▶ 0:10:34I would ask everybody to rise. Join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
▶ 0:11:07Good morning everybody. The purpose of today's hearing is to val evaluate reforms and challenges at the United Nations to increase transparency, reduce waste and politicization, counter malign foreign influence, and ensure that the US taxpayer contributions advance principled and measurable outcomes aligned with American interests and values. And I will now recognize ranking member Meeks for any opening statement he may have.
▶ 0:11:38decided you want to follow me, huh?
▶ 0:11:42Well, I want to thank Chairman Mass for calling this hearing and welcome Ambassador Waltz and Ambassador Bartos. You know, it's we're in the eighth decades. It's been eight decades since the United Nations formation. The United States have benefited greatly from the multilateral world order it helped create and led. Of course, the United Nations has never been perfect. It is a complex institution, often slowm moving and imperfect.
▶ 0:12:10Congress has often demanded that it pursue reform so that the UN can better deliver on its mandate to promote international peace, security, and human rights. And that's because leaders from both parties have understood a fundamental truth. American security and prosperity are strongest when we shape the international system, not when we abandon it. The UN is not simply a forum for speeches.
▶ 0:12:34It is where sanctions are negotiated, peacekeeping missions are authorized, and pandemic responses are coordinated. It's where refugees can help international law will help refugees get help, and international law is made. And coalitions are built to meet the shared challenges of our time. No nation, not even the United States of America, can solve these problems alone.
▶ 0:12:58American leadership at the UN has always been about ensuring those debates and decisions serve the American people. And that is why I am deeply concerned by this administration's burn it down approach. Rather than strengthening America's leadership within the UN system, this administration has surrendered it.
▶ 0:13:17Since January 2025, the Trump administration has withdrawn the US from 69 different entities and and UN and agencies, including the very UN body responsible for protecting children from sexual violence in war.
▶ 0:13:38It has pulled the United States out of UNESCO, withdrawn from the human rights council and abandoned the World Health Organization even during an active Ebola outbreak. Then and then it refused to let Americans exposed to the virus come home. This is not a reform. This is not reform. This is retreat. And it has failed to pay our UN dues.
▶ 0:14:01funds Congress already appropriated, forcing severe budget cuts across UN entities, even ones the administration claims to champion. We hear the argument that this is tough love, unnecessary to drive UN reforms. But you cannot reform an institution by starving it. You can only weaken it and hand the advantage to those who wish to harm.
▶ 0:14:26The administration's approach is also confounding our allies and accelerating our decline on the world stage. Ambassador Waltz, you now are the face in leading this American retreat. Under your tenure, China is now paying to keep the lights on at the UN headquarters in New York, using our own austerity to cast itself as the responsible steward of the very system we built. The PRC has even offered to host UN bodies in Beijing and Hong Kong.
▶ 0:14:57Also, under your ambassadorship, the US is siding with Russia and other adversaries on key votes, opposing UN resolutions on human rights, women and children, and referees and refugees, not on principle, but over culture war objections to a single word, gender. And Ambassador Waltz, you have called Trump's the peace president.
▶ 0:15:22Yet, this administration has gutted UN peacekeeping and replaced experienced negotiations with real estate developers. You have been a defender of President Trump's war of choice in Iran. And the war has cost the lives of 18 US service members and achieves and achieved none of the core objectives. This includes one of my constituents, Sergeant Angel Ramabashad from Ozone Park, New York, who was killed just this past Friday.
▶ 0:15:50You've done so with indifference to the cost this war has imposed on American families and is upending of the global economy and our bilateral relationships. So, I cannot imagine a worse time to see the United States influence at the UN than during a war Trump started with Iran and still cannot end. The threats Iran poses can only be addressed diplomatically, multilaterally, with our allies and partners.
▶ 0:16:18Instead, this administration treats our friends like enemies. Absurd new tariffs against Canada, being the latest example, countries around the world are asking, "If this is how the United States acts toward its closest friends, how will it treat us?" That doesn't make them yield to our demands. It drives them to look elsewhere for leadership and China is happy to provide it. The administration cast it foreign policies as putting America first.
▶ 0:16:48In reality, it's America alone, a foreign policy of chaos, corruption that puts American last. And finally, let me be frank, Ambassador Waltz, you moved into this job at the UN after a a debacle in which you and other senior administration officials text classified war players to journalists. 16 months later, nothing has changed. The incompetence continues, and it's Americans who keep paying the price.
▶ 0:17:13So, I'm welcome to hear the witness's testimony, and have the questions that we will ask, and I yield back the balance of my time.
▶ 0:17:20Gentleman yields back, recognize myself for an opening statement. I just start by kicking off on one of the comments you made. Certainly, one of the things President Trump accomplished with Iran was accomplishing what you directed him to do, which was use any and all means necessary to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. Something you and most of your colleagues on this side of the aisle used to vote for. I want to thank you for coming here today, Ambassador Waltz, uh, Ambassador Bartos, thank you for being here today. I would argue that you two have what is arguably one of the most difficult go jobs in government.
▶ 0:17:50I know it was brought up in your uh confirmation hearings in the Senate just how difficult the job is that you have to do the United Nations of today and these are the reasons why it has been gutted. Uh and I agree with the gutting that you're working to do there. It's become a corrupt entrenched den of snakes. That's what I would characterize it as.
▶ 0:18:09You two men have been asked to show up every day, represent American values, restore sanity in organ to an organization that has grifted off of the American taxpayer, and has become a soapbox, literally for terrorists and America's adversaries. Today's hearing is about giving the United States ambassadors to the United Nations the tools needed to implement policies of accountability at the UN, policies of reform at the UN.
▶ 0:18:36I believe that you have been doing everything in your power to do just that. Conduct reform at the United Nations. A nearly impossible task. President Trump has been abundantly clear. We will not tolerate what has been the status quo. It is hard to imagine that when the 51 founding members signed the UN charter in 1945, they would have foreseen the utterly useless and corrupt in institution that it would become.
▶ 0:19:03Today, the United Nations is a sprawling bureaucracy of 193 member states, over 100,000 personnel. In 2024, the UN system received over 68 billion dollars in revenue across its various agencies, funds, and programs. And I don't think any of that bloat made it more effective. In fact, quite the opposite. The United Nations has grown increasingly bureaucratic and grown increasingly ineffective. Take a look at just one example. Many have heard me speak about this before.
▶ 0:19:33The UNbacked multinational security support mission in Haiti. United States of America paid over $1 billion for $1,000 Kenyan peacekeepers to go into Haiti and take out the gangs. That's what we purchased. They did none of that. They abysmally failed while we literally paid over $1 million per Kenyon to do that job.
▶ 0:19:59In fact, things have gotten so bad that the Haitian government has taken matters into their own hands and hired an American to go in and do the work that the UN had failed to do at a fraction of the manpower, at a fraction of the cost, and with great success. We simply cannot ask American taxpayers to continue funding failed missions.
▶ 0:20:19We can no longer fund programs in the UN that support abortion, radical gender ideology, LGBTQ education, and other leftist projects that do nothing for the American people. We can no longer give America's enemies a seat at the table.
▶ 0:20:36When Iran is nominated to the UN committee responsible for shaping UN priorities on human rights and clearly the United Nations has a credibility problem. When Iran is selected as the vice president for the United Nations nuclear nonprololiferation treaty, again, the United Nations has a serious credibility problem.
▶ 0:21:04You can't make that up that that took place. It is like a movie. When UNRA, the UN's relief organization in the Middle East, puts Hamas operatives on its payroll, the United Nations has a serious credibility problem.
▶ 0:21:21When the United Nations and disproportionate condemnation of Israel after it suffered the worst terrorist attack in genocide in history, it should be abundantly clear that the UN is rotting from the inside. The UN is in severe need of reform. We have to leverage the opportunity we have under President Trump to put America first. Foreign policy in action at the UN.
▶ 0:21:47We have an opportunity to demand that the UN deliver results that align with American foreign policy interests, not Iranian nuclear interests, not Chinese COVID interests, not Russian political obstruction, which is where they have moved to. These reasons and countless others are why I've become the first House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman in history to vote against funding for the United Nations.
▶ 0:22:13If there were a vote today in the House to create or join a new organization where the United States of America would be on equal footing with Russia and the People's Republic of that perhaps had some good features like the World Food Program, but also had programs like UNRA and Haiti boondoggles and climate radicalism and UN lobbying campaigns.
▶ 0:22:43for abortion, we would vote against it. We would not recreate it. We would not fund it. We wouldn't give them $14. We wouldn't give them $14 billion. Ambassador Waltz, Ambassador Bartos, you have been doing everything that you can to tear out the rot, to tear out the grift. I give you every credit for that.
▶ 0:23:09I admire the steps that you're taking for United Nations reform and I appreciate your leadership in that den of snakes. While I continue to doubt the effectiveness and the value of the United Nations as an organization, I look forward to hearing your testimony, hearing about the successes that you have had in rooting out that rot, the obstacles that you continue to face, and learning about those UN institutions and cultures where the rot is so deep, you and your leadership team have yet to been able to affect it.
▶ 0:23:40Now recognize uh I would actually remind other members of the committee that opening statements may be submitted for the record. Again, we are pleased to have a distinguished panel of witnesses before us today on this topic. The Honorable Mike Waltz, representative of the United States of America to the United Nations for the US Department of State and the Honorable Jeff Bartos, representative of the United States of America to the United Nations for UN Management and Reform for US Department of State. We're honored to have you both.
▶ 0:24:10Ambassador Waltz was honored to have you as a colleague here. This committee recognizes the importance of the issues before us and is grateful to have you here to speak with us. Your full statements will be made a part of the record. I'll ask each of you to keep your remarks as short as you can. I recognize you ambassador Waltz for any opening statement that you would like to
▶ 0:24:28Well, thank you uh Chairman Mast and Ranking Member Meeks and members of the committee. It's good to see you again. It's good to be back. A little different to be on this side of the of the DAS, I have to admit. Uh, Mr. Chairman, colleagues, it should surprise no one uh that I share the view that the UN has drifted badly from its core mission. We've all seen it. And that's from my former constituents in Florida to my UN colleagues who say the same thing every day to I think most of you this morning.
▶ 0:24:58My charge from President Trump is to help the UN realize its potential. We are getting the United Nations back to basics, back to maintaining the peace and maintaining security around the world. Unfortunately, the UN has tried to become all things to all people and has literally done nothing but grow for its 80y year history. Its budget just in the last 25 years has tripled in size.
▶ 0:25:25And I don't think we've seen a tripling of peace break out around the world. Uh we as part of our reform effort have worked with the UN which they have to do by consensus to cut its budget for the first time in its existence ever. We cut it by a billion dollars over the last 6 months alone. And by the way again that requires consensus of all 190 countries to agree on every line of the budget.
▶ 0:25:53Imagine if this body had to get all f if this Congress had to get 535 members uh to agree on a budget. But this gentleman, Ambassador Bartos and his team at all 190 countries to agree, and they should be, I think, appreciated for that. We've also eliminated 4,000 headquarters bureaucrats, cut peacekeepers by 25% around the world, and importantly, we've ended peacekeeping missions that have not lived up to their mandate that have failed. Those like UNIFIL and Lebanon.
▶ 0:26:24Uh we have made it clear that UNIFIL needs to stand down and negotiations are underway with back to basics. A healthier UN is more useful UN. One that President Trump, who I do believe is a peace president, can use to help the United States deliver peace, share the burden, and advance an America first policy. And under President Trump, we drove a number of things and a number of successes the American people should be proud of.
▶ 0:26:51We drove a landmark Security Council resolution condemning Iran's attacks on its neighbors and the weaponization of the Straits of Ormuz. I hear all the time, we don't have countries that agree with us, that we don't have allies that agree with us. Yet, in this instance, we set a UN record. A36 countries agreed with us that Iran's behavior is an absolute violation of international law.
▶ 0:27:15When President Trump proposed his 20point Gaza peace plan, we secured a security council endorsement without opposition of that plan. It now anchors an international stabilization force, local Palestinian government governance, a world bank managed reconstruction fund funded largely by regional partners, not American taxpayers. I say again, not American taxpayers. And for the first time in a decade, there are zero hostages in Gaza.
▶ 0:27:45Something that just six, seven months ago, everyone thought was impossible. In Haiti, Mr. chairman, where you mentioned under the last administration, we had a billion dollars of US taxpayer dollars going to fund just a thousand Kenyan policemen where drugs, guns, thugs threaten the United States, our southern border, uh Europe, West Africa, and the Caribbean. We now have a gang suppression force with an offensive mandate with international troops.
▶ 0:28:13Franophhone troops, not US troops, and UN logistics have now cut our cost by In Western Sahara, we're pushing peace for the first time in 50 years. And our friends and adversaries are seeing what the UN can accomplish when it gets refocused, when it does fewer things better. Uh, look, uh, colleagues, there's still more to do.
▶ 0:28:37We certainly realize that there is more in our crosshairs for reform, slashing these ridiculous benefits programs. I think that would be quite hard to explain to your constituents why UN bureaucrats have private schools paid for yet our own constituents are struggling to go to their schools. A 17% pension contribution, 17% more than anywhere else in the United States, in the world that we're aware of.
▶ 0:29:05And we're fighting this year for a reform-minded Secretary General. Look, at the end of the day, we need more Americans serving in UN agencies, for our businesses and standard setting bodies, and for ultimately a UN that again does less better for the American people. Our charge is to make the UN great again. Thank you.
▶ 0:29:28Thank you, Ambassador Waltz. Ambassador Bartos, anything you'd like to add?
▶ 0:29:33Yes. Uh just briefly, first chairman Mass, thank you for your hospitality. Thank you for being allowing us to be here. It's an honor to be with you. Uh ranking member Meeks. Uh and to your staff. We've had a wonderful working relationship both with the majority staff and the ranking member staff, the minority staff throughout my time. We've been at the post for about 10 months and worked very very closely with uh with the staff here and really appreciate the professionalism and the diligence of everyone we get a chance to work with.
▶ 0:30:00If I could just set the table, last July when Ambassador Waltz, Ambassador Letta and I sat for our confirmation hearings uh just across the way in the Senate in the Foreign Relations Committee, we were told things like very fairly told, by the way, UN reform is an oxymoron. It's impossible. Uh some senators even said, "Good luck with that." My wife even asked me, "Why why are you doing this job? Uh it seems impossible." Uh but we hit the ground running in September. First day at work was the president's speech on the floor of the general assembly.
▶ 0:30:30And we have not come up for air. We have not stopped running hard since minute one of of putting our right hands up and taking the oath of office that we were all so honored to do. And this work is amazing the work we get to do. Ambassador Waltz and I wrote an op-ed in January uh just a couple months ago and it was entitled Reforming the UN was impossible until President Trump came along.
▶ 0:30:53And that is the spirit in which we've taken all of our work here and what we've achieved in six months with the president's vision and leadership with the secretary's support, vision, and leadership. And with the remarkable team we get to work with at the State Department and of course with Ambassador Waltz's leadership as our chief of mission, as he said, we have achieved $1.1 billion in budget cuts across the regular budget and the peacekeeping budget. Not only is this historic reform, it has the first budget cut in the history of the 80 80year history of the organization.
▶ 0:31:24And we did that in the last six months. 4,000 civilian posts cut. Um repatriating 25% of peacekeepers who were underperforming. That's diplomatic nice speak of saying these were these were sexual abusers. These were these were troops who were engaging in sexual exploitation and abuse. And because the US drove these reforms, force commanders had the political cover, those their words, not mine. They had the political cover to send home uh these abusers.
▶ 0:31:52First time really in a long time that they've been able to do that. Um culture at the UN. What have we done to address culture? Our team for for years has worked on before you as a troop contributing country, you could send equipment into theater, park it, and get reimbursed just for having it sit there. our team and I have a remarkable management reform team that I get to work with at the mission. They've been working on this for years, but we drove it through uh this spring uh in the contingent own equipment working group. There is such a thing at the UN. Who knew?
▶ 0:32:21Uh we changed the way the culture of the UN now to get reimbured you have to put the equipment into use. It has to be used. It has to be working. It has to be effective. It has to go out on patrol. Saving 30 million a year when it's fully up and running. But more importantly, the culture of the UN, no longer are you getting paid for not doing anything. And these are such important foundational changes and chairman as you said as ambassador Waltz said we have what we have reached for uh thus far far exceeds our grasp.
▶ 0:32:47We have to go way further uh over the next two plus years to achieve real meaningful durable consequential reform. That's our charge from the president. But that's what we're doing every day. And so we bring as you and I have discussed there's so much work left to do.
▶ 0:33:02If I could just say also and the ambassador touched on this, the UN in standard setting bodies like the ITU, like WIPO, like IMO, we are bringing US leadership to make sure that our interests are not only preserved, but also our interests lead because if we're not leading, our adversaries are waiting in the wings to do that. And so we are bringing that American leadership, that American innovation, that American focus to do just that. Um, I look forward to your questions.
▶ 0:33:32As I said, it's an honor to be here and thank you for having us.
▶ 0:33:35Thank you, Ambassador Bartos. Ranking member Meeks, you want to forgo your
▶ 0:33:42You okay, just checking?
▶ 0:33:45You're up. Uh let me start this and I want to because this committee we have not had any real oversight on this uh war of choice of uh President Trump. Uh and and I know that uh Ambassador Waltz, you've been the face of that at the UN. Uh and so I just have a few questions I want to ask you in that regards.
▶ 0:34:10You know, uh, the White House declared on June 19th that President Trump's ceasefire agreement with Iran, quote, ensures Iran will never obtain a nuclear weapon," unquote. But the International Atomic Energy Agency, an organization in the UN system, has reported that its inspectors have been unable to access uh Iran's highlyenriched Ukrainian stockpile or previously declared nuclear facilities for nearly a
▶ 0:34:41year. So, I'm going to ask you a simple question because I'm trying to figure this out since we have not had uh any oversight in this regards and and any hearings on it. Um I'm going to take advantage of this. Can the IAEA account today for all of Iran's enriched uranium and verify that Iran has not moved nuclear material or equipment to locations? Do you know? Yes. Yes or no?
▶ 0:35:09Uh thank you ranking members. In terms of oversight, I'll note that Secretary Rubio has testified before this committee this year. Um but in terms of the IAEA, you're you're absolutely right. uh Iran is not allowing uh the inspectors access to the sites uh in um controvention of its obligations to the nuclear non-prololiferation treaty. Unfortunately, that's one of the things uh that our technical negotiators are negotiating now. We are in constant contact with uh the director general Raphael Gi.
▶ 0:35:40Uh Iran has to let those inspectors back in. By contrast, you have the United Arab Emirates just over the Gulf with a uh civilian nuclear program that does allow the inspectors full access. Iran kicked the inspectors out. They have to let him back in.
▶ 0:35:57What confuses me is that the president will then tells the American people on June 19th that his ceasefire agreement has eliminated Iran's path to a nuclear weapon. So why would he say that if in fact what you just said that the IAEA cannot verify and there's no one else verified so that it has not been eliminated. But at one time the president said because of this agreement that he made that the uh that Iran's uh uh path to a nuclear weapon have been eliminated.
