MSNBC "All in with Chris Hayes" - Transcript: Interview with Sen. Cory Booker

Interview

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VELSHI: All right, for more on the President`s stunning performance today  I`m joined by Senator Cory Booker, Democrat from New Jersey. Senator, the  question that Chuck Schumer put out there or that John Brennan put out  there is the one that many Americans who even were not until today  predisposed to thinking that the Russian president has something on Donald  Trump. That is the question we are all now left asking. What other reason  could there be for President Trump not to even entertain the possibility  that his Senate, his House and his Intelligence Agencies have come to that  Russia was meddling and continues to meddle in American politics?

SEN. CORY BOOKER (D), NEW JERSEY: Yes, well, his behavior was so shameful,  so weak. I would even use the word submissive before Vladimir Putin. You  have to wonder why. And we know our president. He`s this guy with his  hair-trigger -- hair strings trigger where he attacks people left and right  with really very little provocation getting in people`s face whether it`s  military folks press, even people within his own cabinet he attacks,  attacks, attacks. But the one person that he`s not attacking, did quite  the contrary who he`s being submissive to, who he`s elevated on the world  stage, who he`s been willing to go against our allies criticizing them more  than he has any criticism for Vladimir Putin is this dictator who has  murdered his own people, who`s murdered people on British soil, who was  brought down an airliner over Ukraine, who`s annexed Crimea, who has  attacked to this country with cyber-attacks and is continuing to do so.

And so this is a President who has betrayed what I believe is the role of a  Commander-in-Chief to protect this country. We all swear oaths to defend  the United States of America and what he`s doing to his complicity in  Putin`s behavior and we know Putin is somebody that needs to be met --

VELSHI: Let me ask you this --

BOOKER: -- he`s encouraging it to be ongoing.

VELSHI: Because the President`s selling point here was that these are two  nuclear superpowers that need to be in closer coordination, virtually  nobody believed that. But one person in your chamber did. Senator Rand  Paul had a remarkable response to a remarkable press conference. Listen  with me.

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VELSHI: It`s kind of a remarkable response. I`m assuming that you`ve  talked to your colleagues on both sides of the aisle today and that is not  a widely held a view of how President Trump acted and what should happen  next.

BOOKER: No, I mean, I`ve had moments sort of honest, very honest moments  with my Republican colleagues. Everybody is somewhere between stunned and  outraged that we would so debase our nation, that we have a president that  attacks his own country, attacks his own intelligence officers and really  frankly invites Russians to continue to doing what they`re doing to our  nation.

VELSHI: Senator Booker, what`s your message -- what`s your message to our  allies? This president has fought with Justin Trudeau, with Theresa May,  with Angela Merkel, our strongest allies in the world. He`s got NATO very  scared tonight as people are asleep in Europe. What`s your message to our  allies?

BOOKER: Well, I think that again with all the partisanship people look to  and think they see in Washington, remember, we just before we left for this  weekend in a unanimous way passed legislation a resolution affirming NATO  here in the United States Senate. We know the importance of not only NATO  but the G7 without Russia making it the G8. We know the importance of our  Canadian allies and our Mexican allies. We know in this world you need  friends and we stand by our friends.

And when someone has proven themselves to be an enemy, has attacked our  country and others, has violated international rule, has showed  thuggishness and undemocratic ways, then we all have to stand united  against that individual in that nation. And I`m telling you right now what  Donald Trump has done is a betrayal of those ideas and undermine the safety  and security of our nation and all of us. This is why I was happy to see  even Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell releasing the state -- critical  statements today. All of us should unite in one voice and saying no, not  here, this is not the United States of America. We are the strongest  nation on the planet Earth and we will defend ourselves.

VELSHI: Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey, thank you for your time  tonight, sir.

BOOKER: Thank you.

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