Fox News "The Story" - Transcript: Interview with Sen. Chris Coons

Interview

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MACCALLUM: So, here now, Democratic Delaware Senator Chris Coons, a Member of the Foreign Relations Committee. Senator Coons, thank you for being here tonight.

SEN. CHRIS COONS, D--DEL., MEMBER OF THE SENATE FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE: Thanks.

MACCALLUM: With regard to the Mike Pompeo, I just want to play a moment from Senator Corker who was on with us last night. Here he is reacting to your decision to help get that through committee.

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MACCALLUM: In fact, in one moment, he was kind of choked up by what you did, Senator Coons, your thoughts?

COONS: Well, I was grateful to have the chance on Monday to make a small gesture of friendship and support for Senator Johnny Isakson of Georgia. I knew that Johnny had, had an exceptionally difficult day. He delivered the eulogy at his best friend's funeral. And we were in a place where we'd already the vote on foreign relations, every Republican voted in favor, every Democrat voted against. And Chairman Corker put to the committee the question: are we really going to make Johnny come up here at 11:00 or later tonight and reconvened just to cast exactly the same boat with exactly the same result. Or is there a Democrat who will change their vote? So, I changed my vote just to accommodate Senator Isakson, it didn't change the outcome.

MACCALLUM: But that (INAUDIBLE) does not go forward in terms of your -- you're going to vote against Mike Pompeo for secretary of state tomorrow afternoon?

COONS: I am. And Martha, if I could, I'd love a moment to explain that part of what I was doing was paying it forward. Republican Senator Mike Rounds of South Dakota, last year when my father died, unexpectedly, and I was on the floor looking and feeling miserable, he came across the floor and said to me: if you need to leave and go be with your family, I'll pair with you and work it out so that it doesn't change the outcome of the votes, so you can go be with your family. That meant the world to me and it really touched my heart. And I think we need to do more things like that -- care with each other.

MACCALLUM: I think everybody that's listening would agree with you, senator, for sure. That gestures like that are meaningful between friends and certainly on Capitol Hill as well. But given the fact that there was such a, you know, nearly unanimous vote for John Kerry, for Condoleezza Rice, for Rex Tillerson -- who got, I think, 54 votes -- why is this such a sort of statement that is being made against Mike Pompeo who has worked with you all for years and who has a very good reputation?

COONS: Martha, you know, in the debate on the Foreign Relations Committee, that same question was pressed. Why aren't there Republican nominees for this position that would get 70 or 80 votes? And I said to a number of colleagues that if Bob Corker were the nominee, I think he'd get 75 votes, 80 votes. I think if it were Nikki Haley, if it were Steve Hadley, these are Republican senior leaders.

MACCALLUM: So, what is your objection to Mike Pompeo?

COONS: The Democrats on the committee have uniformly said that things that he said and did as a congressman and as a candidate in terms of statements about Muslim-Americans, about the LGBTQ community, about how he conducted portions of the Benghazi inquiry left many of us the trouble to that, how he would be.

MACCALLUM: I understand that.

COONS: I also was impressed with his military background and how he has been a CIA director. I am hopeful that he will end up being a strong secretary of state and really serving the department and the country well. But I did not have a settled heart about it, and so I joined many of my colleagues in voting against him. And we'll do so again.

MACCALLUM: All right. You've spoken in favor of the president's progress with the North Korea issue, and he feels that Mike Pompeo is the person that he wants assigned in that. So, we will see where it goes. Senator Coons, thank you very much, good to see you tonight, sir.

COONS: Thank you.

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