NBC "Meet the Press" - Transcript: Interview with Sen. Amy Klobuchar
Interview
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CHUCK TODD:
And joining me now is Senator Amy Klobuchar, Democrat from Minnesota. Good to see you. Thanks for coming --
SENATOR AMY KLOBUCHAR:
Good to see you Chuck. Thank you --
CHUCK TODD:
-- coming on set. A rare, brief respite here in Washington, huh?
SENATOR AMY KLOBUCHAR:
Here we are.
CHUCK TODD:
Let me ask a follow-up to what you said just there. What does that mean? I mean, do you feel as if there have just been way too many promises made and that there is going to be -- that there's going to be a negative fallout for this eventually for the Democrats?
SENATOR AMY KLOBUCHAR:
I don't think there will be a negative fallout eventually because I think we will unify behind a candidate, I think that should be me, and make clear the differences we have with a president who has now told over 10,000 lies and most importantly hasn't had the back of the people, some of the people who voted for him. The drug prices are still going up. College costs are still out of hand. All kinds of problems. But for me, what I meant by that, is that we need to have a candidate that will lead, that will look people in the eye and tell them the truth, and that isn't going to make a bunch of promises that they can't keep. And I truly think they want something different than Donald Trump.
CHUCK TODD:
You have touted yourself as a get it done kind of senator. You have not shied away from --
SENATOR AMY KLOBUCHAR:
Based on my record.
CHUCK TODD:
You have not shied away from saying, "Hey, I've gotten some bills passed that yes, President Trump has signed." It's been a rough summer of credibility with this president. And there's many Democrats out there that say, "You know what? Don't work with him anymore." You're coming back to Congress. You guys got a lot on your plate. Are you still willing to work with him?
SENATOR AMY KLOBUCHAR:
Right now, right in front of us, are two major issues. One is protecting our elections. I've led that effort with Senator Lankford. And we want to get this bill passed to make sure that those states that don't have backup paper ballots are pushed to get those backup paper ballots. If the administration is willing to sign off on that bill, that would be good. But it has to be strong enough. Secondly, on gun safety, three bills sitting on Mitch McConnell's desk. I don't think you need to negotiate those bills because they passed. My bill on closing the boyfriend loophole to protect victims of domestic abuse from gun violence, that passed with 33 Republican votes in the House. So I would think the easiest path forward here is McConnell just takes that background check, two of the bills, puts them up, and we get them done. I think it's obscene that while we have ordinary people showing such extraordinary courage, protecting their babies, running to these scenes of gun shootings, that there is not the courage in the White House to get this done.
CHUCK TODD:
You heard, I think -- you may have heard, Senator Blunt say, "Well, Senator Schumer said, 'If everything's not considered than nothing's going to be considered." Where are you on that?
SENATOR AMY KLOBUCHAR:
I love Senator Blunt. We work together all the time. But I am tired of this game of Whack-a-Mole, that it's really playing with people's lives in whatever the next mass shooting is going to be. And so I think what you do as a leader, what Mitch McConnell should do, is call those bills up. Let's get them done. We've got the majority of Trump voters in a poll that want to see background checks, Chuck. The majority of hunters that want to see background checks. Give me a break. This is just about the N.R.A. and promises that they made to the N.R.A. This is raw politics, and we need to call them out on it.
CHUCK TODD:
Big debate this week. There's been a lot of ways people have written about the candidates not named Biden, Warren, and Sanders. New York Times saying it's a big moment for all of -- all of you candidates not named those three. How do you view it?
SENATOR AMY KLOBUCHAR:
I view it that there's a major debate coming up. And there will be another one after that. I am on that debate stage. There's only 10 people on that stage. I'm only one of two candidates from the Midwest. To me, having campaigned through the summer, seeing people focused on Little League games and all kinds of other things, this is the moment where Americans are going to tune in and make some decisions. And I've got the case that, we don't want to just win in this election. We want to win big. We don't want to find out we win at 4:00 in the morning or the next day. We want to win big and also win the U.S. Senate. And the way you do that is with a candidate that has a proven record of bringing in independents and moderate Republicans that deserted our party in 2016 for Donald Trump. You make the case to them. You add to an ignited Democratic base that wants to win big. And you win big. And you win back the U.S. Senate. That is the recipe to getting all of these things done on climate change and immigration reform.
