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Senator Tammy Baldwin,
thank you so much.

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>> Thank you for having me.
>> We turn now to

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Republican U.S. Senator Ron
Johnson on the war with

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Iran. And, Senator, thanks
very much for being here.

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>> Thanks for having me on.
>> So you voted this week

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against a War Powers
resolution to block future

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U.S. military action in
Iran. It failed mostly on

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party lines. But describe
why you voted against it.

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>> Well, first of all, we
have to recognize Iran has

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been at war with us for 47
years in a low grade war.

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But they have the the blood
of hundreds, maybe

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thousands of Americans on
their hands. The largest

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state sponsor of terror.
They've declared that we

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are, you know, death to
America, death to Israel.

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They are a menace. They
threaten world peace. They

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threaten regional peace.
And at some point in time,

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we simply weren't going to
be able to deal with them.

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If they became a nuclear
power or they build up

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their, their missile
inventory to such an extent

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that you couldn't act. And
President Trump decided

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this the moment to act. You
cannot have 535 commanders

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in chief, quite honestly,
even a full blown

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discussion prior to the
military action would have

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completely neutered our
ability to to take the type

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of decisive action we've
taken. So again, the

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Constitution means
something to me. We have a

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commander in chief. Yes.
Congress is is charged with

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declaring war, but we
haven't declared war since

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World War Two. And look at
all the military

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interventions from both
Republican and Democrat

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administrations. So this is
the way things are right

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now. And when information
really travels the speed of

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light, you've got to make
quick decisions. And that's

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why we have a a commander
in chief.

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>> Does it does it matter
in your mind that the

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administration's
justification for the

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the first days?
>> I think there's multiple

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reasons. Again, you know,
it's not like we declared

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war on Iran. They declared
war on us. And this has

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just been ongoing there.
The threat has been

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persistent. And at some
point in time, we were

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going to have to act. And
good, good thing that we

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did act before it was too
late.

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>> How do you think this
will progress or escalate

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and ultimately end?
>> Well, I think the

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administration, the
in terms of his war aims

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destroy their missile
capability launchers. The

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missiles themselves are
manufacturing capabilities,

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destroy their navy so they
can't, you know, stop the

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flow of oil, make sure that
they will never have a

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nuclear weapon. Those those
are three war aims.

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President Trump is highly
reluctant to put boots on

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the ground. That's why he's
encouraging the Iranian

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people. This is the moment
of the regime's weakness.

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Take advantage of it. Take
back your country. I

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sincerely hope Iranian
people do that. But again,

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this this is not he's he's
not going to ensure regime

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change. That's going to be
up to the Iranian people.

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And I hope they do, because
if they do, what we will be

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witnessing is just historic
opportunity to create far

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greater peace and stability,
not only in the Middle East

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but throughout the world.
>> How concerning is it

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that this has spread to the
entire region?

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>> Well, that's Iran's
doing. I mean, that just

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shows what a persistent
threat they are. You know,

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normally if you go to war,
you want to try and find

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allies. They're just
creating greater enemies.

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So again, that just proves
the point. Iran was going

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to have to be taken care of
at some point in time. I

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guess this is that point in
time. And I for one, hope

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the regime falls and that
the Iranian people take

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over Iran for the benefit
of themselves.

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>> How how does that work?
How do the Iranians take

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over their country?
>> It's going to be very

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difficult. I mean, there's
again, there's no guarantee

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whatsoever. There's 200,000
in the Revolutionary Guard.

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There's another 600,000 in
their militias, the brutal

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militias that slaughtered
32,000 Iranians in just a

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few days. You know, there
were 16 or 17,000

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executions in the French
Revolution, 2 to 5000

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executions during the
Spanish Inquisition. Just

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puts you puts the Iranian
regime how brutal they are

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just in context. So again,
this is this is an evil

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regime. The sooner they're
gone, the better.

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>> What is your message to
men and women from

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Wisconsin now serving as
part of the war mission?

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>> First of all, thank you
for your service and

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Godspeed. It's tragic. I
mean, you know, we have a

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mom from Wisconsin who lost
her daughter from White

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Bear Lake. I mean, you read
about that. It's just it's

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just absolutely tragic. So
nobody, nobody wants to see

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these types of fatalities.
But unfortunately, that's

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that's what happens when
you have an evil regime

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like Iran that threatens
everybody that has to be

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taken care of.
>> You know, this question,

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is it the United States
right to take out other

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countries rulers, even with
the Ronald Reagan executive

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order that bans such
assassinations?

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>> I don't know how many
times I have to point this

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out. We didn't start this.
All Iran would have had to

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do is agree not to obtain a
nuclear weapon, stop

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enriching uranium if they
want nuclear power by the

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power rods, that's all they
had to do. There wouldn't

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have been sanctions, there
wouldn't be bombs dropping.

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But they refused to do that.
Take that one simple step.

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And the fact that they
didn't do that, as I said,

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speaks volumes and just
shows what a menace they

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were. So we we had to take
them out. And again, I do

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not mourn the loss of
Khomeini and the people

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underneath him.
>> What about the way

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people on the other side of
the aisle are talking about

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how it should have been
diplomacy that solved this?

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>> We've been we've been
trying diplomacy for 47

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years with Iran. Obviously,
it was never going to work.

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We could not allow them.
And even the other side of

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the aisle will say, we
can't allow them to become

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a nuclear power. Well, what
are we going to do to stop

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them? Eventually they're
going to become a nuclear

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power. Then they would have
been untouchable. President

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Trump's prevented them from
ever reaching that stage.

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>> Now, the National
Terrorism Advisory System

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says due to the lapse in
federal funding, the

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website will not be
actively managed. So what

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is your response to that?
>> We ought to fund DHS. I

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mean, it's incredible to me
that, you know, at this

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moment of danger for our
homeland, Democrats are

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still digging their heels
in not funding DHS. And the

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excuse they're using is
they want to defund ICE.

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Well, ICE is fully funded.
Ice agents are getting

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paychecks. It's the other
components of DHS that

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aren't. And there are a lot
of components, DHS, that

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that work to try and keep
us safe. So I think it's

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unconscionable. The
defund DHS.