ground. [1:58] And I don't think they've leveled with us about that either. [2:01] So I don't think the war is worth the costs. [2:04] And it has already unleashed a lot of things that should have been foreseen, [2:09] like the closing of the Strait, like Iran's attack on its neighbors. [2:13] But it's not clear that the president had a plan for any of this. [2:17] Well, you did hear Secretary Wright say he anticipates the conflict will be over in the next few weeks. [2:22] Do you accept that timeline? [2:24] Do you think that's realistic based on what you're seeing? [2:26] Well, the one thing I agree with, [2:30] and I agree with the secretary on, [2:32] is when he said there are no guarantees in war. [2:34] It may very well have been that when they began this war, [2:37] they expected it to be over very quickly, [2:39] that they thought it would be like Venezuela. [2:41] Except Iran isn't like Venezuela. [2:43] You can't simply pick the number two mullah to replace the number one mullah [2:47] and expect things to be any different. [2:49] So the bottom line is they don't really know when this war is going to end. [2:53] And I hope and pray that it does end very soon. [2:57] But as we have seen, [2:59] to me also has a vote in when things end. [3:02] And if Iran keeps blowing up ships or trying to blow up ships in the strait, [3:06] and gas prices continue to go up and up for Americans, [3:10] then it is very foreseeable we could become even more entrenched in this [3:15] to try to keep this strait open. [3:17] I have a very hard time believing that China and the other countries the president listed to you [3:22] are really going to be escorting ships through the strait. [3:25] That just doesn't add up to me. [3:28] So the bottom line is, [3:30] we simply don't know how long this war is going to go on. [3:33] But we know the costs to the American people are already too high. [3:37] For a president who promised to bring down the cost of living for Americans, [3:41] this is doing exactly the opposite [3:43] and raising the cost and the difficulty of Americans to be able to afford [3:48] simple groceries and lodging and rent and energy prices. [3:55] It's simply unsustainable. [3:57] Let me ask you, David Boies, who's of course a Democratic attorney [4:00] who argued Bush v. Gore before the Supreme Court, [4:04] argues that President Trump ultimately had no choice but to act on Iran. [4:09] And he writes this, quote, [4:11] If he hadn't acted, his successor would have been left with an even more dangerous choice [4:16] than his predecessors left him. [4:18] Three or four years from now, the Iranian missiles now hitting Iran's neighbors [4:22] could be hitting Berlin or London, perhaps even New York or Washington. [4:26] Perhaps with a nuclear device or at least a dirty bomb. [4:31] Do you agree with Boies' assessment that the threat from Iran needed to be dealt with now? [4:38] I certainly concur that Iran is a terrible actor, [4:44] that it engages in state-sponsored terrorism. [4:47] But let's remember, we had a nuclear agreement with Iran [4:50] that put serious constraints on the Iranian nuclear program. [4:53] And Donald Trump tore up that agreement. [4:55] And when you do that, when you essentially say, [4:57] that diplomacy is not the way to resolve this, [5:00] then that leaves war. [5:03] And that's what we are encountering now. [5:06] But the president promises he wouldn't engage in this. [5:09] And there was nothing imminent about the threat from Iran. [5:12] The nuclear program supposedly was obliterated just about nine months ago. [5:17] The missile program is incapable of reaching the United States for years and years, [5:22] according to the Defense Intelligence Agency's own estimate. [5:25] It would be nine years before that. [5:27] That is true. [5:28] And unless the United States is prepared to continue to bomb Iran year after year after year, [5:35] how do we respond when Iran starts to rebuild their missile program? [5:39] As they will. [5:41] Are we going to be in an endless state of war with Iran? [5:44] And the administration simply has no answers for this. [5:47] And I don't think that leaves the American people better off or safer. [5:51] Let me ask you about these Russian sanctions. [5:53] You obviously supported Russian sanctions. [5:56] The administration has scaled some back. [5:58] They're arguing removing them on Russian oil experts will ultimately help lower prices for consumers. [6:05] My question for you, Senator, with Americans feeling pain at the pump, as you know, [6:10] is easing pressure on Russia, which is temporary, worth it? [6:15] I think this