Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
NORTH WEBSTER - While waiting in line Thursday for the meal at the Kosciusko County Republican Party Lincoln Day Dinner, Second District U.S. Congressman Rudy Yakym responded to some rapid-fire questions on national and local topics.
On what’s going on in the Middle East with Israel, Yakym said, “What you’re seeing right now is Israel has acted to defend themselves with the support of President Trump. Israel can never have their enemy - Iran - have a nuclear bomb. The president of the United States has been very clear about that. I’ve clearly stated many, many times that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon, period. End of story. And Israel has taken action to ensure that never happens.”
According to the Associated Press on Friday, the war between Israel and Iran erupted June 13, with Israeli airstrikes targeting nuclear and military sites, top generals and nuclear scientists. At least 657 people, including 263 civilians, have been killed in Iran and more than 2,000 wounded. Iran has retaliated by firing 450 missiles and 1,000 drones at Israel. Most have been shot down by Israel’s multitiered air defenses, but at least 24 people in Israel have been killed and hundreds wounded.
As far as how far the U.S. should get involved with that war, Yakym said, “Ultimately, that’s a decision that President Trump will make and whatever decision President Trump makes, I’ll certainly support that position. But my position is, as I’ve said many times publicly, that Israel has a right to defend itself and Iran can never have a nuclear weapon, period. End of story. President Trump has always said that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon. He’s going to make a decision of how far we’re going to go to get involved there.”
Yakym said Iran has some underground nuclear facilities that only the United States has the ability to go and get because of how deep underground those facilities are and the fact that the U.S. has bunker-busting bombs that can actually go down that far.
“Only the United States has the ability to destroy those facilities and whether or not we’re going to do that is going to be a decision that President Trump will make,” he stated.
On Thursday, Trump said he’ll decide whether the U.S. will directly attack Iran within two weeks. He sought to keep open the door to diplomacy on Tehran’s nuclear program, the Associated Press reported.
Meanwhile, the war between Ukraine and Russia continues. It began Feb. 24, 2022. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he’s open to talks on ending the war, but rejected U.S. ceasefire offers.
“As President Trump has said, that war has got to come to an end,” Yakym stated. “It’s in the interest of both sides. It’s in the interest of the United States that that war come to an end. They need to negotiate a deal. Of course, you’ve seen recently that Vladimir Putin refuses to actually negotiate a deal. He continues to bombard Ukraine, and (President Trump) has said he’s very unhappy with that.”
Yakym said Ukraine and Russia need to come together and negotiate a deal so the war can be resolved and “move on to where some of our real threats are, which is Iran right now, but even more so China long term.”
Back in the United States, California’s challenge of the Trump administration’s military deployment in Los Angeles in response to protests over immigration raids returned to a federal courtroom in San Francisco on Friday for a brief hearing after an appeals court handed Trump a key procedural win, the AP reported. The appeals court said Trump can continue deploying the troops while the case played out. Protests have calmed down in recent days.
On the situation in California, Yakym said, “There certainly is a lack of law and order in L.A. In the United States of America, we’re a law-and-order country. We can not have lawless riots in the streets. President Trump was right to deploy the National Guard there to help restore law and order. You’ve got a weak and feckless governor in Gavin Newsom, and the mayor of L.A. is weak at best. We can not have lawlessness in the streets of our country and President Trump has always said we’re a nation of laws, and this is a nation that’s driven by law and order, and he’s going to make sure that we don’t have riots in our streets.”
Locally, Slate Auto is bringing a manufacturing plant for its electrical vehicle truck to Warsaw and Autocam Medical recently announced it’s going to build a $70 million facility in the Tech Park. With Slate Auto’s approximate 1,700 jobs and Autocam’s 300, that’s about 2,000 jobs coming to Warsaw.
“Warsaw and Kosciusko County ... they’ve punched above their weight for a long time and the fact that these companies want to continue to come here and they want to grow here and expand here and hire people here proves, once again, that Kosciusko County will continue to punch above their weight,” Yakym said. “So, investment in this community is a great thing. It’s proof that the local leaders here have done a great job of marketing the great skills that people have here.”
He said Kosciusko County and the state of Indiana at large are just an incredible place to do business.
“And these recent investment announcements continue to prove that,” Yakym stated.
