Fox News "The Story" - Transcript: Sen. Kennedy on college admissions scandal: This is a culture of entitlement on steroids
Interview
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HENRY: Wow, unreal. Jeff Paul, live outside the courthouse. Thank you, Jeff. Here now live, Louisiana Senator John Kennedy, of course, a Republican. Good to have you come in, sir.
SEN. JOHN KENNEDY, R-LA: Thank you, Ed.
HENRY: What's your initial reaction when you hear all about this mess?
KENNEDY: I'm not sure their words in English. This is some of the most odious, vile, repugnant, reprehensible conduct I've ever seen, or at least, in a long time.
I stayed up late last night, reading the indictment. It's quite long, it quotes liberally from the FBI wiretaps transcripts. Made me want to scream, made me want to heave. I don't know if you can scream and throw up at the same time. But that's how I felt.
HENRY: I hope you don't try to do that right now. But I can understand what was the detail or two that really jumped out of you?
KENNEDY: There say, a venture capitalist on the West Coast. He paid, at least, 50 grand to have somebody take the ACT test for his child. He went -- when the -- when the perpetrators were explaining the scheme to him, he laughed. And he said, "I love it, I love it."
Now, this was a gentleman, he's a venture capitalist.
HENRY: Yes.
KENNEDY: He holds himself out as the leading voice in Silicon Valley, of ethical investing. He and U2's Bono just raised about $2 billion. They're only going to invest in ethical companies.
HENRY: Yes, Senator, what --
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KENNEDY: Give me a break, the hypocrisy is breathtaking. And the prosecutor you just had on talking about possibilities --
HENRY: Yes.
KENNEDY: I vote federal prison.
HENRY: So, in some cases, the detail that jumped out of me among others was that in some of these cases, they claim the kid had a learning disability. So, they could get that child in a private area where they can manipulate the tests change answers.
So, here they are taking advantage of the idea of hey, this kid's got a learning disability, when there are real kids with real learning disabilities who now are going to have people looking over their shoulder about whether they really have that learning disability, and that maybe they're cheating on the test, instead.
You think about all the students who worked hard and did it the right way and didn't get into these big-time schools.
KENNEDY: You know -- you know, for ordinary Americans like you and me, let me tell you what they're thinking and they tell me this every day. They say, "Kennedy, we get up every day, go to work, obey the law, trying to teach our kids morals. We want -- we -- you know, we try to do the right thing. But we look around and we see too many undeserving people at the top, cutting corners and getting bailouts. And too many undeserving people at the bottom getting handouts, and we're playing by the rules, and we get screwed every time.
HENRY: Well, Senator, speaking of getting screwed that I mentioned, I've mentioned this at the top. Atlantic magazine is actually sort of trying to pin this on President Trump. I want to read it quickly this article.
"But the chaos of the present moment has a way of making all of us potential marks. The logic of the con, the perversity of it is becoming normalized. And alleged grifter sits in the Oval Office, near a bust of Andrew Jackson and the nuclear codes." What do you think about folks try to blame this on President Trump?
KENNEDY: Someone needs to kill whoever wrote that article. That the voices he's hearing in his head aren't real. That is to try to turn this into Trump's fault is to say it's a bridge too far is a gross understand. It's absurd.
HENRY: Speaking of absurd, what do you think about --
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KENNEDY: I mean, can I say -- can I say this.
HENRY: Yes.
KENNEDY: Let me tell you what we have here. This is -- this is a culture of entitlement on steroids. And I don't care how many movies you've made, I don't care how much money you've made. Right is still right, and wrong is still wrong.
And I want to thank the FBI, and I want to thank the Justice Department for prosecuting, and I hope they go medieval on these people.
HENRY: yes. Medieval on them. Well, Senator, as you know, President Trump is a candidate ran against elitist and the idea that some parts of the system were rigged. There is one of your other colleagues, one of many colleagues, I should say, on the Democratic side, running for president, Elizabeth Warren. Here's what she said today.
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BRZEZINSKI: How much sympathy would you have for these parents who are embroiled in this alleged cheating scandal?
SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN, D-MASS.: Zero.
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HENRY: Senator, I thought your colleague had a little trouble with filling out forms herself.
KENNEDY: Well, all cheating. I don't want to personalize this with my colleague. But, all cheating. Well, they're tickly in college admissions, I mean it's wrong. Think about the hundreds of thousands of kids out there tonight who are studying hard, their mom and dad -- they don't have a lot of money, they don't have a lot of clout, they don't have a lot of pull. They're working their rear ends off because they believe in the American dream.
And then, you have these chuckleheads, like these parents come along and do this because they're entitled. They're smarter and more virtuous than the rest of us. So, they drink -- they drink goat's milk lattes. I mean, give me a break, this is -- this is why people are angry.
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HENRY: So, Senator --
KENNEDY: And when say it again --
HENRY: Yes, go ahead.
KENNEDY: I vote --I vote federal prison.
HENRY: I've got less than 30 seconds you've covered a lot of ground.
KENNEDY: OK.
HENRY: What can Congress do about this? You said that this legal system should go medieval on them. Is there something Congress can do about this as well (INAUDIBLE)?
KENNEDY: Obviously, obviously, we need the whole hearings. But first thing we need to do is let the prosecutor do his job. And let justice run its course. But, the American people are going to be watching.
And I understand that this fashionable -- we don't want to punish nonviolent crime and all that. Your crime doesn't have to be nonviolent to be evil and this is evil.
HENRY: Well, Senator when it's all said and done, we're going to have to sit down, have a goat milk and latte, I hope.
KENNEDY: I don't drunk them.
HENRY: Senator John Kennedy, appreciate you coming in tonight.
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