Rep. Quigley: 'Tough balance' on whether to declassify intel on China potentially arming Russia

And joining me now, Illinois Democratic Congressman Mike Quigley, co-chair of the Congressional Ukraine Caucus. Thanks so much, Congressman. Well, you can see that we're a lot of us are focused on the U.S. warning China against supplying Russia with lethal aid. That's what I was focused on, among other things, in Munich this weekend. And, you know, will they heed the message if they don't on what the White House might respond to? Because President Biden was very explicit with President Xi in that call last March, saying, after his embrace of Putin, you better not rearm them.

And of course, they violated sanctions. But arming them would take this to a different level, right? Well, absolutely. And, you know, your previous guest was talking about the mystery of what China is doing. I think it is contradictory because this isn't the first time that Putin and the Russians have evoked the nuclear threat earlier in nuclear weapons possibly being used in this conflict. But at that time, China pulled away and strongly discouraged this publicly. At the same time, recently, the U.S.

and Chinese president met. Secretary Blinken was originally scheduled and finally met with his counterpart. And then the balloon takes place. And then this remark, which China are we dealing with? What is their motivation? What are they trying to do? It's something we've got to sort out pretty quickly. Do you think there are going to be votes within the House and the new Republican majority going forward to continue funding Ukraine? You've got money in the supplement supplemental to the end of the year or just about in September. But there's going to be big needs for the military going forward. This war is not ending anytime soon.

No, it's not. I mean, the U.S. Army just announced a 500 percent increase of a plan to build artillery shells, doubling the production of javelins. This isn't going away. It's going to get complicated. But I think that the opposition in Congress can be overstated, you know, because 11 fringe members of the far, far right put out a resolution talking about ending this conflict or our funding for this conflict.

And I think it's more valuable to heed the words of Chairman McCall, Chairman Turner, very influential and the Republican caucus, very powerful in their positions, you know, talking about ongoing support for this conflict. So my bipartisan trip to Kyiv last July seemed to show that sort of support. And I haven't heard anything from those who have traveled there other than ongoing support as the president talked about yesterday. We had the chairman of the Intelligence Committee, of course, Mike Turner, on this program on Friday in Munich. And I'm wondering whether you think that now that this morning about China possibly going to up to the line and maybe even crossing the line soon of arming Russia, whether some of that intelligence, which has been briefed to the allies, as I understand it, should be shared with the American people, should be declassified in coming days, as they did with the intelligence before the invasion? I thought the use of intelligence before the invasion on a public basis was a masterstroke. It really took Putin's feet out from underneath him and made it far more difficult for him to put false flags out there, for example. But every time we do that, there is an extraordinary risk involved, as you're aware.

Our sources and methods are important, not just for their own sake, but for ongoing abilities to keep us informed, to protect those who help our country and keep us safe. So it's a tough balance. I think we probably classify way too much information. But on this one, it's going to be a test of that balance and keeping us safe into the future. And, Congressman, I haven't had a chance to thank you personally because of travel. But I was in the Ukrainian village in Chicago the weekend before last and saw the extraordinary work of the St. Nicholas Cathedral in school and interviewed people there.

And you are so grateful to you for everything you've done for the Ukrainian refugees. So I want to publicly thank you. You know, when you travel there and you visit, this is very real. For them, it's not something they see on TV. It's text and emails and calls they get from their friends and family and the suffering they're taking place. For example, when the maternity hospital was flattened and pregnant women and babies were pulled from the rubble, these were people they knew. It keeps us inspired and motivated to continue the fight.

Well, it's a real public service. Thanks to you and to all of them there.

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