CNN "The Lead With Jake Tapper" - Transcript: Interview with Sen. John Kennedy

Interview

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TAPPER: All right, Kaitlan Collins traveling with President Trump, thank you so much.

Joining me now is Republican Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana.

Senator, thanks so much for joining us. We appreciate it.

As Kaitlan just reported, the White House suddenly withdrew the nomination of Ronald Vitiello to lead ICE. He was all set to go. His nomination was on track. The Senate Judiciary Committee was set to vote on him next week.

But senior adviser Stephen Miller at the White House convinced the president to pull the nomination because he didn't think Vitiello was tough enough. What's your take on all of this? The president apparently did this without consulting Congress, without consulting Secretary Nielsen.

SEN. JOHN KENNEDY (R), LOUISIANA: Well, the president, Jake, is entitled to surround himself with advisers of his choice.

I don't want us to take our eye off the ball here. We're at the breaking point at the border. In March, we had 100,000 people come into this country illegally. That's the most in 10 years. We're on track to set records here.

And I -- look, personnel, that's up to the president. But the new head of ICE alone can't solve this problem. The United States Congress is going to have to help. And, frankly, we need help from our Central American friends and from Mexico as well.

TAPPER: Well, you're kind of making my point, because this is, obviously, a time there's a humanitarian crisis at the border. It is a difficult time. The U.S. government is facing this very challenging situation.

And then, for whatever reason, this nominee, this -- to be head of ICE is kind of ignominously just thrown by the side of the road. Doesn't that concern you? Doesn't that -- yes, the president has every right to do it. He can -- he's the chief executive. He can do whatever he wants.

But isn't the way this is being done, without consulting you and your colleagues in the Senate, without consulting Secretary Nielsen, doesn't that kind of undermine the whole argument that this is a real crisis that we're in?

KENNEDY: Well, Jake, I'm hesitant to comment, because I just don't know why the president did it. I don't know the background.

I mean, you -- if it's Mr. Miller had second thoughts, he probably should have expressed those thoughts as first thoughts a little while ago. But the world's not going to spin off its axis here. We do need a competent person, an aggressive person, who's head of ICE.

But we have got bigger problems than that, frankly, right now at the border. And I know we have been through this the last six months, where the Democrats say, we don't have a problem at the border, and the Republicans say, we do. We have got a problem at the border.

TAPPER: Absolutely.

KENNEDY: It's not like the problem we used to have.

TAPPER: Yes, absolutely.

KENNEDY: But we have got a serious problem.

TAPPER: Sure, especially with all of these families coming and there isn't the housing to take them all in and keep them.

I want you to take a listen to the secretary -- go ahead, sir.

(CROSSTALK)

KENNEDY: Well, I was just going to say, there are two problems. Number one, our asylum laws need to be changed.

And, number two, you know, rather than cutting off the money to El Salvador and Guatemala and our other Central American countries, I would like to see the president call an immigration summit with the president of Mexico and El Salvador and Guatemala and Nicaragua and Honduras, and let's say, how can -- let's say, how can we solve this problem? [16:10:13]

Similar to what we did with Plan Colombia, when we had a lot of problems with the drug cartels and cocaine coming out of Colombia in the late 1990s and in 2000, into the next decade. We sat down with the president of Colombia. We put up some of the money in return for specific commitments.

But I think that would help a lot. But the thing that would help the most is to design some asylum laws that looks like somebody designed them on purpose. All you have to do right now, Jake, as you know, is make it to American soil, say the magic words, you're turned free into the country, you're told to come back in two years to court.

And, of course, nobody ever turns back up.

TAPPER: Well...

KENNEDY: You know, you could -- you could drive over -- around D.C., pick the first person sleeping under the interstate and say, can you draw up some asylum laws, and theirs would make better sense than the ones we have right now.

TAPPER: I know you're speaking hyperbolically.

I think statistics show most people do show up for their hearing. But I take your point. Central American and the asylum laws, that is the situation.

You talked about a summit. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen actually had a summit, I think it was last week, in Honduras.

(CROSSTALK)

KENNEDY: I know. I know. It's not enough. The president needs to do it.

(CROSSTALK)

KENNEDY: She was on Chris Cuomo's show last night. I want to see what you think about something. Let's roll that sound.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: In this environment right now, where you want focus on the kids and the families, why is the president going down to view fencing and not going to see the kids?

NIELSEN: Well, I think part of that's just a -- it's an optic.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Now, I know you're talking about the humanitarian crisis. I'm talking about the humanitarian crisis. Both of us have been talking about it for a long time. The president is very fixated and focused on the wall. Now, I

understand, in his view, the wall is part of the solution to the humanitarian crisis, because it will deter people from coming. But don't you think there's also this other side of it, and if the president went and met with these refugees, that might also help get something done?

KENNEDY: Well, yes, the short answer, yes.

Look, we do need a wall. But a wall alone is not going to stop the problem. We do have some unsavory people coming across the border, gang members, drug dealers. But we have got a lot of people coming from Central America out of fear, not hunger, fear. Their countries are being run by gangs.

