NBC "Meet the Press" - Transcript: Interview with Sen. Bernie Sanders

Interview

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

CHUCK TODD:

Welcome back. Whoever said a week is a lifetime in politics apparently was underestimating things considering the Democratic race for president. Joe Biden started off as the front runner. Then after Kamala Harris had her moment in the first debate and sent Biden's numbers tumbling, Elizabeth Warren zoomed past Harris and briefly took the lead but faded just as fast, prompting Michael Bloomberg to become a center-left hope against Bernie Sanders, until Bloomberg's debate faceplant left the surging Sanders as the prohibitive favorite only to see him crash on Super Tuesday leaving, that's right, Joe Biden as, once again, the supposed front runner. The states that vote over the next two Tuesdays would seem to put Biden on a potential glide path to the nomination. But remember eight days ago that glide path seemed to belong to Sanders. And if we've learned anything it's that this race can change in a hurry. Joining me now is Democratic presidential candidate, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. Senator Sanders, welcome back to Meet the Press.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS:

Good to be with you.

CHUCK TODD:

I want to, before I get to the campaign, I want to start with the issue of the spread of this coronavirus. What would your response look like as President Sanders?

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS:

Very different than what President Trump is doing. Unlike Trump, I believe in science. I would not appoint somebody like Mike Pence to be the head of the effort. Pence's record in terms of disease, in terms of HIV outbreak was not a good one. We have to have confidence among state officials all over this country. And people all over the world. So we need scientists running the operation, not Pence. Second of all, you cannot have a president who every day is saying absurd things. I mean, touting the fact, I think, just the other day that he is somehow very, very knowledgeable about an issue which he clearly is not knowledgeable about. We have to work with the entire world, reach out. We have to adequately fund the National Institute of Health and the CDC. We need regular reports coming from leadership in Washington, the state officials all over this country. We have to make sure that doctors, nurses all over America are protected as they do their job because if they get the virus, we're going to be totally unprepared to deal with the general population. We don't have adequate test kits right now, we don't have ICU units, enough of them. Hospital -- nurses will tell you that they have not received the kind of instructions and preparations that they need. There's a lot of work to be done. But bottom line is from Washington, the American people need to know that there are scientists, there are doctors who are running the operation, communicating with people all over the world. Because this is a global crisis. We're not seeing that in Washington from Trump.

CHUCK TODD:

I just spoke with Dr. Anthony Fauci. I know you know him well, know his reputation well. And he said the following this morning, he doesn't think people over a certain age should be traveling right now, particularly not going on cruises. If you have an underlying condition that there really does need to be some sort of self-quarantining of sorts or being careful going into large groups. Let me ask you this, has your campaign made a decision on whether to hold large rallies right now?

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS:

Well, that's a decision -- we just held a rally in Chicago yesterday, as it happens. We had about 15,000 people out. And what I will tell you, we are talking to public health officials all over this country. And obviously what is most important to us is to protect the health of the American people. This is an issue, obviously, not just for our campaign. This is an issue for the National Basketball Association. It's an issue for every organization in this country that has large events. So all I can tell you is that it is an issue that are we looking at and we are talking to public health officials --

CHUCK TODD:

I was going to say --

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS:

-- about it.

CHUCK TODD:

Who makes that call for you? If the state of -- you know, if a public health official in Michigan says, "I know what, I know you have a big rally scheduled here, wherever it is," if they say, "Don't do it," you're not going to do it?

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS:

Look, we're not going to -- obviously we're not going to endanger the health of anybody in this country. But again, this is an issue that every organization, every candidate has got to deal with.

CHUCK TODD:

Let me go to the state of the campaign and specifically Michigan. Michigan was the start of your comeback the last time. How important is it to you this time?

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS:

Well, Michigan is obviously very important. That's where I am right now. I'm in Grand Rapids. We're going to be holding a rally later in the day in Ann Arbor. To my mind, I think we've got a real shot to win here in Michigan because the agenda that we are talking about is an agenda that works for the working families of this state. And furthermore, it really contrasts my views with Joe Biden. Now that we're down a two-way race, I think it is clear for the American people to see where Biden's record is and where my record is. And one of the issues, as you well know, that here in Michigan trade has been a disaster. Trade agreements like NAFTA and permanent normal trade relations with China which forced American workers to compete against people making pennies an hour has resulted in the loss of 160,000 jobs here in Michigan. Some four million jobs all over this country. I helped lead the effort, as you may recall, against these disastrous trade agreements. I worked with the unions, not with the CEOs of large corporations. On the other hand, Joe Biden strongly supported these agreements. And I think you could also take a look at these campaigns, and the people in Michigan understand this, how we raise our money, Joe Biden has received funding from some 60 billionaires. We're receiving money from working class people all over this country. And I think people instinctively understand --

CHUCK TODD:

Are you --

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS:

-- that when you are indebted to billionaires and Super PACs you're not going to stand up for the working families of this country in the way you have to.

CHUCK TODD:

Are you concerned that Joe Biden can say, "Hey, look what the Obama/Biden administration did for the auto industry," and that counters your trade argument? I mean, and that is -- particularly in Michigan that will resonate stronger than some of your trade arguments?

