My first question, Mr. Vice President,
is the United States now at war with
Iran? No, Kristen, we’re not at war with
Iran. We’re at war with Iran’s nuclear
program. And let me just say, Kristen,
that we’re incredibly grateful and proud
of the American Air Force pilots who did
an incredible job last night. The the
operation was really extraordinary.
These guys flew from Missouri. They
didn’t land a single time. They dropped
30,000lb bombs on a target the size of a
of a washing machine and then got back
home safely without ever landing in the
Middle East or ever stopping other than
to uh briefly refuel. And of course they
did that in the air. So it’s really an
incredible operation, a testament to the
power of American military. And I think
what shows what can happen when you have
that great American military in the
hands of capable presidential
leadership. What we did is we destroyed
the Iranian nuclear program. I think we
set that program back substantially and
we did it without endangering the lives
of the American pilots. That’s an
incredible thing and I think we we all
should be proud. Whatever whatever our
politics, we should be proud of what
these guys accomplished a very very high
impact mission under a lot of pressure.
Mr. Vice President, let’s talk about
what happens next. President Trump
posted on social media, quote, “Any
retaliation by Iran will be met with
force greater than what was witnessed
tonight. If Iran retaliates against the
US as it is threatening, what will the
United States response be?” Well, Chris,
that’s ultimately going to be the
president’s decision. But what we’ve
said to the Iranians is we do not want
war with Iran. We actually want peace.
But we want peace in the context of them
not having a nuclear weapons program.
And that’s exactly what the president
accomplished last night. I really think
there are two big questions for the
Iranians here. Are they going to attack
American troops or are they going to
continue with their nuclear weapons
program? And if they leave American
troops out of it and they decide to give
up their nuclear weapons program once
and for all, then I think the president
has been very clear we can have a good
relationship with the Iranians. We can
have a peaceful situation in that region
of the world. We have to step back a
little bit, Kristen, and remind
ourselves that we negotiated
aggressively with the Iranians to try to
find a peaceful settlement to this
conflict. It was only when the president
decided that the Iranians were not
negotiating in good faith that he took
this action. He didn’t take it lightly,
but I actually think it provides an
opportunity to reset this relationship,
reset these negotiations, and get us in
a place where Iran can decide not to be
a threat to its neighbors, not to be a
threat to the United States. And if
they’re willing to do that, the United
States is all ears. Well, let’s talk
about the possibility of negotiations. I
mean, the Iranian foreign minister
responded to the strikes this morning
saying Israel and the US have quote
blown up diplomacy, Mr. Vice President,
is there any real hope for diplomacy or
is diplomacy dead at this point? Well, I
think the foreign minister is exactly
wrong. We didn’t blow up diplomacy. We
only took this action, Kristen, when it
was clear, as the president said, that
the Iranians were tapping us along. I
think it’s important for the American
people to appreciate here that if you go
back to March of this year, we had the
entire administration engaged in this
diplomatic effort. And frankly, in March
of this year, we had some optimism. How
do we get from there to now? And the
answer is we felt very strongly that the
Iranians were stonewalling us. They
weren’t taking this seriously. They were
trying to draw this process out as long
as possible so that they could rebuild
their nuclear weapons program without
the threat of American action. We had a
limited window in which we could take
out this Ford nuclear facility in
particular. The president decided to
take it, but we didn’t blow up the
diplomacy. The diplomacy never was given
a real chance by the Iranians. And our
hope, Kristen, as the president said
repeatedly, is that this maybe can reset
here. The Iranians have a choice. They
can do go down the path of peace or they
can go down the path of this ridiculous
brinksmanship of funding terrorism of
trying to build a nuclear weapon and
that’s just not something the United
States can accept. Uh I I I want to say
something Kristen just to the Iranian
leadership look they have tried to build
a nuclear weapons program that program
is now destroyed. They tried to build a
conventional missile program to attack
neighbors in the region. That missile
program has shown to be a failure. They
have funded terrorism aggressively in
the region and now most of their
terrorism proxies are destroyed. The
Iranians are clearly not very good at
war. Perhaps they should follow
President Trump’s lead and give peace a
chance. If they’re serious about it, I
guarantee you the president of the
United States is too. So, has the
administration received any messages
from the Iranians since the attack
overnight? Well, Kristen, I think as we
sit here, it’s been about 12 hours since
what happened last night. Uh, we have
received some indirect messages from the
Iranians, and it’s possible, of course,
that some of my colleagues in the
administration received something early
this morning, and I haven’t heard about
it. But look, our expectation is we’re
going to learn a lot about what the
Iranians want to do, how they want to
proceed over the next 24 hours. Again, I
I just can’t be clear enough here. The
president has said he wants now to
engage in a diplomatic process, but if
the Iranians are not going to play ball
here, they didn’t leave as many options
as as it pertains to last night and they
won’t leave us many options in the
future. I if Iran disrupts shipping in
the straight of Hormuz, which of course
handles about a quarter of the world’s
oil trade, would that be a red line for
the United States, Mr. Vice President?
