Fox News "Hannity" - Transcript Interview with John Kennedy

Interview

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Here with reaction, Louisiana Senator John Kennedy.

You've been very outspoken on this. Look, the fact that after all of these years that we had people 30 and 40 years ago hacking into government agencies. If we don't fix this, it annoys the living daylights out of me. At what point is that our problem and our fault?

SEN. JOHN KENNEDY, R-LA.: The Communist Party of China has become a world comorbidity, and America allowed it for well over 20 years. Too many of our leaders, Sean, got up every day and they just took the bullet train to chump town (ph). We didn't stand up to China.

Now, we are. And we asked other countries to join with us.

I don't want a cold war with China. China says -- the communist party in China says it wants respect. You have to earn respect. Respect is not a participation trophy.

They have to show that they are willing to be posted stakeholders in a stable law and order. And vernacular, that means they have to agree to stop cheating.

HANNITY: Innocent people died because of all of their lies. They now want to steal our information? The intellectual property theft has been a huge problem. Trade imbalance, a huge problem.

We now must remove all the manufacturing, especially for vital items like agents of medicines and pharmaceuticals. How do -- what do you propose we do?

KENNEDY: The first thing that I would do is ask other -- other members of the Western world to join with us. Australia is already there. The United Kingdom is already there.

But I'm thinking specifically of our friends in Europe, the E.U. It's time that the E.U. grew some oranges and said, you know, we stand for something. And --

HANNITY: They're weak, Senator. They're weak.

KENNEDY: They are weak. And they could be much stronger.

But they are so worried about making money from and with China, that in my judgment, they sacrificed their values. I don't mean to overstate it. There have been a few countries that have pushed back, but they need to push back as a group, as an organization, particularly Germany.

HANNITY: Well, I agree with everything. People in your state in every state in this country died because of what they did, and around the world. Why wouldn't people unite on that? We have about 20 seconds.

KENNEDY: It's not just the coronavirus. It's everything else too, as bad as the coronavirus is, Sean.

HANNITY: Yes. All right, Senator, always appreciate you being with us. Thank you, sir.

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