Senator Eric Schmitt defended President Trump’s actions against maritime drug smuggling during an exchange with George Stephanopoulos, arguing that Trump is exercising clear constitutional authority to target cartel operations at sea.
Schmitt said attempts to portray the administration as lenient on drug trafficking are politically driven and disconnected from the scale of the threat.
Stephanopoulos opened the discussion by asking, “In the Senate and Senator, let me just begin where we left off with Congressman Smith. You support this pardon of the former Honduran president.”
Schmitt responded that he did not have detailed knowledge of the specific case, but he took issue with the broader implication.
He said, “I’m not familiar with the facts or circumstances, but I think what’s telling here is to try to imply that somehow President Trump is soft on on drug smuggling is just ridiculous. It’s totally ridiculous. He’s the he’s provided border security like we’ve never seen before. And the fact is, these cartels now, because the southern border is closed, they’ve gone to the high seas.”
Schmitt argued that the President has both constitutional and congressional authority to act.
He told Stephanopoulos, “So President Trump is acting with his core article, two powers. No serious legal expert would doubt that the President has authority to blow Narco terrorists out of the water who are poisoning 100,000 Americans every year.”
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He referenced recent major sporting events to emphasize the death toll, adding that the combined attendance of two championship stadiums equals the number of Americans killed by narcotics annually.
Schmitt noted that Congress has already delegated authority for designating terrorist organizations.
He said, “President Trump has been delegated the authority by Congress to designate terrorist organizations. He’s done that. He sent a letter to Congress saying he was going to initiate these strikes. We’ve had regular briefings about it, including from Secretary of State, Rubio, including from other high ranking officials in the Department of Defense. He’s executing those.”
He then accused Democrats of attempting to manufacture controversy for political purposes, saying, “What we have now are Democrats who have such x ray vision and clairvoyance that they know the intentions of Narco terrorists on boats, yet we’re so blind to see that they had a president for four years that was operating as a vegetable in Joe Biden.”
Schmitt said efforts to challenge Trump’s actions stem from opposition to a shift in foreign policy priorities.
According to Schmitt, “Forgive me if I’m a little skeptical that this isn’t all about politics and trying to take out Secretary hegset, that’s what this whole thing’s been about. George. They didn’t want him confirmed. They didn’t want a realist in place. They didn’t want to shift from their pet projects around the world and trying to build democracies in the sands of the Middle East. By the barrel of a gun, we have core national interests at stake, the homeland in the Western Hemisphere, in the rise of China. That’s what this administration is focused on. The Democrats are just upset about that, and they try to create some controversy each and every week, and it goes nowhere.”
Stephanopoulos pressed again, saying, “What do you mean? You’re not familiar with the facts and circumstances apart, and it’s been well reported all across the country as the former president of Honduras, he was convicted of conspiring to bring in 400 tons of cocaine into the United States, also also guns and other materials. It’s been front page news across the country, aren’t you? Aren’t you curious about that?”
Schmitt responded by criticizing the framing of the question and the direction of the interview.
He said, “Well, I’m curious about your pushback on that particular point. With your previous guest, you had zero pushback because he’s giving the Democrat talking points like you spew every single week, which is probably why your ratings are so bad.”
He then returned to the broader policy argument, stating, “But to make the point, what I’m saying is that you’re trying to you’re trying to divert here the attention from what the American people actually support. 75% of Americans support us blowing Narco terrorists out of the water in.”
WATCH:
WATCH: @Eric_Schmitt smacks down George Stephanopoulos to his face:
“You spew Democrat talking points every single week, which is probably why your ratings are so BAD!”
— Election Wizard (@ElectionWiz) December 7, 2025
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