NBC "Meet the Press" - Transcript: Interview with Sen. Dick Durbin

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CHUCK TODD:

Joining me now from the other side of the aisle the Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois. Senator Durbin, welcome back to Meet the Press.

SEN. DICK DURBIN:

Good to be with you, Chuck.

CHUCK TODD:

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I know you're chomping at the bit about health care, but I want to ask first about Mueller and this Tuesday deadline. What Mr. Mueller has -- excuse me -- Mr. Barr has already said he's not going to meet the Tuesday deadline for the Mueller report to be in Congress. What are the consequences? Do you have consequences planned?

SEN. DICK DURBIN:

We have a new species of political dinosaurs. It's called the Barr-Redactyl. And apparently, William Barr believes that he can take his time and redact the 300 or 400 page report from Bob Mueller. I think it's long overdue for him to apply to Court to get a waiver when it comes to grand jury information and then to produce this report in its entirety for the Congress. There's ample precedent. When it came to Clinton investigations in the past, for Hillary and for Bill Clinton, there were massive reports, unredacted, turned over to Congress. That should be the case here as well.

CHUCK TODD:

You know, before Mueller came out, you had been, sort of, preaching some sort of calmness. You had said things like, "Why don't you park yourselves on the sidelines until Mueller's work is completed?" All right. Mueller's work is completed. I know you're waiting --

SENATOR DICK DURBIN:

That's right.

CHUCK TODD:

-- to see what's in it. But you saw the polling. You know that this is -- while this is an obsession among the bases of both parties, the vast -- there's a vast chunk of America that has tuned this out and doesn't want this focus. You heard Senator Barrasso say that they -- he wishes their side could move on. Do you think it's time for your side to move on?

SEN. DICK DURBIN:

Well, I think there should be a complete disclosure of the Mueller Report. I was standing in the subway in Chicago on Friday. And a lady came up to me named Deborah, and she said, "We paid for that inquiry. Why can't we see the report?" She's not a professional politician by any means, but I think she speaks for most of America. I don't want to dwell on it, but I think it's important we at least see what Bob Mueller produced. Sally Yates had an important column just a day or two ago. She said remember, at the heart of this was the Russian interference in our election. To stop them from doing it again, to find out what conduct helped them or hurt them, we ought to see the full Mueller Report that gets into the counterintelligence phase. So it does have application to what we do moving forward. Let's release the entire report. Let the American people see what happened.

CHUCK TODD:

You sit on the judiciary committee. The chairman there, Republican from South Carolina, Lindsey Graham, has indicated he wants to do some investigating of the investigators. How did this get started? He has said he wants to talk about Comey. Are you with him on this? Do you think that's an investigation that's necessary?

SEN. DICK DURBIN:

I don't want to return to Travelgate, Benghazi and the Clinton emails. You know, I think we can move forward from here. We ought to focus on the counterintelligence aspects of this and the security of the 2020 election. That's the one thing both parties ought to agree on. No one should interfere with the opportunity and the obligation of the American people to choose their next rank of leadership.

CHUCK TODD:

Given the fact that Senator Graham admitted he was sort of involved in the process, or at least knew of the process of how the dossier got to James Comey from Senator McCain and he read it actually before it got to Comey, does he have to recuse himself from this investigation on your committee or not?

SEN. DICK DURBIN:

Do you think Lindsey Graham would recuse himself from any investigation? I can't imagine it. And I'll tell you, I hope we don't dwell on this. As I said, it is yesterday's newspaper with Mueller's report. Let's put it to rest one way or the other. If there's action needed by Congress to keep our political system intact, let's move forward.

CHUCK TODD:

All right. I want to move to a few issues. But I want to start first with immigration. The front page of The New York Times this morning notes that, look, whatever you want to call it, wherever you want to put the blame, we have a problem right now on the border. The secretary of Homeland Security wrote this letter to Congress. "DHS is doing everything possible to respond to a growing humanitarian catastrophe while also securing our borders. But we have reached peak capacity and are now forced to pull from other missions to respond to the emergency." Look, I'm well aware you don't like the president's plans on immigration, the wall, all of those things. The fact is, we do know there is a massive migration crisis right now. Does Congress have the responsibility to give Secretary Nielsen more tools to deal with this temporarily?

SENATOR DICK DURBIN:

Let me tell you the first thing we ought to do in this administration, which was the author of the zero tolerance policy, removing over 2,800 toddlers, infants and children from their parents with no tracing of where they were being sent, so they could be returned. The first thing we need to do is to meet the humanitarian needs at the border. Instead of building fences two or three years in the future by taking money from the Department of Defense, focus on facilities to serve these families, so that there aren't children who are hurt and dying as a result of this situation.

CHUCK TODD:

Is there a --

SENATOR DICK DURBIN: Then take a look at the big picture. When the president says -- when the president says he's going to close the border, that is a totally unrealistic boast on his part. What we need to do is focus on what's happening in Central America, where three countries are dissembling before our eyes, and people are desperately coming to the United States. The president's cutting off aid to these countries will not solve that problem.

CHUCK TODD:

Let me move quickly to health care. And it's this question. The Democratic presidential candidates are all talking about remaking Obamacare, some of them radically, some of them on the edges. The Republican party is obviously in a different place. You're trying to defend Obamacare while your rest of your party wants to change it. Should the presidential candidates be more focused on defending Obamacare than changing it?

SENATOR DICK DURBIN:

I can tell you this. I voted for it and think it's one of my most important votes. It cut the number of uninsured Americans and in Illinois in half. And back to my friend John Barrasso, and he is a friend, 25,000 people in the state of Wyoming have health care because of Obamacare -- 95% of them get a subsidy for the premium payment. There are ways to improve it. The Affordable Care Act was not brought down a mountainside by Moses on clay tablets. There are ways to improve it. For example, when it comes to prescription drug pricing, I disagree with John Barrasso. Most Americans believe, and I do too, that prescription drug prices are through the roof and indefensible. We should be addressing that as one of the first changes to make the Affordable Care Act more effective.

CHUCK TODD:

Quickly on 2020, Joe Biden, there's an allegation that he was basically too -- made some women feel uncomfortable by some ways that he acted around them. He has put out a more complete statement saying he still doesn't remember the incident, but that he will pay more -- that men in general need to pay more attention how they interact with women. Are you concerned that Joe Biden can handle the onslaught of 2020? Do you think he should run?

SENATOR DICK DURBIN:

Well, I can tell you that Joe Biden is a friend and a seasoned veteran when it comes to political campaigns. I know nothing about the allegations that I also read this morning as well. I think all of us should take such allegations seriously and with respect. I took Joe Biden's statement to say just that exactly. So yes, I think he's ready, if that's his decision to move forward in this presidential campaign. We have a spirited field of 15 or 16 candidates--

CHUCK TODD:

So this isn't disqualifying him?

SENATOR DICK DURBIN:

--across the spectrum in the Democratic party and its values. Certainly, one allegation is not disqualifying, but it should be taken seriously.

CHUCK TODD:

All right, Senator Dick Durbin, Democrat from Illinois. As always, sir, thanks for your time and sharing your views.

SENATOR DICK DURBIN:

Thank you.

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