CNN "State of the Union" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Seth Moulton

Interview

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TAPPER: Welcome back to STATE OF THE UNION. I'm Jake Tapper.

Newly declared Democratic presidential candidate Congressman Seth Moulton has made a habit of challenging his party's establishment, including last year, when he tried to block Nancy Pelosi from becoming House speaker.

Now Moulton is taking on his opponents in the Democratic presidential race, warning that Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders are hurting the party's chances to beat President Trump.

Joining me now, Massachusetts Congressman and presidential candidate Seth Moulton.

Thanks so much for joining us. Appreciate it.

REP. SETH MOULTON (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's great to be here, Jake.

TAPPER: So, you told Reuters that some of your fellow 2020 candidates, such as Senators Elizabeth Warren, your senator, and Bernie Sanders, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, are -- quote -- "divisive in the same way that Trump has been so divisive" because -- quote -- "they are pitting different parts of America against each other" -- unquote.

Do you really think that Warren and Sanders are as -- as divisive as President Trump?

MOULTON: No, I don't. And I don't think I even used their names in that quote.

But the point is that we, as a party, cannot go to the extremes, if we're going to beat Donald Trump.

TAPPER: And you see Warren and Sanders as the extremes?

MOULTON: Well, no, not -- look, here's where -- here's where I think we're going too far. On health care policy, for example...

TAPPER: Who are you talking about? If not -- if not them, who are you talking about?

MOULTON: Well, look, I'm the only candidate in this race who actually gets single-payer health care, because I made a commitment to continue getting my own health care at the VA when I got elected to Congress.

And I can tell you plenty of stories about how my health care at the VA, with this socialized government system, is not great. I mean, the first time I got surgery at the VA, they sent me home with the wrong medications.

I have lost two Marines from my 2nd Platoon since they have been back, one of whom died of a heart attack at the age of 30 just from taking the drugs he was prescribed by the VA, because he didn't get the mental health care that he asked for.

TAPPER: Mm-hmm.

MOULTON: This is not a health care system that everybody in America wants. A lot of people want to keep their private health care system. If we

have a system -- rather than just forcing everybody on to Medicare, we have a system where a Medicare for all or maybe a more modern version of Medicare competes with private options, that people are perfectly willing or allowed to keep if they want, that competition will lower premiums, it will lower costs, it will improve outcomes for everybody.

That's a good thing to have in our system.

TAPPER: So let's talk about the VA.

President Trump said he found common ground with Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez this week in saying the VA is not broken. Ocasio-Cortez was talking about her opposition to privatizing the VA and said, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

You obviously disagree with President Trump and Alexandria Ocasio- Cortez. It sounds like you're saying that the VA is broke.

MOULTON: I do. I do disagree.

The VA is broken. Now, there are some parts of it that work pretty well. And I'll give you a good example. When -- if I have a prescription at the VA, and I need to get it refilled, I can go online, you know, log in, check a box. It shows up two days later in the mail.

And it doesn't cost much because the VA actually negotiates drug prices with pharmaceutical companies, which is what Medicare should do, but it doesn't. So that's an example of where the VA, a single- payer system, actually works better than some of the other alternatives that we have.

But when people show up at the VA, and they can't even get seen for months, when -- when I get sent home with the wrong medications after having a minor surgery, I mean, that is not a good health care system.

TAPPER: So, should it be privatized more, or at least given more private options?

MOULTON: No, no, what should happen is that there should be more competition in the system.

And if we had a public option...

TAPPER: But I'm saying that with -- with private insurance.

MOULTON: If we...

TAPPER: For veterans, I mean.

If you think the VA isn't working, especially when it comes to seeing new patients, should veterans have the option of just seeing private doctors through private insurance and charging that to the U.S. government?

MOULTON: Jake, my bottom line is that veterans deserve the best health care in the world, period.

TAPPER: Yes, but what about privatizing?

MOULTON: And it's clear they're not getting it. So if we can't do it through the VA, then that should be an option. That should be an option.

TAPPER: OK.

And it -- but it also informs your view for public health care.

MOULTON: But it doesn't mean -- it doesn't mean that we should just dismantle the VA.

If you ask veterans, they want to fix the VA. They want to improve the VA. We don't want the VA to go away. We just want it to work better. And it's not working right now. So don't tell me the system isn't broken.

TAPPER: But this is -- so you're -- this also informs your skepticism of, for instance, Medicare for all?

MOULTON: It does, it does, because...

(CROSSTALK)

TAPPER: You think they're all -- Bernie and Elizabeth Warren, they're all wrong about Medicare for all, because you're like, we're doing it at the VA and it's not working?

MOULTON: What I believe is what President Obama advocated for.

What he wanted, when he pushed for Obamacare, was to have a public option, a Medicare-like option, but that it competes with private options as well. What some people in our party want to do is force everybody onto a health care plan designed in 1963. And I think we can do better than that in America.

And a lot of Americans that I hear out there on the ground, they know that too. They don't want to be forced onto Medicare if they don't have to, if they don't want it. It should be an option, though.

TAPPER: I want to ask you about your 2020 opponent Joe Biden. He's been coming under a lot scrutiny for his handling of the Anita Hill hearing.

[09:30:02]

Now, I know that you were 12 or something like that during the Anita Hill hearing, but you're a student of history. You have read up on it.

Anita Hill told "The New York Times" this week Biden needs to apologize to the American people. Biden, the next day, said he was sorry she was treated badly, but he declined to apologize for anything he did during the hearing. Do you think that Joe Biden owes Anita Hill or the American people an

apology?

MOULTON: I do. I think she was treated terribly. Joe Biden is a mentor and a friend of mine. He's a great American.

Everybody makes mistakes. I do think that was a mistake, though. And I think he should apologize.

TAPPER: You said your campaign is going to focus on foreign policy, keeping America strong and safe, issues you have said -- quote -- "just haven't had much of a role in this campaign so far."

But what's different about you in foreign policy than -- that I can't find among any of the other 19 Democrats?

MOULTON: Well, I'm not sure what every -- what anyone is talking about.

I think we need to take on Donald Trump, not just in his job as president, but in his job as commander in chief, because that's actually where he's weakest. Michael Gerson, Bush speechwriter, just wrote in "The Washington that we need to question Trump's patriotism.

He's not a patriot. I mean, he's not a patriot.

TAPPER: You don't think he loves this country?

MOULTON: I don't think that someone who encourages our greatest adversary of the last 70 years, Russia, the only country on Earth that could wipe out every American life in about 20 minutes, I don't think a president who encourages Russia to attack us, as he did during the campaign, I don't think a president who disparages American heroes, like John McCain and Captain Khan, I don't think that a president who cozies up to Kim Jong-un, and then sells out one of our most important allies, South Korea -- we're not doing exercises with them anymore.

I don't think that's a president who embodies patriotism. Patriotism is being willing to stand up and serve your country. You know, JFK used his father's connections to get a medical -- to get medically cleared to deploy.

TAPPER: Because he wanted to serve so much.

(CROSSTALK)

MOULTON: Because he wanted to serve.

TAPPER: Right.

MOULTON: Trump used his father's connections to get a doctor to lie about bone spurs, so he could stay home.

I would like to meet the American hero who went to Vietnam in Trump's place someday.

TAPPER: I think Kellyanne Conway is out there. And she's going to take you on when it comes to questioning the president's patriotism.

Unfortunately, that's all the time I have.

MOULTON: Jake, I look forward to it.

(LAUGHTER)

TAPPER: Congressman Moulton, thank you so much.

And congratulations again on the new baby. I hope she's doing great.

MOULTON: Thank you. Emmy is doing great.

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