Nashville Standard

United States Senator Bill Hagerty recently appeared on CNN's "The Lead With Jake Tapper" to discuss the United States' role following the collapse of Syria's Assad regime and his support for President Donald Trump's cabinet nominations. Hagerty, a member of the Senate Appropriations, Banking, and Foreign Relations Committees and former U.S. Ambassador to Japan, emphasized the importance of stability in Syria while suggesting that regional allies should take the lead.

Hagerty stated, “I think the U.S., right now, certainly is, and should be, continuing to communicate with various leaders on the ground to help get to a point where we do know who to work with. And certainly, the goal overall is to ensure that stability ensues there. Israel, our allies in the region, should take the lead."

Regarding Trump's cabinet nominations, Hagerty expressed support for Tulsi Gabbard as National Intelligence Director. He noted her military background and highlighted her potential contribution to broadening perspectives within the administration: “Congresswoman Gabbard is a decorated veteran... she’s actually raised questions with respect to the intelligence community... Tulsi represents a broadening of the tent.”

Hagerty also endorsed Kash Patel for FBI Director. He criticized past actions by the FBI related to investigations into Trump: “I’ll say this: I think Kash is, in every sense, right to be calling out the team there at the FBI that back in 2016 used a Clinton-fabricated dossier as an excuse... The whole context and pretext for this Russia thing that hampered the Trump campaign... all of it needs to be cleaned up.”

Hagerty's remarks underscore ongoing debates about U.S. foreign policy in Syria and internal politics concerning intelligence and law enforcement leadership.