Trump promised to end the war in Ukraine within 24 hours over 53 times.
Well, it’s almost two years later, and Trump has failed to negotiate a peace deal with Russia. The longer the war goes on, the friendlier Trump gets with Putin, and the more strained the U.S. alliance with President Zelensky becomes.
Representative Adam Smith (D-WA), Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee, joins Jen to outline the dangers of a president allying himself with a brutal dictator. The pair point to the need for swift congressional oversight into the Pentagon’s actions in Iran, extrajudicial boat strikes near Venezuela, and rampant kleptocracy that Trump and his administration facilitate.
Ranking Member Adam Smith is Democratic leader of the House Armed Services Committee. He represents Washington’s ninth district.
The following transcript has been edited for formatting purposes.
Jen Rubin
Hi, this is Jen Rubin, Editor-in-Chief of the Contrarian. I’m delighted to have with us the Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee, Adam Smith. If the Democrats win the House, he’ll become the Chairman. Welcome!
Rep. Adam Smith
Welcome, it’s good to see you. Thanks for having me on, Jen, I appreciate it.
Jen Rubin
Absolutely. You put out a statement today on Ukraine. What is the president doing, and what can Congress do to reverse this complete sellout to Putin?
Rep. Adam Smith
Yeah, well, I think, you know, it’s clear what the president is doing. What the president is doing is he’s siding with a brutal dictator, and look, I mean. really, I guess, dramatic about it, but the president has essentially ended our constitutional republic in the U.S. I was reading an article yesterday, there’s some 250 different court decisions, that in one way or another the president has defied, simply decided not to pay attention to them. There’s, gosh, hundreds of laws that he’s completely ignored. So he is ruling like an autocratic dictator, not the leader of a constitutional republic, and that’s his vision. Putin is also an autocratic dictator, so he’s siding with the dictators over a Democratic ally. And I think we have to be clear-eyed about what he’s doing and why he’s doing it. Republicans have been lost in this fantasy for some time that, oh, it’s a tactical move, he’s trying to force Ukraine to the bargaining table. He’s siding with Russia, he’s siding with Putin.
Jen Rubin
And what can Congress do about it?
Rep. Adam Smith
Well, therein lies the problem. Okay, you know, at the end of the day, there’s only one thing that would truly work, and that is to remove him from office. Okay You know, and I’ve had this conversation. I was on the call with President Zelensky yesterday morning with a number of members, House and Senate, and they were talking about, well, you know, we pass a law to, you know, force him to give the weapons to Ukraine that he’s been withholding. It’s a law to make sure that he can’t waive the sanctions. But Trump doesn’t pay attention to laws. Okay? So, you know, that’s kind of a limitation on that, in terms of it being a solution. So, now, that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t do that. We should. We should pass the laws, we should speak out, but we have to rally support broadly to try to stop what the president is doing, not just on Ukraine, but in a whole host of other places.
Jen Rubin
There are so many issues, ranging from extrajudicial killings on the high seas, to overlooking women and minorities for promotions. Where do you begin on oversight of the Pentagon?
Rep. Adam Smith
Gosh, I think we begin on the Iran war, on trying to stop that war and focusing on the illegality of it. You know, but also, I think another big focus will be corruption. So… You know, I think that’s, you know, certainly rampant within the Pentagon, as it is throughout the Trump government, as they are basically a kleptocracy, you know, rewarding their friends, you know, looking into the boat strikes, all of the illegal activities that have been done. But stopping the Iran war would be job one.
Jen Rubin
And one of the issues is, of course, that we have people who do business with the Pentagon who curry favor with the President, make donations to the ballroom, for example. Is that something that you’re going to look into?
Rep. Adam Smith
I don’t know that that’s directly in our purview. We’ll have to work with the House Government Oversight Committee on which way to approach that. But absolutely, yes. No, I think the corruption runs deep in this administration.
Jen Rubin
How concerned are you about the posture of the military in general. We’ve depleted our munitions. Our basing strategy seems to be in disarray. We had to withdraw bombers from the UK. What… Are you concerned about, in terms of our overall strategic posture in the world?
Rep. Adam Smith
Yeah, no, I think… And Trump certainly isn’t the only reason for this, but he certainly… but he accelerated it. You know, look, we have now, just reading an article this morning, we’ve reached the point where we are paying more on service to the debt than we are in the defense budget. You know, and historically, great powers have, well, collapsed, might be an overstatement, but been significantly weakened when that point has been reached. And I think part of what we have to do is we have to recognize that we’re not going to be able to do as much in the world as we used to, and we’re going to have to fundamentally change our national security and foreign policy to recognize that reality. You know. That’s… I know we’re America, you know, we’re supposed to always go out there and solve every problem. But that’s gonna have to change going forward, because we simply don’t have the money, the resources, or the support globally. And yeah, Trump has driven a lot of that, but there are others involved.