▶ 0:36:27In fact he also said that it was completely annihilated uh you know on June 19th etc. But it seems as though he was not telling the truth then. Uh and now we hear something else differently then. So that's what I'm concerned about is uh you know what what the president is talking about because it is the president that tore up the JCPOA in his first term.
▶ 0:36:49Uh and uh and I believe [clears throat] that uh you told Fox News on June 22nd that quote uh that what we never saw with Obama or the Biden administration trying to do the CPO the JCPOA 2.0 was a credible military option on the table. Now we've spent the DoD budget has uh almost tripled and I don't see more peace that's happening there. The American people is uh is paying for that.
▶ 0:37:19So I I um uh look there was a pursued you pursued the milit the military action. It has cost at least 37.5 billion dollars according to Pete Hexf and others say up to 100 billion. So what I'm trying to find out and what I'm asking you before I move to the UN real quick, what has this war achieved on the nuclear threat that diplomacy, sanctions, inspections, and allied coordination did not?
▶ 0:37:49Well, number one, going to the UN, we have snapback sanctions that are back in place. The U the international community has joined the United States and that maximum pressure that is
▶ 0:37:59in place with the with the JCPOA also.
▶ 0:38:02Uh well that the actual no I'm sorry. the the sanctions were lifted. They were snapped back under this administration. Number one. Number two, you're right. The Iranians cheated under JCPOA. That was exposed. The IAA verified that there were sites that they hid that were not discovered under that agreement and that they were growing their nuclear program. President Trump did obliterate the nuclear program last June. But now, but it is very clear the Iranians still intend to reconstitute it.
▶ 0:38:32They still intend to enrich and they still have
▶ 0:38:36and they still have highenriched uranium that we have to deal with negotiate
▶ 0:38:39more than over $4. Food prices were not going up. We were not spending nearly a billion dollars uh almost a day. The he's coming back now asking the Senate and we'll be asking the House about 300 for 300 billion dollars more. There's not been he's not come to Congress. Uh he has not talked about and talked with us on how we end this war. Secretary Rubio has been before Congress.
▶ 0:39:02and he has not answered the question also. So I'm taking advantage of everybody that is coming here because unfortunately there's been no oversight in this committee and you have been the face of this war at the UN. Sir
▶ 0:39:14today ranking member and proud to be
▶ 0:39:16Thank you ranking member Meeks. You may not recall the oversight of Secretary Rubio just about a month ago because you left halfway through and never came back. So maybe you forgot about it. That might make sense. I'm going to recognize representative. Well, you must have.
▶ 0:39:30I did not. He did not. He has not. Have we had an He came here.
▶ 0:39:34You probably don't remember because you missed half of it.
▶ 0:39:36I didn't miss half of it. I could see it in my office.
▶ 0:39:38You missed half.
▶ 0:39:39You don't know what I missed.
▶ 0:39:39So, I know what you missed. I know you weren't I know you weren't sitting here.
▶ 0:39:42I know you have not had any hearings and oversight. [clears throat]
▶ 0:39:46I know you weren't sitting here next to the rest.
▶ 0:39:47Hey, Mike. Nothing ever changes.
▶ 0:39:50Well, this was him when he was here.
▶ 0:39:52Also, I I would thank you for attending Monday's classified briefing. I think it might have been the first one you attended. So, thank you for attending that. But, Representative McCall, you're
▶ 0:40:01Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Ambassador Walt. It's great to see you again. It's great to see a friend and a former colleague in this position. Uh, and let me just say, I think you're doing an outstanding job. Reforming the United Nations is quite a daunting task. as uh Ambassador Bartos, you mentioned your wife questioning your sanity and taking on the job, but I commend you for it. Uh let me just I want to follow up with Iran.
▶ 0:40:28You know, since 1979, a dark veil of terror has reigned over the Middle East. This, in my judgment, was a reckoning that was eventually going to happen. It was unavoidable with this regime as long as the regime is in power. I commend this president for being the first president to take on this regime and Iran on its path to a nuclear bomb. Negotiating in the past hasn't worked.
▶ 0:40:57Uh I have to be honest with you, Ambassador. I'm not sanguin about the current negotiations. I understand we have to give that a chance and give peace a chance. We have to try to negotiate. But I do think that as um Reagan said, piece through strength as Cole Pal talked about the the PAL doctrine. Either you go all in to win or you get the hell out of there.
▶ 0:41:22Um I right now they're reconstituting their uh in underground storage facilities. Um and they're their launch pads are still striking. It is my sincere hope and it's not your responsibility but this that the president unleashes our department of war on Iran. I know that's what is happening now.
▶ 0:41:45To take out the launch pads, to take out the IRGC, to let MSAD and Israel do its job because I think as long as this regime's in power, we're going to continue to have this problem. And Russia providing targeting information is absolutely uh from my point of view and I think from the United States point of view. I'm really pleased to see the White House join with Lindsey Graham as I went to Ukraine.
▶ 0:42:15His last wishes were his Russian sanctions bill to pass. I will be introducing that in the Congress here today. Uh and I want to thank the White House for its work there because nothing will end that war sooner than passing that sanctions bill. It's a path to peace, not a path to war. My question to you is the Straits of Horn moose, we're a nate net neck game producer. We don't really even have to rely on this.
▶ 0:42:44We are doing this to the benefit of our European allies. Uh the UN Security Council, you know, I want to ask you where where is the UN Security Council? I applaud the president as well for getting the Gulf States involved to help finance this operation because it's in their best interest to open up these straits. I think it's a very doable thing if we unleash our military and allow them to do what they do best, sir.
▶ 0:43:14And you know the military better than I do. They're fully capable of accomplishing uh this mission. I know that's not the hat you wear today, but I'd like for you to comment on the overall status of the straits and what role if any or are you know the Gulf States, but I think the Gulf States are stepping up. What role any is the United Nations and Security Council playing in
▶ 0:43:40Well, thank you. And just to set the table for for the answer, I want to answer that very specifically. You're absolutely right. Iran has been at war with the United States since 1979. Has killed thousands of my fellow servicemen in Iraq, in Lebanon, in the Gulf, uh, literally all over the world, in addition to its plots here in the United States and to kill the president of the United States and members uh, of his cabinet.
▶ 0:44:06Yet, Iran is in the worst place, is in the weakest place it has been through a combination of both military and diplomacy. uh in in its war against the United States. In Lebanon, uh you have the Lebanese government. You had the president here yesterday and today. You have Lebanon negotiating with Israel for the first time. You have the Assad regime is gone. Uh and probably the most hope in Syria that we've seen in a generation.
▶ 0:44:34You just had the Iraqi president here in Texas signing deals with American oil uh and gas companies. uh and the Iranian regime is literally cratering economically, militarily uh and and at war, frankly, with its own people in addition to the region. To your point on the Straits of Warmouth, Secretary Bessant just said yesterday, China, the main buyer of Iranian illegal Iranian oil, has cut its purchases by half and nobody else wants to buy it. The blockade is absolutely working.
▶ 0:45:03And then on the UN, uh look, we've had uh Iran absolutely diplomatically isolated. We may not pay atti a lot of attention to what happens in the UN security council here in our media, but I can tell you around the rest of the world. They are glued to every word. It's the only forum Iran really has on the global stage.
▶ 0:45:22And a 140 countries have sided with us and condemned their attacks on civilian shipping, the mines that they're putting in international waterways, uh, and their, um, and their violations of international law across the board. Keeping them diplomatically isolated is my job. And as the ranking member mentioned, we also have sanctions authority. The snapback sanctions that were lifted under the JCPOA are now back in place and the rest of the world has joined us in that economic isolation.
▶ 0:45:51Thank you, sir. Representative Sherman. Uh I thank Mr. McCall for pointing out that America is self-sufficient in oil. Our oil does not go through the straight of Hormuz. If we prohibited the export of American oil except for refine and return, then we would be paying American prices for American oil.
▶ 0:46:13Instead, the president has decided that we need to pay that world price to the great enrichment of American oil producers that have done nothing except sell us the same oil at the same gas stations now for a much higher price. The ranking member was correct to point out that this committee has not provided oversight for this horrendous war in Iran.
▶ 0:46:37But even more timely is that we need hearings in this committee about the uh proposed nuclear cooperation agreement with Saudi Arabia. Now, there are those who think that the Saudi uh that the Saudi possession of nuclear technology is totally benign, but I've been involved in this for a long time. And I remember when the most powerful monarch in the Middle East was a good friend of America.
▶ 0:47:04And the Sha got his hands on important US military technology. Thank God nothing nuclear. And everything the Sha had in 1978 was in the Muller's hands in 1979. We have no idea who is going to be running Saudi Arabia 10 years from now. Um, Mr. Waltz, uh, the administration has decided to share certain elements of the nuclear cooperation agreement uh, with the press and so all I have is press reports.
▶ 0:47:34Have you read the agreement? Uh, Mr. Charman, I have seen the agreement. Uh, any chance we'll get to see the agreement? uh could you provide it to us perhaps today perhaps uh e either in a classified session or an open session? I would happily take that for the record and that's obviously to the secretary and the president what he
▶ 0:47:56As to the secretary, let me point out that Senator Rubio and I in 2018 introduced the no nuclear weapons for Saudi Arabia Act, which mandated that any agreement with Saudi Arabia would have to have the affirmative approval of the United States Congress. And I miss Senator Rubio. This secretary Rubio takes a completely different position. Now the press reports indicate
▶ 0:48:24Could I just be clear for the record? I I understood you to mean theou that with Iran. I have not seen any Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia. So you have not
▶ 0:48:36Oh. So you have not read Okay. Well then he won't share it with you or ush until some later date. He'll have to share it with us at a later date. Um but the press reports indicate that there'll be no that Saudi Arabia is not agreeing to the additional protocol. The United Arab Emirates did agree to the additional protocol.
▶ 0:48:59Is there any reason we should be bombing Iran because they won't agree to limit their nuclear program while telling Saudi Arabia we give them the green light and they don't even have to agree to these additional years?
▶ 0:49:13Absolutely. There's been half a dozen uh UN resolutions saying Iran cannot and should not have a nuclear weapon and the largest time reclaiming my time. There's a reason we should be Mr. Chairman Saudi Arabia. It's kind of a ridiculous
▶ 0:49:27Mr. Chairman, can you keep order?
▶ 0:49:29You asked him a question. He's trying to
▶ 0:49:31I reclaimed my time. Who owns the time?
▶ 0:49:33That's not a real thing.
▶ 0:49:35It's not a real thing for members of this committee to control their five minutes of time.
▶ 0:49:40You asked a question. That's what you did and I got a filibuster and I stopped the filibuster. Wasting your time with
▶ 0:49:46to hear uh this side of the aisle.
▶ 0:49:48I look forward to this committee being run in accordance with committee rules and only the departure from committee rules prevents us from exposing the great hypocrisy here. Saudi Arabia is not agreeing to the additional inspections that could make sure that their program is not used for nuclear uh uh to develop a nuclear weapon. We have no idea who will be running Saudi Arabia 10 years from now.
▶ 0:50:14We are bombing Iran because they insist upon enriching and reprocessing. We are uh entering into an agreement with Saudi Arabia, giving them the green light to reprocess and to enrich. We are uh and and the only difference I see here is that Westinghouse stands to make an awful lot of money on this deal whereas the Iranians were not enriching American companies.
▶ 0:50:40Uh I look forward to having a uh a process with Congress where you'll tell us what you're doing and I uh hope that Senator Rubio will return to us and insist [clears throat] that Congress approve any agreement. I know that someone will introduce uh or I predict someone will introduce a resolution of disapproval and I invite members of this committee who have worked with us to prevent nuclear weapons in the Middle East from non-democratic countries to join in that effort.
▶ 0:51:10I yield back. Representative yields back. Just so everybody knows, I shouldn't have to tell people this, but if you ask the witnesses a question, I'm not going to prevent them from answering you. I would think that's common sense. Representative Smith, you're recognized. Mr. Chairman, The time belongs to the
▶ 0:51:27The member time member meeks but have the regular order in this hearing.
▶ 0:51:33There there's order. He asked a question. The witness was trying to answer. You know
▶ 0:51:37the witness was trying to filibuster.
▶ 0:51:39This is your guys as questions. His determination to make sure and you don't want answers about his
▶ 0:51:45He controls the time.
▶ 0:51:47Members control the time.
▶ 0:51:49You seem unfamiliar with the rules of this committee.
▶ 0:51:51Members control the time. Not a witness. Don't ask questions if you don't want control. Well, the witnesses can't answer yes or no. Also,
▶ 0:51:58they can answer. You got to give them a
▶ 0:52:00They don't answer. They try to
▶ 0:52:02They don't if you talk over them.
▶ 0:52:03They try to filibuster.
▶ 0:52:06Consider yourself warned. You ask them a question, they're going to have the
▶ 0:52:10We got to apply by the rules of this committee. The members control the time. You are not going to control the time of the members of at least this side of the aisle. The members control their own time. They determine whether or not their question is being answered or not. They determine because they only have five minutes whether they want to move on to another question. We're not going to have a situation where witnesses can fill a buster and members can't answer the questions they want to answer.
▶ 0:52:34Let me just not the rule in this
▶ 0:52:37You will have a situation. I want you to be, you know, make sure you understand because sometimes you leave and you don't come back. I want you to understand that if your members ask a question, the witness are going to have the opportunity to answer. Um whether you leave and come back, it'll be the same rule. So just so you know,
▶ 0:52:51this is not high school trying to be with me recognized.
▶ 0:52:54Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And first of all, let me just say a very special thanks to ambassadors Wallace and VTOS for your extraordinary leadership, your tenacity, your vision. I am so glad we have the A team at the United Nations and you are indeed that you know in 2011 I would note parathetically even President Obama cut off funding to UNESCO. I remember it well uh because of their rampant anti-semitism.
▶ 0:53:17Uh so withholding funding to an egregiously flawed institution or agency is in the best interests of not only the United Nations but of course the United States of America. So thank you for that. I do want to thank you for working and pushing [clears throat] so hard uh to to reform a system that is so egregiously flawed and broken. So many of the agencies it is in disrepair including peacekeeping.
▶ 0:53:43Uh you know I went to Darur and I went to Sudan several times but in Darur I met with the peacekeepers when they first were deployed found out they were getting a dollar a day came back talked to Kalisa Rice our secretary of state said this is outrageous and of course she worked to reform that and to fix that. U in 2005 I became aware that UN peacekeepers in Dior Congo were raping little children. Ambassador Swing was in charge of that mission.
▶ 0:54:11When I raised these issues, I was dismissed and then dissed. So I went there and I met with the people. I ran into an OIOS Mounty who was in charge of investigating. He was a font of information. Came back here, had four hearings on it and said, "How dare they?
▶ 0:54:29They they go in there to protect and they're raping little children 10, 12 years old and for a meal these kids were being exploited by UN peacekeepers." Kofi and to his credit tried to reform it and then what did he do? He turned around um it was he had a zero tolerance policy and he repatriated people who were you know committing these crimes and then I had another hearing because we soon found out and the hearing was called zero compliance with the zero tolerance uh towards human trafficking.
▶ 0:54:58I say that as the author of the trafficking victims protection act of 2000 and four other anti-human trafficking laws. I take this seriously and the UN has to be on the side absolutely of protection. So, thank you for what you're doing there as well. On Nigeria, Mike, Secretary Waltz, thank you for your leadership on Nigeria. You are the one of the few people I know who is deployed there to try to help protect those who are being slaughtered, including the Christians. Yes, Muslims get killed, too.
▶ 0:55:27Uh, if they speak out, Christians get targeted because of the infidels. And the radical Islamic belief is you deserve to die. And whether it be Boka Haram, ISIS West Africa or the fani, uh we need to do more and you have taken the lead on that. And I and you might want to speak to that if you would because I think Nigeria is one of those cases where if the government gets serious, and I mean really serious, they can come off the CPC designation but do so by meriting it. I yield.
▶ 0:55:56Well, uh, thank you, Representative Smith, and thank you for your long history of taking these issues on and actually getting out there on the ground to see them, uh, firsthand rather than opining from DC. And, and I will say, I have to give credit where credit's due. Secretary Gutish has taken on the issue in a meaningful way of not just peacekeepers, but it's often local vendors being paid by the UN who are conducting this type of abuse on uh, Nigeria.
▶ 0:56:23Yes, we are taking the persecution of Christians very seriously. Um, I have to say I did not have Nicki Minaj on my dance card, but to have her with her global following at the UN to put a spotlight on this issue was a real honor. And I think it's one of the things uh the UN can do well in terms of having that global platform and having the entire world right there in New York.
▶ 0:56:47And we've seen uh the Nigerian government move as a response to the president's attention, our attention, her attention, and others on the issue. They're cooperating with us more than they were on counterterrorism. They're cooperating in terms of their security force capacity. They still have some work to do, frankly, in terms of the Sharia law that is in place in many of these local provinces.
▶ 0:57:08And make no mistake, churches are being burned, pastors are being executed, uh people are being arrested literally for just wearing a cross around their neck. Uh and the Christian religion is the most persecuted religion in the world right now. And this administration and I as its representative at the UN are taking it incredibly seriously in every action that we can.
▶ 0:57:32I do thank you so much for that. you know, on anti-semitism. I'm almost out of time, but um the UN has been accused credibly in many of its agencies of being profoundly anti-semitic, including UNRA um which is a child soldier factory where you teach a kid uh a Palestinian youth from his earliest days to hate Jews and to hate America. And I've read their documents. I've had hearings on the textbooks. So, I'm out of time. So, u thank you for the work that you're doing in that room as well.
▶ 0:58:02Representative Keading,
▶ 0:58:03Mr. Mr. Chairman, may I just a quick quick response to on the work we're doing on combating anti-semitism? May I very briefly uh Representative Smith, thank you for the point. Uh the UN's really at a crossroads since the day we landed, but really even before that, the president came into office with a focus on this and his leadership and vision, the secretary and and everyone we work with at state has been focused on this issue. Uh the UN's at a crossroads. It does a lot of good work in the field in the humanitarian space, really important work.
▶ 0:58:32And at the same time, it employs a lunatic like Franchesca Albanz, an absolute lunatic, a a violent anti-American, anti- capitalist, anti-West, anti-Jude Christian, anti-Jew, anti-Israel bigot. She puts on that UN uniform and she it's such a disservice to the brave humanitarians who are out in the field risking their lives for total strangers. And it does such a disservice to the brand of the UN.
▶ 0:58:57It is the greatest self-sabotage as a businessman I've ever seen in my business career that the UN allows its brand to be soiled and spoiled by this bigot. And the UN has a decision to make with a new secretary general coming in. Are they going to continue to tolerate this bigotry, this hatred of America and the West and Jews and Israel? Or are they going to move in a new direction? And we are watching, not only watching very closely, we have a great team that works on it every day. And we are, rest assured, sir, we are going to hold them accountable.