Well, Kristen, I think our biggest red
line is the Iranian nuclear weapons
program. That is really what the
president has said we need to get rid
of. Obvious
steps towards doing that last night.
Well, I think that would be suicidal,
Kristen, for the Iranians themselves. I
mean, their entire economy runs through
the straight of Hormuz if they want to
destroy their own economy and cause
disruptions in the world. I think that
would be their decision. But why would
they do that? I don’t think it makes any
sense. I don’t think that it makes sense
for them or for anybody else. What would
make sense is for them to come to the
negotiating table to actually give up
their nuclear weapons program over the
long term. And again, if they’re willing
to do that, they’re going to find a
willing partner in the United States of
America. Mr. Vice President, when did
President Trump exactly make this
decision? And did he coordinate with
Israel? Uh, the president, honestly,
Kristen, I I don’t know that any of us
knew exactly when the president made the
decision except for the president
himself. But if if you back up a little
bit, we engage in this diplomatic
process. I think that he decided uh
probably by miday that this process was
not going anywhere and so he decided to
issue some private ultimatums to the
Iranians and that eventually of course
we decided to destroy the Fordo nuclear
facility and some of these other
facilities ourselves. Uh, I I I I think
one of the things that you saw from the
president’s team, and I really am proud
of all of our guys at the senior team,
is an operation of this magnitude,
multiple B2s, 14 30,000lb bombs, and
even an hour after the attack, the
entire media, the the the the, you know,
some of our enemies all over the world,
they had no idea this was happening. And
that’s because you had a a coherent team
that was aligned behind the president’s
vision. there weren’t any leaks. I think
that made our troops safer as they
carried out this mission. And so it’s
it’s really a testament to the entire
team that we we were able to do
something like this at this scale
without anybody noticing it. But Mr.
Vice President, if I could just try
again, can you give me a specific date
when President Trump said go? Was it
Thursday? Was it yesterday before the
B2s left? When exactly did President
Trump give that green light, that go?
Well, the the final decision, Kristen,
of course, is made right before, and I’m
talking about minutes before the bombs
were dropped. And of course, well, that
that was last night, and the the
president made very clear that the
purpose here is to eliminate the Iranian
nuclear program. So, I I I think that he
himself over time decided this was
necessary, but of course, he had the
ability to call off this attack until
the very last minute. He obviously
decided to proceed, and I think that we
did great things for the American people
because of it. You know, the president
says the nuclear enrichment sites were
quote completely and totally
obliterated. There is some question
about that though this morning. Do you
have 100% confidence that Iran’s nuclear
sites were totally destroyed? Well,
Kristen, I’m not going to get into
sensitive intelligence about what we’ve
seen on the ground there in Iran, but
we’ve seen a lot and I feel very
confident that we have substantially
delayed their development of a nuclear
weapon. And that was the goal of this
attack. That’s why it was a success. And
of course, what happens next, again,
Kristen, is up to the Iranians.
