MSNBC "The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell" - Transcript: Interview with Sen. Elizabeth Warren
Interview
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O`DONNELL: Joining us now is Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.
Thank you very much for joining us tonight, Senator. Really appreciate it.
What was your takeaway from the hearing about the evacuation from Afghanistan?
WARREN: That it was actually an amazing undertaking. It was done under chaotic circumstances because the government had collapsed, because the party had melted away the Afghan army and that even in the midst of all of that, our military was able to get about 124,000 people out. They left no American-owned equipment behind. They managed to execute that.
And, yes, it was at risk. We lost a young woman from Massachusetts. I`m working now on trying to get the Congressional Medal of Honor for the people who we lost right at the end. But we knew it was a risky undertaking and the military performed. We should be proud of President Biden and proud of our military.
O`DONNELL: I want to get your reaction to another aspect of the hearing, and that was General Milley, who was taking on some questions and was making his points about the reports of Bob Woodward and Robert Costa`s book, about him making calls to China in the final days of the Trump presidency trying to assure them that there was no plan, no Trump plan of attack on China. Let`s listen to what the general said.
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GEN. MARK MILLEY, CHAIRMAN OF THE JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: I am certain that president Trump did not intend to attack the Chinese. And it is my directed responsibility and it was my directed responsibility by the secretary to convey that intent to the Chinese. My task at that time was to deescalate. My message again was consistent. Stay calm, steady and deescalate. We are not going to attack you.
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O`DONNELL: Senator, I imagine that was one of the stranger cases of testimony you have heard on the Armed Services Committee -- a chairman of the joint chiefs basically talking about having to calm a major power about the mental stability of the president of the United States.
WARREN: Yes. Although, remember the context he put this in. He said he was operating within his chain of command and he said he was making clear the intent of the president of the United States. That is that the president of the United States had not intended any ill will -- I shouldn`t say ill will. Did not intend to attack China and was making that clear. That was the general`s testimony.
O`DONNELL: I want to go to the other hearing you were in today where you had the chair of the Federal Reserve, and you had a confrontation with him that I have never seen at one of these hearings before. Let`s listen to this.
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WARREN: The elephant in the room is whether you are going to be renominated for a second term as Fed chair. Renominating you means gambling that the next five years with a Republican chair who has regularly voted to deregulate Wall Street won`t drive this economy over a financial cliff again.
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O`DONNELL: So the Fed chair is up for -- the appointment runs up next year. We`re either going to -- the president will reappoint the chair or a new one. What do you think is at stake in that question?
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WARREN: Look, you remember what happened in the early 2000s. And that is we had Federal Reserve that was unwilling to rein the giant financial institutions. So a bit at a time they deregulate here, they turn a blind eye there. And those financial institutions very quietly just loaded up on more and more and more and more risk until they blew up the entire economy and the U.S. taxpayer was called on to bail them out.
Millions of people lost their jobs. Millions of people lost their homes. Millions of people lost their savings.
I came to Washington guaranteeing that will never happen again if I can help it. And what`s happened? We have had a Federal Reserve chair for five years now who has demonstrated over and over again that he is not willing to rein in the big financial institutions.
And he has taken one regulatory step after another, small steps, but always in the same direction, and that is the direction toward weakening the regulations over the biggest financial institutions. And the thing is, that`s cumulative over time. And it puts American consumers, it puts American workers, it puts American taxpayers, it puts the American economy at risk, and I can`t support someone like that for chairman of the Federal Reserve.
O`DONNELL: Senator, there is something very different about what you`re saying about the Federal Reserve appointment and what we`re seeing in the legislative process now in the senate. You are telling the president a year ahead of time what your position is on this. You are saying, I cannot vote for this nomination.
With Senator Kyrsten Sinema and Manchin, we`re discovering at the end of a legislative process that they apparently have dissatisfactions with a deal they appeared to agree to months ago and a structure that they voted for in the Senate budget resolution of $3.5 trillion.
And, so, where are we now? These two senators have, in effect, stopped progress in the House and Speaker Pelosi is now trying to put something together with these two senators as what appears to be either the roadblock or the final pieces that have to be put together on this bill.
WARREN: Right. Well, literally for months now, Democrats in the Senate, Democrats in the House have been operating with one goal in mind and one understanding, and that is there is going to be a lot that needs to be done in the reconciliation, this whole package. Yes, we need roads and bridges. We need water and sewers. But we also need child care and broadband.
We need health care. We need housing. And most of all, we need to make a big down payment in the fight against climate change.
All of it has been out there. And the agreement has been we`re going to move it altogether.
And I hope that`s the direction we`re still going in. The House progressives have been terrific on this. They said we had an agreement, and we expect everyone to stick with the agreement.
The progressives are not backing out. The House Democrats are not backing out, I hope, and that means we got to move everything together. We cannot have the train leave the station and leave a whole lot of pieces of what American families need back on the platform. Not child care, not housing, not health care, not climate. We can`t do that.
O`DONNELL: Senator, there is video from the Senate floor today where you and Senator Schumer and Senator Sanders were all gathered together talking. And that`s not going to be in the congressional record. Could you please tell us word for word what was said in that discussion?
WARREN: Oh, I could but I won`t. Not going to talk about private conversations.
O`DONNELL: Okay. Thank you very much, Senator. Really appreciate you joining us tonight.
WARREN: Good to be with you.
O`DONNELL: Thank you.
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