Fox News "Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace" - Transcript: Interview with Sen. Amy Klobuchar
Interview
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Senator, welcome back.
KLOBUCHAR: Well, thanks, Chris, it's great to be on again.
WALLACE: You say that President Trump is right to take on China, but that he's going about it the wrong way. So given all the problems that -- with trade with China, how would President Klobuchar get tough with China and get them to clean up their act?
KLOBUCHAR: In this case, Chris, I think you've seen it in so many other areas, he creates chaos. And I don't think that's good for getting an agreement with a country like China.
You look at what he's done and you pointed this out earlier, you know, August 1st he claims he's going to put tariffs on $300 billion worth of new goods. Then August 13th they dial it back. Then on August 20th he says he's going to lower taxes because he's concerned about what's happening, which would, of course, add even more to our debt. And then the next day he dials that back.
China's watching. And I think when you look at trade negotiations with the world, and I saw this in my role as the Democratic chair in the Senate of the Joint Economic Committee, you've got to keep your promises and you've got to keep your threat. He has done neither. And so I think that's the first thing is that this negotiating by tweet hasn't been working. We're at an all-time trade deficit at $891 billion.
WALLACE: But, Senator --
KLOBUCHAR: The second thing is you go back to the negotiating --
WALLACE: Senator, let me -- let me just -- Senator, let me just pick up on this, though.
KLOBUCHAR: Go ahead [ph]. Sure.
WALLACE: Because the fact is that the U.S. economy, and there are some troubles, but it still, by historical standards, pretty strong, as we were discussing with the panel, historically low levels of unemployment. GDP growth not quite the 3 percent the president promised, but still OK. Haven't the president's policies -- I'm turning now from trade to just economic policy, haven't the president's policies of tax cuts and especially deregulation been effective?
KLOBUCHAR: I don't think so, Chris, because I look back to the downturn and how we got out of that. That was our workers. That's been affective. They've worked really hard. And our businesses that got us out of that downturn and got us to a better place right now of some stability.
But what a great leader does, and, you know, there's this old Ojibwe saying that, you make decisions not just for this generation but for seven generations from now. In this case, we have a president that can't even keep his decisions seven minutes from now. And so what a great leader does is rises to the challenges of our time. We know what they are. Republicans, Independents, Democrats, I think people know. You can't keep escalating this debt like he has. We just found out that over a trillion dollars we're going to reach in the deficit by 2020. That's a big problem.
You have to do something about immigration reform --
WALLACE: But -- but Barack Obama had -- made a huge -- and I understand part of it was out of a recession, but Barack Obama added more to the debt than anybody in history. I'm not saying that -- that Trump isn't --
KLOBUCHAR: Well, I'm looking -- OK.
WALLACE: But -- but Barack Obama, and I didn't hear a lot of people squawking about that.
KLOBUCHAR: But, Chris, look at where we are now. A different situation. We're in a stable time in the economy. We hope we stay there. And that is when you work on these challenges, climate change, immigration reform. We know we need workers in our hospitals, in our nursing homes, in our fields, in our factories, starting small businesses. This has been America.
And so what bothers me is when you look at any of these long term problems and goals and things we have to get done, he's not doing them. And I just thought -- I was just in Iowa. You know, soybeans mounting up in bins. You've got pork at its lowest export level in nine years. And so go back to the negotiating table, let the Federal Reserve be independent. Start pushing on these long-term challenges that I just mentioned, as well as infrastructure, long-term care. You've got doubling of the senior population coming up --
WALLACE: Right.
KLOBUCHAR: And they're still re-litigating the Affordable Care Act instead of dealing with that and Alzheimer's.
WALLACE: Let --
KLOBUCHAR: I just think we need to start looking to the future and dealing with those challenges.
WALLACE: Well, let's -- let's talk about the immediate future in politics and -- and let's talk about where you stand in the Democratic race right now.
In the latest national polls, your 11th, in the Real Clear Politics average with 1.2 percent. In Iowa, you're 6th, at 3.5 percent. And in New Hampshire, you're tied for 7th at 2 percent.
Now, three candidates dropped out of the race this week. You are going to be on the debate stage next month. But what's the threshold for you? At what point does this not make sense?
KLOBUCHAR: Oh, this makes perfect sense to me, Chris, and that is because I've always known that I wasn't going to jump to the front of this pile right away. There's 20 some people. I look at it this way, I've made the playoffs, all right, and I've done that coming from a position of a state that's a little -- not as big as some of the other ones. And coming from a position where my whole focus from the very beginning when I announced in the middle of that blizzard on an island in the Mississippi River was to bridge the river of our divides to get to a higher plane in our politics. And I have won with moderates and I have won in rural and I have won --
WALLACE: Right.
