Sen. Cruz Delivers Foreign Policy Address at Hudson Institute

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, on Tuesday delivered remarks and participated in a conversation focused on ‘Interventionism vs. Isolationism' with Hudson Senior Fellow Mike Doran at the Hudson Institute. There, Sen. Cruz discussed his approach to national security, the new generation of threats the United States faces, and how to get past the false choice between interventionism and isolationism.

On the European lobbying campaign to preserve the catastrophic Obama-Iran nuclear deal, in cooperation with staffers in the Deep State, Sen. Cruz said:

"[The Deep State's] overarching objective is to prevent this administration from dismantling from the Iran deal completely because they believe one of the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates is going to win."

"If we finish the job and end the waivers there will be no deal to reinstate. And indeed, what we should do is exercise the snap back sanctions that the U.S. has the unilateral right to do to impose United Nations sanctions on Iran. That's what we should be doing."

"Part of [the Europeans'] slavish devotion to the Iran deal is that they hate Donald Trump - that's the irony. You have world leaders who detest President Trump, trying to convince him to give up his biggest national security victory [...] they want to say to the world, ‘you see, Obama was right and Trump was wrong.' And yet the Deep State in the U.S. is pushing the White House to go that way. I think that would be a massive, massive mistake."

On his legislation to designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization, Sen. Cruz said:

"The Muslim Brotherhood - its conduct, its charter, its operation - it is explicitly a terrorist organization. They don't hide it. [...] A number of our allies, including Egypt, designate the Muslin Brotherhood as a terrorist organization because they have seen firsthand the consequences. [...] They are a terrorist organization that has demonstrated a willingness to murder anyone who does not accord with their Jihadist world vision. I think we should absolutely designate it."

On the threat posed by technology companies wielded by the Chinese Communist Party:

"China's objective is global dominance and they are investing billions of dollars in producing global dominance. They're investing it militarily [...] they're investing [in space and cyber] very significantly."

"Theft of intellectual property is something China is investing massive amounts in, state sanctioned theft of intellectual property, including espionage within the United States, especially our universities. [...] I've passed legislation to deal more directly with the threat of espionage."

"Huawei is a state spy agency masquerading as a technology company. Our allies in particular are flirting with Huawei being part of the critical infrastructure in their countries. Why? Because China's willing to invest billions saying, ‘we'll give you free or below market equipment,' and the only cost is the Chinese get to hack in on everything that you're saying and see all of your communications."

"Sharing intelligence with nations that allow themselves to have a direct backdoor to China - that is beyond foolish. I think this is a threat we need to absolutely clear-eyed about and use every tool we can to make clear to our allies, ‘no you can't go down this road.' [...] Making concessions to let Huawei get any greater perch among our allies or in America I think would be a serious mistake."

On the need to pass his sanctions legislation to block the construction of Putin's Nord Stream 2 pipeline, Sen. Cruz said:

"Just a few weeks ago on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, we took up legislation that I introduced to stop the construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, a pipeline being built right now to flow, to take natural gas from Russia to Germany, which if it is built will enrich Putin, will harm Europe, and will harm America."

"If you're concerned about Russian aggression, if you're concerned about military adventurism by Putin, the very best thing we can do is deprive him of the resources to fuel that military aggression."

"So how does my legislation stop Nord Stream2? Well, it turns out there are only five companies on the face of the earth with the technology that is capable of laying the deep-sea pipeline needed for Nord Stream2. My legislation imposes sanctions on any company building that pipeline. [...] if and when that legislation passes the Nord Stream 2 project will stop in its tracks. That will hurt Russia's aggressive militarism. It will benefit Europe. It will benefit America. It will benefit freedom."

To watch Sen. Cruz's full remarks, click here.

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