Substantially delayed by years. What
does Again, Kristen, I’m not going to
get into sensitive intelligence here,
but but I I think that we have really
pushed their program back by a very long
time. I think that it’s going to be
many, many years before the Iranians are
able to develop a nuclear weapon. But
again, our goal is that they’re never
able to develop a nuclear weapons
program. And that is a conversation that
we’re going to have with our the
Iranians and also with our allies in the
region. So Iran again has said that it
would retaliate if the US got involved.
There are some 40,000 American troops in
the Middle East. The Pentagon is on high
alert. Is the US bracing for Iran to
target American troops in the region?
We’re of course, Kristen, doing
everything that we can to keep our
people safe. I think that we’re prepared
in the event that the Iranians do
retaliate. But my message to the
Iranians is it would be the stupidest
thing in the world if they did. If you
look at what happened last night, we had
an incredibly targeted, precise,
surgical strike on the nuclear
facilities that are the target of the
American operation. Our national
interest is for Iran to not get a
nuclear weapon. Our strikes last night
facilitated that national objective. If
the Iranians want to enlarge this by
attacking American troops, I think that
would be a catastrophic mistake. And as
the president said yet last night, the
Iranians would be met with then
overwhelming force beyond that. So this
is a very delicate moment, Kristen. I
don’t want to pretend that it’s not, but
I think the Iranians, if they’re smart,
they’re going to have to look in the
mirror and say, “Hey, maybe we’re not so
good at this war thing. Let’s give peace
a chance. Let’s drop our nuclear weapons
program and start to make some smarter
decisions.” We’re of course hoping
that’s exactly what the Iranians do. And
I have a number more questions, so I
want to keep moving. How concerned is
the administration that Iran or Iranian
proxies uh could carry out a terrorist
attack inside the United States? Well,
unfortunately, Kristen, we know that a
lot of people who we don’t have full
accounting of were let in over the last
four years under the Biden
administration. We know that some of
those people were on terrorism watch
list. We feel very confident in our FBI
and law enforcement that we’re on top of
this situation. But yeah, we’re looking
at this very closely. We’re doing
everything that we can to keep our
people safe. And this is one of the
reasons why border security is national
security is if you let a bunch of crazy
people into your country, those crazy
people can eventually take action. We’re
going to do everything that we can to
make sure that doesn’t happen and to
keep Americans safe. Mr. Vice President,
can you rule out that getting involved
in this conflict won’t eventually lead
to US boots on the ground? Well, the
president’s been very clear, Kristen. We
have no interest in a protracted
conflict. We have no interest in boots
on the ground. The president has
actually been one of the fiercest
critics of 25 years of failed foreign
policy in the Middle East, which is why
he did what he did. A very precise, a
very surgical strike tailored to an
American national interest. And that
national interest is Iran cannot have a
nuclear weapon. It would be a disaster
for us and for our allies in the region.
So I I don’t fear that this is going to
become a protracted conflict because I
think that we have a president who knows
what’s in America’s interest and is
willing to do the things necessary to
accomplish that interest. As you know,
after an Iranian missile struck a
hospital in Israel this week, Israel’s
defense minister said the Ayatollah
quote can no longer be allowed to exist.
Does the United States support Israel
killing Iran’s leader? Well, look,
that’s up to the Israelis, but our view
has been very clear that we don’t want a
regime change. Uh we do not want to
protract this or build this out any more
than it’s already been built out. We
want to end their nuclear program and
then we want to talk to the Iranians
about a long-term settlement here. Uh we
believe very strongly that there are two
pathways. There’s a pathway where Iran
continues to fund terrorism, continues
to try to build a nuclear program,
attacks American troops. That’s the bad
pathway for Iran and it will be met with
overwhelming force. There’s another
pathway on the table here. There’s a
pathway where Iran integrates itself
into the international community, stops
funding terrorism, and stops trying to
pursue a nuclear weapon. This is a
reset. This is an opportunity for the
Iranians to take the smart path. We
certainly hope that they will. Couple
more questions and we’re almost out of
time. Director of National Intelligence
Tulsa Gabbard said in March that quote,
“Iran is not building a nuclear weapon.”
