Fox News "Fox News Sunday" - Transcript: Interview with Sen. Marco Rubio

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WALLACE: President Trump's off-the-cuff statements about Russia, North Korea and Iran stand in contrast to the rest of his administration and much of the Republican Party.

We want to discuss that with Senator Marco Rubio, a key member of the Senate Foreign Relations and Intelligence Committees.

Senator, welcome back to "Fox News Sunday."

SEN. MARCO RUBIO, R-FLA.: Thank you. Thanks for having me back.

WALLACE: You are trying to get the Senate to pass what you call the DETER Act, which would invoke automatic sanctions against Russia or any country that interferes with U.S. elections. Here's what some top intel officials of the Trump administration said this week.

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WALLACE: Senator, if you can get Congress to pass your legislation, given what we just heard there, should sanctions be imposed on Russia right now?

RUBIO: Well, there's always calls for sanctions against Vladimir Putin's government because of their consistent and ongoing violations of human rights and the likes, and there have already been sanctions in place. And to their credit, this administration has imposed tough sanctions already for what happened in 2016.

But what we're hoping to do is deter future activity, in essence create a situation where Vladimir Putin has to weigh the cost and the benefits. We're going to show him what the costs are by detailing them ahead and then when he weighs the cost and the benefits of taking similar action in 2018, hopefully, he'll determine the costs are too high compared to the benefits.

I can't guarantee that, but I can guarantee if we don't do something, he will interfere again in multiple ways because right now, the costs are too unpredictable and too low.

WALLACE: Well, one interesting aspect of your legislation as that it would -- under the bill, it's the director of national intelligence, not the president who would certify that interference had taken place. Given all the president's talk about the Russia hoax, don't you trust him to call out Kremlin meddling?

RUBIO: I do, especially if it happens in 2018. I think -- and that's part of the bill that we'll probably have to rework in some way. There's some concern about it because we want to pass a bill. And so, our -- the important thing we want to do is create an automatic way for sanctions to kick in.

Now, there probably is going to have to be an addition of a presidential waiver like all sanctions bill have and the like. The DNI will still play a key role. That's the way we crafted it, but I know my -- the partner I'm working with on this, Senator Van Hollen, a Democrat, and I are willing to make reasonable changes to the bill that allows us to pass it and that's probably one of those that we heard a little bit of pushback on.

We want to get something done and we are willing to do whatever it takes to pass a law that has real sanctions that will deter but at the same time can pass the House, pass the Senate and will be signed into law by the White House.

WALLACE: President Trump this week tweeted this about the Russia investigation. I want to put it up on the screen. Attorney General Jeff Sessions should stop this rigged witch hunt right now before it continues to stain our country any further.

Afterwards, you said that special counsel Robert Mueller should be allowed to finish his work and all the truth should come out. In pursuit of that truth, should President Trump sit down with a special counsel to answer any questions about Russian collusion, about obstruction of justice? And what if he refuses in a special counsel gets a subpoena?

RUBIO: Well, the second question is really for the president's lawyers. I'm not in a position to give legal advice to the president about what the right thing to do or not do in those circumstances.

But let me talk about the first part of it and that is, the president -- look, this is no mystery, OK? He believed strongly, he says he knows for a fact, obviously, that he did not collude with the Russians, and he thinks this investigation that Mueller is conducting is solely about collusion, and that's how he feels very strongly about that.

My position based on everything I know about this case is the following: I believe it's in the best interest of the president and of the United States of America and the American people for that investigation to run the course for all the truth to come out, and for -- I think it's the best thing that could happen for him, and I think it's the best thing that could happen for the country. Obviously, he is annoyed by that investigation continuing to go on because it's about him, and he believes and has said repeatedly and emphatically that he did not collude with the Russians.

I'm limited to what I can say because the Senate is still doing our investigation but I am comfortable in saying this, if there was evidence, strong evidence of collusion, I guarantee it would have been leaked by now, but let's wait for the process to play itself out and I think that's what should happen. Mueller should continue. He should finish his work and the truth should come out, and I think that's in the best interest of everyone, including the president.

WALLACE: But as part of that process and you say the best interest of the president and the country, should he sit down and answer all questions?

