MSNBC "All in with Chris Hayes" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Ruben Gallego
Interview
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HAYES: Doesn`t like the rain.
The president returned to the United States and today when Veteran`s Day is observed, a day when presidents traditionally visit Arlington National Cemetery to pay respects on behalf of the nation, President Trump, who had literally nothing on his official public schedule, decided to stay at home and tweet about stopping the vote in Florida instead.
Congressman Ruben Gallego of Arizona, an Iraq War veteran, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, joins me now.
What do you make of the last 48 hours in the president`s observances?
REP. RUBEN GALLEGO, (D) ARIZONA: I mean, how are we still surprised about this? This man started this election by denigrating the service of John McCain and other POWs. We see what he`s doing with our troops at the border, essentially using them as props. He attacked a gold star family.
You know, the president likes to use the troops for his political gain, but when it comes to personal sacrifice or any type of effort on his part, he won`t go that extra mile. And thank god our military is not anything like that man is.
HAYES: You know, you just mentioned the troops are at the border, 5,000 of them. There is some reporting on what they`re actually doing. They`re eating MREs. They`re inside 20-28 inside a tent. And they`re 800 miles from the caravan. And they`re not even near Tijuana where they`re apparently going to enter.
Like, those are real people who are really doing this, that`s not just some abstract symbol. What do you think about it?
GALLEGO: Look, I have been activated. And, you know, sent to a base for a whole year and, you know, at that point it really did -- does disrupt your life. We just disrupted many people`s lives. We took them away from their families. We`re taking them away for Thanksgiving.
All of a sudden the president stopped talking about the caravan. Why did the president stop talking about the caravan? Because the election is over.
So, this is a stunt. It`s costing us potentially $200 million for this stunt. And, you know, I think we all agree that we need more border security. We all agree that if you want to apply for asylum, you need to do it in the legal and safe manner.
But the president should actually lead an effort to do that to work with our southern neighbors and even to work with us to actually come up with a solution, not just use our political troops as a stunt and actually focus on really trying to help them out.
HAYES: I want to ask you about this story I asked Senator Gillibrand about, about this GI benefit screw up.
Ongoing IT issues at VA, this is to be kind of a train wreck, that`s what Phil Roe said, the chairman on the House Committee on Veterans Affairs. You have got folks who cannot make their house payments or rental payments because of this. How is this -- how is this happening?
GALLEGO: Look, as a recipient of the GI Bill, this actually also happened to me as a younger man. And once in a while I just did not get my payment.
HAYES: Wow.
GALLEGO: And luckily I had a school that was very lenient and they understood and they gave me some time till I got paid.
But what happens right now is the president is not focused on the VA. The VA is not really being run by the VA administrator, it`s by a group men and men that are meeting down at Mar-a-Lago. There is no expertise. And this needs to be true folks.
This will affect people`s credit scores. People are going to get kicked out of their homes. I`ve already been reading stories about it. At the same time, I think this is also a really good opportunity for, you know, private industry and banks. You know, we bailed out banks back in 2008. Maybe they could actually step up and actually give these veterans a little help in the meantime, considering they know the GI Bill is going to come in. Eventually they are going to get paid. And let`s help them so they don`t end up getting evicted.
HAYES: Final question, the president has never visited American service members stationed overseas, particularly in fields of combat. And it`s notable he said he was too busy to do that, though he has time for rallies and for tweeting Fox and Friends. What do you think of that?
GALLEGO: For me it`s disturbing. Like when I was in Iraq, and you know, we saw a lot of combat. And I unfortunately lost a lot of friends, it was important that members of congress and senators came and visited us in the field so we had an opportunity for them to talk and they could actually see the impacts of war.
I think the president is avoiding his duty by not visiting the troops overseas. I`m not saying he has to be in the frontline. God knows we never want to do that to any president. But even Abraham Lincoln would be visiting some of the Civil War fields in the middle of a Civil War, exposing himself to potential danger for the -- against the Confederacy.
The president could at least get on Air Force One and go visit them in Afghanistan or, for example, in Iraq or portions of Kuwait where we still have a lot of active troops that go in Iraq.
There`s a lot of ways he could do this. It is a very symbolic thing, but it is very important, and it does matter to our troops overseas.
HAYES: All right, Congressman Ruben Gallego, thank you so much.
GALLEGO: Thank you for having me.
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