Former Speaker Pro Tempore Patrick McHenry Talks US Strikes on Iran
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of the Pentagon, but of the politics of the moment. Patrick McHenry is steeped in this, of the 10th Congressional District in North Carolina. He is absolutely typical of starting your political career young. I think he was 10 years old when he won his first effort in the 10th Congressional District. He's gone on to substantial Republican acclaim, including Chairman

of the House Financial Services Committee. He is a Bloomberg contributor, I should say, is a former chair of the House Finance Committee. Patrick McHenry, thank you so much for joining us this morning. How divided is the Republican Party?

Not very. The truth is the president has executed a limited targeted effort here that is 15 years in the making. When the Obama administration entered into nuclear negotiations with Iran in 2012, the culmination of those talks led to today. And in fact, the precipitating matter here is Iranian proxies

that have taken serious action against American troops in Iraq and in the Gulf. They were the funders, and in many ways the designers of the Hamas attack on our ally Israel. And the president was patient and sought a negotiated outcome in a quite measured way.

Without the Iranian regime coming to the table with a serious, serious counter. So I think the domestic politics of this, you're going to have a few very ideologically viewed, very ideologically opposed to any foreign intervention being overwhelmed by most Republicans.

who want a strong America and the way to ensure a strong America is when it's necessary, we will punch back with overwhelming force. And I think that's what we just saw. Patrick McHenry, and returning to this, folks, in our four hours of coverage this morning with the former congressman, Patrick McHenry, I find what's absolutely fascinating here and benumbing is,

is Russia has lost a harbor, essentially, on the eastern Mediterranean. They've lost Syria. Maybe they're in the process of losing Iran. The foreign minister of Iran will travel to Moscow, I guess. Explain where you sit, our relationships now after this attack with Russia and with China.

Well, look, I think they're the ones that are taking greatest note of what happened here, which is not that this president is against all foreign action, but that he will be measured, will use force when necessary, when negotiations end. I think the person that should be most taking note here is Vladimir Putin. This administration has won it and campaigned on it.

a peaceful negotiated, a quote unquote peaceful negotiated settlement in Ukraine, if there is one. And it is evident through open source that Russia has gotten its drone technology that has been effective in the Ukrainian battlefield from Iran. And that linkage here is quite significant.

quite evident from that news you just shared, which is the Iranian foreign minister is going directly to meet with Putin the day after the United States strikes. There is a concerted effort among our enemies here, and there's a lot of connectivity between the president's action in the Middle East

And it's the same news to the Ukrainian battlefield. Patrick, what do you expect to see from a response from the Democrats in Congress? There's concern that, A, they weren't consulted. Maybe this was an action the president exceeded his authorizations. But it's tough to argue all that stuff when it appears to be so successful. What do you expect from the Democrats?

Well, look, both parties are divided on the authorization of force in Congress. Both parties have divisions here. For the effort to review...

authorizations that date back to the Gulf War, to 9/11, to our engagement in Afghanistan. They've been utilized by both presidents to take action in very broad ways. There's been efforts in Congress to have revisions to those authorizations of force, but have not been successful in total. And so I think you'll see that divide in both parts on this. But by and large,

stopping the Ukrainian, I'm sorry, the Iranian nuclear program or slowing it down is a global good. This is why you see your Keir Stormer in the UK, a left of center leader

you know, prime minister of the United Kingdom being supportive. I think this is an action that the world is relieved that we have taken. And I think you'll see that similarly play out with a with a by and large, the supermajority of the United States House and Senate, but divisions within both parties for sure.

Patrick, do you see the U.S. military doing follow-up actions here absent any retaliation, or are they kind of in a wait-and-see mode, do you think, at this point? I think they're wait-and-see mode. We see Israel taking action immediately.

Right after our strikes, there's further work to be done, obviously, to restrain the Iranian capabilities for retaliation against American troops and American assets in the Middle East and our allies. And so I think the coordination will continue. And there's evidence that there's coordination between us and Israel that is real and more

more effective for both of us, frankly. With this event, Congressman Henry, and this goes back to House Financial Services Committee and, frankly, Appropriations Committee as well,

What is your experience of funding to the Pentagon after an event like this? Is this an acutely aware need to budget the Navy with their reach in the Gulf of Oman? Or how does the budgeting work after an event like this? Well, look, I mean, the Pentagon budget is massive.

It is a massive budget, so they have broad authorities with ordinance, with munitions, and the president does have broad say here. We heard the secretary of defense say that they did comply with the War Powers Act on informing Congress of this action.

I think we'll hear that from congressional leaders. They'll be pressed on whether or not they were given the heads up on this in conformance with the law. And if they were, I don't think you'll see congressional action to limit the president's further ability to take action.

So it's an important balance between the branches, yes. But the presidential authorities that they're using here are not new, not novel, and they

do have some level of controversy, yes, but have been utilized by both parties over the last 20 years. Patrick McHenry, one final question, if we could. In your Washington, and you're a student there, I made a joke about it earlier, folks, of his tour of duty. This is public service, truly across the span of his adult life. Patrick McHenry, in the Washington here, I believe in wars. Democrats and Republicans come together

Can I wish that at this moment?

No, because where we are in this process, you have a partisan reconciliation bill moving through the Senate this week. You've had mainly partisan fights outside of one piece of legislation on digital assets, cryptocurrency. But this week is going to be a rather partisan week in Washington based off of what is on the Senate floor and what is on the House floor.

And so I don't think there'll be a kumbaya moment. I don't think that's where the Democratic base is.

But I think what you'll see is the MAGA base rally to President Trump's cause here almost in totality. And so in one respect, the antagonism from the left towards a MAGA right on their statements in the election that President Trump would bring this great veil of peace to the world just by his election was grandiose, outsized, and in fact a fiction.

But also you're going to see the left make those MAGA loyalists eat their words in the election, and that is so typical of Washington, so typical of our politics right now. And that won't stop just because of the international action.

here, unfortunately. Patrick McHenry, thank you so much. A Bloomberg contributor to the former chair of the House Finance Services Committee for the Republican Party. For enterprise organizations, managing all your food needs is a tall order. But with Easy Cater, you get a single workplace food vendor with the tools and resources to make it easy, giving teams across your organization an easy way to order from a huge variety of restaurants all on one platform.

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