CNN "Newsroom" - Transcript Interview with John Barrasso
Interview
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Well, I'm joined now by Republican Senator John Barrasso from Capitol Hill. He's the number one -- number three, rather, senator in the GOP.
Senator, thanks so much for joining the broadcast again.
SEN. JOHN BARRASSO (R-WY): Great to be with you, Jim. Thank you.
SCIUTTO: Trump is the leader of your party. You've endorsed him to be re-elected. You know the perilous moment in this country in terms of race relations. I just wonder, must the president say, in no uncertain terms, these groups aren't right. I explicitly call them out and condemn them. Should we hear those words from the president?
BARRASSO: I think we should hear them from the president and from every American. I certainly condemn what we've been seeing in terms of white supremacy, in terms of racism, anti-Semitism, all of those things. I stand with Senator McConnell and Senator Tim Scott with the comments that they've made.
SCIUTTO: Good for you.
I want to move on now to the election, because, well, we're just about a month out from the election. The director of the FBI, Christopher Wray, of course appointed by this president, he testified under oath there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud, that the FBI -- you know, he's the top law enforcement official in the country, says it's seen no evidence.
You've seen the president's claims every day that this is going to be a fraudulent vote. Oftentimes, and even on the debate stage, citing things that just aren't factually true. I just want to ask you, who do you believe on the integrity of this upcoming elections and the prevalence of fraud? Do you believe the FBI director or do you believe the president?
BARRASSO: Well, I'm not going to say -- take a choice of that -- that you put a choice that way. I believe the American people want a fair election. I know that it's a state by state process. I'm very happy with the way things are done in Wyoming. We have many people vote by mail-in ballots, as well as those who vote early and vote in person.
But I will tell you, in other states, there are some concerns as laws are being changed, adjusted, and courts are ruling. You want to make sure that people vote, the ballots come in on time and those votes are all counted. And you do get concerned about some states where we already hear of ballots being found that have been discarded. So there is some concern, but I think widespread fraud, I have not seen evidence of that at all at this point.
SCIUTTO: Do you worry then when the sitting president repeats claims of widespread fraud? By the way, he doesn't say there have been a few ballots here and there. He says this will not be a free and fair election very publically to his many millions of followers and to people at his rallies, et cetera.
What threat does that pose to the vote, because you're going to have people in this country who don't accept the results of this election potentially?
BARRASSO: Well, I believe it will be a fair and free election and I would encourage everyone to vote and do it early, do it on time, do it on Election Day. Whichever is the best way for you to vote, I would say vote.
SCIUTTO: OK.
You know, last night, I'm not sure if you saw this, but we watched as the president was at a rally in Minneapolis and he took aim, you know, again, in the midst of waiting for him to say, as you have said just there, we will not stand for white supremacy, we will not stand for xenophobia, et cetera, that the president attacked a sitting member of Congress, right, an elected member of Congress, Ilhan Omar, who also happens to be a woman of color.
What's your reaction when you see that?
BARRASSO: Well, I didn't see that and don't know exactly what you're referring to, but there's no reason for this -- the kind of attacks and insults and the things that we saw in the debate the other night I thought were discouraging. I think we -- we -- you want to be able to have a civil discourse, talk about the future direction of the country, where we need to go in terms of getting the pandemic behind us, in terms of getting the economy moving forward. And when we're talking about other things, we're being distracted from what I think most people that I talk to and hear from in Wyoming want to hear more about.
[09:45:02]
SCIUTTO: To your credit, Senator, and I'll remind our viewers, you're a doctor. You've been very explicit on this air about steps that people need to take to protect themselves and others, wear a mask, for instance. You know, you haven't hemmed and hawed, you said, wear a mask, it makes sense.
The president is holding more of these rallies. I mean they're outdoors but they've got people packed together. They're not socially distancing. Most people are not wearing masks.
As a doctor, would you advise your patients to go to one of those rallies and not take those precautions?
BARRASSO: Well, you want to take precautions and outdoors is certainly a lot safer. But, you're right, I have my mask here right with me.
SCIUTTO: Yes.
BARRASSO: I have it with me at all times. People in Wyoming, you go to the grocery store, people have masks on. And even though when you're out and about you don't necessarily need it if you're spread out from other people.
We know what works in terms of lowering the risk of coronavirus. It's social distancing, it's wearing a mask and it's proper hygiene. And I'd continue, as a doctor, to recommend that until we get the vaccine and a broad distribution of the vaccine. And that's the way we get this completely behind us.
SCIUTTO: Thank you for being explicit.
Then, is it a mistake for the president to hold those rallies without making that same, explicit statement that you have here?
BARRASSO: Well, it was -- it's -- it's advisable for people to follow that advice when they go to the rallies and I would recommend that for people attending to take common sense precautions that we know work.
SCIUTTO: OK.
You're aware of the continuing spread between the Democratic and the Republican position on a new stimulus plan, though it is getting closer, $2.2 million -- trillion, rather, from the Democrats, about 1.5 from -- from Steve Mnuchin. That's at least within the same galaxy, right, where the difference was further apart.
Would you be willing to go higher for that to vote for something closer, maybe perhaps just below $2 trillion, to get help to worker, particularly on a day when you have tens of thousands of airline workers who have now lost their jobs?
BARRASSO: Well, there are people that still need help, people that are still out of work. You want to make sure that there's paycheck protection money available for them. We want to make sure that our kids can safely get back to school so they don't fall further behind. And we need to make sure there's money for testing and the vaccine.
So the question is not just the cost, it's also the content of the legislation.
And the list that I've seen continues to include many things, Jim, that are unrelated to coronavirus. When I look at the -- what I've seen come out, and I think people are actually working together in good faith. We need to eliminate all the things from the bill that have to do with, you know, tax breaks for millionaires in California and New York and some of the things that you talk -- they mentioned jobs a lot less time in the bill than they mentioned cannabis and banking for people dealing in the marijuana trade. I mean there are just things that need to get out of that.
SCIUTTO: Yes.
BARRASSO: If we can just stay focused on kids back to school, people back to work and the disease, I think we can get to a solution.
SCIUTTO: All right, well, hopeful words that maybe there's an opening there.
Senator Jim Barrasso, we appreciate you coming on. You're always welcome on this broadcast.
BARRASSO: Thank you, Jim.
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