GOP senators criticize Biden’s foreign trip, warn threat to US due to Afghanistan withdrawal, Iran aggression

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Sen. Tom Cotton calls Biden's Israel, Saudi Arabia trip a 'failure,' warns Afghanistan is now a terrorist 'haven'

Sen. Tom Cotton told Fox News Digital at the CUFI 2022 Washington Summit that President Biden's recent foreign trip was a "failure" due to nothing concrete coming out of the visit and warned that terrorism is thriving in Afghanistan since the U.S. withdrawal.

EXCLUSIVE: ARLINGTON, Va., – Republican senators expressed disappointment in the outcome of President Biden's recent trip to Israel and Saudi Arabia, while also warning that Iran poses a massive security threat to the U.S. and its allies and the administration must take it seriously.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, told Fox News Digital behind the scenes at the Christians United for Israel (CUFI) 2022 Washington Summit Monday that the Biden administration's foreign policy strategy is incomprehensible, and therefore the trip did not go well.

"Well, unfortunately, it didn't go well. And we've seen for a year and a half a foreign policy from this White House that doesn't make sense. They systematically alienate our friends and friends and allies and at the same time, they show weakness and appeasement to our enemies," Cruz said.

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"[Biden] spent a year and a half demonizing the Saudis, attacking the Saudis, and in fact, even in Saudi Arabia, he couldn't resist demonizing them while being on bended knee, asking for a favor of, gosh, could you produce some more oil to help me out in the elections in November? And unsurprisingly, he didn't get anywhere that that that you don't keep friends. You don't make friends by treating them terribly. And Biden does the same thing to the Saudis that he does to Israel. And in fact, when it comes to Israel, the antipathy from the Biden White House is even greater," Cruz continued.

The Texas senator cited one of Biden administration's gaffes throughout the trip, when National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan stated they would be opening a consulate to the Palestinians in Jerusalem, which Cruz said would undermine Israel's sovereignty in the holy city.

"Within hours, the White House had to walk that statement back because it was a major gaffe. But it's emblematic of the misguided priorities," the Texas senator stated.

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., similarly said that Biden's foreign trip was a "failure because he didn't walk away with anything concrete" and has misplaced priorities with Iran.

"What Israel and Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates and so many countries in the region have in common is that they are pro-American. Contrast that with Iran who is anti-American, yet who Joe Biden is sitting down and negotiating with and trying to give away the farm to the ayatollahs. At the same time, while he's neglecting and turning his back on so many of our partners," said Cotton.

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Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., said Biden was sending "mixed messages" during his foreign trip, which is detrimental to the national security of the U.S. and its allies.

The senator said he is concerned about "what's happening with Iran right now and obviously their noticeable aggression in multiple and also the president, his engagement in the Middle East and kind of this mixed message that's currently going on right now in the Middle East."

He also comments on Biden's "lots of gaffes and lots of problems that were there, the famous fist bump and all kinds of bizarre things," he said alluding to the fist-bump greeting exchanged between Biden and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman that has been widely criticized.

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Cruz also commented on Iran saying that Iran's unchecked aggression could impact U.S. allies in the region and that Biden should not be focused on negotiating a new nuclear deal.

"The Saudis have their issues. I've long described the Saudis as a problematic ally. There are challenges with them, but they are also a major force counterbalancing Iran. And Iran is led by an ayatollah who wants to murder us, who routinely leads mobs chanting ‘Death to America.’ And it is in America's national security interest to have a strong Saudi Arabia stand up and resist Iran. Well, Joe Biden doesn't believe that because he believes that a nuclear Iran would just be hunky-dory if he's been spending a year and a half trying to negotiate a deal that would inevitably result in a nuclear Iran. And so, the president's problem was a political one."

The Republican senators also commented on the quickly approaching 1-year mark of the United States' withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Nikki Haley says the Biden administration's push for a new Iran Nuclear Deal will "come back to bite" the United States, Israel and other allies. (Kelly Laco/Fox News Digital)

Cotton told Fox News Digital: "Unfortunately, Afghanistan is once again becoming a haven for certain terrorist groups. You know, at the time, Joe Biden said that we might launch over the horizon counterterrorism strikes. I called that at the time over the rainbow counterterrorism strikes because there are going to be no strikes if we didn't have intelligence assets on the ground knowing where to target terrorists. And since we withdrew from Afghanistan, there has not been a single strike against the terrorists there."

"More broadly, the humiliating withdrawal from Afghanistan last summer emboldened our adversaries. It enticed Vladimir Putin to think he could get away with his war of aggression against Ukraine. It encouraged Iran to draw even harder lines, make more even more unreasonable demands at the negotiating table, which simply buys more time for them to rise or a nuclear bomb. So a year on from the disaster in Afghanistan, it still reverberates across the world in ways that harm America's interests," continued Cotton.

Cruz said that the Afghanistan exit was an "absolute catastrophe" and put America and the rest of the world in a vulnerable position.

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"Well, the withdrawal from Afghanistan was an absolute catastrophe. President Biden left Americans behind in enemy lines. He did so incompetently and. It was horrific on many fronts, but. But perhaps the most horrific. Is all across the globe the enemies of America. They look to Washington, and they look to the Oval Office. And they took the measure of the man in the Oval Office. And they concluded, unfortunately, that the president was weak and feckless and ineffective," he said.

"And I said at the time a year ago, I said the chances of Russia invading Ukraine have just risen tenfold. And I also said at the time, the chances of China invading Taiwan have just risen tenfold," he continued comparing Biden to Neville Chamberlain who appeased Hitler. 

"And unfortunately, that embodies what the Biden foreign policy is. And we're seeing we're seeing the entire world, every enemy of America is stronger and America's position is more vulnerable today than it has been in our lifetime," Cruz told Fox News Digital. 

Lankford summed it up: "I'm convinced Russia doesn't move into Ukraine except for the chaotic withdrawal in Afghanistan that Russia saw, the chaos that happened there, American weakness there, and know that the United States wouldn't win, wouldn't show any kind of symbol of strength during that time period."