MSNB "All In With Chris Hayes" - Transcript: "Pelosi scolds progressives."
Interview
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HAYES: Joining me now Democratic Senator Tina Smith of Minnesota who has called for Acosta`s resignation. Do the Secretary`s performance today --his arguments persuade you in any way that what he did was right?
SEN. TINA SMITH (D-MN): Not at all. I mean, Acosta needs to go. And this argument that times have changed over the last you know, ten or 12 years, I
mean come on, it`s not like this happened when women didn`t have the right to vote and then walked around in top hats. It`s not that long ago. And I think we have to keep in mind that this job that Acosta has is a job running the Department of Labor. The purpose of this agency is to stand up for people who don`t have a lot of power, in a world where powerful rich people just exactly like Epstein and others are there to take advantage of you. This is what his job is and I think it makes him particularly unsuited to continue as a Secretary of Labor.
HAYES: Is there consensus among your caucus on this? I saw that a few folks, Joe Manchin and Cortez Masto do not seem to be there in terms of calling for his resignation. What is -- what is your sense of where the caucus is at?
SMITH: Well, you know, I can`t speak for my whole caucus. I`ve had conversations with many people. John Tester really stands out. He talked this morning about how he supported Acosta initially and with this new information coming out, he can`t see how he could possibly stay in this position. I mean let`s be clear, this is a prosecution that completely ignored the rules which say that you need to check with the victims before you come up with a plea deal or a non -- you know, you come up with an agreement with the perpetrator. And the very least he didn`t do that and that is just unacceptable.
HAYES: It looks like there`s going to be some oversight hearings in the House. Would you like him to come -- would you like to see that? Would you like him to come to the Senate? It seems that today was his sort of one go of it but I suspect there will be more opportunities for him to explain himself.
SMITH: Well, you know, we`ll wait and see. I suspect that he had one audience in mind when he gave his press conferences today and that was the President of the United States and we`ll see what he thinks about it. I don`t think that he persuaded me nor many of my colleagues that are really worried about the way in which he couldn`t even apologize to these now women. These were -- these were children. They were teenagers when this happened to them. So I would love to see some oversight here. But as you know right now, we don`t do a lot of oversight in the United States Senate. The United States Senate is kind of the place under Mitch McConnell`s leadership where good ideas go to die.
HAYES: What is your broader sense -- the message that this White House administration sends to women and to survivors of sexual violence, sexual assault, and sexual harassment from the top on down, when you look at the president, the things he said, the way that he basically said that the woman who accused him of rape on the record was essentially not attractive enough for him to rape, was not his type, to the defense now of Acosta?
SMITH: Well, when the President said that, that infuriated me because he chose to be disrespectful of a woman and to suggest that sexual assault is not about power and violence which is what it is. But I think the administration has an opportunity to show what they think about this by the actions that they take with Acosta. You know, the Department of Labor is charged with overseeing human trafficking along with all sorts of laws that protect the dignity of people who are working, wage -- direct people against wage theft and the rights to organize collectively for better working conditions. And I think they can show us how they feel about women by what they do with Acosta in the -- in the coming days, and I don`t think that you should stay in that position.
HAYES: All right, Senator Tina Smith, thank you so much for being with me tonight.
SMITH: Thanks so much, Chris.
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