MSNBC "The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell" - Transcript: "Interview with Senator Amy Klobuchar."

Interview

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O`DONNELL: "This is amazing. This is great news to wake up to." Those are the words of someone who truly understands the concept of lucky-to-be-alive. "This is amazing. This is great news to wake up to" is what Maria Isabel Bueso said yesterday morning when she woke up in California to discover that in Washington, D.C., the Trump administration issued a statement that appears to reverse the Trump administration decision not to renew permission for her to stay in the United States, permission for people who are being treated for serious life-threatening medical conditions. Maria Isabel Bueso`s doctor appeared on this program Friday night to repeat what he told Rachel Maddow the night before, which is that Isabel would die if she`s forced to leave this country. Isabel has a rare genetic disease and has participated, for almost 20 years now, in medical studies in the United States that have helped extend the lives of people with her illness. One of the people who has been fighting to save Isabel`s life by allowing her to stay in the United States is her local member of Congress, Congressman Mark Desaulnier, and he joins us now. Congressman Desaulnier is a member of the House Oversight Committee where Isabel is scheduled to testify next week. Congressman, thank you very much for joining us tonight on this important story. What is your understanding of the Trump administration turn on this? Is it official? Is it clear?

REP. MARK DESAULNIER (D-CA): Well, first off, let me thank you for your coverage. It`s been a big help. As to - as far as the clarity of it, as usual, it`s not clear to us. It`s welcome news in the right direction. I introduced a bill yesterday that would go further and make sure that the family was on permanent status here in the country. So we`re appreciative of someone over there coming to their senses, but we`ve got a lot of work left to do, and we`d like to hold the people accountable who have done this to these families.

O`DONNELL: The notice that they put out was really just a press release saying that they will send new letters this week to everyone whose cases were pending on August 7th, and all of those people, including Isabel, got letters saying time`s up, you`re going to have to leave the country in 33 days--

DESAULNIER: Yes.

O`DONNELL: --from receipt of this letter. And then the last line of their statement simply says that they will complete the caseload that was pending on August 7th. And no one quite knows what "complete the caseload" means.

DESAULNIER: No. This is consistent with all of this. We didn`t find out about it until the family called our office asking for help. I have a copy here of the letter that Isabel, her sister, and both of her parents got. It`s a form letter. It`s not officially signed. And it`s quite frightening. So we want to get to the bottom of it. Right now, we`re scheduled to have a hearing in the Oversight Committee that Representative Pressley and myself asked for. And we`ve got a lot of support from our colleagues. So we`re hoping to get to the bottom of it, but mostly we`re hoping that this doesn`t happen again and the people who did this are held accountable.

O`DONNELL: Well, your hearing, I think, is going to be a very important element of this story. I mean, we`re going to see Republican members of Congress have to address this at your hearing, and it`s hard to imagine any of them attempting to defend this.

DESAULNIER: Yes. Well, I`ve - yes, it is hard, but I`ve seen them try to defend this administration before where it was hard to defend. But this one in particular, I can`t imagine even a supporter - a strong supporter of the President not being ashamed of what the United States - this government has done to these individuals and to Isabel in particular. They`re terrific family. They`ve done everything de jure for (inaudible). And they`ve helped other people get an extended life, and they were invited by the federal government to come to this country.

O`DONNELL: We will be covering your hearing, looking forward to what we can learn from it. Congressman Mark Desaulnier, thank you so much for joining us tonight. Really appreciate it.

DESAULNIER: Thank you.

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