▶ 0:59:24Representative Katy. Ambassador Waltz, uh, in your opening statement, you took great pride in pointing out, uh, the hundreds of countries that sided with the US, uh, on given resolutions. And I just want to note uh a point of shame to the brought to this country when the US sided with a three countries Russia, Bellarus and North Korea and refusing to condemn Russia's actions uh illegal actions, illegal aggression against Ukraine
▶ 0:59:55and denied supporting their territorial integrity. Prior to uh being in Congress, uh I was a district attorney. I had my own sexual assault unit, uh my own sexual assault investigatory unit, prosecutorial unit. I started a a child advocacy to treat children that were victims of sexual assault. And I worked with regional and federal-based task force dealing with human trafficking, particularly trafficking of children.
▶ 1:00:26And in Congress, I had the opportunity to travel and to uh hold a hearing uh with Ukrainian, mostly uh women on the ground risking their lives in a hot war zone uh trying to bring rescue, recovery, and treatment to children that were sexually assaulted by Russian soldiers. The stories they told me were horrific.
▶ 1:00:50Serial rapes occurring to young children with Russian soldiers starting in the morning, continuing through the day and all night with their parents and grandparents being forced to witness this terrible, terrible examples of sexual assault uh time and time again and war crimes with Ukraine. Now I want to ask you given all that and given my experience knowing that we're going to combat this.
▶ 1:01:18We have to do this uh on uh an international basis and a regional basis to be successful the way I was with those task force. Uh why did the US withdraw from the UN on key offices? the offices for children in armed conflict, the office of sexual violence in conflict, the office of violence against children.
▶ 1:01:42Why would the US ever withdraw given what I just laid out, given what Russia's doing, but given what's happening all over the world? Why would they ever withdraw for Congressman, I would not conflate the our evaluation of the effectiveness of a particular office of an organization versus caring about the issue. I just last week hosted with Tim Tibo and the TBO foundation.
▶ 1:02:09To your point, sir, I know your
▶ 1:02:12You answered that. Now I'm taking your answer that you gave me and I'm asking you another question.
▶ 1:02:18And I wasted time doing it. Don't filibuster me. Listen,
▶ 1:02:21it's 10 seconds. You just said you just said you were talking about having agencies that you didn't have control over that were ineffective. Okay, let's talk about one that the Trump administration does have control over that does have the ability to shape and that's the State Department. If that's the case, why did the Trump administration when it has control with the State Department, why did they fire 70% of the department's trafficking in person's office?
▶ 1:02:50uh and that office as you know uh closes legal gaps and deals with online exploitation sexual exploitation of children. The office develops protection and partnerships with foreign countries with the goal of strengthening that capacity preventing and effectively prosecuting and convicting child traffickers. So, all right. You don't want you just want to dismiss the meager probably monies that it takes to
▶ 1:03:20President Trump just signed this year an executive order getting after in a very serious way sexual exploitation of children. I just hosted a major event at the UN around the sexual exploitation of children with INL with the international law enforcement with the UN Office of Drug Control. You're subjectively to Foundation. What is it? I'm giving you an answer. The president takes this very seriously.
▶ 1:03:46You just don't like the answer because it cuts into your I wonder how you would have reacted when you were on the other side.
▶ 1:03:51One headong interior would allow the witness to answer this question has very seriously the first lady of the Ukrainian children from Russian camps. The first lady herself is going after this executive order and we know how they're working out.
▶ 1:04:07the executive order dealing with it has courts of law as you are your administration is sitting there withdrawing from having a place at the table on these critical issues and you're sitting there putting I just gave you three examples of how we're taking the being the most important thing and you're hurting around the world withdrawing from this they shouldn't be cutting personnel from
▶ 1:04:32I yield back
▶ 1:04:34Mr. kidding. Would you like an extra 5 seconds where he was answering you
▶ 1:04:39Sir, I was answering the in part question that was there. He kept trying to filibuster. Let's not have this hearing about filibustering. What goes around comes around.
▶ 1:04:48Just wanted to make sure you didn't want an extra 5 seconds when he tried to answer. Uh, Representative Wilson,
▶ 1:04:54thank you very much. Chairman Brian Mast and indeed thank both of you for being here today and I particularly appreciate Secretary Walls your last your lifelong achievements uh as a graduate of Virginia Military Institute uh and uh for the people of the United States military service public service. Thank you. Uh and Mr. Vartos, we appreciate UVA Law School, too. Uh with that in mind, I want to congratulate you on your success implementing a streamlined US mission to the United Nations.
▶ 1:05:22For far too long, America has helped foot the bill for programs that are undermining American national security. Your success has amplified the reform so appreciated by former UN ambassador Nikki Haley. Friends of freedom and democracy are to be recognized in totalitarian dictatorships promoting to terrorism are exposed by you and former ambassador Haley.
▶ 1:05:46Additionally, uh I'm really concerned uh that uh to assist you, I've addressed a letter to you and Secretary Rubio uh requesting a review of certain UN officials who are promoting extremist and anti-semitic ideologies. These bureaucrats have called for the arrest of President Donald Trump and Secretary Heget. They have called for minimize they have minimized Hamas atrocities dismissing murderous rapes that claiming they didn't occur.
▶ 1:06:17Additionally, they have questioned democracy while visiting Thrron in praising Aana Cuba. With that in mind, I'd like to uh submit uh the letter for the record.
▶ 1:06:27Without objection.
▶ 1:06:28Additionally, uh Mr. Ambassador, under your leadership, I appreciate your efforts to address diversion of critical aid to prevent food and other critical aid to provide that it go to those intended instead of being diverted to dictatorships. What's the status of reforms to pro protect programs that really are legitimate? Ambassador Waltz or both?
▶ 1:06:55Well, I'll just tell you from a from a broader sense that we have uh worked at the aid diversion program by pooling uh our funding by downsizing the number of agencies uh that receive some of the funding. Again, that doesn't mean we don't care about the issue. It means we're trying to make it much more effective. I can tell you representative how many times across Africa and the Middle East that I pulled up to a ministry in a small country.
▶ 1:07:22It has maybe six people in it and there's 18 UN cars outside from 18 different agencies. All well-meaning but highly highly uh inefficient. So we've pulled that funding. We've forced a number of these agencies to use shared warehousing, aviation fleets, vehicle fleets, shipping uh mechanisms so that more cents on the dollar actually gets to people in need. And they now have uh the UN organization called OCHA now has data up on a dashboard publicly available. We are auditing that data.
▶ 1:07:52We are uh providing that kind of oversight, but the entire world can see now where that money is going. And that level of transparency was not there just a year ago. and and indeed to get the aid to the people rather than divert it to dictatorships to maintain their power. With that in mind too, President Trump has acted courageously to destroy the Iranian nuclear capability.
▶ 1:08:14It was envoy Steve Woff who identified that uh Iran was bragging that they could provide 11 bombs uh with the capabilities they had. Uh and it should be uh reminded to the American people simultaneously they're chanting death to Israel, death to America. And so it's not a hypothetical of what they might be doing. With that in mind, Mr. and Ambassador Walls, you've said our relationship with the Gulf allies has never been stronger, which I agree with.
▶ 1:08:42Additionally, they've all thanked uh the United States and President Trump for acting before Iran could destroy the region with nuclear weapons. With that in mind, uh the only country that has not adjacent to uh Iran that has been helpful is the Republic of Georgia. Uh the rigged elections in Georgia uh by the Georgian Dream Party has resulted in a a political party which is anti-American, pro-Iranian.
▶ 1:09:10Uh what's being done to strengthen our allies and then uh try to reform uh Well, I would just add uh importantly to the countries that don't necessarily neighbor Iran, but that have been incredibly helpful. Uh Jordan uh as well um which as you know was just struck uh and has been struck repeatedly, not just uh as a result of this conflict was struck and where he lost servicemen uh and women under the last administration as well.
▶ 1:09:39I'll have to take that for the for uh the record, Representative Wilson. in terms of our specific actions in Georgia, there's not a large UN presence uh there and I don't know if Ambassador Bartos you wanted to comment.
▶ 1:09:50Representative Wilson, I just want to say thank you for your leadership on the issue of the special raptor tours. I made reference to one lunatic uh Fran Franchesca Albanz. Unfortunately, she's first among equals amongst the crazies, but she's not the only crazy and your letter is really important. And just to give a couple quick example, uh there's a special raptor on unilateral coercive measures that we happen to know has received over $1 million in foreign funding from countries like China and Russ rest assured, sir, uh that our administration is taking action and that every option, sir, is on the table.
▶ 1:10:20Well, we have faith in both of you. Thank you for your service.
▶ 1:10:23Representative Barah, thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, you know, when the UN was founded in 1945, the core mission was maintain international peace and security, protect human rights, deliver humanitarian aid, promote sustainable development, and uphold international law. Um, what we accomplished as the United States of America, creating an architecture of relative peace, stability, prosperity, and I think the UN was a component of of that.
▶ 1:10:50Um I'm not one here who is going to deny that the UN doesn't need to be modernized. you know the um the P5 was a reflection of the world what the world looked like in 1945 in the post world war multiple proposals um to either expand the permanent membership include the G4 you know bringing in Brazil Germany India Japan if we were designing a United Nations that was reflective of today's world we would design
▶ 1:11:20it very differently the politics of the UN are worse than congressional politics obviously if you have to get to consensus and it becomes difficult, but it's what we have and we've got to reform it to be a reflection of the 21st century world if we want our kids and grandkids to have the same peace, stability, and prosperity that I think we've benefited from. Um, you know, an example of where I think the UN is breaking down is, you know, I'll look at the South China Sea.
▶ 1:11:50you know, in 2016, um, you know, a a tribunal under UNCCLASS rules essentially, um, delivered a unanimous legally binding decision in the case brought by the Philippines against, um, China's N-S line and they said there's no legal basis for what China is claiming here. Um, and they are encroaching on the Philippines EEES. Obviously, that's been ignored. It's not been enforced and so forth. Um, and it does create a real flash point that I worry about.
▶ 1:12:21Um, I'd like you guys to give us an update internally. The UN's looking at UN80 reforms if that's working. And then also strategically, I do want to modernize the UN. I do want to make it a effective organization that's reflective of its original core mission um, and reflective of the 21st century um, world. what would need to happen for us to make those reforms take place to change the P5 membership?
▶ 1:12:50Well, thank you. Just I'll give a a very broad answer and we have our ambassador here who has the unenviable mission of actually leading uh that reform. Um there there's a number of reforms underway uh under this secretary general. One of the questions we're asking the candidates of the next secretary general is what would they keep, what would they discard, and what do they uh what do they propose themselves? But for example, set aside the the the debate on climate.
▶ 1:13:17I don't think we need seven agencies that list as its primary with its own headquarters, own executive bodies, right, that are that are focused on that issue. Let's get it down to one, do less uh better. We have four and these are the secretary general's proposals, not
▶ 1:13:32I do worry about the P5 um not reflecting today's world. And so there I I'll just tell you very candidly uh representative Barah there is very little consensus uh whether it's on Russia, China, UK, France on the P5 there has been proposals to have more elected members there has been more there have been proposals to give some make them permanent but not have a veto.
▶ 1:13:57Uh it's really kind of all over the map in terms of security council reform and the secretary general is part of UN80 that's not part of it. Um, so there's just a lot of discussion and not a lot of consensus.
▶ 1:14:07And if we were to try to put some muscle into it, lean in, what's the best because again, I I think the UN's going to be very hard to reform in its current structure with the permanent membership of the
▶ 1:14:19I think we could make the mo personally the most gains by what happens in the general assembly. Um, where you just have literally 80 years of accumulated mandates that then the UN bureaucracy has to try to fulfill. There's no end date. There's no cost associated. There's no deconliction. And we actually just worked with New Zealand who led this reform effort to try to put some brackets and some gu some some guidelines around what happens in the general assembly.
▶ 1:14:47That also drives cost uh uh onto the UN secretariat that they that they struggle to to fulfill and it's one of the reasons they've done nothing but grow for 80 years.
▶ 1:14:57I don't if you want
▶ 1:14:57congressman if I just may jump in the an example of US leadership working with the secretariat. The secretary general uh has for 10 years tried to reform the credit system at the UN and it's crazy. Basically, the system was whatever the assessments were, what was unspent, there would be a refund based on the assessments, not based on what people contributed. And the UN regardless of who was paying what, the UN was on a pathway to insolveny regardless of anything else because these credits were just growing.
▶ 1:15:25We took the mantle of leadership working with lots of other countries at the most recent second resume session of the fifth committee and after decade of the secretary general lead you know pushing on this issue. We ultimately with US leadership reform the credit system. It's for a four-year trial period. We all want to see how it works out. But that's the type of thing to Ambassador Waltz's point. This is happening in the GA and I'll say proudly in the fifth committee which is completely consensus driven. It's the most professionally challenging thing I've ever worked on in my life.
▶ 1:15:54It's actually crazy when you say 193 countries have to agree, but somehow it works. Uh, three different bites at the budget. We'll have Sarah when we come back and see you next, we'll see how the regular budget goes this fall and then into the next secretary general. But those types of reforms, that type of working together to common sense, but sometimes it takes a lot of times it takes a lot of leadership just to get there and we're providing that leadership. But thank you for the
▶ 1:16:19Representative Perry.
▶ 1:16:20Thanks, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Ambassadors, for being here. I'm going to start with Ambassador Barto since colleague on the other side of the aisle essentially accused the United States and this administration of not caring about children. So I just want to highlight the the case of or the fact that 747 there are 747 open cases including minors among the victims of sex used as currency for food and shelter by the organization itself.
▶ 1:16:48And just Ambassador Bartoes, if you want to take a moment to briefly address America's views on that
▶ 1:16:56First of all, General, it's great to see you, fellow Pennian. So, great to see you. Um, and thank you for the question. I would say I've had a lot of proud moments in in my 10 months at Post. Uh perhaps one of the most proud moments was was watching our chief of mission last week sitting up with uh with Tim Tibo with representatives from thei United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, our own colleagues at the State Department and the INL Bureau leading a panel discussion on real efforts to to combat transnational sex trafficking
▶ 1:17:26of children. Now the statistics, the work that's being done, the Tibo Foundation, Tim and his wife, remarkable people. uh they devoted their now postprofessional football lives to this issue and to sit there and listen to the devotion they have to fighting this issue to Ambassador Waltz for convening all of us was one of the most proud moments I've had at post uh and any assertion that the Trump administration that the State Department or at US UN we're not laser focused on combating this
▶ 1:17:57issue not only in the UN but there's a lot of and and Ambassador Waltz could go into greater detail a lot of just shockingly ly make you nauseous. Statistics about what's happening the flow of of miners from Africa to Europe. Um is I didn't know about it. Um and it redoubles and red triples our our efforts to to combat the scourge.
▶ 1:18:17Yeah. American taxpayers don't want their dollars to be spent on trafficking of children on some official capacity. Ambassador Waltz, I wanted to ask you about uh the UN's uh peace and development trust fund. The secretary general himself said that the 2019 Belt and Road Forum Barri and the 2030 agenda are inextraably linked.
▶ 1:18:40The report catalogs program between Belt and Road Initiative, UNDP, UNP, UNICEF, UNCCT, UNESCO spanning Ethiopia, Serbia, Kakhstan, and dozens of other countries. The UN didn't just stumble into this. There's a partnership by design, and it is not foreign aid.
▶ 1:18:58its debt state craft um you know from leveraging ports telecom backbones critical infrastructure for instance Sri Lanka handed over its port on a 99-year lease after it couldn't pay and it's of course it's by design the pattern repeats itself and of course the belt and road initiative countries shift their UN generally general assembly voting patterns to align more closely with Beijing after the money arrives now this is a voting block uh that's bought p and paid
▶ 1:19:29for over time with these loans and then it uh involves military basing, surveillance infrastructure, all that follows the money. Uh with that pattern in mind, what do you assess uh the risk to UN agencies uh using taxpayer dollars to pimp out developing nations to our greatest adversary?
▶ 1:19:49and and what do you think the administration is willing to demand regarding our funding uh for UN entities formally serving the the co-programming and the co-publication activities tied to the belt road
▶ 1:20:03No, thank you for the question. It's a very good question. I think it gets to the broader issue when we get asked why do we even participate in this thing at all? Like why are we even there? And you know one of my answers is unfortunately if we didn't invent it somebody else would. uh and I don't want to see UN Beijing or UN Brussels or or what have you.
▶ 1:20:23My second answer uh is there's these global standard setting bodies, these little baby UN agencies uh that many people have never heard of that set the rules of the road for our industries around the world. There's a world intellectual property organization China was running to head that. Imagine China heading global IP for how we treat our patents. We supported a pro business Singaporean that's now the head of that agency.
▶ 1:20:47the International Telecommunication Union, cables, spectrum, radio, uh things that truly matter uh to our economy. We're running now an American uh for reelection to set those rules to the road. I want pilots around the world speaking English. Air traffic controllers set train to a certain standard. So these these bodies matter. Uh we can't just walk away because then that would be 192 countries without us.
▶ 1:21:15uh we just need to get in there and fight and win. To answer your question, Representative Perry, more directly, we've demanded the UN Secretariat stop using that slush fund. And uh as part of our pulled funding model, uh we have much greater transparency and visibility on those aid dollars as they go out.
▶ 1:21:34But make no mistake, uh whether it is the EU and their version of safety standards or censorship on AI or whether it's the Chinese trying to set the rules of the road that's not in line with our interest, we have to get in there and fight and win. We have an example of that when the International Maritime Organization was within a week of putting a global carbon tax, a billion dollars a month on global shipping. It was absurd. They thought it was a done deal.
▶ 1:22:02We got in there and fought and won to the point where our representative on the ground said the EU ambassador just called us diplomatic gangsters. Um so uh we're going to get in there and fight and win for the American people and for American industry and put America first.
▶ 1:22:17Appreciate your service. Yield back. Representative Jacobsman. Um Ambassador Waltz, it's great to see you back here.
▶ 1:22:25Good to see you and appreciate you coming up to New York last question.
▶ 1:22:28Yeah, absolutely. Um I want to ask you about the war in Iran. Um, as you know, I represent San Diego, the largest military community in the country. So, this is personal for my constituents, for me, as I know it is for you. Right now, we've got about 2500 San Diego service members deployed off the coast of Iran. Thousands more have received 48 hour deployment notices. I know you served multiple combat tours in Afghanistan, so you know firsthand what these service members and their families are going through.
▶ 1:22:58And while they willingly make the sacrifices for our country, it's our job on both sides of this DAS to make sure that those sacrifices are worth it. So I I wanted to ask you a simple question. Are we better off now than we were before we launched the war in Iran?
▶ 1:23:14The world and the American people are
▶ 1:23:17Okay, let me get let's get into some more specifics. Before the war, the Straight of Hormuz was open. Now the straight of Hormuz is closed. Are Americans better off when the straight of Hormuz is open or when the straight of Hormuz is closed?
