DeSantis Campaign Press Release - ICYMI: Ron DeSantis on The Story With Martha MacCallum

"For whatever reason this administration wants to bend over backwards to not hold Iran accountable."

Tallahassee, FL - Ron DeSantis joined Fox News' Martha MacCallum on The Story today. The highlights are below.

Watch the full interview HERE.

On the Biden Administration's unwillingness to hold Iran accountable:

Well, Hamas and Hezbollah for that matter, they are just proxies for Iran. Those groups wouldn't exist without Iranian patronage. And so, an attack like this is not going to happen without support and direction from the Mullahs in Iran. So we should know that. I think the reporting on that by different outlets has been accurate. For whatever reason, this administration wants to bend over backwards to not hold Iran accountable. Of course, when they came in, they loosened up on sanctions, Iran's had more money going to the regime as a result of that, and they have had this delusion that you could somehow have a rapprochement with Iran. You are not going to have a rapprochement with Iran, they live for terrorism. This is what they want to do. And it's been disappointing to see since this happened, I mean, Biden slept through the initial attack. They didn't even wake him up on Saturday morning. He was missing an action for most of the weekend, you know, finally made a statement yesterday, but we clearly need leadership and he's not providing it.

On the need to stand with Israel as they annihilate Hamas:

Well, first, I would just say with respect to Israel, they have every right to defend themselves, and that means the complete annihilation of Hamas and the terror networks and infrastructure. You're going to start to see people attack Israel. You're going to start to see maybe even the United Nations, and some of these as time goes on. It's important that America plants that flag in the ground that we're with them thick through thin on their right to defend themselves. I think you move very quickly to shut off flows of money to Iran. The oil money is a big part for them. I would counter that by drilling for more oil here in the United States and make us the dominate energy producer in the United States. We could do that if we wanted to; Biden doesn't want to do that. So, I think the financial constraints on Iran will help crimp their ability to fund terrorism in the Middle East. And then of course, anything that Israel needs, we have a long-standing security relationship with them. We want to be supportive of their efforts.

On protecting American citizens as Commander-in-Chief:

I would protect the American citizens who are potentially being held captive or in harm's way. That is a responsibility of the Commander in Chief. We don't know how many Americans are being held hostage, but we have forces that are dedicated that. We would definitely do that. And then you take whatever appropriate action there is in the region. I would say, though, those types of groups -- the Hamas and the Hezbollah -- in direct contact with US troops, they typically don't fare very well. They would be trying to do some type of sneak attack like they did with the Beirut barracks bombing in 1983, which, by the way, was also funded and orchestrated by Iran.

On the special relationship between the United States and Israel:

I think Israel is a unique ally for us. They're our top ally in the Middle East. They're a country that we can depend on when the chips are down for us. Heck, even as governor, we had the collapse of the Surfside tower down in South Florida in a heavily Jewish area. As our fire rescue were on the pile, I had the IDF come and help us in South Florida. So that's a special relationship, and I think it's something that the Congress has got to be mindful of. I think they should debate this on the merits. I don't think they should play games, parliamentary games. Hopefully we'll be able to get somebody seated as speaker so we can start getting the Congress functioning again because I can tell you, seeing a lot of the disorder up there, it doesn't inspire confidence. I think you got to get the job done. That's what we do in Florida. We just deliver results, but the fanfare and the chaos, I think, needs to stop.