Sen. Cruz: Sec. Clinton more focused on blaming the so-called vast right-wing conspiracy than terrorists

WASHINGTON, DC -- U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, today spoke with George Stephanopoulos on ABC’s “This Week” and discussed the need for moral clarity in foreign policy and how conservatives win. Highlights are below.

On Sergeant Bergdahl’s release:

“All of us celebrate with Sergeant Bergdahl and his family... at the same time the terms of the deal are very troubling... I don't think the way to deal with terrorists is to release other violent terrorists.”

On former Secretary of State Clinton:

“[Secretary Clinton] is more focused on blaming the so-called vast right-wing conspiracy than on the terrorists. The truth shouldn't be partisan. There's a pattern in this Administration: the pattern is, when a crisis, a scandal emerges, to express outrage... after expressing outrage, they stonewall for months or years, and then they say it's old news. We need to get to the truth.”

How Republicans win:

“Some in Washington think the way you win is you put your head down, you don't rock the boat, you don't stand for anything. Every time we do that, we lose... The way we win is by doing what we did in 2010... drawing a line in the sand, standing for principle, drawing a clear distinction, and making the case to the American people that elections matter. In 2014, we should be saying...we will repeal every word of Obamacare because it isn’t working.”

On his recent trip abroad:

“What our allies are expressing over and over again is that our leadership is missing. And the most frequent thing you hear when you talk to an ambassador or foreign minister of our friends and allies, is they pull you aside quietly in hush tones and say, ‘where is America?’ When America is weak, when the American President is weak, it leaves our friends and allies vulnerable and it makes the world a lot more dangerous place.”

Full transcript below:

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Senator Ted Cruz yesterday, he won their presidential straw poll after that speech. Senator, congratulations for that.

SEN. CRUZ: Thank you, George.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Your reaction to the Bergdahl deal.

SEN. CRUZ: Well, look, all of us celebrate with Sergeant Bergdahl and his family. Look at his parents there, it's emotional and it’s powerful. At the same time the terms of the deal are very troubling.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Why?

SEN. CRUZ: Well, for one thing, how many soldiers lost their lives to capture those five Taliban terrorists that we just released? Ambassador Rice basically said to you, ‘yes, the U.S. policy has changed. Now we make deals with terrorists.’ The question going forward is, have we just put a price on other U.S. soldiers? What does this tell terrorists? If you capture a U.S. soldier, you can trade that soldier for five terrorists we’ve gone after. That’s a very dangerous precedent.

STEPHANOPOULOS: If you're the president you wouldn't have negotiated.

SEN. CRUZ: I don't think the way to deal with terrorists is through releasing other violent terrorists.

STEPHANOPOULOS: What if that's the only way to get Bergdahl home?

SEN. CRUZ: It's not the only way. We can go in and use military force as needed to rescue our fallen compatriots. Sergeant Bergdahl was fighting to capture these terrorists. Can you imagine what he would say to his fallen comrades who lost their lives to stop these people who were responsible, either directly or indirectly, for threatening or taking U.S. civilian lives. That’s why we sent our soldiers there. The idea that we're now making trades: what does that do for every soldier stationed abroad? It says the reason why the U.S. has had the policy for decades of not negotiating with terrorists, is because once you start doing it, every other terrorist has an incentive to capture more soldiers.

STEPHANOPOULOS: That policy has been broken in the past, but your policy would be no trades whatsoever?

SEN. CRUZ: I think it's very disturbing that we're releasing five acknowledged terrorists, Taliban leaders, in a deal with terrorists. Unfortunately, it's part and parcel with the pattern we have seen of the Obama Administration across the board.

STEPHANOPOULOS: You saw Ambassador Rice's response to that.

SEN. CRUZ: I just got back last week from traveling to Israel, Ukraine, Poland, and Estonia, and it was striking… One thing that Ambassador Rice said that's absolutely correct is that America is tje indispensable leader. But what our allies are expressing over and over again is that our leadership is missing. And the most frequent thing you hear when you talk to an ambassador or foreign minister of our friends and allies, is they pull you aside quietly in hush tones and say, ‘where is America?’ When America is weak, when the American President is weak, it leaves our friends and allies vulnerable and it makes the world a lot more dangerous place.

STEPHANOPOULOS: You said you were in Ukraine. What would you have done differently there?

