Kaine Asks Kari Lake To Apologize To Gallego For Accusing Him Of Being Controlled By Cartels

[0:00] thank you senator kane thank you mr chair ms lake in response to a question from senator mccormick [0:07] you said that you were proud of the way you ran your campaigns in 2022 and 2024 i want to ask you [0:13] a question on september 27 2024 you gave a tv interview about your opponent then house member [0:20] now our colleague senator gallego in which you said he is quote controlled by the cartels his [0:27] own father was a colombian drug trafficker and so he's got links to the cartel a politifact article [0:34] on october 3 a few days later rated that pants on fire and the title of the article i'd like to [0:40] submit for the record mr chair is in arizona senate race carrie lake fabricates link between ruben [0:48] gallego and drug cartels now this is pretty undiplomatic behavior um and just just for my [0:56] colleagues i hope you might read this story um reuben our colleague has written a memoir about [1:04] his very troubled upbringing and about the fact that he was abandoned by his father who then did [1:10] get into criminal trouble he was abandoned by his father he had to be raised by his mother he was so [1:16] furious at his father that he changed his last name to be his mother's maiden name not his father's name [1:22] he he talks about graduating from boot camp as a marine and after years of abandonment his dad [1:29] tried to show up and take credit for his own graduation from marine boot camp and he writes [1:35] about how furious that made him and still makes him he writes about how ashamed he is of his father [1:42] how angry he is at his father abandonment by a father is one of the most seminal tragedies of life i mean [1:49] go back to the biblical phrase my god my god why hast thou forsaken me this is not something to fool [1:55] around with ms lake accused one of our sitting colleagues of being controlled by the cartels you [2:06] had no evidence then nor do you have any evidence now that our colleague senator gallego is controlled [2:11] by cartels do you miss lake well we provided the receipts the father um was a high level drug [2:21] trafficker trafficking hundreds of you said that ruben gallego was controlled by the cartels [2:28] you provided no evidence this was rated pants on fire a lie you had no evidence then and you have no [2:36] evidence now that ruben gallego is controlled by cartels isn't that right i i thank you for the [2:43] question senator kane i do appreciate it i don't know and i'm not here to do reputational control or [2:50] how about how about an apology to our colleague if you if you made that claim he was controlled [2:55] by cartels and now you're saying you don't know what the facts are then you're acknowledging that [3:00] your charge was wrong how about apologizing to our car i i don't believe my charge was wrong um okay [3:06] ruben gallego's father is a high level that that's not the question i asked you that's not the question [3:12] you asserted he was controlled by cartels you had no evidence then you have no evidence now you're [3:19] unwilling to admit it and here's something that's even worse mr chair that was during the heat of [3:24] a campaign sometimes we say things during campaigns that we go too far she's continued to repeat this [3:30] as a sitting member of the trump administration a couple months ago ruben gallego put out a tweet [3:37] against the invasion of venezuela he didn't mention miss lake he just said he was against it and she [3:44] at 2 35 in the morning the following day responded you are a member of a mexican cartel family you are [3:51] also a fraud no one is surprised by your take she's continuing to repeat a lie she just told the [3:59] committee she has no idea whether it's true or false but she was glad to say it and she won't retract [4:04] it now that should be disqualifying mr sugar i got a question for you your role is not only to be the [4:11] assistant secretary for which you're nominated but also to be key on the inter-american foundation [4:17] that is a congressionally established foundation it is sustained robust bipartisan support [4:23] in the fy26 approves bill will you abide by the law which states quote the foundation shall have [4:29] perpetual succession unless sooner dissolved by congress and commit to us not to take any action to [4:37] dismantle or imperil the work of the foundation unless dissolved by congress well senator um thank [4:45] you for the question and also i just want to commend the work you did as a missionary and on ludas i also [4:51] was a missionary in latin america uh and so it's it's a it's a beautiful beautiful thing to do um as it [4:57] relates to your question i will follow all laws senator and so that that particular law that the foundation [5:04] will have perpetual accession unless sooner dissolved by congress is one you will follow like i mentioned [5:10] earlier i will follow all laws all right thank you i yield back