CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: Interview With Hawaii Senator Mazie Hirono
Interview
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BLITZER: All right, very interesting.
Fred Pleitgen, good report. Thank you very much.
Joining us now, Senator Mazie Hirono. She's a Democrat. She serves on the Judiciary and Armed Services Committees.
Senator, thanks so much for joining us. We have a lot to get to.
(CROSSTALK)
[18:10:02]
SEN. MAZIE HIRONO (D), HAWAII: Aloha.
BLITZER: But, first, is there anything you can think President Trump could accomplish through yet another meeting with Vladimir Putin in the middle of next month?
HIRONO: I think it's very problematic, what he can accomplish, because pretty much he is very much on the page with Putin.
And his announcement that we're going to withdraw from the INF is yet another, in my view, gift to Putin, because I think Putin would like that to happen, so that we can be unfettered in his aggression.
BLITZER: Not only is the U.S. pulling out of this nuclear arms treaty that's been around for 30-plus years, but President Trump is also promising to build up the nuclear U.S. arsenal.
So what are the potential consequences if this new arms race escalates?
HIRONO: This is yet another example of how President Trump makes these kind of announcements without consulting certainly with Congress and definitely with our allies.
So our allies both in Europe and Asia are very concerned about where he's going, that we don't need another nuclear arms race to proceed apace, and then to encourage other countries to become very -- to develop these kinds of capabilities also. This is not what we need.
We should be pursuing diplomatic means to bring about a peaceful resolution to what's going on in North Korea, as well as the Middle East.
But that is not where President Trump is.
BLITZER: Let's turn to the question, Senator, surrounding Jamal Khashoggi's murder. The president now says the Saudi cover-up was one of the worst of the cover-ups -- his words -- and that he wants a bipartisan recommendation from the U.S. Congress, the House and the Senate.
From your perspective, what will you recommend to the president?
HIRONO: Well, first of all, I think that we do need to reassess our relationship with Saudi Arabia.
And I am very much in agreement with Senator Jack Reed, who is the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, wherein he said, we should stop our refueling assistance to Saudi planes as they're attacking in Yemen. We should not have any more -- we should not approve any more sales of offensive arms to Saudi Arabia. And we should have an independent body investigating what happened to Mr. Khashoggi.
And then we can proceed. But it took a long time for the president going from really disbelieving that the Saudis had anything to do with it, to believing their own cover-up, to where he is now. So when the president says he's waiting for Congress to make a recommendation, it reminds me very much of when we are dealing with DACA, and he said, I will accept a bipartisan recommendation. I will sign it into law.
And then he did entirely the opposite. So, I would like those other things to happen, and I would like the president to be on that page, as opposed to just saying all kind of things that we can't rely upon.
BLITZER: The president also says -- and I'm quoting him now -- "We would be really hurting ourselves and American companies and jobs if the U.S. were to back out of its weapons deals with Saudi Arabia."
What's your reaction to that?
HIRONO: When he equates what happened to Mr. Khashoggi with the arms deem, which is, by the way, a long-term kind of process, I think that he is creating a false choice.
But we definitely need to reassess what we are doing with regard to Saudi Arabia. And with Trump, everything is about money. Everything is about money, particularly for his own family. And, by the way, you mentioned in the earlier segment that he is throwing everything out there and trying to make sure that the midterm elections go the way he wants by not just dog whistles, but I would call it a bullhorn.
And really, when he goes low, we have to fight back.
BLITZER: Well, let's talk a little about that.
Exactly two weeks until the midterm elections, the president, he is stroking fears about immigration right now. He says Middle Easterners, his words, Middle Easterners, are among the migrants among the migrants trying to reach the United States through Mexico right now.
They're coming up from Central America. What do you think he means by that when he says these Middle Easterners have planted themselves in this caravan?
HIRONO: Well, note that he had no proof of it. And it's just yet another example of how he stokes fear and loathing into the electorate.
He knows he is speaking to his base. And the words he uses, he says he doesn't really -- he makes up his own definitions.
We should stop giving him the benefit of the doubt that he doesn't understand what he means when he refers to nationalist or any of these other terms. These are not just dog whistles, but it's bullhorns.
[18:15:03]
It's racism. It's basically -- for many people, it's anti-Semitic. It's white supremacy. He knows very well what he is talking about, even if he professes otherwise.
BLITZER: Well, he says he is proud to call himself a nationalist, even though he says he knows that word hasn't been used in quite a while.
He also at the same time is railing against what he calls power-hungry globalists, who really don't care, he says, about what's good for the United States.
What's your reaction to that?
HIRONO: If there is anybody who is power- and money-hungry, it is the president of the United States, where he just lies every single day.
It is very hard to keep up with all of the lies. For example, he says that it's the Republicans who are protecting everyone from being discriminated on preexisting conditions. Nothing could be further from the truth, because they are right now, the administration right now is in Texas in a huge lawsuit that would do away with protections for people with preexisting conditions.
That's over 50 million people in our country. That is a lie on his part. Also, that he is protective of Medicare and Medicaid. No, in fact, his 2019 budget already puts a $1.5 trillion cut to Medicaid. That's going to hurt all of our families.
So it is very hard to keep up with all of the lies. But suffice to say that he will say anything to rile up his base, so that they will come out and vote for his candidates. And he has put this election, midterm election, as a referendum on him.
And I just hope that the people of our country have figured out and connected the dots as to who is protecting people with preexisting conditions.
That would be the Democrats. As to who is protecting the people who are on Medicare and Social Security from the kind of cuts that even McConnell has put out with regard to Medicare, and that will be the Democrats two are protecting our seniors. So, I hope that the people in the 2018 elections will have connected the dots and will vote accordingly.
BLITZER: We will see what happens in two weeks, two weeks from today.
Senator Hirono, thank you so much for joining us.
HIRONO: Thank you.
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