CNN "The Lead With Jake Tapper" - Transcript "Interview with Sen. Amy Klobuchar"

Interview

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[09:16:12]

TAPPER: Welcome back to STATE OF THE UNION. I'm Jake Tapper.

The race for the 2020 Democratic nomination is entering a new phase, with the candidates airing sharper divisions over the future of the party as we move closer to the first votes being cast.

That was never more apparent than at last week's CNN presidential debate, where the more moderate contenders went after the best-laid plans of one of the more progressive front-runners.

Riding something of a wave after the debate, and joining me now from Iowa, is Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota.

Senator, thanks so much for joining us. We appreciate it.

SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thanks, Jake.

TAPPER: I have kind of a technical question for you.

Senator -- Senate Majority Leader McConnell says that the Senate trial, impeachment trial, might be in December. That's right when Iowans will be doing the important job of trying to choose the Democratic presidential nominee.

Is it more important for you to be listening to the evidence on the Senate floor as a juror in Washington, D.C., or in Iowa running for president?

KLOBUCHAR: Well, that's called an easy question, Jake, because I have a constitutional duty to take part in that trial. That's what you do when you're a U.S. senator and such an important case comes to be for you.

I think that's -- it's going to change things. We will be there in Washington, if that is the schedule. We really don't have a choice.

I'm pleased to have more endorsements of elected and former electeds in the state of Iowa than any other candidate on that stage. So I will have plenty of people that will be able to fill in for me, including my husband, at events all over the state.

That's just what's going to have to happen, because this is a various thing -- very serious thing.

It was James Madison who said at the Constitutional Convention that the reason we have these impeachment provisions is that he feared that a president would betray the trust of the American people for a foreign power.

And that's exactly what happened here. And that's why the House is moving forward with these proceedings.

TAPPER: You call it an easy question, but I have to say, like, it could mean that whatever momentum you are able to achieve by December disappears, while all the candidates who are not senators or who don't hold the same view as you do about the importance of the impeachment trial run around the state of Iowa and get support.

So, I mean, you're willing to be -- you're willing to commit you're going to be in Washington, no matter what, even if it costs you your presidential ambitions into 2020?

KLOBUCHAR: Listen, I have a constitutional duty, but I can do two things at once.

There's many ways to reach out to people. And I'm the one that's been here in Iowa, and, before that, New Hampshire, did 10 counties the minute I got off that debate stage in two days, and now are doing 12, going all over this state.

And we have had incredible, incredible momentum, with big crowds, people showing up at tiny towns. In Guthrie County last night, Jake, we had the big biggest crowd ever since Harry Truman, according to the party chair.

So there's just a lot of excitement out there. And I think it's because I was able to make the case for a lot of people who are tired of the noise and nonsense, telling them that they have got a home with me of someone that can actually get things done and has their back.

TAPPER: So, let me ask you.

You joined Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who I just talked to, in criticizing Senator Warren on the debate stage for, in your view and his view, not being fully honest about how she intends to pay for Medicare for all.

Senator Warren's campaign has since said that she's -- quote -- "reviewing the revenue options" suggested by the 2016 Bernie campaign, along with other revenue options" -- unquote.

Is that good enough for you?

KLOBUCHAR: No, it's not.

I have made very clear how I'm going to pay for everything that I have put out there. I think that's important, because we have got a president that's added trillions of dollars to the debt, on the shoulders of our kids. And I think we need to make the case.

And as I said at the debate stage, I just think I have a better way, a way that will insure more people and bring premiums down. And that's with the nonprofit public option.

[09:20:05]

And it doesn't trash Obamacare. It builds on Obamacare. And I think you have to show how you are going to pay for things. And that was the point.

And I don't think any one person that stage has a monopoly on good ideas. And that seems to be what she's said through these debates. And I thought it was really important to make that point for the people of the country and our primary voters. There's another way.

And one other thing I wanted to add as I was listening to your interview with the mayor is that that bill has been very clear from the beginning. On page eight, it says that it will dismantle our current insurance system. It says that 149 million people will be kicked off their current insurance. That's what it says.

And Senator Sanders has been very honest about that. But I think we have to be honest about that. All the people in the Senate that was on the that stage and others who have said they supported it, they signed on to that.

I got a lot of pressure to sign on to it. I read it, and I decided there was a better way and a different way to do it.

TAPPER: So, you're...

KLOBUCHAR: I just look people in the...

(CROSSTALK)

TAPPER: Just -- I just -- you're suggesting that Mayor Pete Buttigieg, having endorsed Medicare for all in that tweet that I referred to in 2018, is not being honest today; is that what you're suggesting?

KLOBUCHAR: What I'm saying is, people need to look at these bills and understand what they're looking at. And I don't know if he ever looked at the bill. But the bill has

always said that, and that's the bill that's been the one that Senator Sanders has led in the U.S. Senate.

And like I said, I think there's a better way. I made the decision. And this happens all the time. You get pressure from a lot of people to do things in Washington.

And this president, President Trump, has been folding to all kinds of pressure. He gets a call from Erdogan, and what does he do? He puts the Kurds out to slaughter. He gets a call from Vladimir Putin, and what does he do? He says that he doesn't believe that Russia invaded our election.

He gets a call from, like -- someone does -- from the pharmaceutical companies, and he doesn't do anything to take on pharma.

I think we need a president that stands up to that kind of pressure, that does what they think is right. It doesn't mean that everyone agrees with you, but that's what I do. That's what I have done throughout my time in Washington.

And I think that the American people are looking for that kind of grit.

TAPPER: All right, Senator Amy Klobuchar from the great state of Minnesota, thanks so much for joining us from Iowa this morning. Appreciate it.

KLOBUCHAR: It's great to be on. Thank you, Jake.

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