KLOBUCHAR: -- even with a bunch of Republicans, as well as liberals. And I do that by bringing people together. And day in and day out I have heard from people out there, that's what they want right now.
WALLACE: All right, let me --
KLOBUCHAR: They don't want a whiner in the White House. They are tired of hearing the president whining every day when they are struggling to make ends meet.
WALLACE: Let -- let -- let me ask you about --
KLOBUCHAR: They want a leader. A leader should lead.
WALLACE: You -- you talk about being a moderate and I -- and you are running in the moderate lane. I want to put up some of your positions on various issues.
You support a public option, but not Medicare for all. You call the green new deal aspirational. And you oppose decriminalizing illegal border crossings.
Joe Biden is also in that lane and he's -- he's leading, beating you in that lane at this point. You say that you are -- and you use this phrase, a candidate for our times, which may be a nice way of dealing with the age issue.
I want to ask you something honestly, and I don't -- I don't know that you're going to give me an unguarded answer, although I know that you -- you -- you often -- in private you do. Honestly, do you have concerns, as you see the gaffes by Joe Biden mounting up, day by day, week by week, do you have concerns as to whether or not he is up to taking the fight over the next year and a half to Donald Trump?
KLOBUCHAR: I'm focused on my own campaign, Chris, I've made that very clear, and taking it to Donald Trump myself. I have strong arguments that I am the candidate to do this. I am from the Midwest. As you know, Democrats had trouble winning the Midwest in 2016. But we can do it.
I can lead the ticket because I've got an optimistic, economic agenda for this country. And I know people are looking for something else. And I can lead because I have a proven track record of bringing in independents and moderate Republicans and Democrats.
And this isn't just about this campaign. I am not running for chair of the Democratic National Committee. I am running for President of the United States. And if you want to lead, you've got to run a campaign that's going to show people how you're going to govern. And we have had a time like no other with the shootings in Dayton and in El Paso, the divide that the president causes every single day where people are just crying out for a different kind of leadership. And that's why these debates coming up and the -- going into the spring, I'm going to have a chance to do that.
And as you know, you are a veteran watcher of all this and commentator, you know we've had plenty of presidents that have been in single digits at this moment that over time the American people got to get to know them and said, you know what, this is my candidate.
WALLACE: All right, I -- I got less than --
KLOBUCHAR: That's what I want to be.
WALLACE: I got less than two minutes left.
And, finally, I want to ask you about Ilhan Omar, the congresswoman, who's a member of the Minnesota delegation.
You've called -- you talked before about the president stoking divisions. You've called the president's comments about her, quote, racist and reprehensible, but what about Omar's statements, one of which, I want to play, one of which she made just this week. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ILHAN OMAR, D-MINN.: We give Israel more than $3 million in aid every year. This is predicated on there being an important ally in the region and the only democracy in the Middle East.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALLACE: Now, you couldn't see it, because you can't see our feed, but when she said the only democracy, she did it in air quotes.
Are you troubled by Congresswoman Omar questioning whether or not Israel is a democracy, and earlier saying that -- explaining American politicians support for Israel as, quote, it's all about the Benjamins, baby? Are you prepared -- you talk about the president and his divisiveness. Are you prepared to call out Congresswoman Omar?
KLOBUCHAR: I have. I don't agree with her on her positions on Israel and I certainly don't agree with anti-Semitic comment.
All of that being said, and I have been very clear about that, I thought this decision by the president to say that elected members of Congress who were duly elected, shouldn't go to visit Israel, that they shouldn't be allowed in that country, which is our ally, and, yes, a beacon of democracy in a really tough neighborhood in the Mideast, I think that was wrong. And I was pleased to see that AIPAC and J Street and other leading Jewish groups came out and said the same thing, because when people go to Israel, they see, despite my disagreement with some of the policies --
WALLACE: Yes.
KLOBUCHAR: -- of [ph] the prime minister there, they see a democracy. And I think that is the -- one of the worst things, a strong democracy allows people in their doors, they don't shut them out.
WALLACE: Senator Klobuchar, we're going to have to leave it there. Thank you so much. Thanks for your time. Please -- please come --
KLOBUCHAR: Thank you. It was great to be on, Chris.
WALLACE: Yes, well, please come back and safe travels on the campaign trail, Senator.
KLOBUCHAR: Thank you.
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