NBC "Meet the Press" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Liz Cheney

Interview

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CHUCK TODD:

Welcome back. As the debate over immigration and the shutdown demonstrate President Trump is walled in between his Republican base and the Democratic opposition, neither of whom want to give anything to the other side. One group that may have a lot of impact on Mr. Trump's fate, on everything from the shutdown to Mueller to 2020, are House Republicans. And joining me this morning is the chair of the House Republican Conference, that's the number three position in leadership on the Republican side, it's Liz Cheney of Wyoming. Congresswoman Cheney, welcome to Meet the Press.

REP. LIZ CHENEY:

Thank you very much, Chuck. Great to be with you.

CHUCK TODD:

Let me start with the shutdown. Wyoming, as folks are going to see, is one of the most impacted states by this shutdown, I think one of the five most impacted outside of the region here. The president's proposal seemed to inch. Democrats are talking about more money for border security, but no barrier. Are we closer? Or is this rhetoric?

REP. LIZ CHENEY:

Well, it's certainly more than rhetoric on, on our side. And I think that what you saw the president do yesterday was, one more time, put a proposal on the table. You know, it's very difficult to understand, when you've got the president's proposal that, obviously, includes money for the border wall, also includes an extension for the DACA folks, also includes an extension for TPS. You know, those are issues, DACA in particular, that Speaker Pelosi, she commandeered the floor of the House of Representative for eight hours, less than a year ago, on particularly this issue, of helping to ensure that the people who are here, the so-called Dreamers, are not deported. So for her, now, to just simply reject, out of hand, when the president, actually, has said, "Okay, let's look at ways we can come closer," you know, it shows you they're just not interested in negotiating.

CHUCK TODD:

Why should the Democrats, though, accept something temporary in exchange for something permanent?

REP. LIZ CHENEY:

Well, look what we're --

CHUCK TODD:

In fairness to them.

REP. LIZ CHENEY:

What we're talking about is we have to secure the border and get the government open. And, you know, as your last panel talked about, the Democrats in the Senate, including Senator Warner have voted for 700 miles actually of a border barrier back in 2013. So we really want to come to an agreement here. The president really wants to come to an agreement here. He has put offers on the table. The responsible thing for the Democrats to do is put a counteroffer on the table if you don't like this one.

CHUCK TODD:

Senator Warner seemed to suggest, maybe there's a way to pay people, pay some of these workers now, even if you don't open up the government, not miss another pay period. Would you support some sort of temporary solution like that, this week, just to keep things going?

REP. LIZ CHENEY:

You know, the House Republicans actually voted to do just that. And the Democrats voted against it. We had a handful of Democrats who joined us on one of our motions to recommit that would do exactly that.

CHUCK TODD:

Pay people, even if the government stays closed.

REP. LIZ CHENEY:

That's right. We think it's very important that people get paid. I don't think that it makes any sense. I think that it's very hard to defend the notion that we're asking people to come to work and not be paid. But at the end of the day, there is a solution here. And the Democrats, you know, the rhetoric here has really gotten above and beyond. When the president's offer is rejected even before he stands up to give his speech. That tells you something about what their, what their approach is here.

CHUCK TODD:

Did what the president offer -- is that how you would define amnesty? Is that a fair critique from -- some on the right are saying, "The president's offers are amnesty."

REP. LIZ CHENEY:

No. It's not amnesty. What he said basically is, "Look let's have an extension for three years of these two program. And let's do that so that we can come to the table to talk about what's necessary for broader immigration reform." It isn't amnesty. And frankly it is a really important step forward. But again, I come back to the fact that Speaker Pelosi has said that she will be a champion of the DREAMers. And so when she's willing to play games, when she's willing to pull political stunts, but she's not actually willing to come up with solutions, that makes it very difficult to come to an agreement here.

CHUCK TODD:

Finding a permanent solution for the DREAMers with a path to citizenship, any form of that, when does that become amnesty in your mind?

