MSNBC "All in with Chris Hayes" - Transcript: Interview with Sen. Jack Reed

Interview

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HAYES: Today, the Trump administration announced that it is now following  through on its threat to withdraw from INF treaty and Bolton and Putin  finally got their wish. For reaction on the announcement, I`m joined by  Democratic Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island. He`s the ranking member of  the Senate Armed Services Committee. Senator my sense is that you oppose  this move why?

SEN. JACK REED (D), RHODE ISLAND: It`s a mistake, Chris. It`s a mistake  for several reasons. First, as you suggest, it will give Russia the  ability to argue that they weren`t wrong when in fact they were violating  treaty. It`s the United States who withdrew from the treaty. It`s the  United States who`s the one that`s disrupted arms control in the world.

And then the other reason it`s I think a mistake is that we have to  negotiate hopefully an extension of the New START Treaty which expires in  early 2021. And if the attitude of the administration is we don`t like  arms control treaties and if that carries over to the New START, we could  be for the first time in 50 years or so not having any type of significant  formal controls over nuclear weapons or nuclear warheads and that  encourages not only an arms race between the United States and Russia and  now even China but also proliferation of other countries that have nuclear  devices.

So for many reasons, this is a mistake most particularly because it could  ignite an arms race and it could again justify what the Russians have done  which is, in fact, they`ve violated this treaty.

HAYES: Do you think that the Kremlin, the Russians wanted out of the  treaty?

REED: I think they behaved in a way consciously that they knew that they  were violating the treaty but what they really wanted was essentially what  the Trump Administration delivered today. They wanted us to break the  treaty or to relieve the treaty so they could say, no, no, no, all of that  was disinformation by the United States. We were compliant. They`re the  ones that formally left the treaty.

And you know, if you look at the behavior the administration, leaving the  JCPOA, the treaty with the Iranians, leaving this treaty, that does not go  unnoticed by the world community, both our allies in Europe who are very  nervous, but also people who are antagonist the United States about they  have more liberty to sort of disregard treaties or to be more provocative  in their behavior.

HAYES: Former Senator Sam Nunn and the former Energy Secretary Ernest  Moniz wrote something I thought was quite interesting I wanted to get your  thoughts on it. They say that getting to safer and more stable ground with  Russia requires urgent action to establish a working bridge between Trump  Administration in Congress on Russia and nuclear policy. A new bipartisan  liaison group of House and Senate leaders and committee chairs to work with  senior administration officials designated by the president.

The idea here is the President essentially has to be ignored, moved aside,  or worked around to have effective American diplomacy in U.S. policy. What  do you think of that?

REED: I think it`s a national idea there by Senator Nunn who`s been a  leader in the arms control movement for decades along with people like the former Secretary of Defense, his colleague. All of that is I think a positive development. Every administration that I can recall has even in the depths of the cold war understood the necessity to have a serious dialogue with the Russians and or the Soviets about nuclear weapons, 
because if there was not this serious dialogue it was not progress there was the danger of not only proliferation but a potential apocalyptic event because weapons were out of control or one country misunderstood the 
intentions of another country.

So what Sam is suggesting along with as I`ve mentioned former Secretary of  Defense Bill Perry is that there be a serious negotiation has to be led by  the President and his team to engage the Russians seriously about arms  control as President Reagan did with Gorbachev as you showed in the first  part of the segment.

HAYES: All right, Senator Jack Reed, thank you for making time tonight.

REED: Thanks, Chris.

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