▶ 1:23:33The American economy is largely unaffected uh by the Straits of Hormuz. Uh we fortunately I find it a little bit rich to hear this kind of clamoring for oil and gas when frankly your side of the aisle has been at war against the American fossil fuel industry for quite some time. In fact, we had an LG export ban uh just under the last administration. But fortunately, because of drill baby drill, because of fracking, uh we are largely self-sufficient in the energy space.
▶ 1:24:02Well, uh my constituents who are paying on average thousands of dollars more a month in costs because of this war would beg to differ that our economy is not impacted by the straight of hormones being closed.
▶ 1:24:15But California imports much of its oil and gas, unfortunately, because of its own regulations.
▶ 1:24:19Yeah. I want to talk about the national average of gas. Actually, um the national average of gas before the war started was $3 a gallon. It is now once again over $4 a gallon. Um you said actually um in saying that the war was getting better on June 21st on Face the Nation that it is now below $4 and falling to show that we're making progress, but it's back up at $4 a gallon now.
▶ 1:24:48So, are Americans better off when they're paying $3 a gallon nationally for gas or $4 a gallon nationally for gas?
▶ 1:24:54I think Americans are better off than not paying the highs of over $5 under the last administration because of this administration policy during the uh Ukraine war. It's been over $4 for more than 3 months just this year. Um, let's turn to the
▶ 1:25:09and also Americans are better off with Iran not having a nuclear weapon and the rest of the region exploding in a nuclear arms race. Saudi Arabia has said they will get a nuclear weapon if Iran tests theirs.
▶ 1:25:19I wanted to ask about the nuclear threat actually. So, so thank you.
▶ 1:25:22Before the war began, Iran had 440 kg of near weapons grade uranium. We can all that. Yes.
▶ 1:25:31Enough. According to nuclear experts for up to 10 bombs. The president says Iran's nuclear program has been completely obliterated. But ambassador, you testified today that every single kilogram of that enriched uranium is still in Iran. And we know that because the president is currently negotiating what to do with it. And you don't negotiate the disposal of uranium you've destroyed. So the uranium is still there.
▶ 1:25:55But we currently have no to see the uranium or know anything about it. So, are Americans better off when we knew where the uranium was and had inspectors or are they better off now where when we don't?
▶ 1:26:10Well, I think the premise of your question um respectfully is flawed. Uh Iran had kicked out the inspectors was not allowing it to those sites developing its program. Um, and so when the president says he obliterated the program, uh, he was talking about its enrichment capability, that was a year ago, and they are working to reconstitute, uh, that capability.
▶ 1:26:32Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent to enter into the record an article from Bloomberg, Iran atomic risk seen higher than before Trump attacks began.
▶ 1:26:41Without objection.
▶ 1:26:42Thank you. Um, Mr. Ambassador, we are obviously not better off. This administration has just asked Congress for 87 billion more dollars to pay for this war. We've lost at least 18 American service members with at least 427 wounded. Before the war, the strait was open. Now it's closed. Before the war, the national average of gas was under $3 a gallon. Now it's four. The nuclear risk from Iran is higher now than it was before.
▶ 1:27:08And Americans have already paid $ 37.5 billion for this war, according to Secretary Hex's testimony yesterday. Last year, you personally added a reporter to the signal chain where this administration was texting about war plans. And at the time, many of us were concerned that your administration's incompetence would get people killed. Well, now we've lost at least 18 US service members because of your administration's incompetence. And you should all be ashamed. It's very clear that Americans are not better off. Potentially, the only people better off are the Ayatollah and his cronies. Mr.
▶ 1:27:38Chairman, I yield back.
▶ 1:27:39Representative Burchin.
▶ 1:27:40Thank you, Mr. Chairman. May I respond to May I respond to that? Uh we have a lot of talk of filibuster here and there quite the filibuster. Uh it [laughter] in in response uh Lebanon is in a better place and in peace negotiations. The Assad regime is gone. Assad the Syria is on the best path we've had in my lifetime. Iraq is now visiting the United States and in the best path in in my lifetime.
▶ 1:28:08the uh Iran is absolutely trying to hold the world's economy hostage in violation of international law. And thankfully the president, we finally have a president that is doing something about Iran killing Americans for 40 years. This did not start this year, last year. It started in 1979. Point of
▶ 1:28:30Mr. Ambassador and Mr. Burch,
▶ 1:28:34I can concede that that some things are better off, but none of them are because we bombed Iran
▶ 1:28:40at the behest [clears throat] of BB
▶ 1:28:43Mr. Burchie, you're recognized.
▶ 1:28:45Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Ambassador, you graduated from BMI. You're special forces. You're decorated. You love your mama. You got some beautiful babies. We got show ponies up here and we got workh horses, brother. You are a workhorse. And I'm proud to know you and I consider you a friend. and um we came to Congress together. So I I really appreciate you and your incredible service to our great nation. So the Burchett household, you're a pretty big deal.
▶ 1:29:14Um and now I'm not going to go for the juggler. I'm said all those nice things. I'm going to come after you. I just want to ask you some simple questions. What does the United Nations provide that America could not achieve uh through direct diplomacy or alliances or other international organizations? Uh two things just to answer you very uh well three to answer you very directly.
▶ 1:29:38We need one place in the world especially with a president who puts peace and diplomacy first backed by military strength but puts diplomacy first. I want one place in the world where everyone can come and talk. We don't always agree but I can tell you as a soldier, as a veteran, uh if we're using words and not bullets, that's a good thing. I don't want to see UN Beijing, UN Brussels or UN anywhere else. I want it right here in the United States of America. The second thing, burden sharing is a key part of an America first foreign policy.
▶ 1:30:08I don't want to see US troops in places like Gaza or Haiti. We now have UN troops there. But in order for all their flaws, but better than American troops in my book. Uh and in order for them to do that, they need a stamp of international law, which by treaty is agreed upon by the UN. And then finally, I talked about the standard setting. uh we have to get in there and fight and win for our industries. We have these global regulatory bodies that set the rules of the road for everything that crosses a border.
▶ 1:30:36Uh and it's been astounding to me how absent we've been in those fights. Uh but no more. We're in there fighting and winning for the American
▶ 1:30:44I'm sure the Latin folks had a saying for it, but East Tennessee, they say either at the table or on the menu. So I suspect you're a you're an at the table kind of guy. I'm still not a fan of the UN. Um, but they consistently they've been promoting these crazy liberal policies like abortion and gender identity. How do those things uh align with promoting global peace and Uh, they don't. That's why we regularly vote against them.
▶ 1:31:12Case in point, we just had a commission on the status of women. Uh, and 11,000 delegates showed up. Uh and rather than dealing with countries who still have rape laws where you have to have multiple witnesses for a woman uh to bring a case instead of dealing with countries that have abusive and ridiculous domestic violence laws instead of dealing with countries that have genital mutilation laws still on the books or those types of things.
▶ 1:31:39Instead they they're you know going on about this you know gender and other kinds of nonsense. It's not only a waste of time and money. It's a huge missed opportunity for women who are struggling uh under these types of oppressive circumstances around the world. And as a veteran of Afghanistan, I've seen the worst of the worst.
▶ 1:31:58Why do we continue providing funding to the United Nations peacekeeping initiatives when they're almost always a colossal failure?
▶ 1:32:07Well, I'll I'll hand the mic over to our reform ambassador, but I'll tell you we're trying two different things, at least in our time under President Trump's leadership. The gang suppression force has an offensive mandate unlike everything that's been tried before. So they can go after the likes of Barbecue and ESO and others that are recruiting child soldiers and terrorizing uh the Haitian people.
▶ 1:32:29We now have the International Stability Force under the Board of Peace with a heavy American hand on that rather than surrendering that force over to the UR UN bureaucracy. And I'll I'll defer to Ambassador Bartos for additional
▶ 1:32:41Thank you, Congressman. very briefly the what we've managed to achieve. We just finished the peacekeeping negotiations for the budget for the 2627 year and through Ambassador Letta our colleague and her great team in the political section. They negotiated a major streamlining of the mission in South Sudan which led to almost $90 million reduction in that budget on a going forward basis. We've sunset with Ambassador Waltz's leadership uh and the secretary's leadership.
▶ 1:33:06we've sunset uh UNIFIL and so on December 31st of 2026 UNIFIL will sunset and then it will be wound down uh in the first part of 2027. So we are taking a real hard look at every single budget at the level of sir the granularity of what we're looking at. We're even looking now going forward at the calories per day per troop to try to get the UN's metrics to align with US Army and and Navy Air Force Marines metrics.
▶ 1:33:32That simple change, that simple change will save, we estimate almost $40 million a year just getting it in line with US standards. So, we're taking a look at every single part of peacekeeping. Um, the last thing I'll say is there is a mission in the Central African Republic that I visited earlier this year that is on the pathway to stabilizing that country and they had successful elections. So, keep an eye on that one. But you're right, sir. Too often failure.
▶ 1:33:57Thank you, sir. You're credit. Both of y'all are credit to what you do and that still scares the hell out of me when I see those blue helmets show up in in news reels. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield back. Representative Titus.
▶ 1:34:10Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh, you know, I am astounded that at a time when our soldiers are dying in the field and our bases are being bombed throughout the region as we fight a a war of choice that you have called the president a peace president. I I I can't even believe that. I apparently the Nobel committee didn't agree with that assessment either.
▶ 1:34:39But anyway, uh that gives us some idea of where you're coming from. Apparently, I I I want to ask you just about the cuts and how they're affecting our relations with our allies. Now, some of our partners and allies agree that they need reforms at the UN for operational efficiencies, but they don't support this kind of dozelike approach to just blanket cuts and withholding of funds to the regular budget or the peacekeeping budgets.
▶ 1:35:10In fact, they've communicated this to the administration and said that the impact of these cuts are undermining it is undermining their own contributions to the UN. And it's it's struggling now, as we've heard, just to keep the lights on. And in doing that, the US is isolating itself from our once like-minded allies and partners. We've taken extreme positions on several uh issues recently. I just name a couple of them.
▶ 1:35:39On February the 24th, 2025, which was the third anniversary of Russia's invasion, the US voted against a Ukraine sponsored General Assembly resolution just said advancing a comprehensive, just, and lasting peace in Ukraine. It reaffirmed Ukraine's territorial integrity and called for Russian withdrawal. We we didn't we voted against that. We broke with Ukraine and our NATO allies.
▶ 1:36:08That's incorrect, representative. Your staff has given you bad information. We abstained from that resolution.
▶ 1:36:14Well, I'll I'll double check that, but the people we were in line with there were Russia, North Korea, and Bellarus. I don't think that's incorrect. Uh, how about this one? March 2026, the US was one of just three nations to vote against a resolution that uh was against the transatlantic slave trade saying that uh slavery did not violate contemporary international law. Is that
▶ 1:36:45We a key provision of an international slavery reparations fund. I would not put a single dollar of your taxpayer money uh from your constituents into that fund. Uh well, this didn't create a fund. It was just a
▶ 1:37:00it it proposes international an international reparations fund and even for uh African-Ameans um who are fighting for reparations. Should it pay for the entire world? How far does slavery go back? Who has participated in slavery? It was a wide open money grab on behalf of a number of these countries.
▶ 1:37:21Taking my time back.
▶ 1:37:23All right. How about this one? You vote. We voted against 38 resolutions in the general assembly human rights committee along in 2025 that included and we've heard some reference to this uh combating exploitation and discrimination against children a resolution on children's access to nutritious food. A second world summit for social development that we oppose 180 to3 with just Argentina and Israel on our side.
▶ 1:37:53Do you consider that us working with our allies? And tell me, since you're so strong on some of these issues and feel so uh determined that they are a good idea, how how is this helpful? How is this incompetent and extremist foreign policy that you support, you carry out, you're championing, isn't that driving a wedge between us and our allies? And doesn't that fracture the foundations of US diplomatic partnerships?
▶ 1:38:21And is that a good thing for our national security?
▶ 1:38:25Uh, Congresswoman, just on the point about the general assembly and the resolutions you're referencing, it costs per hour to run the GA. They run the same resolutions year in year out. They're performative, almost all of them. And it is a colossal waste of the time and resources of the UN. This the security council cost $15,000 per hour. That is how these things cost. We are looking at all that and pushing the UN to get back to basics.
▶ 1:38:51So it is actually promoting international peace and security and all of its core missions and not doing this performative in your app that ambassador. Thank you. I'll take my time back. I I appreciate your assessment. I as I understand it, you had no prior government service, no diplomatic experience, and nothing really to recommend you to serve in this role because you're a real estate lawyer. So I thank you for that
▶ 1:39:17Well, in fairness, Congresswoman, the US, I have led the efforts of the United States to build consensus on all of these budget resolutions, which is helping the UN. I led the efforts, my team and I led the efforts to help the UN save itself,
▶ 1:39:29save itself from itself on the credit system. So you can say that all you
▶ 1:39:34The witness is responding. Whose time is he? Whose time is he using? The gentle lady yielded back.
▶ 1:39:39I provided the leadership.
▶ 1:39:40Whose time is he using?
▶ 1:39:41He's responding to a question. If again it seems like you don't want questions
▶ 1:39:45I just want a part of order that the gentle lady have yield back her time and so I want to know whose time he's now
▶ 1:39:51Clock was still going as you saw the time didn't see the time.
▶ 1:39:54The time does not belong to the witnesses. The time belongs to members of Congress. If I
▶ 1:39:57clock was still going and uh again the general lady yielded back her time.
▶ 1:40:04You made it abundantly clear you don't want answers.
▶ 1:40:06But when the general lady yielded back her time I just wanted my question was whose time was being utilized? Thank you. One time when you were the chairman, you took my time away because you didn't like my questioning.
▶ 1:40:15That is
▶ 1:40:17other chairman ranking member. Yeah.
▶ 1:40:20Representative Kim, you are recognized. I always gave you focus on today,
▶ 1:40:25Representative Kim, you are recognized.
▶ 1:40:27Thank you, Chairman. Thank you. And ambassadors um Walls and Balters, I want to thank you for joining us today and testifying, answering questions. I do want to start by commending uh the administration and your efforts to deliver more than1 billion dollars in UN budget savings in just six months recently. I call that real progress on behalf of the American taxpayers. That demonstrates what strong principal leadership can achieve at the UN.
▶ 1:40:56So with that, I want to ask Ambassador Bartos, can you walk us through the strategy that you used to build that coalition and support from other member states for those savings? And what was the most effective ways that you were able to overcome opposition? Was it targeted engagement? Was it burden sharing arguments? Or something else? I want to hear from you how you did it.
▶ 1:41:21Um, thank you for the question. It it turns out that applying common sense business principles to an organization that is failing in its fundamental purposes and is hurtling every year closer and closer to insolveny through its own ineffectiveness. Not through who pays or doesn't pay, but it's its own failure to meet its mission. Applying common sense business principles and good oldfashioned roll up your sleeves. Go meet with other representatives. Go meet with other ambassadors. Go meet with the experts who do this work in day out.
▶ 1:41:50Look, I'm blessed to have an outstanding team of professionals who worked spent their whole careers on UN reform. But what wasn't there before we got to post was the leadership, the Trump administration has brought the leadership that so many reform advocates have been yearning for for their entire careers. And I hear this from across the UN.
▶ 1:42:08the president's vision and leadership, the secretary's support vision and leadership, Ambassador Waltz's charge to make it happen, get this organization back to basics, make it hit and then exceed its fundamental purpose has been our driving mission since day one. And it is good old-fashioned work with everybody, build consensus, build relationships, honor your word, do what you say you're going to do. And so it turns out it's actually not that hard to reform an organization,
▶ 1:42:33bringing that common sense to UN. And we need more of those here on the hill as well, if I may say. So, it's no secret that US adversaries like Iran, Russia, and China, they seek to advance their interest through the UN. And we saw how Iran's terrorist proxy Hamas infiltrated ENRA.
▶ 1:42:53This is a fatally flawed Investigations uncover that over a hundred ENRA staffers participated in the October 7 massacre and Hamas terrorists were disguised as ENRA school principles and teachers.
▶ 1:43:08Ambassador can you talk to us what steps you are pursuing within the UN system to permanently dismantle ENRA and ensure that humanitarian assistance to Palestinians across the Middle East is delivered through alternative mechanisms that are not tied to refugee status?
▶ 1:43:29Well, thank thank you for the question. As you know, Secretary Rubio has labeled ENRA a virtual arm of Hamas. The USAID uh inspector general uh has identified over a hundred uh employees that actively participated in the October 7th uh massacre. We have ended uh US funding to UNRA as effective uh last year.
▶ 1:43:54We've also, just as an aside, in the broader fight against anti-semitism, withdrawn from the so-called human rights council that has the likes of Franchesca Albani, who is now under sanction, and UNESCO, which I will remind everyone, the Obama administration also withheld uh funding from. In terms of additional actions, I want to make it clear that we're focused on UNRA Gaza.
▶ 1:44:16ENRA also has activities in Jordan that the um that our Jordanian partners and allies find incredibly useful uh activities in Syria and Lebanon. But we are focused on UNRA. About 70% of what they do is education. Sadly, it is shown again and again to be radicalizing the next generation of Palestinians. Talking about eliminating the state of Israel completely. There's no two-state solution coming out of Hamas and coming out of these schools.
▶ 1:44:46They're talking one state, which is eliminating Israel. We're looking, the bottom line is we are looking to transfer that function to the newly established uh national committee for the administration of Gaza, which was established under the border of peace by UN resolution. Uh we've got a lot of help from Morocco, a lot of help from UAE on the curriculum, and then the other pieces, the humanitarian pieces need to be handled by other organizations that have not been compromised and radicalized.
▶ 1:45:12I want to quickly touch on your role and your leadership because uh in regards to dealing with China because they are significantly expanding its uh pressure there both uh financial contributions and in uh institutional influence at the UN. So can you talk to us about the how administration is working with like-minded countries uh to expand Taiwan's meaningful participation in the international organizations?
▶ 1:45:36Well, we have uh repeatedly pushed back on um the PRC's interpretation of its role and Taiwan's role uh at the UN. So, part of that is just constantly level setting of what the UN resolution that established the seat for China actually did. Uh and we are I know we're out of time, but we are fighting for Taiwan's meaningful participation in UN bodies across the board as a matter of US
▶ 1:46:04Representative L.
▶ 1:46:04Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you for the witnesses for being here today. My questions will be for Ambassador Waltz. American service members are in the Middle East risking their lives in the war with Iran. How many US troops have been wounded in the Iran war?
▶ 1:46:29My understanding from the defense department's latest numbers is uh over a hundred but about 70% or 90% of those have immediately returned to duty. that number is wrong. According to defense casualty analysis system, 482 American troops have been wounded. Now, it's not surprising to me that you did not know the answer to that.
