Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., speaks during a Senate Finance Committee hearing June 8, 2021 on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Evelyn Hockstein-Pool/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin told reporters Thursday he holds hope for democratic values in the United States and around the world, but has “major concerns” about foreign policy under the incoming Trump administration.
The retiring senior senator from Maryland and chair of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations reflected on his nearly two decades in the upper chamber during a briefing with roughly a dozen journalists. The Democrat leaves as Republicans are set to gain control of the Senate.
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a New Hampshire Democrat, will become the influential committee’s ranking member in January.
Cardin assumed the role of chair in September 2023 after Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey was indicted, and later convicted, on federal bribery charges for accepting cash, gold, and other valuables, from the government of Egypt.
When asked to sum up the past four years, Cardin said the United States has led “in the defense of democratic institutions” and encouraged allies and other countries who would like to align with the West.
“I think the Biden administration has given great hope to that. I think there’s a question mark under the Trump administration,” said Cardin, who was seated with the press around the large oval table in the committee’s meeting room for visiting heads of state.
Photography is prohibited in the space, where the senator held regular intimate “pen and pad” sessions for reporters.
“The risk could not be higher with the alliance, not formal, but the alliance between the People’s Republic of China, North Korea, Iran and Russia,” Cardin said.
Ukraine and Russia
President-elect Donald Trump repeatedly promised on the campaign trail that he will end Russia’s war on Ukraine within 24 hours after taking office.
“There will not be peace in Ukraine within 24 hours,” Cardin said.
“We all want to see the end to the active war, but we got to make it clear that Russia can’t win here because that won’t end the war.
“If you set up a line and say, ‘Okay, now this is where it’s going to be,’ Russia’s not going to adhere to that. They’re going to move that line and they’re going to go to other countries,” Cardin said, reiterating his support for a security agreement that upholds Ukraine’s borders.
When asked if Trump’s presidency could usher in the end of monetary aid and weapons support to Ukraine, Cardin said he hopes his Republican colleagues won’t allow that to happen.
Trump’s vice president-elect, Ohio’s U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance, has been among the most vocal opponents of continuing aid to Ukraine. Congress has appropriated $174.2 billion in assistance to Ukraine since Russia further invaded its territory in February 2022. (Russia had already forcefully annexed the Crimean Peninsula in 2014.)
“The United States needs to stay very actively engaged in all those areas, and I can tell you, there are a lot of Republicans — Democrats are almost totally united in that — there’s a lot of Republicans who strongly believe what I just said. So we’re relying upon the fact that (they’ll) have a working majority in the United States Congress that will make sure Ukraine gets the type of international support it needs,” Cardin said.
A staunch Israel supporter
Cardin, an unyielding advocate for Israel, will soon relinquish the Foreign Relations Committee’s top Democratic spot to Shaheen, one of 19 Democratic senators who voted in late November to stop some arms shipments to Israel.
A joint resolution led by Vermont’s senior Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent, received a floor vote amid continued outrage over the staggering death toll in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon. The number of those killed in Gaza has nearly eclipsed 45,000, according to Palestinian health officials.
“There’s frustration, and it showed in the vote. To me, it was the wrong way to express it,” Cardin said.
Cardin said Israel remains a “reliable partner” in the region for security, intelligence sharing and economic partnership, among other reasons.
“I don’t think there’s any significant opposition to the notion that the United States has to stand with Israel so that Israel can defend itself in a very dangerous part of the world. And I think there’s almost universal understanding that Israel has been singled out by the international community,” Cardin said, citing antisemitism as a cause.
Cardin acknowledged that there can be disagreement with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu while also supporting Israel.
The country has been on the offensive since militants from the Hamas-led Gaza Strip launched a surprise attack in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing roughly 1,200 people and taking approximately 200 hostages, including Americans.
When asked about U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan’s indication Thursday that a ceasefire deal could be on the horizon, Cardin said he hopes Netanyahu is “sincere” but that he also has “very little confidence” that Hamas will agree to the terms.
“I had some information prior to that meeting that there were positive signs towards a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of the hostages. But as I told my staff, that’s about the 30th time they’ve come to tell me and it didn’t come out, so excuse me for being guarded until I see some response,” Cardin said.
What’s next for Cardin?
Cardin, 81, said he’s not yet made a decision about what he’ll do after his retirement from nearly six decades in public service.
“No regrets, I really mean that. I’m proud of what I’ve been able to get done. There’s certainly a lot more that needs to get done, but (there) will always be more that needs to get done,” he told States Newsroom when asked what he’ll do next.
Cardin was first elected to the Maryland House of Delegates in 1966, serving as the body’s speaker from 1979 to 1986. Cardin was then elected to the U.S. House, where he served from 1987 to 2007. The Maryland Democrat has been a U.S. senator since 2007.
In his last few months in office, Cardin has introduced legislation he hopes will live on after his term, including a bill to end U.S. preferential treatment of Hong Kong following its government’s crackdown on democratic activities.
Cardin often spotlights democracy advocates around the globe, and distributed an information sheet Thursday to reporters detailing the recent detainment of Azerbaijani activist Rufat Safarov. Safarov, head of the organization Defense Line, was arrested Dec. 3 before his flight to the U.S. to accept the State Department’s Annual Global Human Rights Defender Award.
The senator said he’s met with former colleagues who retired from public service and has taken their advice to carefully think about his next move.
“I also have a passion, as you know, for the Chesapeake Bay and environmental issues in my state,” Cardin said. “And I’m going to certainly be very much engaged in advancing human rights.”