CHUCK TODD:
Why do voters who perhaps share your view of this electability issue right now view Joe Biden as that electable candidate?
SENATOR AMY KLOBUCHAR:
They know him. I mean, Vice President Biden has been in leadership for many, many years. They don't know me as well. That's why this fall --
CHUCK TODD:
Do you think --
SENATOR AMY KLOBUCHAR:
-- is my opportunity --
CHUCK TODD:
-- you're stronger than him? You would be stronger than him?
SENATOR AMY KLOBUCHAR:
I think I would be a very strong candidate. I am the only one --
CHUCK TODD:
You didn't say --
SENATOR AMY KLOBUCHAR:
-- out there pos --
CHUCK TODD:
-- stronger than him though?
SENATOR AMY KLOBUCHAR:
Oh. Okay.
CHUCK TODD:
No, I'm just saying that --
SENATOR AMY KLOBUCHAR:
I-- I believe I am stronger than all the other candidates or I wouldn't be running, alright?
CHUCK TODD:
Fair enough.
SENATOR AMY KLOBUCHAR:
But I believe that in -- when you look at the Midwest and Wisconsin and Michigan, Iowa -- and Pennsylvania, these states that we want to win, that we have to win, you've got to go with someone that has that track record and can relate to these voters and also can get a high voter turnout.
CHUCK TODD:
You know, it's just sort of a weird dichotomy we're seeing. The polls are saying one thing about what Democrats want and Joe Biden. Crowds are saying another thing. There's a lot of activism. Obviously, Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders always are doing a lot of crowd building, and they get some large crowds. Why do you think the grassroots is so much more excited about that or it seems, perceived, than they are about just winning?
SENATOR AMY KLOBUCHAR:
I think it is too early to base campaigns on one event or one tweet or anything like this or these viral moments. To me, these are what they are. They are moments. What you want is someone that can win in the long haul. I have built operations in New Hampshire and in Iowa. I've gotten endorsements coming in every week: former head of the Corn Growers in Iowa, former attorney general in New Hampshire. And I think this is how you build success. You look at successful nominees in the past, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton. They were not chosen to win at this moment in time.
CHUCK TODD:
And here's another thing that all of that usually has happened and it hasn't happened here, which is we don't have a new generation that's in the top tier yet. Why is that?
SENATOR AMY KLOBUCHAR:
Again, I think it is early. People want to win so badly, right? So they look at the names that they know, the people that have been around a while. And it is going to take this fall and these next five, six months, that's a long time in politics, for them to get to know the rest of us.
CHUCK TODD:
Afghanistan. It's -- obviously talks are now off. You have heard this. This is a bipartisan exhaustion, when it comes to Afghanistan. You heard -- Senator Blunt's not the only person who says, "If you stay it feels like nothing's going to get better. But if you leave, it'll get worse." Where are you on Afghanistan?
SENATOR AMY KLOBUCHAR:
I think we need to bring our troops home. There are kids now that are being deployed there that weren't even born when we went into Afghanistan. But that being said, as I was listening to the lead up in your show about the Sharpie-gate and about of course what he did with Greenland and we all keep focusing on that, with good reason, it's so crazy. But meanwhile, he is hurting our credibility around the world. Yes, you negotiate with the Afghan government and the Taliban. But you don't treat this like some kind of game show when you're dealing with terrorists. He clearly wanted this showman's moment of having them come to Camp David, when he didn't even have a complete ceasefire. He didn't have the deal done. And then he does a tweet, late on Saturday saying, "Oh," blaming them, "Oh, it's over." Give me a break. This is exactly what he did with Kim Jong-un, bringing a hot dish to the dictator next-door, across the DMZ. You deal with your allies. The world is watching. We need to bring some credibility back into our foreign policy.
CHUCK TODD:
Senator Amy Klobuchar, Democrat from Minnesota. Thanks for coming on, sharing --
SENATOR AMY KLOBUCHAR:
Thank you, Chuck --
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