RUBIO: Well, it's easy to say that from a political realm but that's not an interview, it's an interview with a law enforcement official, with a special prosecutor. And there are plenty of people who are innocent, whose lawyers would tell them do not sit down and answer questions from a prosecutor because there's all sorts of other problems involved with that.

That's a decision for the president to make alongside with his attorney. It's my understanding from what I've read in the press that he wants to do it. It's attorneys who have questions about that, but there are plenty of innocent people whose lawyers tell them do not sit down with a prosecutor and answer questions. So, I don't want to prejudge this or somehow imply that by not sitting down, he's guilty of something.

WALLACE: Let's turn to North Korea, do you think that the Kim regime is playing President Trump? Do you think they have any intention of giving up their nuclear and missile arsenal?

RUBIO: Well, I'm about to tell you I'm wrong about, but I do not believe that he is ever going to give up his nuclear arsenal. What I do believe he will do is a series of unilateral concessions that do not undermine his capabilities in the long term. For example, I think he's more than willing to tear apart facilities that are no longer necessary for old muscles because he's got newer ones that work better. I believe he has undisclosed sites that he thinks he can shield from the world. I believe that he believes that even if he gets rid of some of the thing -- new enrichment capabilities he already has existing weapons and existing enriched capabilities that he can hide from the rest -- from the world.

And every single time that he does one of these productions he is engendering goodwill internationally, which is ultimately his goal, to undermine international support for sanctions by arguing, look at all these things I'm doing, the Americans are not reciprocating and undermining sanctions at the U.N. and internationally. That's his goal in my opinion.

WALLACE: Well, Senator --

RUBIO: And I hope I'm wrong.

WALLACE: Well, Senator, let me ask you about that because it appears to be working. We understand that North Korea is violating the sanctions by doing ship to ship transfers. We now hear that Russia is doing business with North Korea, that they are bringing thousands of more guest workers into the country or in effect slaves who send money back to the regime.

I mean, isn't Kim succeeding in lowering the temperature, breaking apart the alliance of sanctions and President Trump is being played?

RUBIO: Well, neither one of those two things are new. The laborers to Russia has been going on the whole time. The ship to ship transfer is the only way they've been able to evade.

I think what we need to be very careful about is undermining, for example, any split between us and South Korea. They're going to try to exploit it.

I think the Chinese are trying to drag this out. The Chinese would love for this to be a step-by-step process that drags out. I think their biggest concern initially was that we would cut a deal with them directly.

I don't know if the president is being played. I think he's hoping for the best but prepared for the worst. The sanctions remained in place. We haven't changed a single sanction on North Korea.

I think what they need to be more cautious about is we need to continue to engage our partners around the world so that they are fully aware of what's actually happening in North Korea and what isn't happening, what's real and what isn't real. That's what I'd be very cautious about. I don't have any concerns about anything they've done so far.

WALLACE: I want to ask you about one of your other big issues and that is you have introduced legislation to create paid family leave. You would take the money that would go to the parents of newborn children from Social Security payments they would get later on. Democrats say, one, the benefit is too small, two, it shouldn't come out of retirement payments, and, third, they say that most people take family leave for illnesses, either their own or family members. They don't take it for childbirth.

And, in fact, Ivanka Trump, who's a big supporter of paid family leave, said there's no chance this is going to happen in this Congress.

RUBIO: Well, we got -- nothing is going to happen in this Congress other than the bills that are already stacked up and ready to go. This Congress ends in six months, five months, and we have elections in between.

This is a big issue. It's a revolutionary idea and it's going to take time to pass.

Now, here's what it does. It's very simple to understand. Number one, it's an option. You don't have to do this. Number two, the benefit is comparable to what you're going to get in the private sector in terms of paid family leave for the birth of a child.

And number three, the concept is this, if you choose to take paid family leave, at least six weeks up to 12 weeks, you can take -- you can decide that some of your retirement benefits from your money, and Social Security, you can advance it and take it now instead of later. A portion of it.

It's up to you. It's a choice you have. It's an option you have. For the 85 percent of Americans that today have no options at all other than to skip paychecks, how many people can afford to skip one paycheck, not to mention four or five or six after the birth of a child?

WALLACE: Senator Rubio, thank you. Thanks for joining us.

RUBIO: Thank you.

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