MSNBC "Hardball with Chris Hayes" - Transcript: North Korea

Interview

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

MATTHEWS: Thank you so much, Susan Page, of "USA Today." Anyway, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted late today to report the nomination of CIA Director Mike Pompeo as the next secretary of state
to the Senate floor. We learned last week that Pompeo traveled to North Korea for secret talks with Kim Jong-un over Easter weekend.

His nomination was reported to the Senate with a favorable recommendation today along party lines, with a last-minute reversal from Kentucky Republican Rand Paul. He voted for it.

Massachusetts Democratic Senator Ed Markey is a member of the Foreign Relations Committee.

Senator Markey, a couple of thoughts. But I`m sure they`re all running through you already. What is the best thing that could come out of a deal with Kim Jong-un on nuclear weapons? And what is the worst thing that could come out of a meeting between him and our president?

SEN. EDWARD MARKEY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: Well, of course, the best thing would be if there actually was a pathway towards denuclearization that was created because of this negotiation.

The worst thing that could happen is if there is no agreement, and that Donald Trump then reverts to his fire and fury language, his talk of a preemptive nuclear strike against North Korea, because they won`t give up their nuclear program. And that would be absolutely catastrophic.

So, I think it`s very important here to understand that, when the president says that Kim has already agreed to denuclearization, that has not happened, and it`s going to be a long pathway to ever reach that day.
And in the interim, the president is going to have to take the military option off the table, because that would be catastrophic.

MATTHEWS: You know, ever since Vietnam, you and I have learned that we always -- we don`t get things our way. In the end, you have to negotiate.

Walter Cronkite said that back after Tet back in `68. You got to cut a deal.

What is a reasonable deal? Can we expect to have a deal, something along - - they have gone further than Iran -- something like Iran, where they agree to five years, 10 years, some sort of delay in their programs? Would that work with both sides of the aisle?

MARKEY: Well, the difference is that Iran does not have nuclear weapons, and Korea has had nuclear weapons for 10 years.

MATTHEWS: Sure.

MARKEY: So, the difference is to -- in one instance of having the Iranians not get nuclear weapons in return for a financial concession.

Here, it`s going to be different, because North Korea is paranoid. Kim believes that he could be killed. And so it`s going to take a long, patient negotiation to ever reach a day where he can be convinced that, if he gives up all of his nuclear weapons, that it would not lead to his own death.

And I think that is not going to be an easy goal to achieve.

MATTHEWS: Yes.

Well, there is nobody I can think of in the U.S. Senate or in politics who hasn`t spent more years worried and concerned and acting on the danger of nuclear warfare than you, Senator. Thank you so much for coming on, Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts.

MARKEY: Thank you, Chris. Appreciate it. Thank you.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source