Fox News "Sunday with Chris Wallace" - Transcript Interview with Tammy Duckworth

Interview

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And joining us now, one of the leading contenders to run alongside Joe Biden this fall, Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth.

Senator, let's start with the most important question for anybody who's being considered to being a vice presidential running mate, especially given the fact that Joe Biden, if he is elected, will be 78 on Inauguration Day. Are you prepared to step in and become President of the United States?

SENATOR TAMMY DUCKWORTH (D-IL): Well, I think any one of the women whose names have been mentioned to be -- being considered are fabulous women and well-prepared to step up and do the job of vice president or step up and take over as president if needed.

But I can tell you this, that I will do everything I can to support Joe Biden to get elected no matter where he thinks I should -- what position I should plan on the team. We need real leadership and Joe Biden is the kind of empathetic, resilient person that we need to really lead this country out of the crises that we're in.

WALLACE: How thoroughly have you been vetted by the Biden team at this point? Have you turned over all of your records to the campaign? Have you had the talk, the personal private talk, with Vice President Biden?

SENATOR DUCKWORTH: Well, Chris, they have their own process. I'm going to leave them to it. Some of it is public, some of it is not. I will tell you that he is being very careful about who he selects, but again, all of the women whose name have been mentioned so far are just wonderful and I've worked with each and every one of them and anyone of us can step up and do the job.

It's about bringing the country together, Chris. It's about getting a real response to this pandemic that President Trump has so miserably failed at. It's about standing up to the Russians for putting bounties on U.S. Troops heads in Afghanistan. It's about reopening our economy and, you know, we have a team that's going to move forward in a systematic way to do that and really I'm happy to be in any position on team Biden.

WALLACE: As we just reported, talks about another coronavirus relief bill are deadlocked, some progress, but basically still deadlocked between the White House, Senate Republicans, and Congressional Democrats and in the meantime, the $600 bonus, the supplemental unemployment benefit, federal benefit, for people who have been put out of work because of the coronavirus has expired and people won't be getting checks this week.

President Trump talked about the Democrats' posture on all of this, this week. Take a look.

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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: They don't want to do what you should be doing for the people of our country, whether it's unemployment or anything else, and all they care about is the election and they're going to lose the election.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALLACE: Senator, why not agree to the Republican proposal now for a one- week extension of the $600 supplemental unemployment benefits while both sides continue to negotiate?

SENATOR DUCKWORTH: Well, the one-week extension is not enough, Chris. Americans across this country are hurting right now. There are families who don't know if they're going to be able to pay their rent.

Today is the beginning of the month in August and many families just missed the first rent payment or their first mortgage payment. So many families are not going to know if within two weeks their kids are going to go hungry.

What Democrats want is to extend the $600 payment more than just one week, well into the future, as long as we're still fighting this pandemic. And then we need to get this pandemic under control.

This president has failed to respond to the pandemic. He's failed to pull the Republican Party together. The reason we can't come to an agreement is because there's infighting within the Republican Party. Mitch McConnell has no control over his caucus and they can't come to an agreement. Democrats are united in saying we need to have the $600 a week payment extended well into the future.

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WALLACE: This week you called President Trump, your words, the racist in chief and back in 2016 when you were running for the Senate you said that people opposed to immigration reform were racists and bigots and fearmongers. The question I have for you is do you think a sizable percentage of President Trump's supporters are racists?

SENATOR DUCKWORTH: I think that -- of course not, Chris. Of course not. I think that President Trump is trying to divide us as a nation. We need to come together as a nation. We need to unite.

I think most Americans agree that we need sensible immigration reform. We need a way for those who are here illegally to pay fines and go to the end of the line and work their way towards citizenship. We need to be able to bring all of those folks that are in hiding out of hiding and then we need to make sure that we grow our economy.

Many, many groups have said that if we had sensible immigration reform, that is doable, that is humane, that is fair, that we could actually grow our economy by as much as $1 trillion over 10 years and, you know, we can't let President Trump continue to divide us.

There are ways to come to the middle on this and many, many people have come forward with very good ideas that we can work on it, instead of trying to divide us the way President Trump has.

WALLACE: Finally, Senator, back in 2004, you flew -- were flying combat missions in Iraq and you lost both of your legs when your helicopter was shot down. You obviously love America, you have given up more for this country than any of us can even imagine, but I want to ask you about the protests, the violent protests, that are happening now across the country.

Not the peaceful part of it, but there has been violence. Statues torn down, more than eight weeks of attacks on a federal building in Portland and yet you seem to have been primarily interested and critical of the federal officers defending that building in Portland.

And my question, Senator, is shouldn't you be focusing on the violence from some of those protesters?

SENATOR DUCKWORTH: I think violence is wrong. I absolutely condemn the violent protesters. That is wrong.

I fully support the rights of people to express their First Amendment right peacefully. It's why I spent 23 years in the military. I don't always agree with people when they come out and express their opinions but I will defend to my death their right to express themselves peacefully.

If President Trump truly wants to go after violence in our country, he should call Mitch McConnell right now and ask for a sensible vote on uniform background checks. That is, let's get rid of those gun show loopholes. There is so much that could be done between the Federal Government and local law enforcement working together in order to allow people to express themselves in a peaceful way without federal troops coming in in unmarked vehicles and kidnapping peaceful protesters off the streets, throwing them into an unmarked van and driving off in the middle of the night.

WALLACE: Senator Duckworth, thank you, thanks for your time.

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