Political Quotes

“The difference between Russia and Turkiye is no one is offering to sell F-16s to Russia. I am not for selling F-16s to Russia; neither am I for selling F-16s to Turkiye. This is a clear case of quid pro quo. All of the folks who are now for it were against it just months ago. The reason they have changed their opinion is they have been given something. Turkiye extorted us. Turkiye said: If you want Sweden to be in NATO, you have to give us these planes. So they gave up Sweden in exchange for getting the planes. It doesn't change any of the facts. The facts are these: Them having F-16s and Russian S-400s allows them to steal some of our technology, to match the technology of our fighter jets against a Russian defense system and potentially give that to Russia. This is a problem. It has been a problem. It hasn't changed. These are the same problems that opponents of this were mentioning over and over and over again. That is why for 2 years they have been opposed to this. They have flipped. They have sold their opposition to Turkiye for admission for Sweden. It is a quid pro quo. It is a trade. They made a trade, but publicly they will have to acknowledge they made a trade and they think somehow it is more important to sell these planes to Turkiye than it is to protect the integrity of the technology of these planes against Russian military systems. ____________________”