▶ 1:46:55The reason you are here today and in your position is because you were fired by the president from your former position as national security adviser. You disclose you disclosed classified information that harmed American pilots and put them at risk
▶ 1:47:12about me. That's your spin, I guess, for your next campaign commercial. I don't
▶ 1:47:17How many American troops have been killed in the Iran war in these ongoing operations? 18. Okay. Now, President Trump has repeatedly stated that Iran's military was obliterated. On March 16th, President Trump stated that Iran's military was quote, "literally obliterated," end quote.
▶ 1:47:40How is it possible that 482 American Jews have been wounded and 18 service members by a Iranian military that's been purportedly obliterated. The Iranian Navy, Air Force, air defense system, and industrial capacity have been massively damaged, if not completely ineffective. But this is a state that is trying to reconstitute.
▶ 1:48:09This is a state, a regime that is obsessed with a nuclear weapon. And it's a regime that still maintains some missile and drone capability that it's firing on all of its neighbors, including our bases. I think that's a pretty common sense evaluation, but if I need to explain it to you further, I can.
▶ 1:48:28[snorts] You need to explain to American people how an Iranian military that's been purportedly killed 18 US service members and wounded 48 of those service. Let me finish let me let me finish my question and has struck multiple US facilities in the Middle East repeatedly. So, I'm going to show you a video from Jordan, and this is an Iranian strike.
▶ 1:48:56And if uh we could play the video, that would be great. Thank you.
▶ 1:49:16I would hope uh the Republican controlled foreign affairs committee would know how to use audio next time, but we did see the video and it showed multiple missiles hitting this base in Jordan. Let me tell you uh what happened. It was disclosed later that two US troops died in that strike from a purportedly obliterated Iranian military. And this is what Donald Trump said.
▶ 1:49:43He said that the Iranians quote did slip something through in Jordan and if we had other operators it would not have happened. He then went on to say when you let other people do your job with the United States we let other people do your job and sometimes it doesn't work out so well. So let me ask you this question. Do we still have American troops stationed in Jordan right now? doesn't uh surprise me that you're referring to Al Jazer um in terms in terms of your video.
▶ 1:50:13Uh I'm here as the UN ambassador, but I'm happy to refer you to Pete Hegsath, Secretary Hegsath's testimony yesterday.
▶ 1:50:22Of course, in your opening statement, you bragged about doing a security council resolution on Iran. So yes, Iran is in your job responsibility. Focus on it and focus on the troops that have been wounded and killed. Do not be so callous with the safety and lives of American troops. I'm going to ask you again. Are US troops are US troops currently stationed are US troops currently stationed in Jordan?
▶ 1:50:46Oralized me.
▶ 1:50:47US troops currently stationed in Jordan.
▶ 1:50:50Try to get reelected.
▶ 1:50:52I will. [laughter] You should try.
▶ 1:50:54November is coming for you and this administration. Are US troops stationed in Jordan? It's not even a trick question. Are they? Of course they are.
▶ 1:51:02With a great
▶ 1:51:03And if Donald Trump doesn't trust the Jordanians to protect US troops,
▶ 1:51:07do you trust them?
▶ 1:51:09Who are we going to have protect US troops? They are exposed right now in the Middle East. Repeatedly being exposed to Iranian missile missile strikes and drones. You don't even know how many US troops were wounded in this Iran war. Shame on you for not even know basic facts. You are the US ambassador and you don't even know how many US troops were wounded Iran war. You got that wrong. You should be shameful. You don't know basic facts. You should resign.
▶ 1:51:37You don't even care about the number of US troops that were wounded. You did not know how many US troops were wounded. You gave false information to Congress. You should be ashamed of yourself for not even knowing how many US troops were wounded in the Iranian
▶ 1:51:52The gentleman's words should be taken down. You should not use such derogatory language for for the distinguished ambassador. Seriously, I know you're upset, but you in the last administration. Zero politics and the worst of it.
▶ 1:52:08He lied to Congress. Gave us flatout false number minimizing the number of US troops wounded in Iran.
▶ 1:52:14Mr. Chairman,
▶ 1:52:15that's what he did in his first answer to my question.
▶ 1:52:17It should be recognized that the ambassador is a 27 veteran military. Thank you,
▶ 1:52:22Mr. Smith. Do you have a point of order?
▶ 1:52:26I would ask, you know, disagree all you want, but do it civily. And that was not
▶ 1:52:33No point of order.
▶ 1:52:34Representative Self is recognized.
▶ 1:52:36Uh, thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Ambassador, I yield my time to you as you may consume for anything that you would like to comment on that past exchange. And it is my time and either you or I will be speaking. Mr. Ambassador. Yeah, I'll just I would just thank you for your time, Representative. The Iranian regime has been killing Americans for administration after administration after administration.
▶ 1:53:04We finally have a president that has said enough is enough. I don't think that nonsense merits additional uh response. Okay, very good. Uh first of all, I want to uh just uh verify one thing with you. Should we decide uh that we do not want to meet what uh dues, assessments, whatever, we would keep the most important thing in this in the UN for us, which is our seat on the sec our permanent seat on the security council. Is that correct?
▶ 1:53:33I'm I'm sorry. Could you repeat the question? I don't mean to use your time. uh if we choose not to meet our dues or assessments for the UN, we would lose our our voice in the general assembly, but we would keep the most important which is the seat on the secure permanent veto.
▶ 1:53:49That is correct. And importantly, the UN Security Council, the resolutions that come out of there are binding in international law. What comes out of the general assembly is not binding.
▶ 1:53:57Correct. Uh I want to turn to peacekeepers. You mentioned in your testimony there were 90,000 at the uh height of peacekeeping. Uh you mentioned the sexual abuse which happens often with th those forces. Uh I wanted to talk about measures of success and my example is UNIFIL in Lebanon was a total failure. So what measures of success are you trying to get the UN to use in their peacekeeping forces?
▶ 1:54:24To your point on on UNIFIL, it's an important one. its mandate was to prevent non-armed actors from arming and operating south of the Latani River in southern Lebanon. I think we've seen the exact opposite for the last 20 years from Hezbollah at the cost of half a billion dollars a year for that peacekeeping force of 11,000 international troops and the administration has put a policy in place that UNIFIL will not continue.
▶ 1:54:51What we have tried to do with the every year typically these peacekeeping forces are renewed and we have made it very clear to the rest of the security council that they cannot just continue for example DRC Congo that force at the cost of a billion dollars a year has been there for 30 years and I don't think we've seen it um uh result in peace. So we are tying the renewal of these peacekeeping forces to an actual peace process to a political process.
▶ 1:55:20And whether that's in DRC Congo or Western Sahara or uh Libya or other locations, they need to work themselves out of a job uh and not become a cash cow for the troop contributing nations and not become an excuse for the actors on the ground to not have to make the compromises they need to make to achieve peace.
▶ 1:55:40Yeah, Mr. Ambassador, I would just recommend you come up with measures of success for each of them. I mean, concrete measures of success.
▶ 1:55:47Thank you. We just had a report for the gang suppression force uh in Haiti with actual measures of success. It is as we're a few months into the job. Um we're trying to unear uh you know undo 80 years of not always uh great performance and behavior.
▶ 1:56:03Yeah. One of the most egregious examples of institutional bias in the UN was a special committee to investigate Israeli human rights practices, sharp. Uh, and I will tell you they failed to mention uh not a single word about the atrocities in their 10,000 plusword report uh 21 pages. I believe that you have had some successes in turning uh the vote in the sherp vote. Can you share that with us?
▶ 1:56:35Um, Congressman, we'll we'll take that one for the record in terms of looking at that vote on the more broadly uh with respect to UN the commission of inquiry, the special raptors, the human rights council, which of course we've withdrawn from and other measures.
▶ 1:56:49As I mentioned before, the UN is at that decision point and it has to decide whether it wants to get back to basics and foundational peace and security or whether it wants to just be a uh a machine to have general assembly resolutions 183 against Israel over the last uh so many years versus 70 against the rest of the world.
▶ 1:57:09It's it's a shocking ant it's a it's a hot bed or as uh the chairman said a snake pit of anti-Americanism, anti-West, anti-Jude Christian values, anti-Israel, anti-Jew. It is they have to decide and we have an selection coming up that's going to decide the future of this organization with the next secretary general.
▶ 1:57:28Okay. Well, I I know you've got plenty of examples, but that report, which was literally weeks after the October 7th attack and in which their report did not mention a single atrocity, might be a good one to use in in your working on sharp. Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
▶ 1:57:46Representative Jackson.
▶ 1:57:48Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Ranking Member Meeks. Um, Ambassador Waltz, on March 25th, 2026, the United States was one one of only three nations to vote against the United Nations um general assembly resolution declaring the SL the transatlantic slave trade and racialized chatel enslavement of Africans the gravest crime against humanity.
▶ 1:58:09The resolution passed by the world 123 to3 with 52 abstensions for many Americans and for people of African ancestry and descent around the world. That vote raised serious questions about our nation's moral leadership. I would ask you um Mr. Waltz, why did the United States vote no, as did um our few and so few allies with us?
▶ 1:58:34I think there were there were two issues that we had uh with the resolution and of course the issue of slavery both here in the United States and and around the world was abhorentt and should be condemned. But the issue with the language of that resolution was that it advocated for International Reparations Fund. Uh something that the administration is not in favor of. And further follow up on a second question.
▶ 1:59:01We tried um but despite uh our efforts, they could not put a real bracket around
▶ 1:59:07Let me ask you a second. Do you personally recognize the transatlantic slave trade as a crime against humanity? And if so, what specific language in the resolution uh would you pre prefer to have in the proposal for you to do?
▶ 1:59:19I'll have to go I can go back and we're happy to come talk to you about the language that we proposed. I'll have to take that uh for the record for the record has paid reparations in the past.
▶ 1:59:29We tried to put some brackets around what was slavers as well as those that does it affect uh African nations that participated in the trans slave trade. Let me finish my question. Thank you so much, Ambassador. Um, many African leaders have raised questions about the restrictions during the World Cup. It was a great time and a time that we should have been very joyous. It was um the 48 nations that participated.
▶ 1:59:56But something came to light during that period is that there were 12 African nations that have total bans on travel to the United States. Also embarrassingly so I would say for the grandmother Cape Verdian goalie country of 500,000 people he couldn't get his grandmother in here. I don't know what threat she meant to the United States or to a person that works in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Uh but fans were denied the opportunity to be here.
▶ 2:00:22There are 14 other countries that have partial bans such as Zambia having to pay 510 for a visa. So effectively that's 26 nations that are banned in the African continent from coming to the United States. Almost half of Africans are banned from entering the United States of America. Roughly 700 million people. Uh do you agree with this policy or would you like to see it changed?
▶ 2:00:47The only um uh restrictions that that I dealt with from the UN context are uh uh around the Ebola issue uh and which did affect DRC. I just spoke to the DRC foreign minister uh this week about those. In terms of the visa bond issue, if that's what you're referring to,
▶ 2:01:06uh I would have to refer you to to DHS in terms of those restrictions. I mean, I thought the World Cup was a fantastic success. We spoke to the highlight of the DRC has been excluded. This came to light during that period because we look to our growth and future and relationships with the African nations that they can't come here.
▶ 2:01:26I've heard of major foundations and other people, they cannot bring employees over here and countries uh companies that have investments in Africa that want to do uh job retreats cannot get their employees to come over here. So, it's excluding us from a nation. Um let me ask you with Cuba, would you say we are at war with Cuba in your definition?
▶ 2:01:46I would not say that we are
▶ 2:01:48and I only highlight that because we have a naval blockade around an island.
▶ 2:01:51We do not have a naval blockade. That is Cuban propaganda. So goods and fuel to get to the island propaganda.
▶ 2:01:58We contributed over half a billion dollars in good fuel to the
▶ 2:02:02in goods from the United States to the Cuban regime. Fuel to get to
▶ 2:02:05a blockade would be a ring of navy ships that are stopping fuel to get to the Cuban.
▶ 2:02:10That is literally Cuban propaganda. There is no blockade on Cuba.
▶ 2:02:14So Cubans can receive fuel from anywhere around the world.
▶ 2:02:17There are humanitarian waiverss that the administration has put in If you just simply were to answer the question, last question regarding the Middle East, who's your primary point of contact, communism, and the corruption of it?
▶ 2:02:27Do you deal specifically with Secretary Rubio or do you take advice from Mr. Jared Kushner and Mr. Witkoff? Who's your primary point of contact for Middle East negotiations?
▶ 2:02:36I deal with all three on a regular
▶ 2:02:38Are they on the same par?
▶ 2:02:41I'm not sure you're
▶ 2:02:42I mean, are they equal in statue? Some one person is in the administration, two people are super volunteers. I just want to know for a point of structure.
▶ 2:02:50Well, I think our Secretary of State has been Senate confirmed in accordance with our Constitution and Senate rules.
▶ 2:02:56Okay. Thank you very much. I yield back, Representative Baird.
▶ 2:03:02Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and uh welcome to our witnesses and is appreciative to have a colleague that's doing the job you're doing, Mr. Walls. Uh you know the UN is filled with inadequacies in its personnel management and its implementation of programs and oversight or accountability of UN agencies.
▶ 2:03:24While originally established to maintain peace and security as we develop a friendly relations worldwide cooperation in economic and humanitarian issues, the organization has now forged its own policy that frequently contradicts the policies of the United States.
▶ 2:03:39And one example of this is Onward employing proven Hamas terrorists in the Gaza in the Gaza Strip as at least 10 employees of the agency were identified to also have partaken in the heiniest acts of October the 7th. Another example of this is when the UN interim forces in Lebanon personnel shot down an Israel surveillance drone that was conducting a mission against Hezbollah terrorists.
▶ 2:04:06So, President Trump and the United Nations Ambassador Mike Waltz have taken a step in the right direction to ensure that the UN acts in the interest of our member countries instead of formulating its own policies that serve well its contributions and its balance sheet. So, how can the US effectively conduct oversight within UN agencies to ensure terrorists and human rights violators aren't retained for employment?
▶ 2:04:35That's a very um kindly stated question, Representative Barrett. I appreciate your service as well, but not an easy answer. We are trying um we are trying to get oversight and effectiveness and frankly better leadership from any of these UN missions uh across the board. In the case of UNRA, uh as Secretary Rubio has said, it has served as a virtual arm of Hamas. It is radicalizing the next generation of Palestinians.
▶ 2:05:04It is literally um aiding and abetting a terrorist organization as it brutalizes the um Palestinian people of Gaza. In fact, many of them just tried to rise up against Hamas. Uh and uh according to the UN's own report, Hamas went on a kneecapping campaign to prevent those protests. Uh so I'll just turn it over to Ambassador Bartos in terms of additional actions. Thank you, Representative. Great question, important question.
▶ 2:05:33Uh, broaden out just for a second. In the aftermath of the atrocities of October 7th, many UN organizations, as one of your colleagues just referenced before, were silent. Silent UN women could not speak. UN, the organization, UN women refused for months to even acknowledge the sexual violence, the rape, the mutilations against Israeli women on that awful day. So for the UN to to lecture about these things is is offensive should be offensive to every American.
▶ 2:06:04UNRA as the secretary has boldly and very clearly said uh and it's a it's an honor to serve under his leadership. He has boldly and clearly said ENRA will have no future in Gaza. No future. I had the honor to deliver remarks on behalf of the United States a couple weeks ago at a pledging conference for ENRA. And I said on behalf of the United States, doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result is the definition of insanity.
▶ 2:06:30And I looked around that room and said, you all keep contributing expecting a different result. And every year, same speeches against Israel, same failure to condemn Hamas, same sort of platitudes that you you give you. In fact, I said you give the same speeches every year. You don't just change the date. What was interesting about this year, and again, credit to President Trump, Secretary Rubio, Ambassador Waltz, what was different this year is that the acting director of UNRA actually agreed with a couple of the points we raised.
▶ 2:07:00I almost fell over in my chair. He agreed with some of the points. Didn't agree with everything. Are we making progress glacially? We're making progress against this important issue, but we are making progress, I think. Stay tuned, sir, and be happy to come down here and brief your team. or anyone here is interested on on some of the work we're doing, not only to reform these UN agencies and organizations, but also to take a different look a different look at how we serve the humanitarian needs in Gaza without uh the UN continuing to employ
▶ 2:07:30Well, I appreciate your comments and you know, the fact that you made any kind of progress I think is admirable for for the work you're doing and the ambassador is doing and so I think I'm out of time, but I appreciate appreciate your
▶ 2:07:43I back Representative Oeski.
▶ 2:07:46Thank you, Chairman Mast, Ranking Member Meeks, and to our witnesses for being here today. Uh, Ambassador Walls, I want to start by thanking you for your years of public service. As the father of a 10-year-old daughter and a former public school teacher, I appreciate your work in Congress, uh, especially supporting children and especially women and girls. But I have to start with a topic that I've discussed with many of your colleagues across the administration during these hearings.
▶ 2:08:12And I do so because it is so foundational to the work that we do here. And that is my very serious concern with the clear conflicts of interest and the massive corruption coming out of this administration. So I want to ask you from your personal perspective, your own values, do you think it's wrong for elected officials and their families to profit from positions of power?
▶ 2:08:39Do I think it's wrong? just generally
▶ 2:08:42your personal values. Yes, sir.
▶ 2:08:44I I'm pleased to hear that. So, I guess the question then is how do you square that circle working for a president who just last year made 20,000 stock trades, including companies who benefit from markets that he is actively manipulating. Whether that's through announcing ceasefires, reversing course and allowing chip exports, or simply promoting these firms on his social media.
▶ 2:09:10How can you say it's wrong but be silent as the president's sons benefit from mining deals paid for by US taxpayers? As one of America's top diplomats, as a former member of Congress, does that not conflict with your value, sir?
▶ 2:09:24Well, let's not talk about Congress and the stock trading that
▶ 2:09:27I support it full ban. I think it's wrong for any member to trade. That wasn't the question though, sir.
▶ 2:09:31I hope to see that bill uh I'm on the discharge petition.
▶ 2:09:34Um number one. Number two,
▶ 2:09:36and a full ban, not not the joke that my colleagues are trying to
▶ 2:09:40president members of his cabinet have all complied with the office of government ethics as have as have myself. [snorts] We have ethics rules in place. We have an agency that oversees. we all subject ourselves to the Senate and to this office uh and receive that clearance before we come for
▶ 2:10:00So you're okay with the president's stock trades
▶ 2:10:03in accordance with transparency and in accordance with the rules of the Congress. We we publicly put our finances out there every year in our financial disclosures.
▶ 2:10:11So you're comfortable with the president buying stocks and companies like energy before he announces a ceasefire? the president is complying with the ethics rules as they sit on the books.
▶ 2:10:24Do you think that they should be
▶ 2:10:27Do I think that I'll leave that I'll leave that to this August body. Um I'm trying to change the United Nations which makes this look like an appetizer. Well, I think it makes your job harder because these conflicts of interest, the president's insistence on outsourcing high stakes diplomacy to family members and business associates impacts our standing in the world in a profoundly negative way. They impact your ability to effectively do your job as one of our country's top diplomats.
