Sen. Lindsey Graham on Iran talks: "Let's try a diplomatic solution. I think it's going to fail"

[0:00] Good morning to you, Senator. Good morning. Good morning. There's a lot that still hasn't [0:06] been figured out here in this deal, but you wrote nine days ago the idea of a U.S. plan [0:11] with partners to create a fund of at least $300 billion. This is 0.6 in the memorandum, [0:18] is tone deaf and it's akin to a Marshall plan for Germany with the Nazis still in charge. [0:25] Why did you change your position and now you support it? Because before I thought the money [0:33] was coming from the West, if the West funds Iran, I think that would be a Marshall plan with the [0:40] Nazis still in charge for Germany. If the plan envisions the Sunni Arabs, yeah, if the Sunni [0:48] Arabs do it, can you imagine if Saudi Arabia Qatar and the United Arab Emirates invest $300 billion [0:55] in Iran? That would tell me that Iran has changed. To all the experts out there, do you think Saudi [1:01] Arabia Qatar and the United Arab Emirates are going to invest in Iran with a theocracy bent [1:06] on destroying Sunni Islam? So think it through. If the money comes from the Sunni Arab world, [1:13] I hope it happens. It would mean that the Sunni Arabs believe that Iran has changed to the point [1:19] they want to be a business partner. I pray that happens. I doubt if it will. [1:23] You doubt if it will. Well, I want to ask you about some of the criticism of the agreement from [1:27] your fellow Republican colleagues. Take a listen. If we give billions of dollars to Iran, [1:34] that money will be used to murder Americans. And so I don't believe we should do that. [1:39] They'll use the money that is being released to rebuild their ballistic missile arsenal [1:46] and begin to enrich again. And that's going to be a continuing danger. [1:53] That money, Brooke, we know is not going to go to build new hospitals or daycares. It's going to go [1:59] to replenish their drone stockpiles, their missiles, to support terrorists like Hezbollah and Hamas. [2:06] We had 13 Americans dead. We spent anywhere from $25 to $100 billion in munitions. And it turns out [2:13] we've lost a credible threat of attacking them again. There's a lot of stuff in there. It's bad. [2:19] All of those Republicans are seriously doubting the president here, Senator Graham. [2:26] Do you agree with their concerns? No, I don't. We're not giving any money to Iran that can change [2:34] the course of history to try diplomacy. Is the MOU problematic? Yeah. I'd rather try diplomacy than [2:41] take it off the table. The money Iran gets is not going to change the future of Iran. It's not [2:48] enough to reconstruct the country. If you don't have a diplomatic path through the MOU, then you have [2:55] to go to war or some other form of coercion. Let's try this. Let's try a diplomatic solution. [3:02] I think it's going to fail. What happens next? I spent four and a half hours with President Trump [3:08] Friday. Here's what I think will happen next. If this deal fails, President Trump is going to take [3:14] the Strait of Hormuz over by force. The United States will control the Strait of Hormuz. We'll [3:20] charge a fee for all those who go through to pay for the operation. And we're going to expand the [3:26] Abraham Accords in calendar year 2026. We're going to get Saudi Arabia joined the Abraham Accords, [3:32] which is the biggest change in 5,000 years in the Mideast. And if Iran can test control of the [3:39] Strait of Hormuz by the United States, we'll obliterate them. So to all the people listening, [3:45] if this diplomatic effort fails, President Trump is going to take the Strait of Hormuz. [3:52] We're going to run it. We're going to try to get Saudi Arabia to join the Abraham Accords in the [3:56] Arab-Israeli conflict in 2026. And if Iran continues to attack Israel in Lebanon, the new [4:03] policy will be we'll hit Iran. So to the Iranians, if you're listening, when you use Hezbollah to attack [4:09] Israel, I think the new policy will be we will attack Iran. You have just laid out how you could turn [4:16] what you think is a flawed document into an opportunity. But you're also suggesting there [4:21] that you can get Benjamin Netanyahu or whoever is the next prime minister of Israel to recognize a [4:26] Palestinian state, which is the price of normalization with Saudi Arabia. How could you do [4:32] that on the brink of an election? Well, for about two years, Margaret, in case you missed this, [4:39] I went to Riyadh