Democratic Senator Mark Warner, the vice
chair of the intelligence committee,
said he was briefed on Monday that
quote, “The intelligence hasn’t
changed.” So why launch this strike now?
Has the intelligence changed, Mr. Vice
President? Well, a couple things about
that, Kristen. So, what Tulsi said back
in March is that Iran was producing
highlyenriched uranium that was only
consistent with them wanting to build a
nuclear weapon. There’s of course an
open question about whether they were
weeks away, whether they were months
away, but they were way too close to
nuclear weapon for the comfort of the
president of the United States, which is
why he took this action. Now, there’s
another element here too, Kristen, which
is that we had a narrow window of
opportunity. We might not have been able
to carry out this attack 6 months down
the road. And so, when you recognize on
the one hand, the Iranians are trying to
get a nuclear weapon. And on the other
hand, we have a narrow window in which
we can set that program back a very long
time. It would have been irresponsible,
I think, for the president not to take
the action that he did, which is why
Foreau was destroyed last night. And
just to be very clear, did the president
say go based on US intelligence or
Israeli intelligence? Well, of course,
we share intelligence with a lot of
agencies, British, Israeli, and so
forth, but it was our intelligence that
motivated us to act. And I I think on
the intelligence, Kristen, the thing
that I would really emphasize is the way
in which the Iranians seemed to be
stonewalling us. That was not, by the
way, our consensus. Back in March of
this year, we saw the Iranians making
some concessions. We thought the
conversations were actually productive.
By midMay, everybody in our intelligence
community and the president’s senior
team looked at ourselves and said, “The
Iranians are not being serious. They’re
no longer making concessions. They’re no
longer actually responding to some of
the offers that we’re making. If you
believe, as we did, that the Iranians
are rushing towards a nuclear weapons
program while simultaneously refusing to
negotiate, how could we do anything but
take serious action against this
program? Do you and President Trump
trust the US intelligence community and
its assessments? Oh, of course we trust
our intelligence community, but we also
trust our instincts. And most
importantly, we trust what the
intelligence was telling us about the
Iranians stonewalling the negotiation. I
I think that is really the hidden story
here and something the media has got to
report a little bit more here is that
the Iranians stopped negotiating in good
faith. That was the real catalyst, I
think, to what the president ultimately
decided to do. If we were having a
productive negotiation, I think that
this could have gone in a much different
pathway. Unfortunately, the Iranians
decided to stonewall us and we saw the
consequences of that last night. Mr.
Vice President, very quickly, as you
know, this is dividing lawmakers on
Capitol Hill. Many Republicans
supportive, but Congressman Thomas
Massie saying this was unconstitutional.
Congresswoman Alexandria Casiocortez
saying it’s grounds for impeachment,
saying the president should have gotten
congressional approval first. What do
you say to members of Congress who say
it was unconstitutional for the
president to act unilaterally? Well, I’d
say two things, Kristen, and this is
very important. First of all, the
president has clear authority to act to
prevent the proliferation of weapons of
mass destruction, and the worst weapon
of mass destruction of them all is
nuclear. The idea that this was outside
of presidential authority, I I I think
any real serious legal person would tell
you that’s not true. And the second
thing is, Kristen, I I I certainly
empathize with Americans who are
exhausted after 25 years of foreign
entanglements in the Middle East. I
understand the concern, but the
difference is that back then we had dumb
presidents and now we have a president
who actually knows how to accomplish
America’s national security objectives.
So, this is not going to be some long
drawn out thing. We’ve got in, we’ve
done the job of setting their nuclear
program back. We’re going to now work to
permanently dismantle that nuclear
program over the coming years. And that
is what the president has set out to do.
Simple principle. Iran can’t have a
nuclear weapon. that has animated
American policy over the past 130 days.
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