CNN Newsroom: Interview With Rep. John Garamendi (D-CA)

Interview

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Well, continue doing exactly what we're doing, continue to support Ukraine, put them in a position to win this. And that issue of a formal declaration of crimes against humanity will sit there and be ready when the time comes for Russia to sign a peace negotiation with Ukraine, and also Putin and his henchmen be held accountable personally for what they have done in Ukraine.

So it's there. It's an important step.

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We should supply Ukraine with everything they need. The question of the F-16s is a very complicated one. It's a very sophisticated airplane, sophisticated technologies on it and it requires a significant maintenance program to go with it.

All of that needs to be brought together. We are moving with our allies to bring to Ukraine aircraft, fighter aircraft that they're familiar with. These are the Russian makes and various models. Those they know how to equip, those they are already prepared and trained to use. So that would be the first way to go here.

Secondly, we need to keep in mind that Russia has a very, very sophisticated air defense system, the S-400. It has a very, very long range. And so the question is would these planes be useful on the eastern front?

Probably not because the S-400s which are there along the Russian border, can easily take out those planes if they fly anywhere near the front line.

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It's a very, very serious matter. China is in a position to provide very significant military equipment to Russia should it decide to do so. We have to make every effort, put every pressure and make it clear to the Chinese that it would not be in their short and long-term interest to further support Russia. Certainly they're doing it with regard to purchasing oil, thereby allowing Russia to be able to finance its war.

And so there are a lot of other pieces to China here. and this is why the Ukraine war is so extraordinarily important.

If, as some of my colleagues have suggested, we pull out and not support Ukraine and Ukraine collapses, that's a signal, a very powerful signal for China that the United States will not stay the course in the western Pacific and, therefore, China will be even more aggressive.

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Well first and foremost is that NATO is all in, particularly the NATO countries on the eastern flank -- Greece, Bulgaria, Poland and then up into the Baltics. They are very, very concerned. They see Russia as a very existential threat to them. And they have reason to be concerned.

Keep in mind that before this war started the United States and NATO engaged in a diplomatic effort with Russia. Russia's demands ultimately causing the collapse, Russia essentially sent NATO out of eastern Europe, and basically Russia wants to re-establish the Warsaw Pact, gain control over those eastern European countries.

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The eastern European countries look at that and say, oh, my God, we're all in. We're going to do everything we possibly can to see that Ukraine wins this war so that our security is advanced.

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He said it at the State of the Union. He said it again this last week, and that is the United States is all in. We're not going to back off. The administration is very, very clear that we're going to follow through with everything that is necessary and useful. And we're going to stay there for as long as it takes.

Now, a couple of my -- well several of my Republican colleagues and one or two Democrats are saying no, no, no, we've got to cut and run. Absolutely not. We have to stay with this. The president is clear, his message is clear to Congress and more importantly to Russia and China.

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Well, I think in many respects the president handled it as well as could be. This incident really started with the Chinese spy balloon. No doubt that was a problem. The end result of it is they probably learned absolutely nothing that they already didn't know from their satellites.

They may have been able to ground proof that the satellites were accurately assuring what was going on. The bottom line of this is we learned more what the Chinese learned.

We learned what they're up to. We learned what their capabilities are in addition to the satellites as well as communications systems back and forth.

We had a whole week to gather signals intelligence and we have their little black box. And so ultimately it was a success.

Now, with regard to these other balloons, I think we're going to find out that there are some volunteer organizations out there that do weather balloons, and they may have lost three of their weather balloons along the way.

I understand why we shut this thing down. It is winter in the Arctic. It is cold, the snows are there and maybe in the spring we'll be able to renew the search.

But right now, the president and the military has done the right thing. Back off. We're not going to get involved as the snow gets deeper trying to find these three weather balloons or whatever they are.

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Thank you. Have a good day.

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