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS:

Well, I don't think so. Look, obviously everybody worked together to try to save the automobile industry. But right now what you're saying is in Mexico --

CHUCK TODD:

You voted against that bailout.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS:

-- the automobile industry is --

CHUCK TODD:

You voted against the bailout.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS:

No, I voted against the bailout. I did vote against the Wall Street bailout. You're absolutely right. Because I do not believe that the crooks on Wall Street should have been bailed out --

CHUCK TODD:

But that included some of those car companies.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS:

-- by the taxpayers of this country. Yeah I understand sometimes you have to make that choice. But the bailout was a disaster. My view was that the billionaires in this country should have bailed out Wall Street, not working families. And by the way, Wall Street got trillions of dollars in zero-interest loans. A direct gift from the taxpayers of this country. That was a mistake.

CHUCK TODD:

I want to get you to react to something, because you were talking about contrasting your record with Joe Biden's record. He's up with an ad that pushes back at you, particularly on Social Security. Take a listen to it.

[BEGIN TAPE]

VOICEOVER:

Super Tuesday, state after state after state called for Joe Biden. Bernie Sanders goes on the attack. PolitiFact has called the Sanders campaigns attacks false. Negative ads will only help Donald Trump. It's time we bring our party together.

[END TAPE]

CHUCK TODD:

Now I'm sure you know -- it's pretty clear, I think, what the Biden campaign is doing. They're trying to make that any attack you do is helping Donald Trump. Do you accept that criticism? Are you concerned that the two of you could over attack each other?

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS:

Look, Joe Biden is a friend of mine. He has indicated that if I win the nomination, he'll be there for me. I have said if he wins the nomination, I will be there for him. Together we are going to beat Donald Trump, the most dangerous president in the modern history of this country. But you can't -- we live in a democracy. And we have to contrast our records and our ideas, our vision for the future. Here is the fact, this is undeniable. Joe Biden has been on the floor of the Senate, was on the floor of the Senate time after time after time as part of an effort for Bowles-Simpson. A very bad effort to try to control the deficit. And that included, this is undeniable, cuts to Social Security, cuts to veterans' programs. Those are the words that Joe Biden used on the floor of the Senate. So when I say that I have spent my life fighting against cuts and to expand Social Security that is a very different record than Joe Biden's had. I voted against the war in Iraq. He voted for the war in Iraq. We have very different records.

CHUCK TODD:

On Super Tuesday in your -- you have said when more people come out you believe you will do well. Well, on Super Tuesday where we saw spikes and turnout it was Joe Biden that did well. You saw spikes of turnout of suburban voters, of African-American voters. We didn't see the spike in turnout in enough places of your voters. What's your explanation?

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS:

Well, my explanation is that we won in California, we won in Utah, we won in Colorado. We won in Vermont. I think the explanation is not complicated. The establishment put a great deal of pressure on Pete Buttigieg, on Amy Klobuchar who ran really aggressive campaigns. I know both of them. They worked really, really hard. But suddenly right before Super Tuesday they announced their withdrawal. If they had not withdrawn from the race before Super Tuesday, which was kind of a surprise to a lot of people, I suspect we would have won in Minnesota, we would have won in Maine, we would have won in Massachusetts. The turnout may have been a little bit different. But I think what we are doing in this campaign, Chuck, is we are taking on not only the entire political establishment, we're taking on the corporate establishment as well. And I'm very proud that a year after I introduced this campaign, a campaign which has taken on Wall Street and the pharmaceutical industry and the insurance companies, you know what, we're just a few delegates behind Joe Biden. And we have a real shot to win this.

CHUCK TODD:

Final question, Senator, can you win this nomination without the support of Elizabeth Warren?

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS:

Yeah, well, I certainly would love to have the support of Senator Warren. But yes, of course we can. We can win this because we are going to win the support of working people all over this country who agree with our agenda that, among many other things, the time is long overdue to recognize that health care is a human right in this country, not a privilege. We must pass a Medicare for All, single-payer program.

CHUCK TODD:

Does it concern you that one of the hesitations it appears Senator Warren may have, as she told Rachel Maddow, is that some of your supporters have been, I think she called it, pretty ugly, pretty -- said some pretty dangerous things? Are you concerned that that is holding her back from supporting you?

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS:

Well, I am concerned about the kind of ugliness that exists on the internet and the Twitter world in general. It is very ugly. And I will not deny for a second that we have some people who claim to be supporters, although I have a hard time understanding why they think they could support me and make vicious personal attacks against people. That's not what our campaign is about. But I've got to tell you something, take a look at the stuff that's coming into our campaign. Talk to some of the African-American women who are in my campaign about the racist and sexist crap that they have got to deal with. So it's an ugly world out there.

CHUCK TODD:

It is.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS:

And I hope very much that in weeks and months and years to come we can clean it up.

CHUCK TODD:

That is something I think everybody can endorse. Senator Sanders, campaigning in Michigan this morning, thanks for coming on, sharing your views. And stay safe on the trail, sir.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS:

Thank you very much.

Source