I saw a recent survey done by Vanderbilt University, something like, depending on the country, between a third-and-a-half of the people in our Central American countries have been victims of crime within the past year. And, usually, it's extortion. And so they're leaving.

And that's why I want to see -- and I'm glad that the homeland secretary, homeland security secretary went down there, but the president -- this is a job for the president. He needs to call a Central American immigration summit, invite the president of Mexico, the presidents of the Northern Triangle countries, say, look, let's sit down.

You have got a problem in your country. It's causing a problem in my country. We're willing to put up some money in return for specific commitments. We did the same thing in 1999 with Plan Colombia with Colombia. Now, that's the root of this problem.

We also need to ask for some cooperation from our Democratic friends. We need to change the asylum laws. They make no sense.

TAPPER: OK.

Senator Kennedy, stay right there. We have some breaking news. And I want to get your reaction to it.

Some lawyers hired by President Trump have sent a letter to the Treasury Department after a key House Democrat demanded President Trump's tax returns.

CNN's Pamela Brown joins me now.

Pamela, what are you learning?

PAMELA BROWN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're learning that lawyers that the president has hired to represent him in this tax fight just sent a letter moments ago to the Treasury Department, pushing back on this request from the House Ways and Means Committee chairman for the president's tax returns over the last six years.

These are lawyers from Consovoy McCarthy Park law firm, saying that the chairman does not have a legitimate purpose in requesting the president's tax returns and that this would set a bad precedent, saying this is all about politics.

Here's one of the sentences from the letters, Jake, saying: "His request is a transparent effort by one political party to harass an official from the other party because they dislike his politics and speech."

So, basically saying that, even if they do say they have legitimate purpose here, that, really, it's all about politics and not liking the president because he's in a different party.

It also notes the fact that the president's tax returns are under audit, according to the president. Now, as we know, Jake, tax returns can still be released even if they are under audit. And they also asked the Treasury Department to consult with the Department of Justice on this before doing anything, saying that this is an unprecedented request.

[16:15:00] And an administration official telling my colleague, Jim Acosta, that lawyers are willing to fight this all the way to the Supreme Court. It appears, Jake, this fight just beginning.

TAPPER: All right. Pamela Brown, thank you so much for that breaking news. Let me bring back Senator John Kennedy from Louisiana. Senator, your reaction to the president's legal team's letter to the Treasury Department?

SEN. JOHN KENNEDY, (R), LOUISIANA, JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: Jake, I will be very blunt. Chairman Neal, powerful man, head of Ways and Means, I know he's an adult, but I don't think he's like a real adult. He says that he needs Trump's tax returns. He says it's policy, not politics. He has said, I think on CNN, that the reason he needs them is that he needs to determine how well the IRS is auditing taxpayers.

I can't believe he really thinks the American people are going to fall for that. It must really suck to be that dumb. Look, this is very simple. Mr. Neal wants to screw with the president. He doesn't think the president ought to be president.

Well, you know, words can't express how much I don't care. It's not Mr. Neal's call. The American people have chosen Donald Trump as president. If you don't like it, in two years, you can vote against him. In the meantime, don't screw with him, let him try to be president.

Now, Mr. Neal is not in good faith. Nobody believes he's in good faith. This is wildly dishonest. This is thoroughly in bad faith. And I don't blame the president for pushing back. There's no requirement that he turn over his taxes. If I were running for president, would I turn over my taxes? Yes. But there's no requirement.

And trump said, I'm not going to turn over my taxes, they're being audited. The American people knew that when they voted for him or didn't vote for him. He won the election. And Mr. Neal, you know, I don't mean any disrespect, but he's not fooling anybody. He just wants to get these taxes to screw with the president.

TAPPER: Well, you say --

KENNEDY: You can vote against him, but enough is enough.

TAPPER: You said you don't mean any disrespect, but you said, "it must suck to be that dumb." Let me just take the opportunity to say to Chairman Neal, if he wants to come on the show, he is more than welcome to come and defend himself. But we're running out of time, Senator Kennedy, and I know you want to talk about this new legislation that would stop government employees from using NDAs, nondisclosure agreements from silencing workplace sexual harassment and sexual assault victims. You have an op-ed on this. You used Harvey Weinstein as an example o how NDA's hurt people. I should point out, your bill would just protect government workers. Does that go far enough?

KENNEDY: I wish we could go further and maybe eventually, we will. It's real simple. It says, if you're a federal official or a state official and you're accused of sexual harassment and you settle the lawsuit, you can't keep it quiet, unless the victim wants to keep it quiet.

No nondisclosure agreement unless the victim agrees. If you're spending taxpayer money, taxpayers needs to know, even if they -- even if you're not spending taxpayer money, voters still need to know. Just because you're accused of something, doesn't mean you're guilty. But these facts -- or at least the allegations need to come out. And I think it will cut out a lot of people acting like pigs.

TAPPER: All right. Republican Senator John Kennedy from the great State of Louisiana, thank you so much for your time, sir. We appreciate it.

KENNEDY: Thanks, Jake.

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