is a terrible decision. [6:19] But it is one of the things that comes about as a result of the unpredictability of war. [6:25] We are now giving Russia essentially $140 million a day. [6:28] $140 million a day when Russia is providing intelligence to Iran to better attack and kill American troops. [6:44] And you're darn right when you ask the secretary about this. [6:47] It is rewarding Russia. [6:50] And it is punishing Ukraine. [6:53] And for the president, when he's criticized about lifting the sanctions on Russia, [6:57] to somehow turn around and blame Zelensky, blame Ukraine. [7:02] No, Russia is the problem here. [7:04] And we are enriching our adversary, Russia, at Ukraine's expense [7:08] because the administration didn't properly foresee how much this war with Iran [7:13] was going to raise oil prices and gas prices for Americans. [7:17] So terrible and tragic decision, which only empowers Russia to make war more fully against Ukraine. [7:25] A couple more questions here. [7:26] Senator, I want to talk about the cost of the war. [7:29] It's cost more than $11 billion in its first six days. [7:33] Now, some of your Senate Democratic colleagues have said they are open to reviewing requests [7:38] for additional funds, arguing it may be necessary for overall military readiness. [7:43] Would you consider voting for or approving more funding for the military during this conflict? [7:49] No. [7:53] The military has all the funding it needs for this conflict, unless this conflict goes on for years. [7:58] There was an extra $150 billion for the military in the big ugly bill that passed last year. [8:07] So the Pentagon has all the resources that it can use in the current conflict. [8:12] Now, the future is something different, and we'll have to figure out what the future needs of the military are [8:17] because we are depleting so many of the stocks of the military, another huge cost of the war. [8:22] But let's think about what is being lost right now. [8:26] And that is all of these billions, this $11 billion just within the first few days, [8:32] that's money that could have gone into new hospitals and new schools. [8:36] It could have gone into health care for people. [8:38] It could have gone into meeting the needs of the American people. [8:41] A hospital costs about $100 million. [8:44] That means that if we're spending a billion a day in Iran, we're effectively dropping 10 hospitals a day on Iran [8:52] and destroying the potential we would have had to make that kind of investment in our country. [8:56] That's money we're never going to get back. [8:59] So the Pentagon doesn't need more money right now for this war. [9:03] It doesn't need to open pipelines off the California coast. [9:07] And by the way, Kristen, that was something the administration was pushing even before the war. [9:12] So they're just using this now as a pretext to try to open pipelines that have resulted in terrible spills in California. [9:19] This is the cost, the human cost, of this mistake by the president to bring us to war again. [9:25] Senator, thank you. [9:26] Senator, I do have to ask you just finally about this partial government shutdown. [9:32] DHS not being funded for a month now. [9:35] Just this week, we saw terror attacks in West Bloomfield, Michigan, in Norfolk, Virginia. [9:41] This morning, the CEOs of the nation's major airlines and cargo carriers have written a letter to Congress calling for them to end the shutdown, [9:50] talking about the importance of American security in the airways. [9:55] Are you responsible for Democrats to hold up DHS funding with the threat of terror attacks looming during this conflict? [10:04] Kristen, as you know, we offered vote after vote, resolution after resolution, even as recently as this week, to reopen those agencies to fund them. [10:14] And the Republicans voted it down. [10:16] We said let's wall off ICE funding. [10:19] Let's fund these other agencies that protect the country. [10:22] And the Republicans, one after another, voted them down, voted down funding TSA, [10:26] voted down funding the Coast Guard, voted down funding FEMA. [10:30] So Republicans are controlling both houses in the presidency. [10:34] They can't very well blame the minority party for their own inability to govern, [10:38] particularly when they're voting down Democratic motions to reopen these agencies. [10:43] All right. [10:44] Senator Adam Schiff, thank you very much for being here. [10:47] We appreciate it. [10:49] We thank you for watching. [10:50] And remember, stay updated on breaking news and top stories on the NBC News app or watch live on our YouTube channel.