Jen Rubin
There is a grave concern that the military’s honor, its reputation in the world has been sullied. The Pentagon has not investigated the strike on the girls’ school in Iran. We talk about the extrajudicial killings on the high seas. What can Congress do in terms of oversight and to reassert the important moral fiber, the honor code of the military. There really is a national security imperative. It’s what gets us allies, it’s what gets us friends around the world.
Rep. Adam Smith
Yeah, no, I think all of those things need to be investigated, and all of these things need to do it. But look, I mean, part of the problem is. There’s nothing, like, buried here. Okay, you know, there’s nothing that’s like, you know, nobody knows about the girls’ school, or, you know, nobody knows about, you know, Pete Hegsteth saying, no quarter for the enemy. It’s all very public, it’s all very known. Yeah, I think we should investigate it and shine a light on it, but again, I think this points towards the necessity of removing Trump from office.
Jen Rubin
Would you be in favor of impeachment and removing him from office?
Rep. Adam Smith
Absolutely. I don’t see where we have a choice, given what he’s doing.
Jen Rubin
And do you think your colleagues are in agreement with you? Do you think there’s a growing consensus in Congress for that?
Rep. Adam Smith
I think there’s a growing opinion that, yes, we need to do it. I’m not sure… I’m not sure we’re there yet. Look, you know, I’m a month in… and this was a new position for me, okay? You know, a month in.
Jen Rubin
Thank you.
Rep. Adam Smith
I was like. you know, if we don’t have 60 votes… 67 votes in the Senate, what’s the point? You know, but the point is, you know, given how rogue Trump has gone, what choice do we have?
Jen Rubin
And at some point, there was another process that has served in terms of alerting the public, gaining more information, getting others to come forward. What are you hearing from civilian leadership within the Pentagon? Military leadership within the Pentagon, how concerned are they about the Pentagon’s direction, its oversight, Hague sense, fitness to lead?
Rep. Adam Smith
I think there is a ton of concern throughout the military. Current military, ex-military, they look at what the Pentagon has become under HACSATH. And they are appalled. You know, at the way he is leading, you know, pushing aside senior leaders, you know, focusing on the appearance and physical fitness of individuals. As opposed to the capability of the force, I think there’s a lot of concern about where all that is going. You know, it’s a bad, bad, dangerous situation, without question.
Jen Rubin
And one of the other aspects of the military that we’ve seen eroded is this effort to kind of exclude the press. favor their…
Rep. Adam Smith
Yeah.
Jen Rubin
captive audience and the rest. That’s a problem throughout the government as Trump tries to suppress the free press. Is there something Congress can do about that? Is there something they can do to elevate the issue?
Rep. Adam Smith
Look, I mean, I have the same answer to all this, yeah, we can elevate it, but it’s all part of Trump being a fascist dictator instead of democratically elected president. you know, he’s shutting down media that he doesn’t like. So, you know, that’s a huge, huge challenge to try and deal with.
Jen Rubin
You’re gonna be confronted when Congress returns after the election, even before the new Congress comes in, on a continuing resolution to keep the government open. Do you have thoughts on whether that should be very long, whether that should be short, and give Democrats an opportunity to really govern from the get-go? Talk to us a little bit about the funding of the government.
Rep. Adam Smith
Yeah, that’s going to be a very, very difficult thing to resolve. I think as Democrats, we still have to come up with the right strategy. We don’t… we don’t like the way Trump is. On the other hand, shutting down the government is not of a benefit. I think the hope is that we can do what we did last January. where the adults in the room, the Tom Coles and, you know, the, Susan Collinses and others, come together, put together an agreement, and fund an appropriations bill that is reasonable. But keep in mind, the Republicans are asking for $1.5 trillion for defense. Now, no Democrat’s gonna support that, so we gotta get to a more reasonable place if we’re going to get there on that.
Jen Rubin
Last question for you. The situation in Israel on the West Bank has become really egregious. A Washington Post reporter was beaten badly. European diplomats were harmed. Does there need to be a change in the posture of military aid to Israel?
Rep. Adam Smith
I think so. I mean, I’m the lead sponsor of the West Bank Violence Prevention Act, and what’s going on in the West Bank, by the settlers, at least. is clearly ethnic cleansing. Now, the Israeli government has not fully endorsed this, but on the other hand, they also haven’t done anything to stop it, and there are two prominent members of their government, in Smotrich and Ben-Gavir, who have openly supported it. So, yes, it does, I think, create fundamental problems in the relationship.
Jen Rubin
So, I actually lied. Last question for you. Are you guys ready to hit the ground running? If you do win the House? Do you have a game plan for January, and are you optimistic that you’re going to have a certain amount of clarity and unity of purpose among the new members?
Rep. Adam Smith
I do. I mean, I think certainly it’s a wide range. We’re gonna have a lot of, you know, more conservative members from red districts, you know, we’re gonna have fairly left members from other districts, but I think there’s a unity of purpose. and stopping Trump and turning this country around. And I think, you know, so yeah, I think we will be able to come together.
Jen Rubin
As always, thanks so much, and next time we chat, hopefully I can call you Mr. Chairman. So I look forward to that. Thanks, take care.
Rep. Adam Smith
Thanks so much.
