Fox News "The Story with Martha MacCallum" - Transcript: Interview with Sen. John Kennedy

Interview

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Republican Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana joins me now on this and other big topic tonight. Senator, good to have you with us this evening.

SEN. JOHN KENNEDY, R-LA: Thank you, Martha. Thank you.

MACCALLUM: You know, what do you say to Americans who look at the situation, which is clearly untenable and expect that Congress ought to be able to solve something that -- you know, certainly the United States of America should be able to handle.

KENNEDY: I would say that they would be correct in that position. But let me tell you what is not help the effort, its Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez's rhetoric. I realize that she thinks Socialism, and illegal immigration, and abortion of moral goods, but we've got a huge problem we're trying to solve here and the Congresswoman has basically demagogue the whole thing. And I'm just about concluded she's more famous than wise. And I trust her judgment on this issue about like I trust Jussie Smollett police report.

I mean she says that the United States of America is intentionally running a concentration camp on the border. I would suggest she visit the Holocaust Museum to find out what a real concentration camp is. We do have very crowded facilities. There's a reason for that. Our Department of Homeland Security is running out of money. They don't have any more money. And for the longest time, my Democratic friends have refused to give them more money.

Now we've got a bill moving in the Senate. I don't know what's going to happen to the bill in the House. I think the bill to give more money to try to improve conditions in the House is being held together by spit. But Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez is opposing the bill. I mean the hypocrisy is breath-taking.

On the one hand, she says you're running a concentration camp and then she refuses to provide the President with the money to enlarge the facility.

MACCALLUM: Yes. I mean, there ought to be some room for -- it appears that you know folks who think that she does believe that if there's anything in there for security at the border, somehow that's going to undercut the larger picture.

And yet if you really have compassion for the situation which is severe overcrowding in facilities that were never designed to hold families and children, and you've got children crossing across the border, and that's documented every single month. You know, if your compassion is truly what you're after, it seems like Congress ought to be able to get together on at least a short-term arrangement that would --

KENNEDY: Well, the House -- the Senate is ready, Martha. I think very shortly we'll come up with a bipartisan bill. We're very close.

MACCALLUM: Well, we'll be -- we'll be watching it tonight.

KENNEDY: But the House is different.

MACCALLUM: Understood. And we'll be watching that tonight. I want to get your thoughts on what the President said today about Iran because this is an increasingly tense situation and you know, the President last week appeared to sort of want to take a step back on this and said he wasn't sure that the drone attack was intentional.

Now, today, he's saying this in a tweet. He says Iran's very ignorant and insulting statement put out today only shows that they do not understand reality. Any attack by Iran on anything American will be met with great and overwhelming force. In some areas, overwhelming will mean obliteration. No more John Kerry and Obama.

Why do you think the change of tune coming from the president now and what does it mean to you?

KENNEDY: I think that the President is trying to keep the leadership in Iran off balance. I think the President understands and he's correct that weakness invites the wolves in this dangerous world. I think the President's plan is military restraint but maximum pressure. I think that -- I feel bad for the people of Iran but I think the government in Iran is a fragile, exhausted, theocracy run by the Ayatollah, a very evil man.

He's evil but he's not stupid. I don't think that he is going to spill American blood. If he does, we'll have to evaluate things and reciprocate. But we just need to hang on. We've got the Ayatollah down, now we need to choke him. And the deal that Secretary of State Kerry and President Obama made got us into this mess. They tried to separate the nuclear issue from the terrorism issue. They got a delay in Iran building a nuclear weapon but they didn't do anything about Iran's terrorism.

Now the Ayatollah says if you don't agree with his version Islam, he hates you and you have to die. And that's why he's hurt people in Iraq, in Yemen, in Syria, in Lebanon, in France, in Bulgaria, in Denmark, and he's going to keep doing it until we make him stop. I don't want to go to war with Iran but he's got to abide by international rules.

MACCALLUM: Senator, before I let you go, I want to ask you about a question that has been in the news lately about an accusation that came from a woman, it's a 25-year-old accusation against President Trump of a sexual attack. Lindsey Graham just came out and responded to it. Do you have any response in terms of how that should be handled?

KENNEDY: Well, in America, just because you're accused for something doesn't mean you're guilty of it. In situations like this, I think both the accuser and the accused are entitled to respect and due process. And all day long, some of -- some of the members of the media appears whether do you believe the woman or do you believe the president. I don't know. I don't know the facts. That's why God made judges.

If the accuser feels strongly enough, she'll bring them lawsuit and a neutral arbiter will decide. But just because you're accused of something doesn't mean you're guilty and doesn't mean you're not entitled to due process.

I understand that the accuser is also coming out with a book and frankly I think that hurts their credibility. Some will wonder -- I'm not saying it's true, but some will wonder well, is she doing this to sell her book. I'm not saying she is or isn't.

MACCALLUM: All right, Senator Kennedy, thank you very much. Good to see you tonight. Thanks for replying to the questions. We'll see you soon.

KENNEDY: Thank you, Martha.

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