CNN "Erin Burnett Outfront" - Transcript: Interview with Sen. John Kennedy (R), Louisiana
Interview
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BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, Laurie.
And OUTFRONT now, Republican Senator from Louisiana, John Kennedy, who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee and just questioned Zuckerberg moments ago.
Senator, good to have you back on the show. I appreciate your time.
SEN. JOHN KENNEDY (R), LOUISIANA: You bet.
BURNETT: You know, I want to talk about your colorful exchange with Mark Zuckerberg in just a moment because it's worth our viewers getting a chance to hear it.
First, though, the breaking news, Facebook with Mark Zuckerberg saying yes, we're working with Mueller.
[19:55:00] We're answering questions. We're doing all of this. Were you surprised to hear that?
KENNEDY: Yes, I was. Clearly, Mr. Zuckerberg didn't want to talk about it. I mean, I'm sure his counsel advised him not to. But everyone's ears kind of perked, and yes, I was pretty surprised.
There were two surprises today. That was one. And the other one was when Mr. Zuckerberg said repeatedly that Facebook is responsible for its content.
You know, in the past, Facebook has always said, look, it's a neutral media platform. It's not responsible for what people say. Today, he said twice that it was. I was surprised to hear it was.
BURNETT: Yes, the way you put it, that does appear to be a shift.
Now I want to get to the exchange, because you did, Senator, have some harsh and colorful words for Zuckerberg when it comes to Facebook user agreement, which is at the heart of what they are responsible for. Let me play it.
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BURNETT: Now, let me start with your bottom line there. Is he going to take your advice? Is he going to go back and make changes to that user agreement?
KENNEDY: Erin, I don't know. I just -- I was mildly disappointed today. Mr. Zuckerberg is a really bright guy and he was well- rehearsed. I kind of wish he hadn't rehearsed.
I'm just not sure we connected with him. I mean what we tried to tell him was, look, Facebook is an extraordinary company. You've done some magical things. But the digital land has mine fields. One of them is privacy. The other one is propaganda. Go back and address these.
And he was --it was all -- he was sort of well, yes, I want to do better, but I'm not doing anything wrong. And I'm just not sure we connected.
Now, there's going to be a flurry of bills introduced. They are coming. And whether they pass or not is up to Mr. Zuckerberg. I don't want to regulate him. It's the last thing I want to do.
BURNETT: You don't want to regulate him?
KENNEDY: By God, I will -- I will vote to do it if he is not going to really sit down and be serious about this. I'm not saying he's unserious. I'm just not sure we connected. He was too rehearsed. He did too good of a job. I wanted him to just come in and let's talk, you know?
BURNETT: I want to play a little bit of that in just a moment. But, first, at the end of that exchange when you were asking the question of Mark, you know, you said in English, not in Swahili. And, obviously, you're probably aware, there has been outrage over your Swahili line by some, some calling it a racial slur, disparaging, distasteful, unnecessary.
Do you want to apologize for it or do you think that those people are taking it too seriously?
KENNEDY: No. There is nothing to apologize for. I think everybody understood the point I was trying to make.
BURNETT: So, no apology at all?
KENNEDY: No.
BURNETT: All right. There were multiple occasions when Zuckerberg wasn't able to answer the questions which is what you refer to. You know, you said you failed to connect. Others might say he didn't want to answer the question, and I just wanted to play a few of those to give people a sense of what we're talking about.
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BURNETT: Is that what you're talking about, too rehearsed?
KENNEDY: Yes, yes, there was a lot of that. I mean, Mr. Zuckerberg kept saying, look, you own your data and folks would say, well, it doesn't feel like I own my data. It feels like Facebook owns my data. Would you be willing to do this? Would you be willing to do that? Would you be willing to let our data be portable?
And, you know, it was all we'll get back to you, we'll get back to you. I don't want to be unfair to him. I mean, you know, it's important --
BURNETT: Yes.
KENNEDY: What's important is what he does and not what he says.
But I just didn't feel like we were connecting.
BURNETT: Yes. KENNEDY: I just didn't. I'm not sure he appreciates that Congress is serious here and we've got a problem and we don't want to hurt Facebook. But, my God, these need to be addressed.
BURNETT: Senator, I literally have 10 seconds.
KENNEDY: OK.
BURNETT: Does Bob Mueller deserve to stay in his job?
KENNEDY: Yes.
BURNETT: All right. You answered it less than 10. That's a clear one word answer.
Thank you very much. Senator, I appreciate your time.
KENNEDY: Thank you.
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