▶ 2:10:52Can I just answer your question? I have never regularly deal with Secretary Rubio, with the president. Um this question I have never seen them ever heard them mention anything at all where they would gain personally from any of their policy decisions. They have the interest of this country uh first and
▶ 2:11:11Ambassador, you don't have to askision.
▶ 2:11:13People don't often announce I am corrupt, but we can see it plainly when the president has put billions of dollars in his pockets and the pockets of his associates, of his children, of his friends, of Mr. Wickoff, of Mr. Kushner. If you can't see it, sir, that's on you. But the the truth is whether you can look past it and you're choosing to look past it, which is fine, but the world is watching and it is in fact it is impacting our national interests. I deal with them on regardless. You're in this role, ambassador, and I that's fine. So, I want to go back to the first topic I mentioned.
▶ 2:11:44One I think we actually agree on because we clearly disagree on this one. I think the corruption the president is executing is morally wrong. It's should be legally legally reprehensible and I think he should be out of office but UNICEF has been one of the government's strongest and most transparent partners. Uh do you agree that UNICEF's field presence and cross- sector capacity make it a natural partner of choice for the US? UNICEF is led by an American. It does uh it could always do things better.
▶ 2:12:12uh it often both their mission at times is duplicative of others like World Food Program, like UNHCR uh and other organizations, but we are working with them through our pulled funding model to streamline their
▶ 2:12:26Okay. [snorts] There's there's uh the organization's yet to receive its fiscal 26 core resources even though we've appropriated funds. I'll follow up there with a few written questions. Um but I I'll just end and say we have to to be better. Um, any one issue of corruption this president has perpetrated would have ended prior presidencies and I just hope that you and your colleagues can speak up um and find the courage to push back against what's happening here. And with that, I yield back.
▶ 2:12:50Representative Biggs.
▶ 2:12:51Thank you, Chairman Mast and thank you to our witnesses for your testimonies here today. China is the largest troop contributor to the UN peacekeeping missions among the five permanent security council members and the second largest funer of the UN overall.
▶ 2:13:08China Chinese peacekeeping deployments are concentrated in strategically sensitive regions including areas along belt and road corridors near ports, mineral resources and existing or potential basing locations.
▶ 2:13:25These are long-standing concerns about whether Beijing is using its peacekeeper designation as cover to advance military and intelligent objectives in regions where the US has strategic interest.
▶ 2:13:40So, Ambassador Waltz, my question to you is how would you characterize the military objectives behind China's peacekeeping deployments and are these genuine contributions to UN missions or are they a vehicle for broader PLA strategic
▶ 2:13:58Thank you for the question and it's a it's frankly a very good question. Um, China does contribute uh to these peacekeeping missions. uh they are often uh better equipped than many of the other countries. Uh they come with what they've they've they've promised to come with. Uh that said, I don't think for a second that they don't serve a dual purpose as eyes and ears on the ground for uh for the Chinese Communist Party.
▶ 2:14:29Do we have evidence of PLA linked intelligence collection um reconnaissance or military liaison building occurring under the cover of Chinese peacekeeping operations?
▶ 2:14:42Uh representative, I'd be happy to come back and see you in a different setting and and talk about what we know and don't know.
▶ 2:14:49Thank you. So, separate from the diplomatic or or funding based counter measures, what is the Trump administration doing to monitor or counter the military dimension of China's peacekeeping footprint?
▶ 2:15:04Again, Congressman, I'd rather Congresswoman, excuse me. I I think it would be better if we talked about that in a in a different setting. However, um, as Representative Bartos just mentioned, one of the places that they have, uh, a substantial presence was in South Sudan, and we just worked through the Security Council to seriously streamline and downsize, uh, that mission. We did not find it to be as effective as it should be. The mandate was far too broad.
▶ 2:15:32Um, and we refocused it on helping the South Sudin government try uh to to, you know, get security and stability to a to a much more manageable
▶ 2:15:43Okay. I'm going to try one more. Sure. So, in your assessment, does China's military posture within the UN peacekeeping missions pose a direct threat to US force posture, basing access, or military partnerships in the regions where Chinese peacekeepers We are keeping a very um close eye on all of those dimensions.
▶ 2:16:09Um I I will say uh in fairness to uh our colleagues, our Chinese colleagues on the security council, their contributions often are helpful. Um but again, they can serve a dual purpose and we are uh very uh wideeyed to that issue.
▶ 2:16:25Well, I look forward to continuing this
▶ 2:16:27I'm happy to come back and talk to you about it and very good questions. Thank
▶ 2:16:30again. Thank you all for being here
▶ 2:16:32Thank you.
▶ 2:16:33I yield back, Mr. Chairman.
▶ 2:16:35Representative Castro.
▶ 2:16:37Uh, thank you, Chairman. Thank you, Ambassadors, for being here today. And welcome back, Ambassador Walls. I think we served on the intelligence committee together. Uh, the United Nations has been central to the Israeli Palestinian conflict since General Assembly Resolution 181 in 1947, the partition resolution that called for two states and underpinned Israel's own founding and international recognition. Security Council resolutions 242, 338, 1397, and 1515.
▶ 2:17:06The latter two adopted with US support under a Republican administration, built the framework. Two states, two peoples, each with the right to self-determination within secure and recognized borders. [snorts] So there aren't just Israelis in this story, and there aren't just Palestinians. There are two peoples and both have the same right to determine their own future. uh you drafted resolution 2803 adopted last November. This is a ceasefire and of course border of peace resolution.
▶ 2:17:34According to reports, France, a permanent member and one of our oldest allies, asked that it reference the two-state solution and the return of a reformed Palestinian authority to Gaza, and so did the other members of the council. The final text that you negotiated, although however, never once uses a phrase two-state solution. uh and at adoption, France, Algeria, Pakistan, Guyana, and Sierra Leone criticized that omission on the record.
▶ 2:18:01And so I wanted to ask you, Ambassador Waltz, was that omission deliberate, not mentioning the two-state solution? Did the United States refuse to include the two-state solution in its own resolution? Uh, Representative Castro, I'll I'll come back to you um and and sit down with you if I'm incorrect in this, but out of memory, the uh resolution 2803 adopted wholesale as an annex President Trump's 20point peace plan, which the president of France
▶ 2:18:31was there at Charmeal Shake and celebrated. And in that, for the first time ever, we had both no annexation uh in terms of directive to the state of Israel and a pathway to a two-state solution with with appropriate reforms. Those are both in there now as international law.
▶ 2:18:49So, just to be clear, just just for the record, it's the policy of the Trump administration to support a two-state
▶ 2:18:55with appropriate reforms.
▶ 2:18:57Okay. Um, so
▶ 2:18:59that was that was a United Nations resolution that adopted the president's 20point peace plan,
▶ 2:19:03right? But because you had a a big hand in negotiating it, I want to know I'm asking what's the Trump administration's policy, right? Um, so the Palestinian Authority has said yes to the two-state solution. Uh, however, Prime Minister Netanyahu has told his cabinet that he's quote firmly against a Palestinian state, reformed Palestinian Authority or not.
▶ 2:19:25So what specific pressure is the United States applying on the government of Israel to accept the outcome that our own resolution envisions? Well, the the resolution, as you know, is very focused on Gaza uh and putting in place the funding, the international stability force and the new uh Palestinian governance mechanism to pull that away from Hamas and put that back under civilian Palestinian control.
▶ 2:19:56No, no, fair enough. And I think
▶ 2:19:57and by the way, that organization, the Board of Peace, now has a liazison office to the Palestinian Authority, and the Palestinian Authority publicly supported 283. I I guess I'm saying that, you know, we've known that we have two sides here for a long time. And you have a prime minister who's a long-standing prime minister, may win election again, who has said very firmly and others in his cabinet have said very firmly that they're against the two-state solution. So, what are we doing to guide them, guide Israel in this case towards that two-state solution?
▶ 2:20:28Because on the other hand, on the other side, uh we have designated groups like Hamas and Hezbollah as terrorist organizations. We've sanctioned them. We've designated the IRGC as a terrorist organization. We've sanctioned Iran. Um and so what where is the guidance on the other side when over the years of course we have provided military support, foreign military financing, billions of dollars.
▶ 2:20:56we now may at least in the NDAA there's a provision to to strengthen the relationship between the United States and Israel uh and perhaps develop weapons together for example. So without without exercising any leverage without the US exercising any leverage on Israel and Prime Minister Netanyahu what what makes you think ambassador or why would we think that he's going to change his tune about a two-state solution? I mean he's flatly said he's against it. What's going to change that?
▶ 2:21:26Congressman, I think it's important to point out in the negotiations on 2803, working with the Palestinian Observer Mission at the UN and all of our Gulf Arab partners and friends, it was everybody came together, including the Israelis, on that 20point peace plan, which as the ambassador said in
▶ 2:21:41I'm running out of time, so I'd like to reclaim my time for a second.
▶ 2:21:43That includes a path with appropriate reforms to what you're just saying
▶ 2:21:47with if if if one side is staunchly against a two-state solution. The Israelis have said their prime minister has said he's against it. What leverage is the United States going to use to change that? Giving to me it seems like giving them more and more and more is not going to change their behavior. At some point this becomes it makes the two-state solution quite honestly elucery and it turns this whole thing into a self-d delusion. So what are we doing?
▶ 2:22:11I think at this point, uh, Congressman, we are very focused on those reforms and the security of the Israeli state, whether it's from Lebanon, Hamas, and Gaza, or Iran, to then get to a place where we can have those conversations.
▶ 2:22:25Okay, I'm out of time, so we'll have to follow up on it.
▶ 2:22:27Representative Fine.
▶ 2:22:29Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and it's really exciting to see two friends, mentors, and and my predecessor here. And on behalf of the people of the sixth congressional district of Florida, thanks for all the work that you did six years. I'm trying to fill very large shoes. So, I'm doing my best. But thank you both for being here. I start with the premise that I'm not convinced that the UN is sort of fundamentally permanently broken and you know should go away. I often have said from the river to the sea, let's make Manhattan UN free.
▶ 2:22:55So, I come from that, but I know that you all are working incredibly hard to deal with the hand that we have been dealt. And so I I want to start with um with UNRA and and and the USAD inspector general found that seven employees actually participated in the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7th. They found 14 employees were Hamas affiliated including an UNR school principal who commanded a Hamas battalion on October 7th as I'm sure that you know that.
▶ 2:23:25How do we make sure that there aren't terrorists that are working for the United Nations? Well, I think when it when it comes to UNRA Gaza, u the organization just has to go. Uh and that's Secretary Rubio has made that clear. I think we've made that clear uh across the board. Actually, the vast majority of what it does is education.
▶ 2:23:49Uh we are working with um uh many of our partners namely Morocco, namely UAE to reform that curriculum that radicalizes the next generation of Palestinians that teaches them that there is no two-state solution that there's only one state solution and that's Hamas. Um so handing that over those functions over and we've had these conversations whether it's the Palestinian Authority or the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, they have to take over their own educational functions.
▶ 2:24:18that's an inherent part of being a governing institution and the humanitarian functions that it um uh that it conducts. We need a much better vetting process and we're those conversations are ongoing with how to vet those individuals. But at the end of the day, Hamas rules at the end of an AK-47. Hamas will disarm. The president has made that clear. It's going to happen the easy way or the hard way. Let's pray they make the more peaceful choice and do it the easy way.
▶ 2:24:46Okay. So, we've talked about UNRA, but now as you move up into the UN itself, I think one of the most concerning developments of the UN is rampant unabashed anti-semitism by highlevel employees at the UN. This isn't just UNRA. Um, I I guess I shouldn't be surprised given they're okay with Hamas terrorists being on staff. But nowhere has the anti-semitism at the UN been more blatant than Francesca Albanesey's, the UN special raper on the occupied quote unquote Palestinian territory.
▶ 2:25:12She used her position to advance extremist and inflammatory claims against Israel. She's falsely accused Israel of genocide and promoted false narratives under the guise of her role. Um, Ambassador Bardos, what reforms have you been putting in place to fight anti-semitism at the UN itself and to prevent anti-semit anti-semmites like Albanese from being placed in these kinds of prominent positions?
▶ 2:25:35It's a great question. Thank you. It's good to see you, Congressman. The as I said, as I've never tired of saying, the UN is at a crossroads and on the one one direction is this vital humanitarian work that we see out in the field with people risking their lives to do that work and and the UN should be commended for that and there are successes and failures within peacekeeping and we've talked about that today too.
▶ 2:25:56But right there in the other direction is this um bewildering despicable bias that has been around for 60 plus years that has really if you think about it infrastructure that has been built within the UN system uh former ambassador, former senator Daniel Patrick Moyahan spoke about this brilliantly and beautifully in his 1975 speech calling out Zionism as racism resolution which was of course a Soviet era Sovietdriven process.
▶ 2:26:24So the UN comes to this over many decades of picking on the one Jewish state as a way to get to the West in America, right? It's anti-Americanism, anti-West, anti-Semitic, anti-Jewish, anti-Israel. It really is all of that. We have a whole team dedicated uh of course with the secretary's push and leadership on this on these issues, we have a whole team dedicated to rooting out anti-semitism throughout the UN.
▶ 2:26:49the commission of inquiry, ENRA, as you mentioned, this lunatic Albanz, who the UN allows to put on their uniform. But I think it all comes back to in the here and now, it comes back to making sure that we select the right next Secretary General who will have the leadership, the moral clarity, and the courage to tackle this.
▶ 2:27:07It it is a it's an existential issue for the organization about whether it wants to be a hotbed of hatred for the one Jewish state and for the West or whether it wants to get back to basics its core founding mission of international peace and security, humanitarian aid. Um and that's a big decision for the UN. We're trying to guide them in the right direction. It is not always easy as you know. Um but the work is really important and we we get at it every day.
▶ 2:27:34And I would just add uh uh uh Representative Fine that the administration has defunded these inherently anti-Semitic organizations. We are trying to shift this culture, but meanwhile, not a single dollar of taxpayer, US taxpayer dollars should go to these organizations like UNRA, like the so-called human rights council, UNESCO, and others.
▶ 2:27:55Well, I'm not sure anybody can fix it, but if anyone can, I think it's the two of you. So, thanks. Keep up the good work. And Mr. Chairman, I yield back. Representative McBride.
▶ 2:28:04Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman, and to you and the ranking member for holding this uh committee hearing. Thank you both so much uh both of you ambassadors for joining us, for making it down to the bottom of the deis. We are well over four years into a war Vladimir Putin started by invading Ukraine. And during the course of the 2024 election, the president promised at least 53 times to end the war on or before day one.
▶ 2:28:30on January 20th, 2025, as the sun set and the president pardoned more than more than a thousand uh January 6 When the sun set, the president failed to deliver on his promise that he would end the war between Russia and Ukraine. Ambassador Waltz, why did the president fail to deliver on his promise to end the war?
▶ 2:28:55The president is doing everything he can to end the war uh to date. Uh neither um Vladimir Putin with Russia uh or President Zalinski um has seen fit to enter into the final deal. However, uh the president has put significant pressure this administration by sanctioning Lucille, by sanctioning Roseneft, uh and is doing everything he can to stop the killing.
▶ 2:29:22So, I guess we're in agreement 538 days into the administration that the president has not delivered on his promise that he made at least 53 times during the course of the campaign to end the war on day
▶ 2:29:31The president has found uh despite incredible efforts from him and his team, it um to be a very frustrating
▶ 2:29:37Well, maybe he shouldn't have made those grandiose promises.
▶ 2:29:40I'm proud that he has tried. Speaking speaking of the pressure that is being brought to bear on February 24th, a month after the president failed to deliver on that promise, US representatives at the United Nations voted no on a resolution advancing a comprehensive, just, and lasting peace in Ukraine. Earlier today, Representative Titus brought up this vote and you incorrectly stated that the US abstained from voting on the February 2025 resolution. That's not true. The US voted no alongside Russia, Bellarus, and North Korea.
▶ 2:30:11really really great company. Would you like to correct the record that the US indeed voted against?
▶ 2:30:16I understood and and um perhaps I misunderstood her to be talking about a general assembly resolution just this past summer where the United States
▶ 2:30:27My understanding the the words that she specifically used called uh was referring to the February 2025 resolution which the US did indeed vote no on. Um then on February 18th, 2026, over a year after President Trump failed to deliver on his promise to end the war on day one, US representation at the UN under your leadership refused to vote on a resolution expressing support for lasting peace in Ukraine.
▶ 2:30:56Ambassador, I'm curious why the United States is scared to call out and stand up to Vladimir Putin at the United Nations. The United States under this administration has put more pressure on Russia uh to come to the table. Their economy is reflective of that and this administration sanctioned their top two oil producers and the dark fleet, not the last administration.
▶ 2:31:17Well, they're now getting more money because of the straight of Hormuz. But that's neither here nor there. Why did the United States vote no and refuse to vote to denounce Vladimir Putin's
▶ 2:31:28I'll have to come back to the record. That prior vote was um obviously uh before my time. So I'll have to look at the wording in the resolution. Like legislation, which many of you know, there can be specific phrases that we find objectionable or who cross our red lines. Um the title says one thing and the actual legislation resolution.
▶ 2:31:48Apparently the only other countries that objected to any of the specific language in the in that resolution at least in February 2025 uh were Bellarus, North Korea, and Russia. So not very good the administration as we were shifting to a more neutral mediator position as we try to as we try to end this war unlike the illdefined victory that did not work has not worked and if
▶ 2:32:13has worked a lot better than the last
▶ 2:32:16well I don't think that that's true
▶ 2:32:17at least in the room talking which is the art of diplomacy
▶ 2:32:19wow there was a photo op in Alaska that the president gave Vladimir Putin and I think these these votes lack thereof votes uh no votes only send a message to Vladimir Putin that we are not. But I want to say while you're treating Vladimir Putin with kid gloves, you are insulting American allies, including our long-standing ally Denmark, whose soldiers fought and died alongside US soldiers. Have you gotten any positive feedback from your colleagues at the United Nations about the president's desire to seize
▶ 2:32:49Uh, as one of the soldiers who fought alongside Danish soldiers in southern Afghanistan, they're a fantastic ally. Um, at the same time they were paying very little to zero attention to the Arctic and they now are and we are in meaningful negotiations uh to secure our northern borders.
▶ 2:33:06I'll take that as a you haven't gotten any positive feedback. Thank you. I yield back.
▶ 2:33:10They have actually given a lot of positive feedback to the ongoing negotiations to answer your question.
▶ 2:33:15Representative Gallagher.
▶ 2:33:17Yes. Uh thank you gentlemen for your testimony today and uh Mr. Ambassador. Let me apologize on behalf of California um for the disrespect and and dumbfounding ignorance uh of my colleagues. Uh the gentle lady mentioned that the Ayatollah was better off uh before the war. Maybe she missed the me memo that Ayatollah Kam Kami is dead. Um and he is definitely not better off than before this war.
▶ 2:33:45Uh and maybe if if they had their way, uh he would still be alive to him.
