CBS "Face the Nation" - Transcript: Chinese Telecommunications

Interview

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BRENNAN: Joining us from Miami this morning is Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio.

Good Memorial Day weekend to you, Senator.

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), FLORIDA: Thank you.

BRENNAN: President Trump says it looks good for that June 12 summit with Kim Jong-un. Should it go ahead?

RUBIO: It depends. It depends what's going to happen there.

North Korea has a -- it's a strange place. They're not -- we're not dealing with Italy or France here or some -- or even the old Soviet Union. So, they're playing a game.

Kim Jong-un, these nuclear weapons are something he's psychologically attached to. They're what give him the prestige and importance. We're not talking about him because of his global and economic power. We're talking about them because they have nuclear weapons and long-range missiles. And he knows that.

And so for him to give that up is going to be very difficult. So, my suspicion remains that he is going to try to get as much sanctions relief as possible without having to give up his weapons. And I think it's going to be a lot of twists and turns along the way to try to get there, if it's even possible.

But I hope I'm wrong. I would love to see them denuclearize. I just -- I'm not very optimistic about that.

BRENNAN: You have been vocal about what you think is China outmaneuvering the U.S. on trade. On North Korea as well, you have raised your concerns.

But, specifically, I want to ask you about this deal with Chinese telecom company ZTE.

RUBIO: Right.

BRENNAN: You have been leading the charge against it. President Trump says he's got a deal in place to help save this company that's been accused of being a national security threat to the United States.

Why isn't the White House proposal sufficient to meet your concerns?

RUBIO: So, I talked to the president for over half-an-hour on Friday night. And I think I have gotten to the crux of the difference between his administration and myself and others on our view on this.

I think, for the president, he's viewing the ZTE issue as a company that broke sanctions, and he wants to impose sanctions on them and penalties that are stronger than anyone has ever seen before.

BRENNAN: A $1.3 billion fine, he said.

RUBIO: Yes, correct.

And this was just a company that did something wrong and needed to be punished, the president is right. The difference is, I don't view this just as a ZTE issue.

I view it in the broader context of China that has -- that is trying to overtake the United States. They do it by deeboing our intelligence -- our intellectual property. They steal all of our stuff, as I said.

And then there has to be consequences for that. And the only thing China is going to respond to is consequential actions over a sustained period of time. And putting a company like ZTE out of business is the kind of consequential action that Russia will finally -- that China will finally see that we are taking this stuff seriously.

And that is the difference of opinion. I don't just view ZTE issue through ZTE alone. I view it in the broader context of what China is trying to do, overtake the United States by stealing and by cheating. And they're not going to stop until they know there are real consequences for doing it. And...

BRENNAN: But what does that mean? It sounds like this is a done deal. Can Congress do anything to block the transaction?

RUBIO: Sure.

Well, first of all, one of the things I hope Congress will do is not only put companies -- not even allow Chinese telecom companies to operate the United States. It's not just ZTE. It's Huawei. All of them depend on U.S. semiconductors.

None of these companies should be operating in this country, none of them. They are used for espionage. They are part of the supply chain, whether it's routers or anything else. They embed stuff in there that could be used to spy against us, not just for national security.

That's how they steal corporate secrets. That's how they transfer technology. If they can't force you to do it through a business deal, they steal it from you. And all of a sudden, they can do what we can do, but they didn't spend any money to innovate it. And then they can surpass us.

And we're not going to let that happen through theft, or we shouldn't. And that's why we should not have any Chinese telecom companies operating in the U.S.

BRENNAN: The president going to sign that bill you propose?

RUBIO: Well, I believe it will have a supermajority.

I think most members of Congress have come to understand the threat China poses. And I think there's a growing commitment in Congress to do something about what China is trying to do to the United States. And this is a good place to start, as I said. And I think we will have a supermajority to do it.

BRENNAN: Senator, you have the president's ear on Venezuela policy. We know overnight you saw the release of this American after being held for two years in a Venezuelan prison.

It was a positive moment in what has been a really difficult week between our two countries. Is there an opportunity here?

RUBIO: Well, first of all, I'm glad that Josh Holt is home. He didn't have anything to do with politics. He was a Mormon missionary. He went down there to meet up with his wife and bring her back to the United States at some point. And they took him as a hostage for over two years.

Last week, they were saying he was head of the CIA efforts. So, it's ridiculous. And I'm glad he's home.

This has nothing to do with the broader issue of sanctions, however. Those things stay in place. The administration made that clear. Policy has not changed. Is there an opportunity? Yes. Here is the opportunity.

Venezuela returns to constitutional order. They have an elected national assembly. They have a constitutionally appointed supreme court. Both of those entities are not allowed to operate by the dictatorship.

Those need to be -- we need to recognize them. Those things need to be put back in place. There needs to be free and fair and internationally supervised elections. Our sanctions are built on that. And when that happens, the sanctions go away. Until that happens, the sanctions remain, and will actually increase.

BRENNAN: Senator, the president tweeted yesterday that he thinks it is a -- quote, unquote -- "horrible law" to separate illegal immigrants from their children when they cross the border into the U.S.

Do you agree it's a horrible law?

RUBIO: To separate -- I'm sorry? The...

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BRENNAN: Illegal parents from their children, to transfer custody when they cross illegally.

RUBIO: Well, ultimately, when somebody -- a couple of things need to happen.

Number one is, we have a problem, and it needs to be dealt with. The ideal scenario is that families be kept together and return expeditiously back to their country of origin.

We sympathize with people that are coming here. America is the most generous country in the world. And, ideally, you wouldn't put people through additional trauma once they came into the United States.

BRENNAN: Will you try to change that law?

RUBIO: All that -- well, I would be open to changing that law.

But the better law to change is to secure our border and to send a clear message that you cannot continue to enter the United States illegally. It is actually inhumane not to secure our border, because we are sending out a message that is encouraging people to come here.

We have to understand a lot of these people that are crossing with children are being trafficked here. They are being brought here by criminal groups that help guide them and often take advantage of them, and brutalize them on the path towards the United States.

And the ability to cross that border is a magnet that is drawing this behavior.

BRENNAN: You sit on Senate Intelligence. Senator, the president insists that there was FBI spy in his campaign.

Ultimately, is it the job of the campaign to police its own staff? And did you see any evidence here that there was a -- quote, unquote -- "spy" or informant embedded?

RUBIO: So, let me say this very clearly.

If there was someone in that campaign, the FBI or any government agency, there to spy on the campaign, on the campaign, we want to know abut that, and that person should be prosecuted. And those efforts should be revealed.

On the other hand...

BRENNAN: But no evidence so far of that?

RUBIO: Well, I haven't seen any yet, but maybe there is. And if it's there, we will find it. And we want to know about it.

The flip side of it is, if there are people operating in this country trying to influence American politics on behalf of a foreign power, it is the FBI's job to investigate those people.

What I have seen so far is an FBI effort to learn more about individuals with a history of bragging about links to Russia that preexist the campaign. If those people were operating near my office of my campaign, I would want them investigated and I would want to know about them.

That's what I have seen so far. If it turns out to be something different, we want to know about it. But it is the FBI's job to investigate counterintelligence. And if there are people with a known history of potential links to a foreign power, and they are operating in the orbit of any political campaign or any political office, it is the FBI's job to look at them find out what they're up to.

And so far, that appears to be what happened. If something different happened, we all want to know about that.

BRENNAN: Senator Rubio, thank you.

RUBIO: Thank you.

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