Fox News "Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. James Clyburn

Interview

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WALLACE: The president offered concessions to the Democrats this weekend, but as we told you when our interview with Vice President Pence, they rejected it before the president even officially made his offer.

We're going to be talking now to get reaction from the number three Democrat in the House, Jim Clyburn of South Carolina.

Congressman, welcome back to "Fox News Sunday".

REP. JAMES CLYBURN, D-S.C., HOUSE MAJORITY WHIP: Thank you so much for having me, Chris.

WALLACE: Why flatly reject the president's offer, which, yes it calls for more money for the wall, but on the other hand it does offer temporary protection for the Dreamers, temporary protection for those TPS refugees and would reopen the government? Why not sit down and negotiate? Isn't that a reasonable opening offer?

CLYBURN: Well, thank you so much for having me.

You know, what we are trying to do here is get the government open, and what we said to the president is, let's open up the government, we could do that, as you said, tomorrow morning. He has bills that he could sign and could open the government up right away. Let's not hold the American people, especially the federal workers, hostage to these negotiations, and hopefully, we will open with what he has put on the table.

And let's go back and forth on this and see where we can find common ground. We are all for negotiating and we would love to have a permanent fix for DACA and TPS, just as he wants a permanent wall.

I think it's a nonstarter for him to ask for a permanent wall and for us to have a temporary fix. Just think about what happened to DACA children. If you're finishing high school and get a temporary three year fix, it means by the time you got to your junior year of college, you are under threat of having this rug (ph) pulled out from under you, never being able to finish school, just as the president did when he came into office and got rid of what President Obama had done for DACA recipients.

And so, this is the kind of stuff we want to sit down and put some stability in people's lives and have some permanent solutions to this immigration problem. And the president's team is the one who continues to play games with us. He gets a permanent fix for his wall and we get a temporary fix --

WALLACE: Congressman Clyburn --

CLYBURN: Yes?

WALLACE: Yes, so, I just want to make sure bottom line, are you saying no negotiations until the president reopens the government, and are you saying, as Speaker Pelosi does, under no circumstances, no money -- new money for the wall?

CLYBURN: No, I'm not saying that. I'm saying yes to the first part. To the second part, it seemed as if the president started talking about barriers in a statement yesterday. And as you realize, I have been talking about barriers for a long time. A smart wall will be a barrier. A smart wall would be using drones, using sensors, using X-ray equipment to be an effective wall.

Not just something that would be a monument to one's existence, but to be a deterrent at the border and to be an effective barrier for people who are trying to come in illegally. And while we're doing that --

WALLACE: But, Congressman --

CLYBURN: -- let's fix our ports of entry. Yes?

WALLACE: OK. I was going to say is look with the president is offering on his side.

Protection, yes, temporary, but protection for the Dreamers and TPS refugees. More money for immigration judges, more money for border patrol, more money for detention beds, humanitarian support and drug detection technology.

Don't Democrats and up looking like you don't care about border security and that you don't want to reopen the government?

CLYBURN: Well, I don't know how it may look to someone but all I would ask is look at the billion dollars that was put on the table before the president had his statement on yesterday -- $450 million for hiring new judges, hiring new personnel, border policeman, and another $550 billion for ports of entry, for having the infrastructure that we need.

So that is already on the table. So, I don't know if the president did anything that was new. All he did was regurgitate the stuff that we have already given him in the past several months.

WALLACE: But just to make clear, you're saying no negotiations, no compromise until he agrees to reopen the government, is that correct?

CLYBURN: That's absolutely correct. I can't see us keeping federal employees, 800,000 people out of work while we go back and forth on negotiations. These negotiations could take three or four weeks.

We ought to open the government up. We can pass a continuing resolution for 30 days, get the government open. Get people back to work. And then let's sit around the table and see where the common ground is. It may be just a simple as taking temporary off the TPS fixes and I would hope that his TPS fix will include those countries where I find my roots, where he seemed to be so dismissive of some time ago, and that is Haiti, African countries, temporary protected status for all people seeking to come to this country.

WALLACE: Congressman, I want to switch to two other subjects before we let you go. First, "BuzzFeed". Special counsel Robert Mueller, as I just discussed with the vice president, knocked down the "BuzzFeed" story that the special counsel had evidence that the president directed Michael Cohen to lie to Congress.

Now, as soon -- before he did, before he knocked the story down, House Democrats jumped on the story.

I want to read a couple of the quotes from what they said. Jamie Raskin, Democrat of Maryland, said: We don't know if it's true, of course, but already, people of course are saying this is the matter of the gravest urgency.

David Cicilline said, congressman from Rhode Island: If true, this is I think the most serious threat to the Trump presidency that we've seen so far.

Should your members be more cautious, because it almost seemed in this rush to judgment as if there were a lot of House Democrats that want to impeach the president.

CLYBURN: Well, Chris, when you preface her statement with if this is true, that, to me, gives you all the cover you need. And I would say that. If it is true -- now, if they had said something as if it were true then that would be one thing to be concerned about, but they've all said if this is true. There are a lot of things that I hear daily. If it were true I would be concerned about it.

Sometimes, you would preface it with that and sometimes you just don't say anything.

So I don't think that my Democratic friends in any way rushing to judgment because the qualified right upfront, if this is true.

WALLACE: All right. I want to talk to, this week and, of course, is Martin Luther King weekend. You're going to be speaking tomorrow in the state capital in Columbia on an observance of Dr. King's birthday. Some members, Democrats who are potential candidates in 2020 are going to be there.

A couple of questions, first of all, is there anybody so far in this crazy field that could be as many as two dozen candidates, is there anybody that stands out for you? And more importantly and specifically, is there any one of them who you think could advance Dr. King's legacy?

CLYBURN: Oh, quite a few of them could advance that legacy. I think -- I don't know who all is going to run but you've got people like Joe Biden, who spends a lot of time in South Carolina.

Joe Biden has demonstrated a commitment to Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy. You've got Cory Booker, Kamala Harris. These are three people that I've seen and heard from mostly in South Carolina.

But Eric Swalwell was here last night. We have others who will be coming very soon. I talked with Kirsten Gillibrand. I think she told me that she's on her way to South Carolina.

I worked with all of these people. I think they are outstanding people. They will make great public servants. They already are great public servants.

And so, any one of them would do a good job of pushing that legacy. Remember, in fact, I will be talking about this tomorrow, I've told people a lot, aside from the bible, I think one of the most timeless documents I've ever read in my life was Martin Luther King Jr.'s letter from the Birmingham City Jail. I've read that letter about 100 times.

I read it again, not all of it, but I read some of it again last night. And what jumped off the page at me is injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere, and that reminds me so much of what we are going through today. The injustice that we see taking place at our southern border, the injustice that we see taking place in fair housing. These things are things that Democrats have been pushing for us to get fixed and I think that anyone of these candidates would be good messengers for that.

WALLACE: Congressman Clyburn, thank you. Thank you so much for joining us today and we'll, of course, be following what happens next in this shutdown. Thank you, sir.

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