REP. LIZ CHENEY:

Well, you know, look we will have to see what happens. We've got to get the government open, we've got to focus on what comes next. But at this point the most important thing --

CHUCK TODD:

But what I described is not a -- you don't think that's a -- that's amnesty, right? If you have to have ---

REP. LIZ CHENEY:

What the president --

CHUCK TODD:

-- a path to citizenship?

REP. LIZ CHENEY:

What the president has put forward is not amnesty. What the president has done is say, "Absolutely, our first and most important obligation is to secure the border." And the fact that the Democrats are talking, "Let's have open borders, let's abolish ICE." They're, they're -- they say they're for border security on some level yet they're not even willing to, as Speaker Pelosi said, provide one dollar for it. It is a purely partisan game she's playing and she ought to stop it for the good of the nation.

CHUCK TODD:

All right, let me move to some foreign policy issues. Here was the president, yesterday, on the White House South Lawn, talking about the potential withdrawal of troops in Syria. Take a listen.

[BEGIN TAPE]

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

In two years, we've, I guess, reduced it to about 99% of the territorial caliphate. We're killing ISIS for Russia, for Iran, for Syria, for Iraq, for a lot of other places. At some point you want to bring our people back home.

[END TAPE]

CHUCK TODD:

I know you have met -- you've been to the White House, to talk about your concerns about too quick of a pullout there. Does that make you feel better? Or does that sound like a president that still wants to move a little faster on this pullout than you do?

REP. LIZ CHENEY:

Look, I think what's very important to recognize is that we have to make sure that we finish the job. And if you look at the mistakes that --

CHUCK TODD:

So 99%, in your mind, is not finishing the job.

REP. LIZ CHENEY:

It's not. If you look at the mistakes that Barack Obama made, when he pulled out of Iraq precipitously, when he declared the war ended, and the war, certainly, wasn't ended, and we end up with chaos in the aftermath. In a place like Syria, what our special operations forces are doing there is crucially important, in order to be able to provide air support, some artillery support. We've got to ensure that ISIS is destroyed. Because if you walk away before they're destroyed, then they have the ability to create safe havens to launch attacks against us again.

CHUCK TODD:

But you know what some will say? There's always an ISIS. There's always an Al Qaeda. They're just going to change their name. So it means we're always going to be there. What do you say to folks that think that no matter -- that your definition means, we're always going to have troops in the Middle East?

REP. LIZ CHENEY:

We have to fight them there, so they don't fight us here. And the definition of victory in the Middle East, the definition of victory in Afghanistan, in Syria, is that we don't have another 9/11. So we've got to recognize that the kind of enemy that we're facing can, with very little territory, very little resources, have bases from which they can plot and plan and launch attacks. And we have an obligation to make sure they don't do that.

CHUCK TODD:

Before I let you go, Congressman Steve King, basically, has decided you're the reason why he's being, maybe, shoved out of office, shoved out of the party. I have got to play you something he said about you earlier this week. Take a listen.

[BEGIN TAPE]

REP. STEVE KING :

You can't put her in the category of ever being a conservative again. She has called for my resignation. She has been here two years. And you know, what would give her the moral authority or the intellectual judgment to do something like that?

[END TAPE]

CHUCK TODD:

I'll just give you a chance to respond, if you want.

REP. LIZ CHENEY:

Well, look. I think I was pretty clear, and our entire House leadership was very clear last week. His comments were abhorrent. They were racist. We, under the guidance of Leader McCarthy, stripped him of his committee assignments. And I think there's simply no place for that language in any of our national discourse.

CHUCK TODD:

Censure next?

REP. LIZ CHENEY:

Look, as I said last week, I think he ought to go find another line of work.

CHUCK TODD:

All right. Liz Cheney, number three in the House Republican leadership, thanks for coming on and sharing your views. Much appreciated.

REP. LIZ CHENEY:

Thank you, Chuck. Good to be with you.

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