ST. LOUIS — U.S. Senator Eric Schmitt (R-Missouri), the state's former Attorney General, sidestepped questions about whether one of his Democratic colleagues should face expulsion from the upper chamber while he fights federal corruption charges.
U.S. Senator Bob Menendez (D-New Jersey) stepped down as chairman of the powerful Foreign Relations Committee earlier this year when the Department of Justice charged him and his wife with accepting bribes from foreign governments.
Menendez and his wife have pleaded not guilty. He has refused calls to resign, even as members of his own party call on him to step down.
In September, Senator John Fetterman (D-Pennsylvania) said he'd vote to kick Menendez out of the Senate.
"That was like two months ago and nothing's happened," Schmitt said when he was asked about Fetterman's comments. "I'd probably direct your question related to Bob Menendez to Chuck Schumer. I mean, they've not done anything about it. And so it's a... It's nothing more than a hypothetical at this point that doesn't look like it's ever going to come to the Senate floor."
Since Schmitt made those remarks, Fetterman renewed his calls to kick Menendez out, and even commissioned a video from disgraced former Congressman George Santos to echo his message.
Below is a full transcript of the interview with Senator Eric Schmitt on The Record:
Senator Eric Schmitt: Hey, Mark.
Mark Maxwell: Thanks for joining us. On Tuesday, President Biden said in a social post online that, "Hamas unleashed a terrorist attack because they fear nothing more than Israelis and Palestinians living side-by-side in peace." And, "To continue down the path of terror, violence, killing and war is to give Hamas what they seek. And we can't do that." You call that a dangerously confusing message? What part is confusing to you?
Senator Eric Schmitt: It seems to indicate that Hamas wants a two-state solution; and that it indicates, in my view, a bit of a pivot. There's no secret here that Joe Biden is getting a lot of pressure from Democrats and those on the left to sort of tell Israel to stand down. That's just sort of out there, obviously. So the tweet was confusing. I think they've sought to clarify it since then. So I just hope that we give Israel the moral and diplomatic support they need to do to wipe out this terrorist organization that unleashed, you know, really terrible acts on October 7th that we actually, in a private screening this week, senators were invited to to see the actual footage of that was captured on GoPro cameras by these terrorists. And, you know, you could've heard a pin drop. It's terrible stuff. So anyway, I just want to make sure that the president isn't sending mixed signals here.
Mark Maxwell: Mm hmm. Do you think the Netanyahu government wants a two-state solution?
Senator Eric Schmitt: I don't know. I don't know. I think it's, you know, very difficult right now to look into the future when they're really having an existential threat to their very survival. I mean, you clearly have... Hamas is dedicated to wiping Israel off the map. And so I think that they're they're dealing with that. You've got underground tunnels that they're trying to dismantle. They're again, fighting for their very survival. So I don't think it's up to us to tell them how to go do that.
Mark Maxwell: Yeah. On another matter of foreign policy, you were critical of President Biden's recent meeting with China's President, Xi Jinping. You said, "Healthy cooperation is not possible with the Chinese Communist Party that is hellbent on global domination." China is now, after that meeting, pledging publicly to crack down on chemical companies that make the ingredients that go into fentanyl. Do you see that as healthy cooperation?
Senator Eric Schmitt: They've done that before, Mark, and they've never actually followed through. They also said, pledged, that they weren't going to build islands in the South China Sea. They told Obama that and they've done that and now they're fully weaponized. I think we have to recognize that the Communist Party in China runs the place and that they are hell bent on world domination. They have a bigger Navy than we have right now, Mark. They're in space in a serious way. I think President Biden misunderstands or miscalculates the nature of this relationship. They are our chief adversary and we've never had one like this before that's a real, you know, military rival, that's a nuclear power, but also an economic rival. And so any dollars that China reaps from any of these, you know, bogus trade deals, not just United States, but across the world, goes directly into their military designs. And so I think it's a mistake. I think it's naïve to believe that they're going to cooperate with us in any way other than then try to supplant the United States.
Mark Maxwell: Henry Kissinger died this week, a longtime shaper of American foreign policy in that region. President Xi wrote to President Biden and said, "Dr. Kissinger will always be remembered and missed by the Chinese people." How should the American people remember Henry Kissinger?
Senator Eric Schmitt: Well, I mean, he was clearly a student of realpolitik. Right? And I think that understanding the nature of your adversaries is very, very important. And I appreciate that. And I think that right now we're in a different world with China than we were back in the early 1970s. China is no longer sort of this, you know, trade partner with a huge population that is seen as, you know, as, you know, poor and people want to open up trade deals. I mean, they have sort of shown their fangs here in the last decade. Xi Jinping is the most brutal dictator in the world, perhaps. I mean, he has concentration camps in China right now with the Uighurs. So I just think we have to understand that we're worlds away from when Henry Kissinger and Richard Nixon went to China in the early 70s.
Mark Maxwell: I see. On a matter closer to home, you've seen the push to expel George Santos from the House. And I know Senate rules are different, but should the Senate expel Bob Menendez?
Senator Eric Schmitt: Oh, I you know, that hasn't come up, Mark. If that's... If that's a serious, you know, push, I think that's a question for Chuck Schumer and the Democrats.
Mark Maxwell: Senator John Fetterman is calling to expel him. Would you support that?
Senator Eric Schmitt: That was like two months ago and nothing's happened. So again, I'd probably direct your question related to Bob Menendez to Chuck Schumer. I mean, they've not done anything about it. And so it's a... It's nothing more than a hypothetical at this point that doesn't look like it's ever going to come to the Senate floor.
Mark Maxwell: All right. Well, real quick. Just this week, President Trump renewed his 2016 pledge to scrap the Affordable Care Act after John McCain intervened in 2017. After that, the Democrats won control of the House in 2018, running on promises to protect and expand Obamacare, and Republicans later started to embrace that policy. So all these years later, would you vote to get rid of Obamacare?
Senator Eric Schmitt: I think that we ought we should always be looking for health reforms that make health care more affordable. For all the promises of Obamacare, health care is way more expensive than it's ever been. And so you combine the reckless spending of the Biden administration, you combine the war on domestic energy production, you combine these policies that have made it more expensive for working families. That's why most people think the country is headed in the wrong direction, including Democrats, by the way. And so, you know, I've always been an advocate for fighting for real reform. And so we'll see what those proposals are.
Mark Maxwell: Senator, thank you.
Senator Eric Schmitt: Thanks, Mark.