MSNBC "All in with Chris Hayes" - Transcript: Interview with Sen. Bernie Sanders

Interview

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

HAYES: All right, Joyce Vance and Nancy Gertner, great to have your  insights. For more on the looming Kavanaugh vote, I`m joined by Senator  Bernie Sanders, Independent from Vermont who caucuses with the Democrats.  Your reaction to the news the FBI may be wrapping up as early as tonight or  tomorrow and Mitch McConnell`s going to make you vote this week.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I), VERMONT: Well, I agree with your guests you just  had on. I think it`s an outrage. Mitch McConnell had no problem keeping a  seat vacant for ten months, and now he`s telling us that we need to shorten  a thorough FBI investigation, not only regarding sexual assault issues but  regarding the veracity, the honesty of Judge Kavanaugh and his testimony  before Congress now and in years past.

I think what is very troubling is in years past when he was up for his  judgeship, he said among other things that he never had access to  information that was stolen by Republicans staffers from the Democratic  staff of the Judiciary Committee. Recent e-mails suggest the very  opposite. He suggests that he was not active as a member of the Bush  administration in guiding through certain judges. It turns out that  perhaps that is not the case. He suggests he really was not involved in  discussing torture in the Bush Administration. It turns out that may not  have been the case.

Then more recently he tells us that his drinking problem was not all that  serious. He never blacked out. He was not a very heavy drinker. There is  testimony that suggests that may not be as a case. So I think what we have  got to do is let the FBI do its job. And I don`t know that they could do  with that job in in in a week or in five days. And that McConnell wants to  rush this thing through has everything to do with politics and very little  to do with gaining the truth of the matter.

HAYES: The politics of this it seems to me and I`m curious to hear your  thoughts is it seems to me he`s trying to call his own caucus on the carpet  if there`s any quivering her or ambivalence he basically wants to make it  as hard as possible and put as much pressure as possible on those wavering  members.

SANDERS: Look, what are you saying to you know, Collins, and Murkowski,  and Flake, it`s OK. You wanted this FBI investigation, here it is and now  vote with us, end of discussion. And I think that is -- that is really an  outrageous way to run the Senate and I think the American people no matter  how they may feel about Kavanaugh want to get at the truth of the matter.  You know, Dr. Ford and the other women who came forward a great personal  risk to themselves. Their lives have been changed and altered in a way  that will never be the same. And they came forward as credible people and  they deserve a thorough investigation as to the allegations that they are  making.

HAYES: What about that final point about temperament or partisanship that  Nancy Gertner, former federal judge just made?

SANDERS: Well, you know, to be -- sad to say and I`m not a historian of  the Supreme Court. That bothered me less. I knew from the very beginning  and the reason why a day after Trump nominated Kavanaugh, I said I`m not  going to vote for this guy because I know he is a right wing operative.  He`s going to vote against the woman`s right to choose and overturn Roe versus Wade. He`s going to make it easier for billionaires to buy 
elections. He is going to be sympathetic the Republicans trying to suppress the vote making and harder for poor people or people of color to vote. He`s going to be supporting the Trump agenda on climate change and 
the wishes of the fossil fuel industry.

So the fact that he said hey, I`m a right-wing extremist, I`m for Trump,  what`s your problem? That bothered be less because I kind of assumed that  was the case. By the way, there was another issue that came out today,  Chris, that I hope we can discuss today of some significance. And that is  that Amazon announced that they were going to pay a $15.00 on minimum wage  for 350,000 of their employees and I just want to congratulate the fight  for 15 people, the hundreds of workers at Amazon who came forward and  talked about how it is absurd that the richest person in the history of the  world Jeff Bezos, was paying with people wages so low, they were really  having a hard time getting by and many of them were forced to go on food  stamps or other federal programs.

I just want to salute you congratulate the workers at Amazon for standing  up, for fighting back and I want to applaud Jeff Bezos for doing the right  thing and that is making sure that every worker there earns at least 15  bucks an hour. We`re going to take a hard look now at Walmart, at the fast  food industry, McDonald`s, at the whole -- at the at the airline industry.  We have a major crisis in this country that tens of millions of workers are  working at wages you cannot live on. And Bezos did the right thing and I  hope other corporations start following what he brought forth.

HAYES: That would be very interesting to see if they do. Senator Bernie  Sanders, thank you so much for your time tonight.

SANDERS: Thank you, Chris.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source