United States Senator Bill Hagerty of Tennessee appeared on Mornings with Maria on Fox Business on April 13 to discuss topics including Iran, legislative reconciliation efforts, Federal Reserve leadership, and artificial intelligence.
The conversation comes at a time when international relations and domestic policy are intersecting in areas such as security and technology. Hagerty’s remarks touched on foreign policy challenges as well as legislative strategies underway in Washington.
Addressing the situation with Iran and other nations, Hagerty said: “It’s at least good to see other nations step in and try to offer a hand here. Russia is going to be impacted. The whole world is going to be impacted once the Iranian regime is taken down. This unholy axis that you’ve seen: Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran. It’s time for it to break, and I think the Iranians are creating an embarrassing situation for all of them.” He contrasted President Trump’s approach with previous administrations by saying: “What the Iranians are seeing is a very different negotiating style… President Trump has made it clear that he will not do that… I think they’re realizing this is a very different game.”
Hagerty also discussed economic pressure tactics against Iran: “It [the maximum pressure campaign] worked last time. We were almost there in the first Trump administration… Biden comes in, opens up all the spigots, money starts flowing to Iran… President Trump is not going to allow this.” On global support regarding security in the Strait of Hormuz he said: “These nations need to step up. They’re much more impacted… President Trump is trying to deliver good for the entire world.”
On domestic matters like reconciliation legislation tied to Department of Homeland Security funding Hagerty stated: “The reconciliation process is already underway… Our teams have been working on putting a reconciliation bill into motion when we get to Washington later this evening…” He added about timelines: “President Trump has found a way to deliver revenues there to keep the department open. But I certainly haven’t seen any indication that the Democrats are going to cooperate yet.”
Hagerty also addressed Federal Reserve leadership changes by saying Kevin Warsh was well positioned for confirmation given his prior unanimous Senate approval over a decade ago.
Discussing artificial intelligence risks within financial systems he said: “I think what we’ve seen is that Secretary Bessent is on it… AI can be utilized to identify vulnerabilities…” On regulatory guardrails for AI development he added: “I think having rules of the road in place–guardrails–certainly does make sense. I just don’t want … so tight … it kills the industry.”
Hagerty was elected as U.S. Senator from Tennessee according to his official website. He hails from Sumner County where he achieved Eagle Scout rank according to his official website and volunteers with civic organizations according to his official website. His offices are located across several cities including Memphis and Nashville as reported by his office. In addition, Hagerty serves on Senate committees such as Appropriations; Banking; Housing; Urban Affairs; Foreign Relations; Rules & Administration according to his official biography.