CNN "State of the Union" - Transcript: Interview with Senator Amy Klobuchar

Interview

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KEILAR: The president making history this morning, setting foot on North Korean soil and announcing that he and Kim Jong-un have agreed to restart nuclear talks.

Joining me now is 2020 presidential candidate Senator Amy Klobuchar.

Thank you for coming on STATE OF THE UNION.

SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thanks, Brianna.

KEILAR: So, after tweeting an invitation, the president had this meeting with Kim Jong-un. Just hours ago, they announced -- he announced that both sides have agreed to restart talks.

You have frequently criticized the president for diplomacy by tweet, but did it work in this case?

KLOBUCHAR: I don't think we know if it works until there's results.

And we have seen a history here, especially in this case, where Donald Trump announces these summits, and nothing really comes out of it.

Of course, as a country, we want this to work. We want to see a denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, a reduction in these missiles. But it is not as easy as just going and bringing a hot dish over the fence to the dictator next door.

This is a ruthless dictator. And, when you go forward, you have to have clear focus and a clear mission and clear goals. And that has been our problem so far. The president will meet with him. That is fine. It is always good to talk to people when you're dealing with something so important as nuclear weapons.

But then we have no clear path and nothing comes out of it. And so I hope that will change. I would think working with our allies would make it better. But let's be honest here. In May, they were launching missiles into the sea, in violation of a U.N. resolution. I mean, that just happened.

KEILAR: Kim Jong-un said that, after this meeting, it was a signal that these two leaders could meet -- quote -- "any time."

This perception that he has of an open channel, do you think that is a positive development? Does that serve what you were just discussing, the progress you're hoping for?

KLOBUCHAR: I think any discussions are helpful. I don't think that is bad on its own.

My problem is that this fits a pattern that we're seeing with this administration across the world. Toughness is just not saying things by tweet. Toughness is results and standing true to our country.

At this same G20 summit, the president was coddling again Vladimir Putin, making jokes about getting rid of journalists to a man who actually has been involved in -- with thugs who have killed and poisoned journalists and human rights activists.

He was again talking about -- making jokes about meddling in our election, when, in fact, they used a cyberattack, maybe not tanks or missiles, but Russia did that. And you have hundreds of thousands of Americans that have lost their lives fighting for our freedom to vote and our democracy, four little girls in a church in Birmingham killed at the height of civil rights movement, when, in fact, people were trying to stand up for our right to vote and other economic and racial justice concerns.

That is what this country has been about. We stand up for our rights. And so I think making jokes about it, it wasn't a joke. It is an attack. And that is what you saw throughout the G20, culminating in the U.S. being the only country of the 20 not to sign on to the international climate change agreement. Nineteen of them have.

So what I see is more and more erosion of our work with the rest of the world. It is fine that he wants to talk to Kim Jong-un on the phone. OK, fine. He wants to go meet with him. But you look at it overall, the withdrawal from the Iranian agreement,

the havoc that that has wrought, where we were 10 minutes away from potentially getting into a war, those are my concerns about the way he conducts foreign policy around the world.

KEILAR: You mentioned Russia. You also mentioned Russia when you tweeted your condemnation of the racist attacks against your colleague and fellow candidate Senator Kamala Harris.

You said: "We are better than this, Russia is not, and stand united against this type of vile behavior."

Are you saying that you believe Russia is responsible for this?

KLOBUCHAR: You know what? I have no idea who is responsible for it.

I just know they have messed around on the Internet many times with bots and other things, and there's been some connection to them way past the 2016 presidential election.

But I think the bigger point I was making, in light of President Trump's hanging out with Vladimir Putin again, is that we are a country that is supposed to be about the truth. We are a country that is supposed to be about a free democracy.

Russia is not that. They do not have free elections. They conduct propaganda campaigns in the United States and all over the world. We don't want to be part of that.

[09:20:10]

And it certainly explains to me, Brianna, why, just this last year, when we were trying to move our bipartisan bill for backup paper ballots across this country to protect our democracy, that I got gut- punched from the White House. They made calls. And they stopped it in its tracks, even though it would pass the Senate with overwhelming votes.