▶ 2:33:50If he would still be alive directing attacks against our allies and and also against our American soldiers um if they had their way, they would be much further along in their nuclear program instead of being decimated in their nuclear program as is the case today. And I do think it's interesting uh to hear the other side, Democrats, especially from California, talking about high gas prices. Uh as of today, the average GA gas price in California is $5.50 a gallon.
▶ 2:34:20On the East Coast, in a state like North Carolina, it's $3.70. That's a function of policy. In California, there's been a war on oil and gas. There's been crazy policies, green new deal mandates that have led to that highest gas price. And I want to thank you for the administration to help stop the International Maritime Organization from from imposing what would have been the world's first global carbon tax on shipping, which would have raised all of our costs.
▶ 2:34:48And so going on that vein, you know, what are you doing uh you know, at the UN and in your role to help stop these kind of California policies from going global and raising all of our costs of energy through the
▶ 2:35:01Yeah, thank you. I mean, talk about taxation without representation. This was the first attempt by an international body to levy fines which would have amounted to attacks on all global shipping. I guess in some ill- fated effort to push these massive tankers towards EVs. I don't know.
▶ 2:35:19Um and by the way, we've asked directly who would then manage the upwards of 12 to 15 billion dollars that would have raised passed on to consumers and then put into a a UN slush fund. And the answer was unclear. It was kind of like what we heard in this body, Mr. Chairman. Just vote for it and you'll figure it out later. But thanks to the president, secretary, and our intervention, we stopped that effort. It's also an argument though of why we need to get into these organizations in a meaningful way.
▶ 2:35:48We can't just walk away because if we do uh our adversaries and in some cases our partners who don't share uh our industry's interest and want to advantage their industries uh will pass global regulations that massively disadvantage the American people and and our businesses. Uh we stopped it in that case. Um we are blocking, fighting and tackling.
▶ 2:36:10For example, I just worked with Secretary of Agriculture Rollins on some regulations in the Food and Agriculture Organization that serves as a global FDA, for lack of a better term, that would have advantaged European farmers and disadvant farmers, excuse me, and disadvantaged American farmers. So, rest assured, we have a team that's in their in all of these organizations fighting for us.
▶ 2:36:31Thank you for that work. That's much appreciated. Uh and I it brings brings me to my next question which is roughly 12% of of global trade passes through the Bob Elman Mandde Strait and we you know currently the Iranback Houthis are threatening to blockade this critical waterway again. Um if successful this would force ships onto longer and more expensive routes around Africa which would undoubtedly disrupt our global trade.
▶ 2:36:57Um there has been a resolution uh that simply extends the secretary general's reporting mandate on hoodi attacks in the Red Sea. Um is the United Nations capable of organizing a more meaningful international response to keep this vital waterway open? I think you're well you're certainly speaking to a broader issue here that no state no terrorist organization can choke off international waterways that are vital for commerce.
▶ 2:37:28The Iranian regime right now is acting as the Somali pirates with drones and and and cruise missiles of of back years ago where we did gather an international coalition and took that problem on. Thankfully, the president, the defense department right now, as we speak, is massively destroying and degrading Iran's ability to choke off that waterway, which 146 nations have agreed with us is in violation of international law.
▶ 2:37:52Yeah. And thank you for that. And again, I mean, I think if my colleagues had their way with their diplomacy of enablement, uh, you know, we'd be in a much worse position, you know, from that standpoint as well. So, I thank you for uh your leadership and for coming here and testifying today uh despite uh you know some some blatant hypocrisy uh from the other side. But uh I appreciate your efforts and appreciate the administration and what it's doing.
▶ 2:38:13Congressman, it is incredibly rich to see one side of the aisle now suddenly in love with oil and gas uh that they have sought to degrade our own domestic capability. But but thank you for your leadership in a very tough place. I don't know if being a member in California is tougher or easier than it is in in the United Nations, but
▶ 2:38:33well, I'm here to bring the voice of the forgotten Californians to this body. So, thank you,
▶ 2:38:37Representative Pokean.
▶ 2:38:39Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you, Mr. Ambassador, for being with us. Um, without going into detail, just naming names, what three countries are the greatest adversaries to the United
▶ 2:38:50From a broader sense, I would refer naming names. Yes. Well, I would refer actually to our our national security, national defense strategy. Uh,
▶ 2:38:58three names is all I'm looking for, not the narrative, please.
▶ 2:39:01That are working against us. Iran, uh, China, Russia, North Korea.
▶ 2:39:05Thank you. Um, have you ever been to
▶ 2:39:09I have not.
▶ 2:39:09You have not. Okay. Did you get a chance to read the report that came out this week from the State Department on Cuba? 95 pages. I have not read the uh entire report, but as a native Floridaian, I'm familiar with the the the antics and adversarial report. Gotcha. Can you explain to me on July 7th, there was a vote in the UN to continue debate about the US blockade of Cuba and we opposed that and we kind of had an embarrassing defeat 136 to9 with 30 abstensions.
▶ 2:39:40But given what this report said, why are we afraid to have that debate if there's so much information we want to share with the world about Cuba? Why did we not extend?
▶ 2:39:50That's a mischaracterization. What we opposed was Cubans or or others for that matter abusing the general assembly to have the same debate over and over
▶ 2:40:02We had such damn information that this report claims to have that that would be a great venue to have that. I guess my question is it's been over 65 years
▶ 2:40:11propaganda. That's what we oppose.
▶ 2:40:12Yeah. No, thank you. It's it's been over 65 years that we've had essentially this blockade, this embargo on Cuba. Um and have we moved closer to a democracy steer them towards human rights? Has, as the other ambassador said, uh you know, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result. Has that 65 years brought us to where we want to be? I would encourage you to read that uh to read that report.
▶ 2:40:38I did and you didn't.
▶ 2:40:40I did and you didn't. Correct. Yes.
▶ 2:40:42Oh, no. I I've not read it word for word, but I am very familiar as a
▶ 2:40:46I did too. I read it. I've highlighted it. I felt like you know what I put on the kinks and the who cuz everything's about the ' 60s and ' 70s in here. And then this giant jumpade. A blockade is a ring of ships. A blockade is what we have right now. This is a blockade of fuel, of medicine, of food, of supplies. Even in war, we allow medical supplies to go through. We don't allow medical supplies to go through to Cuba. So, the differences they can't
▶ 2:41:12do that we've had a noticeable corruption of the communist regime.
▶ 2:41:16Okay. Can I just ask my question please because I respect you were in this role and I just asking do you think we've had a measurable difference in 65 years of the policy we've had? I think we have um uh with much of which is in statute uh have had a meaningful effect on not allowing the Cuban regime to expand its revolution, its communism uh in its anti-American, anti-left um revolution as it calls it
▶ 2:41:47across the Western Hemisphere and AC and into the United States. So, Secretary Rubio just a few hours ago said, "The goal is to have a Cuba where people of Cuba can experience prosperity, safety, security, and a better life moving forward." I I just got back from there 10 days ago. I've been there 30 years ago. I was there three and a half years ago at an official delegation, and I was there with a nonprofit most recently. And what I've seen is a crushing of the Cuban people. And it's not a
▶ 2:42:13Cuban regime.
▶ 2:42:14Let me finish. Give me the respect I've given you, please, because I the rest of this drives me crazy. Um, you know, we're not allowing medical supplies. So, we've doubled the infant mortality rate because of our actions. We're the ones blocking that. It's not the Cuban government, that's us. We're blocking fuel, which means while I was there, 42 hours of no energy, we had an hour and a half. Surgeons literally finished surgery sometimes with their cell phone lights, right? That's because of us.
▶ 2:42:40Do you think that what what your goal is, we're running completely counter to that? And and I just don't understand
▶ 2:42:47May I ask you a question? Yeah, please.
▶ 2:42:49But I would like 30 seconds.
▶ 2:42:52Did you visit the private island from the Castro regime? Did you visit their private jet which seems to have fuel?
▶ 2:42:57Considering you've never been to Cuba, I'm not going to take your advice on where to go. I know, but but considering I mean you've never been there.
▶ 2:43:05I'm not going to tell you how to groom your hair because I can't give good advice on that. I don't think I need your advice at Cuba. Are we going to have a military action against Cuba? It seems like that's what this report is setting up. I am not going to take options off the table for the president of the United States, but I would hope that you would not allow your visits to be used for Cuban regime propaganda that is oppressed.
▶ 2:43:25I'll tell you, I wish I I understand, but I would strongly urge you, Marco Rubio, who's never been to Cuba. So many others who have strong opinions.
▶ 2:43:33His entire family is from Cuba and and
▶ 2:43:36they left before the revolution. That is decades ago. That's a ridiculous answer.
▶ 2:43:41Cuban Americans who have fled the regime. To be fair, that is a ridiculous
▶ 2:43:45for being oppressed.
▶ 2:43:46It's worth going there. If you're going to have such strong opinions, I think you'd maybe look at it a little differently. I I yield back. Representative Ma,
▶ 2:43:54thank you, Mr. Chairman, Ambassador and Bartos. Uh, thank you so much for being here. Appreciate that. Um, Ambassador Walls, July 5th, 2026, the UN supported the launch of the global network of centers for exchange and cooperation on AI capacity building as the AI at risk uh pushing the world towards even greater inequities.
▶ 2:44:20So what do you believe is the US role should be the US role closing the artificial intelligence gap to face this regarding connectivity infrastructure and energy access. I think we have to be incredibly careful and I've um have been in touch with a number of leaders of our private sector, our office of science and technology policy, secretary of commerce, secretary of treasury on efforts within the UN towards AI governance that are not in line with our
▶ 2:44:50values and that would hinder uh our entrepreneurial spirit and our innovation. Um I have also in touch with them as we kind of kind of you know gather the framework or understand the framework we want here federally in the United States to understand that and how we should propagate that outward uh to the rest of the world. I like to talk about AI freedom. Um countries from say the EU and other places like to talk about AI governance and that's a very slippery slope.
▶ 2:45:20I appreciate that. I I agree with you. Uh, another question for you, sir. On your confirmation hearing on July, you stated it was absolutely critical for the United States to counter China at the United Nations. So, China continues to lead four out of 15 specialized UN agencies, including organizations with mandates for facilitating cooperation on technology, agriculture, and food security, a aviation safety and development.
▶ 2:45:49So, Ambassador, what do you believe the United States response to China's position on this multilateral shouldalism should be?
▶ 2:45:58Thank you. I mean, I just give you a few examples. One I gave earlier, the World Intellectual Property Organization, we supported uh actively a pro business Singaporean. Um, in the international uh telecommunications union, we are running, and this is from the prior administration.
▶ 2:46:14So it's a bipartisan effort here to support an American to run that that's in charge of undersea cable spectrum space uh a number of u of st critical standard setting uh bodies not only at the senior levels it's important that we recruit and support Americans at every level um uh to uh to staff these bodies and I can come back to you with with figures but I think it's a little bit misunderstood the United States has the largest number
▶ 2:46:44of our nationals in across the UN system. It's actually followed by France, uh the UK and Germany before uh uh we get to China. It's something actually China complains about that it doesn't have uh greater representation. So we are active in making sure that US and like-minded countries are effectively represented around the system.
▶ 2:47:05Excellent. We're taking care. Go ahead,
▶ 2:47:07If I may, sir. Uh we are still underrepresented though. The ambassador is absolutely right in his uh in the number of nationals that work there, but we the United States are still under reppresented relative to our contributions to the UN and it's something that we are uh we're very much in the ear of UN leadership often as are as are the Chinese.
▶ 2:47:25I'm glad you're well aware and we need to correct that. Thank you. Thank you. Um uh speaking of ambassador, the US has historically been the leader within the convention on the international trade and endangered species of wild fauna and flora. So how do how do you envision maintaining the US leadership on wildlife trade while balancing a uh and the community interests that depend on healthy marine ecosystem?
▶ 2:47:54Well, I mean, this is where um even though we're not a signatory, we abide by its conventions in the UN law of the sea that's establishes standards for nautical waters and particularly for EEZs. Um, and one of the things that we're working with both the small island states and the Pacific, but also in South Central America are violations of their EEC's often by illicit fishing, most often by large Chinese u uh fishing fleets.
▶ 2:48:23not only there um but then uh the protection in terms from a conservation standpoint. We support international organizations uh that that set those standards uh around the world and a number of key nonprofits.
▶ 2:48:40I would just say sir that uh when when our allies have a choice of when other countries have a choice and certain you know whether it's the Africa group or whether it's other uh nations that we work with whether they have a choice to have US leadership or other important powers leadership they're yearning for US leadership and when we can when we do step in there and provide leadership it's a me we have meaningful impacts across the across the system there's a lot to fix there's a lot to fix but uh with ambassa Waltz's
▶ 2:49:10leadership and with the team's uh focus, we are we are we're present as as many places as we can be.
▶ 2:49:16I appreciate the hard work you both do. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Representative Bell.
▶ 2:49:22Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, Ambassador Waltz, UN peacekeeping funding is a principal source of support for the new gang suppression force mission in Haiti, which will be critical to driving back the control of violent gangs in the country that are wreaking havoc on communities in our own hemisphere and wor and worrying millions of Haitian-Americans as they watch Haiti suffer.
▶ 2:49:51In fact, just the other day, you even said, "Haiti is only a few hundred miles from Florida. What happens there does not stay there." According to a 2024 Government Accountability Office report, approximately 73% of firearms recovered in the Caribbean between 2018 and 2022 originated in the United States.
▶ 2:50:16Additionally, the UN Security Council also adopted an arms embargo on Haiti in 2022 to prevent weapons from reaching these gangs. So, let me ask you this first. What are you doing to ensure we are not violating the Security Council arms embargo? hand.
▶ 2:50:37How does the administration justify defunding the United Nations, including slashing its peacekeeping operational budget while simultaneously expecting it to take on a greater role in supporting the UN authorized gang suppression force? We are mission by mission evaluating the effectiveness of these peacekeeping operations. Uh, as I mentioned earlier, some have been around for 30 to 40 years at the cost of a billion dollars a year.
▶ 2:51:06Uh, and have not worked themselves out of a job, have not put peace in place. Um, as it pertains to the gang suppression force, that's actually a hybrid funding model. Uh, the UN budget is supporting basically the logistics. Uh, and we have a separate trust fund, the Haiti trust fund that a standing group of partners is contributing uh, uh, to.
▶ 2:51:28We have uh effective oversight over both of those funds and we are supporting uh both of those funds and again we will evaluate as that mandate comes up for renewal whether they are meeting the metrics uh and whether they are actually suppressing the gangs. I can tell you having just visited there the gang suppression force just conducted its first clearing operation and was fairly effective. Long way to go.
▶ 2:51:53That's coupled with training the Haitian National Police and standing up the Haitian army once again to take these paramilitary uh gangs on. And of course, we have the embargo in place. I visited the Dominican Republic whereas a lot of these arms are smuggled um and we are coordinating with their foreign ministry and their law enforcement uh both the foreign ministry and INL uh to better interdict uh arms illegal arms that are flowing into the gangs.
▶ 2:52:21Ambassador Walt, Ambassador Waltz, when you served in Congress, you were a staunch supporter of our Kurdish allies. In fact, you frequently emphasize the importance of standing with the Kurdish forces that fought alongside the US against ISIS. Recently, President Trump has called President Erdogan a very good ally. End of quote.
▶ 2:52:45Uh, and a good ally to me is an interesting way of describing a leader who simultaneously plates Putin and other dictators, degrades democracy and human rights in Turkey and harbors and supports terrorist regimes. On top of that, Erdigan has a long record of targeting Kurdish political and military groups.
▶ 2:53:08In the early days of this unauthorized war with Iran, reports indicated that Erdogan personally prevented Iranian Kurdish fighters from taking part in President Trump's proposed operation. Erdogan himself has publicly celebrated preventing that Kurdish operation.
▶ 2:53:27Do you also agree that per president President Erdogan is a very good ally even though he harbors Hamas supports terrorist regimes and has actively gone against Trump and his unauthorized war? Well, to you you mentioned uh my time in Congress. I was co-chair of the Kurdish caucus that's primarily focused on the Iraqi Kurds.
▶ 2:53:48And so when my statement that they have stood with us uh was the Peshmerga and that has been going back to um uh the early uh uh the early 90s. Obviously Turkey led by Erdogan is a NATO ally. We just had the NATO summit there. Um in fact years ago um Turkey shot down Russian fighters as they were uh penetrating their airspace from uh their incursion into Syria. It is sometimes a difficult relationship.
▶ 2:54:16We are taking action against Hamas charities, Hamas funded charities that are funneling goods uh into Gaza that are based uh in Turkey. Um we are actively looking at working with the Turkish uh government on how to shut that funding source down.
▶ 2:54:32Thank you. I yield back. Representative
▶ 2:54:37Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you very much for putting this together. I cannot explain to you. I thank you very much for um I mean, I'm I'm delighted to be in front of you. I we don't have words. You know, I represent the city of Miami and there are no words of gratitude that we can express on behalf of the constituents of millions of Cubanameans who saw your testimony the other day um at the United at the United Nations and and uh I we thank you very much because now more countries more countries than ever are voting with the United
▶ 2:55:07States against the Cuban regime. And not only that, but the fact that the Trump administration has been able to convince companies like Sherid from Canada or Melia from Spain to leave and stop being an accomplice of of making the Cuban labor force a bunch of slaves. So I once again, thank you. Thank you.
▶ 2:55:32Thank you on behalf of the people that I represent, the Venezuelans, the Nicaraguans, people that just want to see freedom and feel the freedom that we have in the United States. So, thank you, Mike, for being here with us. Now, um can you tell us what else is happening? What other countries are thinking about changing their votes and being with us? And thanks again.
▶ 2:55:51Well, you know, thank you for that. Uh and as you know uh the Cuban regime has used the United Nations for far too long for its propaganda to see other countries repeating that propaganda about a blockade as though there was a a US Navy fleet uh around uh Cuba stopping things from coming and going to heck we just listened to Representative Poken here repeating uh that propaganda after his visit um where apparently he didn't visit the political prisoners.
▶ 2:56:22Uh he didn't celebrate uh July 11th where they rose up to try to to throw off this yoke of oppression. Nor did he see the Castro family private jet that apparently has enough fuel or the Castro family private
▶ 2:56:35Mr. Chairman, I know he's speaking for me, but I'm still here.
▶ 2:56:38You're not recognized.
▶ 2:56:39Um and I did I have talked to folks. I I just want to since he's speaking for
▶ 2:56:43I know you want to, but you're not
▶ 2:56:44No, no, no worries, Mr. Chairman. So, I'll point up here instead of over uh to to the place where you were sitting. The Cuban foreign minister was so upset about having his corruption called out, he broke his earpiece, banging it on the table. They're not used to people pushing back uh on their ongoing years of propaganda and using, you know, the um I guess the logic of why do we still maintain pressure on this regime?
