CNN "Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees" - Transcript: Interview with Bernie Sanders

Interview

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COOPER: Appreciate it. Yes, Jim Acosta as well. I'm joined now by Senator Bernie Sanders who has demanded that Vice President Pence and other officials invoke the 25th Amendment and remove President Trump from office.

Senator Sanders, thanks for being with us. You called on Vice President Pence and the Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment and remove President Trump from office. A, how likely do you think that that would happen? And if it doesn't happen, would you support an effort to impeach the President?

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT): Yes, I would. I'm not sure how likely it is, but I think it should -- look, we have a very, very unstable President at the end of his term and God only knows, nobody knows what this man is capable of.

Just yesterday, he incited people to invade the U.S. Capitol. As you've indicated people died. What happens tomorrow? I don't know. You don't know.

So I think the best bet right now is if we can get them out of office as quickly as possible.

COOPER: The likelihood that Trump is actually removed from office the next 13 days, it probably seems low. If he does remain in office, what else could be done to contain him?

SANDERS: Well, I think what you've already seen and your commentators have made this point when you are already talking about the 25th Amendment, when you are talking about impeachment, when you're seeing resignations from longtime associates of Donald Trump, he is catching on that he is becoming increasingly isolated. People are not supporting him, and he's going to have to be on good behavior. I hope that is the case.

COOPER: Do you think President Trump should face legal repercussions for his role in what happened yesterday?

SANDERS: Well, there's a lot of legal issues regarding Donald Trump. I am thinking about his discussion with the Georgia Secretary of State where he asked him to find 12,000 votes and reverse that election. We will see what a new Attorney General in the Justice Department will do after Biden becomes President.

COOPER: You know, even if -- the President is going to leave, you know, 13 days from now, however it happens, he will be gone. He will still be out there at the bar at Mar-a-Lago tweeting and whatever else happens in the future. But there's obviously a lot of people in this country who, you know,

still follow Him and believe what he said and have legitimate grievances and have real pain out there. And, you know, economic pain, which you have spoken to time and time again, what do we do to bring this together?

SANDERS: Anderson, that is the most important point. Trump has been a disaster, the worst President in the history of the United States, and that's terrible. But what I worry about even more is that something like 74 million people voted for him. There are tens of millions of people believe his outrageous lie that this election was stolen.

And what we have got to do, let me just be very clear, as the incoming Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, I remember what happened in 2010. And that is the Democrats during the 2008-2010 period controlled the White House, controlled the Senate and controlled the House. Remember that?

Do you remember what happened in 2010? Democrats got wiped out. They had the power, but they did not deliver for the American people. So what we have got to do right now, no ifs, buts, or maybes, is have an aggressive agenda that says we understand that millions of people including my neighbors, right here in Vermont, people lining up in their cars in order to get emergency food, people can't pay their medical bills. People are going deeper and deeper into debt. People are facing eviction. Millions of people have lost their jobs.

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We have to act and act now. And the first order of business by the way, is to pass an emergency COVID-19 bill which among many other things says to working class Americans, we know you're in pain and we are going to get you a $2,000 check for every working class adult in this country, we are on your side, we are prepared to take on the big money in trust with so much power. We're going to expand health care to cover the uninsured, we're going to deal with student debt, we have got to be bold in a way that we have not seen since FDR in the 1930s.

And if we do not do that, those millions and millions of people who vote for Trump, they're going to continue to believe that government does nothing, nothing for them. And we've got to change that attitude. The only way I know how to do that is to do the work that the people need us to do. And by the way, we have got to develop grassroots, strengthen grassroots organizing all over this country, instead of investing in consultants and 32nd TV ads, we need to put tens of millions of dollars in the neighborhood and community organizing all over the country. Talk to people knock on their doors, not just the week before the election, but two years before the election. Listen to what they have to say, can they afford health care? Can they afford prescription drugs? So we need to be bold, and I will do everything in my power to see the Congress moves in that direction.

COOPER: It's hard to be bold. I mean, you know better than anybody, you know, when the senate, yes, Democrats can, you know, have a will have a majority with Vice President Harris at the top of it. But in order to, you know, it's not 60 votes, which to really get big things done, you probably need more than the majority that they have no?

SANDERS: No, I don't think so. I mean, yes, and no, there's a lot that we can do through a Biden's executive actions. You know, Trump showed us the power of executive orders. It's not the best approach, but there's a lot that you can do. On day one, you can make sure that you are undo all of the racist, anti-immigrant legislation that Trump has promulgated over the years. What you can also do is use what we call budget reconciliation. I won't bore you with the crazy rules of the United States Senate. But in fact, we can move forward with 51 votes to pass some very significant legislation, which among other things, is what Republicans have done in the past.

COOPER: Senator Bernie Sanders, I appreciate your time on this really momentous part of our history. Thank you.

SANDERS: Thank you.

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