Fox News "The Story with Martha McCallum" - Transcript Interview with Tom Cotton

Interview

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Joining me now, Senator Tom Cotton a member of the Armed Services Committee and Intelligence Committee, good to have you with us, Senator and thank you for being here today.

SEN. TOM COTTON, R-ARK.: Thank you Martha.

MACCALLUM: This is an uncomfortable story that ESPN has put out there for the NBA, especially given their stance on other credible issues of social justice in this country.

COTTON: It is, Martha. It's a very disturbing report as one of the employees said, these were basically sweatshops for young Chinese kids and the NBA employees saw the worst kinds of child abuse and as you referenced, they even had one of these camps in Northwestern China where China is running reeducation gulags for religious minorities and they likened it to Nazi Germany in World War II.

I understand that NBA has deep financial ties to China, but you have to ask at some point, what's wrong with the NBA? I mean, how many crimes will they turn a blind eye to whether it is child abuse or ethnic cleansing or cracking down on Hong Kong?

I mean, for those of us who grew up watching the epic battles of Michael Jordan and Larry Bird and Magic Johnson and then watch them put on the red, white, and blue for the dream team in 1992. The NBA stands right now is very disappointing.

MACCALLUM: When you think about a communist society in athletics I think about the Soviet Union, the issues that they had with duping and pushing athletes hard. I think about the East German in the Olympics when I was growing up I mean it is not that surprising that this is a culture that is connected between athletics and a communist regime that, you know, wants results more than anything else. So should this be a big surprise?

COTTON: Martha, the Chinese people love the NBA and that's one of the reasons why it's so disappointing to see the NBA and its stars like Lebron James or Steve Kerr not take a stronger stance. The NBA is probably a unique among American businesses and the leverage it has over the Chinese Communist Party.

They are not like our farmers or oil producers whose products can be bought from other countries. There's only one NBA and hundreds of millions of Chinese are rabid fans. The NBA could take a strong stance here and called the Chinese Communist Party's bluff.

And ask them to stop these horrific practices yet unfortunately too many of its stars and executives seem to be more concerned about making a few more bucks in a communist country then standing up for a basic human liberty and dignity.

MACCALLUM: Yes, it is a great point because the whole sort of Chinese experiment with opening up China under Nixon was that if you - the more light that you shine into a situation, and you sort of bring that country into economics deals and you shine a light into the practices of the country is carrying out that it makes it more difficult for them to do things along these lines.

And that it makes the people there want a more democratic government. It appears that that is an experiment to that's more and more looking like it did not work.

COTTON: Unfortunately, that is the case you know we were sold on engagement for 20 or 30 years from politicians in both parties that if we just opened up to China and we sent our factories and sent our jobs there. If we didn't look at all their misdeeds in terms of stealing our intellectual property or mistreating the companies that were working there mistreating their own people as well that capitalism would ultimately change China.

Unfortunately, China is changing capitalism and not only in China as we see from the NBA's behavior - the NBA portrays itself as the most politically and socially progressive of our professional sports leagues and you can wear slogans on your jerseys that are approved by the NBA but you can't wear free Hong Kong. Just imagine if the NBA had locked arms behind the Houston General Manager last fall that stood up for Hong Kong.

MACCALLUM: Absolutely, the gall to tweet "Free Hong Kong" and the wrath was turned on him like we have not seen. This is likely - I think China is likely to be the largest issue. When we get past COVID and I believe we will eventually, I think that the United States/China relationship is going to be one of the biggest issues of whoever is President for the next four years. Do you agree?

COTTON: I agree absolutely, Martha. Not only did China unleash this plague on the world but they have been taking our jobs and our factories for decades. They had been intimidating our companies and transferring technology or just stealing it when they can't. They've got spies running all around our campuses and our elite laboratories and businesses. We have to take a stand against China.

MACCALLUM: Yes, I think the game is changing and you've been on this for a very long time. Senator Tom Cotton, good to see you. Thank you very much.

COTTON: Thank you, Martha.

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