ABC This Week interviews during 2018: on War & Peace


Peter King: Sue Saudis for 9/11, but maintain relationship

REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): I don't find this Saudi account [of the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi] credible. This ought to be a relationship-altering event for the US & Saudi Arabia.

REP. PETER KING: Obviously there was an intent [by the Saudi government] to kill him. But we do have a relationship with Saudi Arabia that we should try to maintain. During the Obama administration I led the fight in the House to allow 9/11 families to sue Saudi Arabia. President Obama fought us every step of the way--we had to override his veto. So all presidents want to maintain some sort of relationship. So I would ask the president to try to thread the needle here, whether it involves imposing sanctions, or delaying arms sales, or making a clear statement of condemnation at the end but still not hurt ourselves. Because the Saudis do provide very effective intelligence, they are a bulwark against Iran and they have been working closely with Israel. You put all that together, we have to try to balance it.

Source: ABC This Week 2018 interviews of 2020 hopefuls Oct 21, 2018

Marco Rubio: North Korea's nukes are about prestige, not about diplomacy

Q: You said you 100% support President Trump's decision to pull out of the North Korean summit?

RUBIO: The first thing we all have to do is stop pretending that we're dealing with the old Soviet Union, or that we're negotiating with Italy or France. This is a very erratic regime that's very distrustful and paranoid about the rest of the world. They've never dealt with outsiders, they don't have an established diplomatic core. They have no history of it. And Kim Jong-un has a personal psychological attachment to these nuclear weapons. They make him feel prestigious; they make him feel powerful. And they have, quite frankly, been what his regime has been known for since he took over seven years ago. This is a man who has to figure out how to survive in power for 50-something years as a dictator and is probably afraid that if he gets rid of these weapons at some point, someone's going to take him out.

Source: ABC This Week 2018 interviews of 2020 hopefuls May 27, 2018

Lindsey Graham: Destroy Assad's air force; create safe zones in Syria

Q: On Syria: We've all seen those horrific images; and the president tweeting: "Many dead, including women and children, in mindless chemical attack in Syria. President Putin, Russia, and Iran are responsible for backing animal Assad. Big price to pay." What is on the table?

GRAHAM: Well, it's a defining moment in his presidency, because he has challenged Assad in the past not to use chemical weapons. So Assad is at it again. They see our resolve breaking. They see our determination to stay in Syria waning. And it's no accident they used chemical weapons. But President Trump can reset the table here. To me, I would destroy Assad's air force. I would create safe zones in Syria where people can come back to their country from the surrounding area and live a better life. Train up Syrians to take on Assad so we can negotiate in Geneva from a position of strength.

Source: ABC This Week 2018 interviews of 2020 hopefuls Apr 8, 2018

Lindsey Graham: Keep US troops in Syria so ISIS and Iran can't come back

Q: We heard President Trump saying he wanted to pull our troops out of Syria.

GRAHAM: Complete utter disaster to leave before the fight is done. Have we learned nothing when what happens when you leave too soon? We pulled our troops out of Iraq. ISIS came back. President Trump made a speech in Riyadh, saying two things: "I stand with you against Iran; and I stand with you to defeat radical Islam." If we leave Syria by the mere passage of time, we undercut that policy. ISIS will come back. You will be giving Damascus to the Iranians. They'll have a land bridge from Tehran to Beirut. Syria will be occupied by Hezbollah, Russia, Iran, a nightmare for our friends in Israel. You've got to stick with it. You need a holding force as part of a regional force. If Americans are not part of a holding force, ISIS will come back. And there is no strategy by the Trump administration to counter Iranian expansion. And you need a strategy to deal with Iran just as much as ISIS.

Source: ABC This Week 2018 interviews of 2020 hopefuls Apr 8, 2018

  • The above quotations are from ABC This Week interviews during 2018
    (George Stephanopoulous & Martha Raddatz interviewing candidates for 2018-2020 races).
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2016 Presidential contenders on War & Peace:
  Republicans:
Gov.Jeb Bush(FL)
Dr.Ben Carson(MD)
Gov.Chris Christie(NJ)
Sen.Ted Cruz(TX)
Carly Fiorina(CA)
Gov.Jim Gilmore(VA)
Sen.Lindsey Graham(SC)
Gov.Mike Huckabee(AR)
Gov.Bobby Jindal(LA)
Gov.John Kasich(OH)
Gov.Sarah Palin(AK)
Gov.George Pataki(NY)
Sen.Rand Paul(KY)
Gov.Rick Perry(TX)
Sen.Rob Portman(OH)
Sen.Marco Rubio(FL)
Sen.Rick Santorum(PA)
Donald Trump(NY)
Gov.Scott Walker(WI)
Democrats:
Gov.Lincoln Chafee(RI)
Secy.Hillary Clinton(NY)
V.P.Joe Biden(DE)
Gov.Martin O`Malley(MD)
Sen.Bernie Sanders(VT)
Sen.Elizabeth Warren(MA)
Sen.Jim Webb(VA)

2016 Third Party Candidates:
Gov.Gary Johnson(L-NM)
Roseanne Barr(PF-HI)
Robert Steele(L-NY)
Dr.Jill Stein(G,MA)
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Page last updated: Mar 18, 2019