CNN "Erin Burnett Outfront" - Transcript: Interview with Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA)

Interview

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BURNETT: OUTFRONT now, Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia who sits on the Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committee. And, Senator, thanks for your time tonight.

Your colleague, Senator Graham, said the president's comments on Syria emboldened ISIS, your Republican colleague. The president of Turkey said the attack is related to Trump's decision to pull out American troops. Are they right?

SEN. TIM KAINE (D-VA), ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE: You know, Erin, when the American troops are killed in action, and I've got a kid in the Marine Corps, my first thought isn't about, you know, can I pin it on a public official? It's just, I feel grief for these family members, what a horrible thing, that's my first thought.

But I think what's really clear in this though is that any claim that ISIS is defeated is just wrong. ISIS is not defeated. Their space on the battlefield has shrunk, but they still intent to do us harm and that's something that we have to keep at the front of the mind. It also needs to inform our decisions about the timing of things like withdrawal.

BURNETT: Senator, the vice president this morning very clearly said, ISIS has been defeated. The caliphate has crumbled and our troops are coming home.

When it comes to Vice President Pence this morning, do you think he did not know about the Americans dying in Syria, even though the attack had happened hours before and had been announced publicly?

KAINE: I have no way of knowing what he knew. I'll go to the content of the statement, which was also what the president said, ISIS is defeated. When the president tweeted that out, we knew at the moment he tweeted it out that he was wrong, in our military leadership.

I'm on the Armed Services Committee, so we get briefings from the military all the time. I'm on the Foreign Relations Committee, we get briefings from our diplomats all the time about the situation in Syria. It's good that the ISIS battlefield space has shrunk, but to suggest that they're defeated, it's just -- it's inaccurate.

BURNETT: House Speaker Pelosi today says that President Trump should not come to the Capitol Hill for the State of the Union during the shutdown, Senator. And she says that's because the Secret Service, which will be in charge of security, hasn't been funded for 26 days.

Is anyone's security in jeopardy?

KAINE: Well, look, I think it would be very, very odd, very, very odd to be having a State of the Union speech when big chunks of the government are shutdown, 800,000 plus people aren't getting paid and millions of Americans are without critical services.

[19:35:05] My goal, though, Erin, on the shutdown is to get the government reopened. I hope we can get it reopened so on the State of the Union day, this will be a non-issue and that's where I'm focusing my attention.

BURNETT: We are on the day 26 of the shutdown, though, Senator. I mean, it doesn't seem like there's been anybody budging on either side. The president fundraising off his position, right? And Nancy Pelosi not moving off of hers.

You don't want the Senate to recess until the government is open? Are we days away or could it be longer?

KAINE: Yes, look, I will say about Speaker Pelosi, the House has acted. It's not that they're refusing to budge, they acted and passed a bipartisan spending bill to the Senate. Now, it's the Senate. It's on the Senate.

The Senate has previously passed these bills less than a month ago, and so, what I've done, as you point out, as I have objected to adjourning for the recess. And I'm saying, we shouldn't go away until these are vote on these bipartisan bills that are sitting on the Senate desk right now. That doesn't make me the most popular guy in the Capitol when you object to an adjournment that peple want to take, you're not popular.

But with so many people hurting, it infuriates me that my colleagues are unwilling to go on the record and vote yes or no to government funding to sort of hiding behind Mitch McConnell, protecting them, that they should go on the record and vote yes or no on the funding bills that they voted yes to less than a month ago.

BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, Senator Kaine. I appreciate your time tonight.

KAINE: Absolutely.

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