Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) claimed Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that the Trump administration’s foreign policy had “America in retreat.”
Partial transcript as follows:
MARGARET BRENNAN: We’re joined now by Maryland Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen. Good to have you here. I want to refer back to the interview we just did with the President’s Special Envoy Steve Witkoff. You watched the Middle East closely. I know you were just meeting with Arab leaders when you were in Europe last week. He said that it is not realistic to have Palestinians remain in Gaza while it is rebuilt. Egypt and Jordan are working on plans for that to be possible. Does- does that proposal have any chance of surviving, or is this idea of moving them away for 15 years going to happen?
VAN HOLLEN: So, the good news in what Steve Witkoff said was that he expected us to get to phase two of the discussions. The very bad news was he did not disavow this outrageous idea that Donald Trump put on the table of cleaning out 2 million Gazans. That is ethnic cleansing by another name, and Arab countries are right now working very hard to put together a plan to show that you can deal with governance, security and reconstruction, and that you don’t need to have 2 million people pushed out of Gaza in order to do it. It is tough. It will have to be done in stages, and they have identified areas in Gaza, few areas in Gaza that have not been obliterated, where you could begin to phase the reconstruction and at least get people housing, temporary housing, as you rebuild in other areas.
BRENNAN: But how does that survive if the United States most powerful player is saying that’s not what we want to do?
VAN HOLLEN: Well, this is a big problem, because when Trump made those statements, what he did was fueled even more the far, far right in Israel. The Ben-Gvirs, the Smotriches, who were just celebrating, because their idea all along has been to move 2 million Palestinians out of Gaza. They also want to move Palestinians out of the West Bank into places like Jordan and Egypt. So in addition to being a reprehensible idea for moral and legal reasons, it would also totally destabilize the region, which is why the Arab countries are working so furiously to put together a plan that addresses these issues and has a future horizon that provides security to both Israelis and Palestinians, and self determination for both Israelis and Palestinians.
BRENNAN: We are also hearing that the President is closing in on this deal with Ukraine in regard to its mineral resources that can be used for all sorts of valuable technology. What security guarantees are you comfortable with the U.S. giving to Ukraine as part of any of this?
VAN HOLLEN: Well, I think this is all negotiable, but what you should not do Margaret is begin your negotiation with Putin by number one, adopting the Putin narrative, saying that Ukraine started this war, which is just a big lie, and you shouldn’t begin by giving up certain key cards. So, for example, American guarantees, or a future for Ukraine in NATO. However you settle this in the end, is a matter of negotiation, but it’s terrible negotiating to give up those cards right up front, as- as Trump has done.
BRENNAN: It was extraordinary to hear Steve Witkoff describe his meeting with Vladimir Putin as he did for us.
VAN HOLLEN: I would just say that this is not “America First”. This is America in retreat, and China and Russia and our adversaries are celebrating every moment of this as our allies are scared to death. And this is not just rhetoric.
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