SEN. CRUZ: There's a whole range of activity short of -- what President Obama did at West Point speech, for example, is he set up two straw men, one to invade, and two do nothing. There's a whole range of intermediate steps. Number one, President Obama should have spoken out clearly in support of freedom and in support of the protesters when the protesters began in the Maidan square. I had the privilege of going through Maidan square, being led by a 16-year-old high school girl, who saw her compatriots shot by army snipers, and they continued to protest for freedom. America should speak out for freedom. But then after that, we should stand with our allies and not give in to Russia, we should, number one, right now, install the antiballistic missile batteries in eastern Europe. They were scheduled to go in in 2009, but President Obama canceled in an effort to appease Putin. That hasn’t work. And number two, we should be using energy as a tool to help liberate the Ukrainian people and impose cost on Putin. There are over 20 applications to export liquid natural gas, bottled up in the Obama Administration. He should approve because that would be a meaningful step to stand with Ukrainian people and free them from Russia economic blackmail.

STEPHANOPOULOS: We saw first pages of Hillary Clinton’s memoir, about Benghazi. She said -- those who insist on politicizing the tragedy will have to do so without me. iI sounds like she's suggesting that she's not going to testify in these new investigations.

SEN. CRUZ: The sad thing with Secretary Clinton, is it seems to be all politics all the time. From what we know about this book chapter, it's pure political spin, and she’s most focuses on blaming the so-call vast right-wing conspiracy than on the terrorist. The truth shouldn't be partisan. There's a pattern in this Administration: the pattern is, when a crisis, a scandal emerges, to express outrage. We all remember President Obama during the debate with Mitt Romney, getting angry and emotional, saying no one is more upset about what happened in Benghazi than I am. And yet it seems that’s the last time he ever uttered the word ‘Benghazi.’ Because after that, after expressing outrage, they stonewall for months or years, and then they say it's old news. We need to get to the truth.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Rand Paul says her mishandling of Benghazi is disqualifying her from the presidency. Do you agree?

SEN. CRUZ: I think she has deliberately stone walled. We know, for example, that her chief political aid, Sharon mills went to senior Foreign Service officers and told them, don't talk to the press. Don't talk to members of Congress. I had an exchange on the Senate floor, when I asked the Senate to form a Joint Select Committee with the House to get to the truth of Benghazi. And Senator Bob Menendez from New Jersey stood up objected to this. I laid out a dozen questions that still haven’t been answered. And his response was, he said, ‘I have no idea,’ this is Menendez speaking, ‘whether President Obama was awake or asleep when this terrorist attack was happening.’ He went on to say, ‘I have no idea whether there was anything President Obama could have done to have saved those four brave Americans who died, but those questions aren't worthy of being answered.’ Listen, if the Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee doesn't know the answers to those questions we're not getting the truth and the American people deserve the truth; our men and women in harm's way deserve the truth. 

STEPHANOPOULOS: What’s the 30 second case against Hillary Clinton for president?

SEN. CRUZ: That her policies, domestically and internationally, haven't worked. Domestically, the Obama economic agenda is a disaster. We’ve got the lowest labor force partication since 1978. Millions of hard-working Americans lives have gotten harder. And internationally, the Obama-Clinton foreign policy is a disaster. Every region of the world has gotten worse America has weakened. Our enemies have been strengthened. Right now we're in the middle of cutting a deal right now with Iran that I fear is repeating the mistakes of the Clinton Administration in 1990s setting up Iran acquiring nuclear weapons capability.

STEPHANOPOULOS: You took on what you call the gray beards in the Republican Establishment yesterday at the Republican Leadership Conference. But hasn’t the Establishment been on something of a roll in these primaries of beating back the tea party again and again? Aren't factions of the Republican Party going to have to come together to defeating Hillary Clinton?

SEN. CRUZ: Look, there's a debate in Washington about how Republicans win. I think 2014 is going to be a fantastic year for Republicans. I think we're likely to retake the senate. And I think 2016 is going to be a very strong year for Republicans. But he debate we're having right now is, how do you win? Some in Washington think the way you win is you put your head down, you don't rock the boat, you don't stand for anything. Every time we do that, we lose. The Democrats have to be thrilled when republicans do that. Because in '06, it failed, in '08 failed, in ’12 it failed. The way we win is doing what we did in 2010, or for that matter in 1980, drawing a line in the sand, standing for principle, drawing a clear distinction, and making the case to the American people that elections matter. So, for example, in 2014, we should be saying, and I think a great many Republicans are saying, we will repeal every word of Obamacare because it isn’t working. 

STEPHANOPOULOS: You sound like you're ready to run for president.

SEN. CRUZ: You know, what I'm ready to do is to make the case to the American people that the path we're on isn't working. The people who have been hurt the most by the Obama economy are the most vulnerable among us, they’re young people, they’re Hispanics, they’re African Americans, they’re single moms. A few weeks ago I was in Nebraska, and a single mom came up to rally, she hugged my neck, she said, I have six kids at home, my husband left me, my husband isn't paying child support. I'm working three jobs. I'm having a hard time putting food on my table. I never see my kids. What we're doing isn't working. Those are the people that we need to fight for so that they can have a chance at the American dream again.

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