CNN "The Lead with Jake Tapper" - Transcript: Interview With Sen. Michael Bennet

Interview

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And four Democratic senators running for president look to be stuck in Washington, instead of on the campaign trail, with the impeachment trial of President Trump starting as early as this week or next.

The campaigns are weighing the impact this might have on voters from these crucial early states.

One of those senators balancing work in the Senate and the presidential race is Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado. He's on the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Senator, thanks so much for joining us.

Your colleague Cory Booker dropped out of the race for president this morning. He said partly he did so because of the impeachment trial. You have acknowledged that being pulled from Iowa or New Hampshire would be disruptive to your campaign.

At what point would it be debilitating?

SEN. MICHAEL BENNET (D-CO), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, we will have to see.

I mean, I love Cory Booker. I remember the day that he walked into the Senate for the first time. I had known him when I was a school superintendent and he was the mayor. And I was smiling ear to ear.

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And that's how I felt when he got into this presidential race. And I'm sorry to see him leave it. I think his voice is a really important one.

And we're just going to have to see how the next couple weeks go. We have got to chew -- walk and chew gum at the same time.

I'm in the middle of a 50-town hall commitment that I intend to finish in New Hampshire, and we will have to fulfill the constitutional responsibilities each of us has in Washington as well.

TAPPER: So, the other reason that Booker said he wasn't running is that he just didn't see a path forward for his campaign.

OK, so here's the blunt question. You won't be on the debate stage in Iowa tomorrow. You haven't been invited to the last four debates. Do you have a path?

BENNET: I think I do have a path, in part, Jake, because the people are more undecided today than they have been during the entire course of the race.

New Hampshire, 33 percent of the voters say they're decided. They are less decided today than they were six weeks ago or a year ago. The field has gotten smaller and narrower.

And so I'm not saying I have got an easy path, but I do think there is a path. And I built my campaign to last until people were going to start voting. And I'm going to try to earn it, the way John McCain and Jimmy Carter and others and Gary Hart, put one foot in front of the other, did town hall after town hall after town hall in New Hampshire. And it worked.

We will see what happens.

TAPPER: Michael Bloomberg says Democrats only focusing on Iowa, New Hampshire are at risk of repeating 2016, in large part because Trump is busy campaigning aggressively in battleground states.

Does he have a point?

BENNET: I think we got to do both.

We have got to do well in the early states, or at least I do, and that is the way to get to the battlegrounds that are going to happen after that.

It's been really interesting to me to see how seriously the voters in Iowa and New Hampshire are taking their responsibility, and what they're trying to figure out is who the right candidate is to beat Donald Trump, and their minds are not made up.

They are unpersuaded that the leading candidates in this race can beat Donald Trump. I'm worried about that myself, which is why I have stayed in the race.

TAPPER: How about who Julian Castro's argument that Iowa and New Hampshire, while lovely states, are so homogeneous, so white, they are not representative of the United States or the Democratic Party, and they should not have such important roles in deciding who the Democratic Party nominee will be?

BENNET: Well, it's -- I certainly can't argue that the states aren't homogeneous.

And I guess my hope is that, over time, a much greater diversity of people are in the states that we go to next.

I'm worried about that from the standpoint of the way social media is dominating our campaigns too. I want to make sure that that also reflects the demographics of our country.

I feel sometimes like we're running two different primaries here. One is a primary of living, breathing human beings that are trying to do their best and hope their best for the country, and the other is a very demanding social media that is driving people to make all kinds of, I think, false promises to the American people about what can be achieved.

And that could lead us to lose to Donald Trump. I'm deeply worried about that. TAPPER: You're on the Senate Intelligence Committee.

And President Trump said it was his belief that General Soleimani was planning attacks on four U.S. Embassy. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper told me it was also his belief. And he said the president was clear to say it was his belief, not the intelligence.

Do you have any concerns, as a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, that these decisions seem to be backed by something other than raw intelligence, this idea that it was his belief that led to this strike?

BENNET: I'm deeply worried about it.

Every American should be. The job of the commander in chief, first and foremost, is to keep Americans safe at home and abroad. And I think he's failing that test. And he has disregarded intelligence in this case. He's disregarded the intelligence for the last three years about North Korea's continued effort to build a nuclear -- to expand their nuclear capabilities.

And he's ignored the intelligence community when it comes to what Russia did with our election in 2016 and what they continue to do. It is very dangerous to have a president who disregards intelligence like that.

I doubt very much we have had -- ever had a Democratic or Republican president who's disregarded intelligence the way this president has.

TAPPER: Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado, thank you so much, sir. Appreciate your time.

BENNET: Thank you, Jake.

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