▶ 2:57:10I guess we should lift the pressure on North Korea as well and other countries around the world that want us for for that matter. Um, but I will tell you uh on a positive note, if the Abraham Accords were the story of the first Trump administration, what is happening in the Western Hemisphere I believe is the story of the second Trump administration.
▶ 2:57:29Argentina had already come our way, but now to see Chile, Ecuador, Bolivia, the inauguration that we're about to have in Colombia on August 7th, Honduras, El Salvador, uh to be down in the Dominican Republic where they're talking about alternative space space launch sites and the ongoing economic growth there. And of course, we have a horrific situation in Haiti.
▶ 2:57:54I hope this new hybrid model um uh will work to save the Haitian people from the from the devastation of the gangs. But there is a positive trajectory that's going on and of course I know you'll want to talk about Venezuela and Nicaragua. Let me Nicaragua as well because of my time is running away and I would love to talk to you for the next 30 minutes. Um Danielle Ortega said yesterday that clearly and openly that he was not planning on conducting any more free and fair elections than Nicaragua.
▶ 2:58:24He said it openly that he is going to become another dictator. What can we do to the v to the Nicaraguans? We also have hundreds of thousands of Nicaraguans in district 27 in Miami all over the United States that love the system. So what can we do so they can have a free country as But what they're get what they're no longer getting is is free energy and oil from Russia. Uh and like Cuba, they're no longer getting the hundred thousand hundreds of thousands a barrel of free oil uh from Venezuela.
▶ 2:58:52That's the story of the blackouts in Cuba. And I think it's going to be the story of Nicaragua as well. They no longer have their sugar daddy Maduro, who's now in jail, thank God, uh uh outside of the UN building right right there in New York. What can we do to force Ortega to change his position and feel the pressure from the United States like Cuba and Nicaragua have felt?
▶ 2:59:13I would uh I know we're running out of time. I'd hopefully I will come back to you and sit down with you in terms of the actions the Treasury Department, the Commerce Department, and the State Department will be taking and us here at the UN uh to take on yet another communist dictatorship in the Western
▶ 2:59:30Good. Venezuela. Finally, if I have two more minutes, Venezuela, we know that
▶ 2:59:38I have 30 seconds.
▶ 2:59:39You can have about five seconds.
▶ 2:59:41Thank you. Venezuela Secretary Rubio said that the transition was going to start early August, sometime this year. What can you share with us about that? We we want trans free and fair elections in Venezuela.
▶ 2:59:53We are providing life-saving aid, as you know, in response to the earthquake. We are clearing out the uh Cubans, Russians, Chinese, Iranians uh out of uh out of Iran. They are work I mean excuse me out of Venezuela. They are working with us and taking on the gangs and the secretary has announced the beginning of the transition which is moving the country in the right direction compared to where we were just a few months ago. Uh this is a an immense and positive uh
▶ 3:00:23Thank you and I will take you up on city. Thank you again. Thank you. You go
▶ 3:00:27You're recognized.
▶ 3:00:28Thank you, Chair Ambassador Watts. Thank you for testifying today. Welcome back to the committee.
▶ 3:00:32Good to see you.
▶ 3:00:33Uh since the start of the Trump administration's war of choice in Iran, tragically, 18 American service members have been killed. Hundreds more have been wounded. Tens of billions of dollars have been spent. More is coming. The administration is asking for significantly more resources to fight this war of choice. Back in America, gas prices are on the rise again.
▶ 3:00:52The Y Iran war has cost the average American household an extra $1,000 out of their pocket just since the start of the conflict in February as families are paying more and more for basics like groceries. Ambassador, in March, you went on CNN to tell the American people that the war in Iran was quote a dominant victory the likes of which haven't been seen in modern and mil military history.
▶ 3:01:14Just last month, you doubled down on your claims that Iran's military was quote devastated unquote and its nuclear program was quote destroyed unquote in an interview on on June 21st on Face the Nation. I believe the American people see it very differently. Trump's military venture has accomplished little. Iran still possesses missiles and drones necessary to hit American bases a thousand miles away.
▶ 3:01:40We testified earlier today that when the president said he had quote obliterated unquote Iran's nuclear program, he wasn't talking about enrichment capability. But intelligence shows that that activity continues unabated at the Pickax Mountain and underground complex with enough room to accommodate several nuclear- related facilities. Experts have said that fully eliminating Iran's nuclear program would require quote much more forceful intervention unquote including US troops on the ground.
▶ 3:02:08something of course nobody in America would accept. Ambassador Watts, I think a similar question may have asked earlier in the hearing, but I would like to ask it directly with you. Do you stand by those previous statements that the United States has achieved quote dominant victory unquote in this war?
▶ 3:02:25uh the the context of those statements were from a military standpoint which was the question asked of me and with its navy destroyed, air force destroyed, air defenses uh destroyed with dominant air superiority uh over Iran and its leadership seriously degraded and its industrial base seriously degraded, then yes, I stand by that statement. And from a broader standpoint, I stand by the statement that I made again today.
▶ 3:02:48Iran has never been in a weakest point since it started attacking the United States since 1979 between Lebanon, Syria, the Houthis, Iraq, uh its proxies are and Hamas for that matter are seriously degraded. It is currency is tanking. Its foreign reserves uh have never been lower. No one is buying its oil. China has cut its oil purchases in half according to Secretary Bessant. Uh so we are negotiating from a position of strength and the president continues to try diplomacy.
▶ 3:03:18It Iran has made it clear that it's not interested in serious diplomacy as it attacks civilian shipping in the middle of negotiations.
▶ 3:03:26I might suggest that that rosy outlook is uh not u agreed with by the vast vast majority of our fellow um Americans. I would suggest that is a significant minority opinion in the United States of America. In fact, it's very clear that the United States has not achieved a quote dominant victory in this war. The American people unquestionably are worse off, burning through taxpayer resources. Middle East is in turmoil right now. Our ally Kuwait is now rationing electricity after Iran hit its power grid.
▶ 3:03:54American allied troops are exposed to Iranian missiles and drones tragically like we just saw in Jordan a few days ago. Let me turn to Taiwan. Uh, Master Wads, um, I admire the position that you took on Taiwan while you were here in Congress with us. You've been a major proponent of our relationship with Taiwan, from working to modernize US military foreign sales process while you were in Congress to working to advance Taiwan's standing at the UN.
▶ 3:04:22However, following his trip to Beijing in May, President Trump disclosed that he and Xi had quote talked the whole night unquote about Taiwan during their meeting in Beijing and was pausing a major arms package for Taipei, calling it quote a very good negotiating chip unquote. Ambassador, you insisted in an interview with Fox News immediately following the president's trip that US policy on Taiwan is quote going to be status quo going forward.
▶ 3:04:48You can't possibly be suggesting that using arm sales to Taiwan as a bargaining ship with China is the status quo. Are you?
▶ 3:04:57What I referred to is uh there, as the president said, there's no change in policy. Strategic ambiguity remains. Uh and it is worth noting to be clear that President Trump this term has authorized more arm sales to Taiwan than the entire Biden administration just last year. And you and I know there's strong bipartisan support for that, authorizing it and getting those weapons in the hands of the Tai Taiwan so that they can defend
▶ 3:05:25I know there's a multi-billion dollar backlog from industry to actually get those arms off the production line. And President Trump is working, as is Secretary Hegathth, to re-industrialize and uh pull those supply chains back home, re-industrialize America, and expand our defense industrial base.
▶ 3:05:41Thank you very much. Uh, Ambassador Watts. I have further questions, but I think I'm out of time, so I will yield back and submit those in writing. Thank
▶ 3:05:47Representative Lawler.
▶ 3:05:51Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Ambassador, good to see you. Uh, I'm sure you saw what Zoran Mdani was up to this week. Uh, instead of working to lower costs for New Yorkers, Zoran spent the week trying to figure out how to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
▶ 3:06:07Uh and after days of using his taxpayer-f funed lawyers uh to examine this nonsense, uh he released a scripted video filled with propaganda uh sharing what we knew from the start, which is that he doesn't have the legal authority to arrest a democratically elected prime minister. Ambassador, can you confirm for all of us that Mr. from Dani does not have the authority to arrest Prime Minister Netanyahu.
▶ 3:06:37Number yes, I can congressman and it is, you know, as as probably one of the only Fidians actually moving the other direction into New York now. Um, well, I'll just leave I'll leave that commentary aside to answer your question directly.
▶ 3:06:53The United States uh is not a party uh to the Rome Statue, which underpins the International Criminal Court, which is a corrupt organization who had just had to fire its head prosecutor for sexual uh abuse and assault after um uh he chased or is chasing after the Prime Minister Netanyahu uh with prosecution. Number one, we're not a party. We don't have uh authority of the ICC.
▶ 3:07:19there is head of state immunity and under the UN headquarters agreement, heads of state are allowed to come and go to the UN General Assembly. But the bigger picture is why isn't he so adamant about the thugs that come in and out from Iran uh or from North Korea or from others as he is about Prime Minister Netanyahu.
▶ 3:07:40Look, not only that, he was opposed to the arrest and capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicholas Maduro, who was twice indicted by our own court system, the Southern District of New York, twice indicted him, and Zoran called for his release.
▶ 3:08:02Meanwhile, he wants to arrest a dulyeleed prime minister of an ally based on the International Criminal Court of which we are not party to. Uh it's truly remarkable.
▶ 3:08:16It's also remarkable that one of his key cabinet officials uh is reaching out to quote unquote like-minded governments and trying to meet with the Iran regime in the midst of an ongoing conflict.
▶ 3:08:28I'd expect nothing less from an anti-semite. This is the fundamental problem. Um, look, you understand full well the challenges uh that you deal with every day at the United Nations. Uh, but sadly, we have a mayor of New York City uh who believes it's his responsibility uh to uphold international law.
▶ 3:08:56But meanwhile, this is the same person who wants to release dangerous criminals back out onto the streets in New York City, who refuses to cooperate with ICE to turn over violent criminals for deportation to federal authorities, who believes in sanctuary jurisdictions because, well, we don't want to hold people accountable for breaking our laws here in the United States, but somehow we're going to enforce uh the laws of the IC.
▶ 3:09:26CC that we are not party to a corrupt anti-semitic anti-American anti-Israeli uh entity uh all because of
▶ 3:09:35which by the way and I'll I'll defer Ambassador Bartos which by the way has ongoing investigations against American soldiers uh from Afghanistan.
▶ 3:09:43Yeah, Congressman, thank you for your leadership on so many issues including ENRA the on the eve of Tishb the the saddest day in the Jewish calendar which will start at sunset tonight and go for 25 hours and fasting and everything else. It's it's fundamentally offensive that the mayor is spending any of his time on this issue. Um, and the ambassador is absolutely right. Ambassador Waltz is absolutely right.
▶ 3:10:05The ICC has been weaponized by globalists to seek with one mission and that is to take down uh Western democracies like the United States and to to try to imprison our leaders and our soldiers and it's the Trump administration.
▶ 3:10:21It's worth noting that the Clinton administration and every administration since did not join the Rome statute, but it's only the Trump administration with the leadership of the president and Secretary Rubio with his to force of remarks last week that pointed out this and said we're going to dismantle this corrupt court if necessary brick by brick.
▶ 3:10:41Well, speaking of dismantling, we also need to dismantle UNRA. Uh and I have legislation with Josh Godheimer to do that. uh and I would encourage the administration to support it and to push Congress to pass it.
▶ 3:10:54We we've read it and it's terrific and thank you for putting that forward and uh look forward to working with you and your team on these important issues.
▶ 3:11:00Thank you.
▶ 3:11:02Last and least, I'm going to take my own five minutes to ask questions. I want to talk about the sexual exploitation that's alleged within the United Nations. Can you just begin by giving me an overlay of what you know about it? What silos has this been identified in? Uh I've heard most prevalently of course UN peacekeepers, but can you identify other silos that this has been an
▶ 3:11:27Um Mr. Chairman, thank you for the question. It's uh every one of us in our confirmation hearings were asked about this issue. Democrat, Republican, didn't matter from which side of the aisle, everybody's concerned about this issue. And it's something we talk about uh whenever we meet with senior officials within the United Nations. And so we we are aware we look at I'm going to I have it right here. The trends um the trend lines and then broken down by uh whether it's industry or whether it's peacekeepers or whether it's civilians.
▶ 3:11:55regurgitate it to me.
▶ 3:11:57Yeah, sure. Yes, sir. Um in 2025, a total of 520 allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse were recorded across the United Nations system. It's important to note these are allegations. There are we we believe there are many more that are not reported or not alleged for all sorts of reasons. fear uh from coming forward, the fact that family can't feed itself if if someone is is using food as a as a weapon uh to to exploit
▶ 3:12:23any charges. Is there even an entity within the UN to charge because it's all these different countries.
▶ 3:12:32You got to the heart of the issue. Nations will protect their own. too many nations will protect their own and the process of the OIOS investigation and others working within the UN system to refer those to host country I'm sorry to host countries [clears throat] to uh countries you know their their nationals have been accused and then the process of that is abysmal
▶ 3:12:51are you aware of any situation where it's gone beyond an allegation to somebody has been criminally prosecuted somewhere for this
▶ 3:12:58I'm not aware of any if memory serves it's it's less than five that I'm aware of and and I've asked these questions
▶ 3:13:04you're saying in UN history you're you're to your knowledge it's
▶ 3:13:08going back in like the most recent past
▶ 3:13:10okay to some history you're not saying it's a last year's stat
▶ 3:13:14I'm not looking no and they don't have statistics here about going it from from investigation to charging to trial and then conviction
▶ 3:13:21one of the numbers that I read I can't exactly attest to its authenticity uh it said over 100 sexual abuse allegations 65 births that were given this was a stat for last year are Are you familiar with that stat at all?
▶ 3:13:36I'm familiar that it's a it's a the fact that innocent people are uh are exploited like this and then fathers don't just run away or or go away and are not uh responsible is it's a stain on the organization.
▶ 3:13:56To your knowledge, has the UN done any paternity tests with those allegations that resulted uh in births of children? I'm aware that there's a unit that solely exists to look at paternity and and trying to f to to make the father responsible for the child, but uh to my knowledge, certain
▶ 3:14:15or responsible for their criminal activity. Yeah. Their rape, their their sexual abuse.
▶ 3:14:19Yes, sir. Your point is well taken.
▶ 3:14:21What do you know the name of that entity within the UN?
▶ 3:14:24It's it's an acronym and I will get back to your team with that.
▶ 3:14:27Please get back to me with that. The ICC ICJ has not no jurisdiction over this. They have not been a part of bringing anything against something like this?
▶ 3:14:35To your knowledge. Uh do you know has the United Nations paid out any settlements to your knowledge?
▶ 3:14:40Not to my knowledge.
▶ 3:14:41For sexual abuse? Do they have a fund to pay out settlements for sexual abuse?
▶ 3:14:44Not to my knowledge.
▶ 3:14:45Is there anything that I've asked not asked about the sexual abuse allegations that have gone on uh within the United Nations that again many have heard about for years uh that you think I probably should have asked this because this would be information that we should know or anybody would want to know?
▶ 3:14:59Yeah. F1, sir. Um, Mr. Chairman, why did it take so long for administrations to be shining a light on this or to to to shine a light on this issue and and to hold the UN accountable? It's I I mean, sitting in uh central African country in February with the force commander who said to me, quote, "Thank you for withholding payment." Now, we don't get told that very often.
▶ 3:15:23Thank you for withholding payment because it allowed me to repatriate poorly performing, as I said in my opening, poorly performing, which means abuse of troops in many cases. It allowed me to repatriate those troops, send them back. I had the political cover to do it. We don't often have the cover. In fact, what he said is we never have the cover to send them back.
▶ 3:15:41In the remaining time, what could you see as a a proposition as our representatives there uh within the United Nations to actually uh create consequences and penalties uh so that this is an issue that is addressed so that individuals would be imprisoned or castrated or you know whatever would be the appropriate
▶ 3:16:02Yes sir. The the common sense uh solution, Ambassador Waltz, I know you may want to have something. The common sense solution would be simply you lose your ability to be a troop contributing country if you're uh not going to adequately not forget adequately if you're not going to make it the highest priority to try and get and and hold accountable those who commit exploitation and abuse of of uh innocent people living in these very war torn and tough areas.
▶ 3:16:25Thank you for your testimony. Uh we'll go to closing statements. Do you have any closing statement you wish to offer?
▶ 3:16:30I do not, Chairman. Thank you. For my closing statement, I'd simply offer you my five minutes of closing time to say, is there anything that you'd like to say, respond to from uh your time here
▶ 3:16:43Well, we've just heard um I think a lot of of rhetoric about whether President Trump was a is a president of peace and and that whether we work or don't work well with our allies. I could tell you when we talked to Aaraijan in Armenia, they believe he's a president of peace that they have the free flow of goods for the first time in 30 years. Uh it is imperfect. The border situation in Thailand and Cambodia, it's imperfect.
▶ 3:17:07But uh moving forward between Pakistan and India, DRC Congo, the president is putting political frameworks, peace deals in place. The UN should be doing a lot of that. The next secretary general should be leading those efforts. uh we are trying hybrid models in terms of board of peace or the gang suppression force to overcome a lot of the shortcomings of uh the UN to try to bring stability in efforts around the world.
▶ 3:17:35But I find it laughable when uh critics talk about President Trump as not engaged uh around the world. He is truly trying to solve some of these problems even forgotten conflicts like the Palisario and Western Sahara. has charged us to go out uh and and find a solution. It's not easy. Uh the UN is a part of that.
▶ 3:17:57Uh and our charge isn't to walk away, but is to clean this organization up uh so that it can then take care of some of these issues in a much more meaningful and effective way. And I guess I would just conclude, Mr. Chairman, with thank you uh for holding this. We are taking a hard look and we welcome the committee's oversight and expertise on outputs. You know, all too often government and particularly multinational organizations focus on dollars going in and people going in.
▶ 3:18:26We're looking at effectiveness going out, whether that's in the humanitarian space, the development space, or the peacekeeping uh space because ultimately we owe that to our constituents that are paying 25% uh of this bill. I do think this is an organization that can be effective. That's where the president is. His charge to us, help make it great again, help it realize its potential. Uh, and it's an honor to have this team uh, working in that regard.
▶ 3:18:53And every time we pull up in a chair behind a placard that says United States of America on the world stage, every time as a former soldier, we are using words and not bullets. uh and every time we actually conclude a deal, not always easy and not always easy to implement, that we conclude a peace agreement or a step in that direction uh representing the United States of America. It's an honor. I would thank you both for your testimony. I would thank you for your service at the United Nations. Tough service there.
▶ 3:19:23And I would let you both know that we've also sent uh requests for leadership within the United Nations to come before Congress and testify as well. We'd love to have them answer some of these same questions like the ones I just posed to you. Uh members of the committee may have some additional questions for you as witnesses. We'll ask that you respond to those in writing and pursuant to committee rules. All members may have five legislative days uh to submit statements, extraneous materials, questions for the record subject to length limitations.
▶ 3:19:51And without objection, this committee stands