CNN "Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees" - Transcript: Interview with Tammy Duckworth

Interview

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Senator Duckworth, so you signed this open letter and it says in part, the very notion of the President doing something for someone he will never meet, committing to a cause that outlives him is beyond his comprehension.

I'm astonished that people would doubt the quotes attributed to the President in "The Atlantic" article and by CNN and The Associated Press and "Washington Post" and even FOX News now. I mean, he labels people losers and suckers all the time.

He has disparaged McCain, his Generals constantly.

SEN. TAMMY DUCKWORTH (D-IL): Right. So even if you didn't address the issues with what was said in "The Atlantic" article, he has said many other things that have really undermined the morale of our military men and women, and not to mention things that he has done personally to include not showing up at that World War II, Belleau Woods ceremony himself when other members of his own administration were there, not to mention the fact that he has pardoned special operators who committed war crimes.

So even if you set aside "The Atlantic" article, which of course nobody disbelieves because this is very consistent with who Donald Trump is. He has done a number of other things that are very consistent that shows that he is not fit to be Commander-in-Chief.

COOPER: Right and by the way, those special operators charged with war crimes, the people testifying against them were this many of the service members serving under them or with them. It wasn't as if this was some politically correct group of, you know, attorneys just suing a special operator. This was people in the person's own unit often.

[20:20:17]

COOPER: I want to read part of Jeffrey Goldberg's article in "The Atlantic" that says, "In a 2018 White House planning meeting for such an event, Trump asked his staff not to include wounded veterans on grounds that spectators would feel uncomfortable in the presence of amputees, 'Nobody wants to see that,' he said." End quote.

Again, I mean, the President denied reporting of the article. Do you think he can even remotely comprehend what you and other wounded veterans have been through? I mean, somebody who obviously has gone to great lengths not to serve and, you know, the very idea of service of that sort is -- I mean, it's like speaking a foreign language to him.

DUCKWORTH: It is like a foreign language to him, as Sully said, Captain Sullenberger, the man does not recognize courage because he is a coward. He has never done anything that was a service in something greater than himself.

He is a transactional, narcissistic, egotistical human being who thinks only about himself first and foremost, and what is in it for him. So he can never understand the sacrifices of the men and women and their families who served in the nation's military and why they're willing to serve a cause greater than themselves because he has never done that and he never will.

COOPER: Right. And I'm always stunned by -- you know, on the one hand, he says, no one has been better for the military and cares more about the military. But by the same token, I mean, again, he has publicly constantly said, you know, that his Generals just want to go to war. You know, he loved his Generals until he actually met those Generals and they started advising him and he then came to not like any of them.

And now, he has disparaged General Mattis, disparages Kelly and McMaster. You know, the President again, just took a swipe at the late Senator John McCain yesterday and referred to himself as, you know, saying he would probably be a better warrior than anybody if he went to war.

I mean, this is, you know, maybe, you know, he wore a uniform at a Military Academy that was a high school that he went to because he was a problem student. I mean, the idea that, you know, he used bone spurs to avoid active duty in Vietnam.

DUCKWORTH: That's why I call him Cadet Bone Spurs. The highest rank he ever reached in the military was Cadet, and he used bone spurs, a lie about bone spurs in order to draft dodge. And frankly, he is not fit to be Commander-in-Chief of our nation's military for yet for another minute, and why he disparages those Generals is because for the first time he had people who would actually stand up to him, and he loves them until they stand up to him and say, "No, sir."

I mean, that's what you're supposed to do as a military leader. You put the welfare and the wellbeing of your troops ahead of everything, including your own self. You watch out for them, you put them first because someday, you may have to ask the unthinkable, which is to ask them to go and cross a line of departure and engage our nation's enemies.

And in order to be able to do that, you must value them above all else and care for them above all else. This is something this President has never done.

And by the way, what he said about he has been better for the troops, to veterans than any other President, is yet another in his series of great long lies he has made, he has said as President of the United States.

He has not been better for the troops than any other President. In fact, many of the things that he is taking credit for were passed by Congress, and actually were championed by Senators McCain and Akaka, two real veterans, two real war heroes.

COOPER: The President said over the weekend that soldiers quote "in love with him," and that quote, "The top people in the Pentagon probably aren't because they want to do nothing but fight wars, so that all those wonderful companies that make the bombs and make the planes and make everything else, stay happy," end quote.

I mean, the idea that it is soldiers who want to fight all the wars and you know, the people who are serving in endless wars, the people who are taking multiple tour after tour after tour. They are not the ones making the decisions. It is the President making the decisions.

It's ironic that, you know, he is considering -- you know, he likes to boast about beefing up military hardware and selling arms overseas. And yet, it is suddenly now it's the military industrial complex. DUCKWORTH: Right. And remember, this is the President who, who picked

at lobbyists for a defense company, Raytheon to be his Secretary of Defense.

COOPER: Yes, Secretary Esper is a lobbyist.

DUCKWORTH: Right. Raytheon makes many great things that keep our troops safe. But bottom line, he is the one who appointed a Defense industry lobbyist to be his Secretary of Defense, at the same time, by the way, "Military Times" just had a poll just last week that showed that for the first time, the majority of the troops if they are asked today to vote would not vote For Donald Trump.

COOPER: Senator Duckworth, appreciate your time. Thank you.

DUCKWORTH: Thank you.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source