MSNBC "All in with Chris Hayes" - Transcript: Interview with Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand
Interview
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HAYES: There is a growing call from Democrats on Capitol Hill for Attorney General William Barr to resign. New York Senator and 2020 presidential candidate Kirsten Gillibrand is one of them, tweeting earlier, quote, "Attorney General Barr needs to resign today. He has proven once again he is more interested in protecting the president than working for the American people. We can`t trust him to tell truth, and these embarrassing displays of propaganda have to stop.
And joining me now is Senator Gillibrand.
Was your mind made up today from the testimony about the need for him to resign?
SEN. KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND, (D-NY) 2020 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It`s a concern that I`ve had for awhile. I think what Attorney General Barr has showed the American people is that he`s trying to represent the president not the American people.
He`s also really created a disturbing trend on how he`s addressed the Mueller report. First of all, he should have never summarized the report and tried to put himself between the special counsel and the American people. The whole purpose of the special counsel statute is to make sure that the American people can receive unbiased professional information when there are serious concerns.
First of all, Attorney General Barr summarized it, second he called a press conference before the report was released and put his own frame on it. And then he redacted it significantly before turning it over.
So now you add to that testimony today where he confirmed that he actually didn`t look at the
facts and evidence before he wrote his letter and opined, not the underlying information. It`s deeply concerning.
And I think he has proven that he is no longer representing the American people.
HAYES: As a member of the United States Senate and part of the Article 1 branch of government, there is a kind of constitutional showdown we now have, William Barr and the
Department of Justice announcing he will not appear before the committee tomorrow, because they wanted some of the staff attorneys ask some of the questions. What do you think about that?
GILLIBRAND: I think Congressman Nadler has been very clear that he will use whatever power is necessary to make sure that he testifies. And I believe he will, including subpoenaing him.
HAYES: You`re running for president, as I mentioned up here, and you have a new policy proposal today that has to do with the way in which campaigns are funded in America. It`s interesting. There is a pilot program I believe in Seattle that`s been operating. I`ve read some thinkers who have proposed this in the past.
What is it?
GILLIBRAND: So the biggest problem we have in Washington is the greed and corruption that determine everything. It determines what bills get voted on, what the outcome of the legislation is, and I`ve heard from Americans across this country that they believe there is enormous political corruption. And so we need clean elections. We have to restore the power to the hands of the people. And so I have proposed a publicly funded elections bill to offer clean elections, to take on political corruption directly by getting money out of politics and making sure that American voters` voices are as loud and
powerful as the Koch brothers.
And we do it through democracy dollars, telling every American if they want to participate in
federal elections, they will be given these dollars to spend on the campaigns that they see fit in their state, in their district, and for president.
HAYES: It`s $600, I believe, that you would get from the federal government.
GILLIBRAND: Yes.
HAYES: Why that number? That seems like a lot of money to me.
GILLIBRAND: It does. It does. But it`s $200 for each federal election.
HAYES: Right.
GILLIBRAND: So you get $200, $100 for primary and 100 for the general for the presidential election, for your congressional election, and for your senate election. And that is a very small, modest amount of money to cap to say you can really spend up to $200 in each election. You would also allow voters to give that amount as well. But it would be something that every candidate would choose whether or not to participate in, and it would be something that every voter would choose whether or not to participate in.
And what it does, Chris, is it allows more people to participate in our democracy. It democratizes democracy, because right now it`s been corrupted. And most people have no faith in our elected leaders because of the money and influence in politics.
The fact that the Koch brothers can spend $300 million in an election cycle so they can get
lower tax rates. We saw it in the Trump tax cut where literally members of congress were saying yeah, we need to get this passed because we got to thank our donors. I me an, you can see the pay for play in politics every day. And people have lost faith that their government (inaudible) for them, and lost faith that our democracy actually works.
So if you`re not willing to take on the greed and corruption that really destroy our democracy
daily, you will never be able to get the things done that you want. You won`t be able to pass health care as a right and not a privilege. You won`t be able to pass the Green New Deal. You won`t be able to pass national paid leave you. You won`t be able to end gun violence, because all of those issue there`s is some entity, some special interest that doesn`t want it to happen.
And because they have so much power and so much money, they have an outsized voice in our democracy. And what this bill will do is take it on.
HAYES: All rig ht, you just mentioned things you would not be able to pass, right, without this -- further obstacles of special interests. This is an adjacent question, but it occurs to me since you mention it and you serve in the United States Senate, there have been a number of people recently that were considered I think top recruits to run for senate in their states -- Stacey Abrams in Georgia, Beto O`Rourke and Joaquin Castro in Texas. Steve Bullock who is governor (inaudible) not going to run for senate.
Are you -- are you there in the Senate talking to each other about what this chessboard looks like? And are you concerned about Democratic recruitment given how important, centrally important that the senate is?
GILLIBRAND: I think we can take back the Senate with the momentum of 2018. The fact that millions of people turned out to vote, women voted more often. Young people voted more often
than before, and we had such extraordinary candidates running, Chris. The breakthrough candidates of 2018 were women, women running in red and purple places where white men had run before and lost.
You saw Kyrsten Sinema break through in Arizona running on what it`s like to grow up as a
homeless girl, living in an abandoned gas station. People like Lucy McBath, running in the suburbs of Atlanta on ending gun violence. Gretchen Whitmer running on health care as a right, not as a privilege to win the governorship of Michigan.
And so I think with the right candidates, which we will be recruiting and making sure we
find them, we can flip the senate. We will. And I think this whole moment in history that we`re in is about all of us answering a call to what will you do to defeat what President Trump has created? This hatred, this division, this anxiety that is breeding across America.
I`m running because I will take it on. I will take on the corruption and special interests in Washington that make everything so difficult. I will get money out of politics and restore that power to the hands of the people, and I will fight for health care as a right and a Green New Deal and national paid leave, common sense things.
People need that vision and that they need to know that you can get it done.
HAYES: And they need a Democratic Senate if that`s going to happen. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Democratic presidential candidate thanks for making time.
GILLIBRAND: Thank you.
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