They don't want this free election. You can tell by every move they make and everything the president says.

KEILAR: Let's turn to immigration now.

This week, Congress passed a $4.6 billion package in humanitarian aid for the southern border. You, as many 2020 candidates, were not able to vote on that bill. You were at the debate. Do you support it?

KLOBUCHAR: Well, I would have much preferred the House version and continuing to negotiate. I think it is unfortunate it happened at the end. There were some really important requirements in that House version.

But it is important to get the aid right now to the border and to these kids. I was just at the Homestead detention facility last week in -- outside of Miami, stood on that ladder, looked down at that hot, baking concrete yard, was able to see the fact that you have got tents expanding facilities, thousands of kids that are housed. And this administration just continues the rhetoric.

I believe, Brianna, for the good of our country, for the good of our economy, that we need to move on comprehensive immigration reform. And while that debate was understandably focused on the horrific policies of the Trump administration at the border, one thing that wasn't discussed at all that I hope can be discussed at the CNN debate in July is some of the other immigration issues we are having.

We have hundreds of thousands of people that are here on temporary status that they are trying to deport, including people from Venezuela, the very country that the president claims that he wants to see regime change in.

You have got millions of dreamers, two million dreamers, that are here that want to stay in this country, that came through no fault of their own. And yet this administration once again stopped in its tracks a bipartisan policy to make sure that that would happen.

KEILAR: Is it fair to...

KLOBUCHAR: You don't have workers in our nursing homes.

(CROSSTALK)

KEILAR: Senator, is it fair to say...

KLOBUCHAR: Go ahead.

KEILAR: ... you -- that you would have supported it, then? Even though you would prefer the House bill, you would have supported this bill that doesn't have the additional protections for migrants?

KLOBUCHAR: I would have preferred to keep negotiating to see if we could get some of those provisions in. But I think, if anyone was...

KEILAR: But if it were binary, if that was your choice?

KLOBUCHAR: If anyone was the deciding vote, if you are the deciding vote on that, yes, I don't think you're going to deny that money for the border.

But a protest vote is a different thing. I don't think you can go in there and deny that money for the border, when you have seen what I have seen.

KEILAR: I want to ask you, because this was a big defeat for Speaker Pelosi, who is known for her ability to wrangle her caucus. She was not in this case.

You talk a lot about bridging Democrats and Republicans. As president, how would you do better here and bridge Democrats and Democrats?

KLOBUCHAR: Well, first of all, Speaker Pelosi has shown tremendous leadership. And you think of someone who has stood up to Donald Trump, with one flip of her sunglasses when she walked out of that White House, in many, many ways, in keeping our government funded, keeping some kind of stability, when the White House just keeps going from one chaotic mess to another.

The best example is when they shut down the government, and she ended up, along with Senator Schumer and the rest of us, getting the deal basically that we should have gotten before he shut the government down.

But I think one of the things that would have been helpful here, again, is just doing this earlier. There was another bill that maybe we would have had leverage on that we could have attached it to.

But I'm not criticizing her in any way, because I think she was simply standing up for trying to get a compromise, which is very, very difficult to do right now in this era of Donald Trump, who is not interested in reaching a compromise.

And that is one of the things that I wanted to point out in the debate, is that we are living at this moment of chaos, when we should be living with opportunity.

And he made a bunch of promises back in 2016. He made promises about bringing down pharmaceutical prices. No negotiation under Medicare. I lead that bill. He has not pushed for that, despite saying he was for it. And we have seen prices escalate for thousands of drugs, up double digits since he came in office.

Election night, he promised infrastructure. No movement on that. I have a plan to do that. It is right there on my Web site at AmyKlobuchar.com.

[09:25:01]

And he has moved us backwards, promised to make us safer by getting out of the Iranian deal. We are one month away from Iran upping and busting the caps for enriching uranium.

Time after time after time, he makes these promises to the American people, and, as I said in the debate, it is basically all foam and no beer.

KEILAR: Senator Amy Klobuchar, thank you so much for coming on STATE OF THE UNION.

KLOBUCHAR: Thanks, Brianna.

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