Sen. John Boozman: Nothing ‘off the table’ including military options on North Korean aggression

Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., said recent North Korean aggression with nuclear capabilities is being dealt with by the U.S. military and in a bipartisan Congressional manner. The state’s senior senator also said that all options are and should be explored.

“It’s such a unstable regime. I think you do have to consider everything and certainly, I think it’s a great mistake whenever you start taking things off the table,” he said. “This is a group that’s definitely testing the United States, or testing their neighbors.”

Boozman said he suspects North Korea, which has been testing short and intermediate range missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads, is acting “belligerent” in order to get Asian and Western powers to pay them off to back down.

“They’re so unstable, they’re so poor. When you fly into South Korea, it looks like an island because there’s no electricity in the north, where it’s very, very rationed,” said Boozman.

Another controversy that dominated the week in Washington politics centered on last weekend’s assertion by President Donald Trump that former President Barack Obama wiretapped him prior to becoming President. Without offering proof, Trump called on Congress to investigate the charge.

Boozman said he doubts the charge, but will allow the investigation to come to a conclusion. “I don’t think there’s any evidence that the President of the United States did that, although there’s gonna be a lot of investigation in that regard,” he said. “My understanding is the intelligence community, intelligence agencies, they’ve come out and said that that’s not correct.”

He added: “It’s just another thing that the Senate and the House intelligence agencies will be looking at, and he’s put that on the table. So in putting it on the table, I think they’re going to be doing their diligence and working hard, in a very, hopefully, bipartisan way, to really come to some answers,” Boozman said.

Sen. Boozman also addressed Trump’s recently revamped executive order related to immigration control.

Boozman said he expects the order to call for a review of all countries and their admission standards as it related to the U.S. It could lead to more countries being added to the list, or with cooperation, countries being taken off the ban. When asked if the order went far enough or needed to go further, Boozman said it was “sufficient.”

“Hopefully, countries will be cooperating more. If there are countries though, that simply are not doing a good job and refuse to do a good job, then the President or somebody, Secretary of State probably, will come forward [or the] Director of Homeland Security, and say, ‘These are countries we’re concerned about and this is why.’”

Watch Boozman’s full interview in the video below, including his additional thoughts on health care reform and the Clean Line energy project.