In her Friday press conference, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) remained mum about whether her trip to Asia would include a stop in Taiwan citing security concerns for her congressional delegation of lawmakers heading abroad to show emphasis on the U.S. interest in Asia. According to U.S. Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR), though, not everyone has been so tight-lipped about Pelosi's travel plans.
When asked about reported trip to Taiwan, Pelosi says she won’t discuss her travel because it’s a national security issue. Says she doesn’t know what the Pentagon’s concern would be with her traveling there. Says she wants to support Taiwan
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) July 21, 2022
In an interview earlier in the week, Cotton said it's common knowledge on Capitol Hill that Pelosi's plans to visit Taiwan were leaked to the Chinese Communist Party in Beijing by none other than President Joe Biden himself.
"Well the word I've heard in Congress is that the leak of Nancy Pelosi's trip came straight from the White House, the pressure came from Joe Biden who doesn't want her to take this trip because he's once again kowtowing to Beijing," Cotton explained to Laura Ingraham on Fox News Channel. "But Lloyd Austin and Joe Biden shouldn't be worried about China's aggressiveness, they should be making China worry about our aggressiveness," he noted. "For decades, American lawmakers have been traveling to Taiwan — of both parties — and that should continue now, especially after it became public," Cotton urged.
Cotton added that he saw Speaker Pelosi earlier in the week and "told her it was absolutely essential that she go forward with this trip, no matter what Joe Biden says."
In an earlier interview this week, Cotton insisted that "Speaker Pelosi should absolutely go forward with her trip to Taiwan" and encouraged the speaker to include Republicans on her trip. "We cannot allow Chinese threats to deter a mere visit by a member of Congress to Taiwan."
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"We cannot back down in the face of these Chinese threats," Cotton reiterated, saying if Biden "prevents Nancy Pelosi or any other member of Congress from traveling to Taiwan, it will create a major foreign policy crisis — imagine what it will signal to the Chinese Communists if they think they can threaten us into merely not traveling to Taiwan," Cotton warned. "It might in fact incite them and tempt them to go for the jugular in Taiwan."
We cannot allow threats from Beijing to deter members of Congress from visiting Taiwan.
— Tom Cotton (@SenTomCotton) July 26, 2022
We must instead reaffirm our commitment to helping Taiwan defend itself against Chinese aggression. pic.twitter.com/tWJLg2cRc6
If the scuttlebutt up on Capitol Hill is true, it's a whole new level of Democrats in disarray for Democrat President Joe Biden to be leaking plans for the Democrat Speaker of the House's travel to America's foe China. The White House, of course, has been spinning in recent days to claim that there's a separation of powers between their executive branch role and Pelosi's leadership in the legislative branch, but all the emphasis on the fact that Pelosi can do what she wants and travel where she pleases makes the situation something of a "doth protest too much."
After Chinese state media declared that the genocidal and maniacal Chinese Communist Party's forces might shoot down Pelosi's plane if she attempted to travel to Taiwan, the lack of strong condemnation (in video below) from the White House only made their alleged complicity in spilling the beans on Pelosi's plans all the more believable.
Looks like Twitter took down this tweet from the former editor in chief of the Chinese Communist Party’s Global Times threatening to shoot down Nancy Pelosi if she visits Taiwan. pic.twitter.com/PSuqydSoAn
— Jerry Dunleavy (@JerryDunleavy) July 30, 2022
The White House STILL refuses to say whether or not Pelosi should travel to Taiwan, even after China has threatened to shoot down her plane. pic.twitter.com/KxlnZkv4Ao
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) July 29, 2022
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