CNN "State of the Union" - Transcript: Interview with Sen. Rick Scott

Interview

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TAPPER: Welcome back to STATE OF THE UNION. I'm Jake Tapper.

President Trump is brushing off reports that he's upset by the situation at the border and his administration's response to it, but all evidence points to the contrary. And the president does not seem overly concerned that his plans to stem the tide of illegal immigration might not be entirely legal.

Joining me now, Republican Senator Rick Scott of Florida. He sits on the Senate Homeland Security Committee.

Senator Scott, thanks so much for joining us. We appreciate it.

President Trump tweeted last night he has the -- quote -- "absolutely legal right" to transport undocumented immigrants to sanctuary cities. It's a plan he's considering in order to retaliate against Democrats.

I obtained some guidance from the general counsel at DHS suggesting to the White House that he didn't think this plan would pass legal muster.

Do you have any legal concerns about transporting migrants to sanctuary cities?

SEN. RICK SCOTT (R), FLORIDA: Jake, I don't know whether it's legal or illegal.

I mean, maybe he's just saying this to make everybody crazy, make everybody talks about on their shows. But what I -- what I do know is, I have been up there, I have been in the Senate for 90 days.

We're not securing our border. We're not enforcing our laws. Sanctuary cities are illegal. You heard Congressman Nadler say contempt for the law. That's clearly contempt for the law. You don't get to pick and choose what laws you do and what laws you comply with. You and I don't get to. Cities don't get to.

What I don't get is, why don't we try to solve the problem? We don't want illegal immigration. We don't want people coming illegally across our border. We want legal immigration.

I'm from a state that we love immigrants. But we want legal immigration. So it's frustrating to me we're not getting anything done.

TAPPER: Senior administration officials told me on Friday that the president told border agents to block asylum seekers from entering the U.S. when he visited Calexico, California, about a week-and-a-half ago.

And then he told Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin McAleenan, now the acting department secretary for DHS, that, if he went to jail for closing the border at Calexico, the president would give him a pardon.

Now, I know President Trump's unhappy with U.S. immigration laws, but what's your response to this? Do you think that his frustration gives him the right to tell subordinates to break the law?

SCOTT: No. No. No.

I -- I finished eight years as governor. And what I told everybody, we're going to enforce all the laws, whether we like them or not. You want to change the law, you have to go through the legislature. In this case, it would be Congress.

So, I'm sure -- I'm sure the president's very frustrated because we're not securing our border. The Democrats are stopping this. But we have to comply with every law. Everybody does, including sanctuary -- there's no such thing as a sanctuary city. You don't have a right to pick and choose the law.

I don't get to say, oh, Florida, we don't pay federal income taxes. You don't get to do those things. So let's all comply with the law. Let's fix immigration.

TAPPER: President Trump's replacing several senior leaders in the

Department of Homeland Security, including Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, the head of ICE, the head of the Secret Service.

There are now 16 acting or vacant senior leadership posts in the department. You're on the Homeland Security Committee. Your committee's chairman, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, says he's concerned with a growing leadership void. Are you?

SCOTT: Well, I say, I liked working with Secretary Nielsen. She was very helpful to me when we had the hurricanes while I was governor.

So I always -- I thought she did a wonderful job. But I do know that the -- I have been down to the border. The people that do the job day to day, they're absolutely committed. They might not like to see all the change, but they're doing their job.

But it's -- it's -- we have got to -- we got to get leadership in there. And we have -- we have got to find good people.

But I know the border agents are trying to do their job. I talk to them, and they're trying to do their job.

TAPPER: You were at the White House this week trying to strike a compromise on disaster relief funding.

I know the bill already includes money for food stamps for Puerto Rico. But Democrats are calling for hundreds of millions of dollars in additional money for Puerto Rico.

President Trump refuses to provide those funds. Do you agree with him that Puerto Rico has gotten enough money as it is?

SCOTT: Well, what I -- you know, I have been to Puerto Rico eight times, so now nine times, once as a senator, but eight times after the hurricane.

And we opened up relief centers. I want to take care of Puerto Rico, to the extent like can. I want to make sure they get the relief they need. That's why the first thing I did on the Senate floor was, I was talking about the food stamp program for Puerto Rico.

[09:20:08]

But we -- we have got to strike a compromise. It's frustrating to me. I think this is -- this -- to me, this is all politics. This is Chuck Schumer trying to say, oh, I care about -- he cares about Puerto Rico more than President Trump does.

I think we should have passed the bill that Senator Shelby had done. And then what -- if we needed to do more, let's do more. But let's get something done. This is six -- six months since the -- it's like since Michael hit Florida. And we can't get anything done.

And so I'm going to keep trying. We had a good meeting, I think, at the White House. We will find out. We're in recess for two weeks. So, we will find out by the time we get back if we made any progress.

TAPPER: President Trump's been pretty clear -- pretty clear he doesn't think that Puerto Rico should get any more money.

When you ran for the Senate, you ran a Spanish-language television ad about how you stood up to President Trump when he denied the death toll from Hurricane Maria.

Are you also willing to stand up against President Trump's refusal to give Puerto Rico any additional relief funding?

SCOTT: Oh, don't worry, I'm going to fight for Puerto Rico.

What I told people along, when I agree with the president, I will agree with him. If I disagree, I will disagree with him. I'm going to fight to get -- get support for Puerto Rico, along with Florida and along -- I want to help Georgia and these other states. Now we have the states in the Midwest.

So I'm going to do it. But what's frustrating to me is, let's get something done. Whatever we can get done -- I'm an incrementalist. I was in business. Whatever I could get done that day, get it done and then work to improve it the next day. That's what's frustrating to me on this.

We had a bill that should have passed. And Chuck Schumer decided, for political purposes, to stop it.

TAPPER: I want to turn to Venezuela.

You made a stark statement this week that -- quote -- "If military force on the part of the United States and our allies in the region is necessary to rid us of the scourge of Maduro and his thugs, then we cannot rule it out" -- unquote.

Maduro has been clinging onto power now for months. Just last night, he announced he wants to add one million members to the military.

Do you think the U.S. should put troops on the ground in Venezuela?

SCOTT: You know, Jake, I think we have got to -- we have got to take seriously there's genocide going on in Venezuela right now.

Maduro is intentionally starving his citizens. Think about it. They don't have food. They don't have water. They don't have medicine. I think, of my 3-year-old grandson, what would happen if he didn't have that.

And so we -- I think the White House has done a good job of recognizing Guaido as the interim president. The international community has come on board. We have got to keep focus on the sanctions.

But we have got to really consider whether we do military help getting this aid in to save -- to save the starving people of Venezuela. They are starving to death. Eighty percent of the kids under 5 are -- have malnutrition. Ninety percent of the households don't have money for food.

I mean, this is genocide, and Maduro is doing it.

TAPPER: All right, Senator Rick Scott of the great state of Florida, thank you so much for your time. We really appreciate seeing you.

SCOTT: Thanks, Jake. Have a good day.

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