and Jerusalem working on normalization with President Biden. [4:45] Yes. We're going to announce a framework to have Saudi joined the Abraham Accords and at the end of [4:51] October in 2023. Iran attacked on October the 7th. That created a real problem. The Arab world is very [5:00] upset about Gaza and everybody in Israel is very upset about October 7th. But we're going to pick up [5:05] where we left off. And Donald Trump is going to empower me and others to jumpstart an effort to get [5:13] Saudi to join Israel. There will be accommodations made by Saudi and Israel, to Saudi and Israel. [5:19] You have no better friend than Donald Trump. To Bibi, Donald Trump stood by you when other people [5:25] wouldn't. I'm not asking you to do anything to jeopardize the future of Israel's security, [5:29] but I'm asking you to be open to expanding the Abraham Accords and finding a solution to [5:34] Palestinians that are good for Israel and, quite frankly, good for the world to Saudi Arabia. [5:42] Now's the time to open negotiations yet again for you to expand the Abraham Accords, for you to join. [5:50] I think this is going to happen in 2026, and it can't happen until Iran's in a box. [5:54] If we get a deal, if we get a deal, Iran will be in a box. If we don't get a deal, [6:00] Iran will be in a box. To Lebanon, to the people in Lebanon, help is on the way. [6:05] Hezbollah has been terrorizing your country for a long time. That's about to end. [6:10] Senator, I have other questions I need to get to based on your responsibilities in the judiciary, [6:16] in the Judiciary Committee. President Trump appeared to sabotage his own nominee, Jay Clayton, [6:22] who was going to be the nominee with a confirmation hearing last week to run the director of national [6:30] intelligence. He told him not to show up at his hearing. So that let Bill Pulte, [6:34] this controversial head of the federal housing agency, who has no prior intelligence background [6:40] or security clearance in charge. Are you comfortable with giving Pulte the keys to the 18 agencies? [6:49] I think what we had in place should happen. I think Clayton should be the new DNI. [6:53] President Trump was told that Democrats were not going to support FISA reauthorization, [6:59] and he got mad and pulled out of the agreement. They will. Mark Warner told me that there are enough [7:04] votes to get FISA reauthorized, and I would urge President Trump to let Clayton testify and that [7:11] we nominate Clayton and get him affirmed as the new DNI. We don't want FISA to go dark. There's too [7:17] many threats to our country for 702 to go down. Anybody who owns the shutting down of 702 under [7:25] FISA will own a future attack against the United States. We're playing with fire here. [7:29] You said you spent time with President Trump this past week. Did he say to you that he will do what [7:35] you just laid out? I'll let him speak for himself. But I told him that any Democrat that shuts down [7:43] FISA at a time of great peril of the United States is making a huge mistake. The same would be true [7:48] of the Trump administration. We need FISA up and running. So here's what I hope will happen, [7:53] that Clayton will appear before the committee, we'll get him confirmed, and we'll get FISA reauthorized [7:58] as the original plan was. I think the Democratic votes are there. We're playing with fire here. [8:03] No matter what side does it, America needs FISA up and running. Well, this, you're talking about [8:09] the surveillance tool that allows for foreigners of concern abroad to be monitored there. Bill Pulte [8:16] went after the president's perceived political enemies and is accused of using private mortgage [8:21] data and weaponizing it. Mark Warner told us on this program last week, because he's so ignorant, [8:28] he could do damage. He's on the job right now. Is he a risk? [8:33] Well, yeah, I'm fine right now. But I won't be fine much longer if we don't get FISA up and running. [8:40] And I think Clayton is the perfect pick. Clayton has got the confidence of both sides. Let's get him [8:47] in a job that really matters. And I thought it was an outstanding choice by President Trump. And let's [8:52] get this back on track. We can't, you know, we got to realize that there are people want to blow us [8:57] all up and kill us. And they're coming if we don't stop them. And if we don't get a run in a box, [9:03] we're in our trouble. So let's do it. Let's stop talking and get it done. [9:06] Senator Graham, thank you very much.