MSNBC "The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell" - Transcript: "Suspect still barricaded in house."
Interview
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O`DONNELL: "The Washington Post" is reporting tonight on what could be the most serious case of corruption in the history of the United States Senate with Mitch McConnell at the center of it. The worst corruption cases in the Senate have always involved personal enrichment through bribery or other means of senators. The McConnell case is different. Mitch McConnell blocked votes in the United States Senate that would have made it impossible for the Trump administration to remove some sanctions on Russia and Russian oligarchs. And then after the Trump administration was then allowed to remove those sanctions, they did remove the sanctions, and one of those Russian oligarchs made a major investment in an aluminum plant to be built in Mitch McConnell`s State of Kentucky, in a region of Kentucky desperate for the jobs that the Trump administration has not yet delivered. "The Washington Post`s" reporting on this is now going to make it impossible for Mitch McConnell to shake the nickname Moscow Mitch given to him by MSNBC`s Joe Scarborough. If Mitch McConnell used his Senate position to fight to lift sanctions on Russia so that Russians could invest in Kentucky so that Mitch McConnell could then tell voters in his re-election campaign that he helped bring those Russian-financed aluminum plant jobs to Kentucky, then that would be a much more corrupt act than mere self-enrichment. Joining our discussion now is Michael Bennet, Democratic Senator from Colorado and a member of the Intelligence Committee. He is running for President. His campaign is now out with a new book "Dividing America: How Russia Hacked Social Media and Democracy." I want to start with the McConnell situation. This is a stunning report by "The Washington Post." It`s the weight of a book. It`s a massive in-depth reporting. And to imagine the Senate Majority Leader using his position this way is a - would be a stunningly corrupt act.
SEN. MICHAEL BENNET (D-CO) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Yes. I could never understand why that sanctions legislation didn`t go through. It was a bipartisan bill on the floor--
O`DONNELL: 11 Republicans fully in favor of it.
BENNET: Exactly. Exactly. And as you know, the Majority Leader has incredible power to stop things, to kill things. And it`s going to be fascinating to see in the days ahead what this report - how it develops.
O`DONNELL: And he`s deeply troubled by all reports by this label Moscow Mitch, which has now taken hold--
BENNET: Yes.
O`DONNELL: --in Kentucky. And he`s not done - he hasn`t done anything to shake that label. But he`s never given anyone a reason to drop that label on him.
BENNET: No. The Intelligence Committee two weeks ago put out a bipartisan report that said Russia had hacked the elections in 2016, that it was really serious, and that there were steps that we should take. And bipartisan senators have been offering amendments on the floor and McConnell has been blocking them. He`s blocked them eight times. These are just election protection measures, Lawrence. These are not controversial. And you`d think that at a minimum, someone with the title of leader would be pushing through these bipartisan measures instead of refusing them to even come to a vote. Imagine such a situation where the bill was allowed to come to a vote. I can`t imagine a single senator voting against it. Yet Mitch McConnell is not allowing it to come to a vote, not allowing it to come to the floor.
O`DONNELL: But he is allowing, encouraging and happy with Russian investment in Kentucky now that the sanctions allow it.
BENNET: Sounds like it.
O`DONNELL: Yes. I want to go to your book, which goes to - it`s about the Russian hacking of our democracy.
BENNET: Yes. And anybody can get it if you go to russiahackedourdemocracy.com. You can get it there and download it. I had two purposes for putting it out. One was, I think the American people don`t know what that propaganda from Russia looked like. I was in New Hampshire last week - or a couple weeks ago, and a guy said to me, just make sure Obama stops giving money - taking money from our veterans and giving it to refugees. It comes straight from Russian propaganda. That`s not a political idea that`s native to the United States of America. And there`s page after page after page in this book. It`s racist and terrible stuff that the Russians used to try to divide us. And the second point is that McConnell should be putting this stuff on the floor. I mean, the idea that this is not - and it`s not because he`s too busy passing gun legislation, by the way. As you know--
O`DONNELL: Right.
BENNET: --the Senate is doing nothing but judges at this point. And it`s time for us as a country to show that we`re going to stand up to--
(CROSSTALK)
O`DONNELL: I have to interrupt you with breaking news that involves you and something we planned to discuss with you. The Associated Press tonight (ph) at this hour--
BENNET: That`s always what you like to have happen--
O`DONNELL: That`s - you want to have it happen on live television.
BENNET: Yes.
O`DONNELL: I`ve just been handed this. The Associated Press is reporting at this hour John Hickenlooper is expected to drop out of the Democratic Presidential primary on Thursday, tomorrow. That`s according to a person close to the former governor, who wasn`t authorized to speak publicly before the announcement and who spoke to the Associated Press on Wednesday night on condition of anonymity. You report - and "The New York Times" is reporting, as I led the show, that you had a conversation--
BENNET: Yes.
O`DONNELL: --last night in Iowa driving around the lake 20 minutes in the car together about this very subject, the possibility of him dropping out and running for Senate in Colorado, where he has a massive lead in the polls.
BENNET: Yes.
O`DONNELL: What can you tell us now that it is official--
(CROSSTALK)
BENNET: I almost didn`t come on the show after that lead. I was looking for any excuse because all I could think about was that.
O`DONNELL: Brian Williams has granted us as much time as it takes--
BENNET: Yes. Yes. It was--
O`DONNELL: --to get all the information out of you.
BENNET: It was - all I could think of was Luca Brasi swimming with the fishes, which is what I would like to avoid. I am close to John. There`s nothing that he and I discussed that I feel like I can discuss here, and I know you appreciate that from your work with Daniel Patrick Moynihan. It`s the same kind of relationship. I will say that - I will say we`ve got very good candidates in this race already. John Hickenlooper was an exceptional mayor. He was an exceptional governor. And if he chose to run, he`d be an exceptional senator. But the last person he needs advice from is me on what he should do about the presidential--
(CROSSTALK)
O`DONNELL: But "The New York Times" reports that he sought advice from you last night, climbing into the car with you, ride around the lake in Iowa. And here we are 24 hours later, AP reporting that he is going to drop out tomorrow. In "The New York Times" report, it showed that John Hickenlooper, though relatively unknown nationally to the point where he`s actually polling at zero in polls, in Colorado, just massively popular. A 13-point--
BENNET: Yes.
O`DONNELL: --lead in current polls--
BENNET: Right.
O`DONNELL: --over the sitting incumbent Republican senator in a state that Donald Trump lost. I mean, talk about what would happen if John Hickenlooper runs for Senate--
BENNET: Yes.
O`DONNELL: --in Colorado.
BENNET: He would win. He would win.
O`DONNELL: That he`s got - he`s got over a 50-point lead in the Democratic primary.
BENNET: He`s right where the state is on a whole range of issues. And he left office as popular as he came into office, as Governor. So I`m not going to front-run whatever it is he`s trying to do or not trying to do. But we obviously have to win the Senate seat in Colorado. That`s critical. And by the way, that`s critical for us to think about across the country. This isn`t just about the Presidential election. This is about how we get a Democratic majority back in the Senate. And in my mind, that`s as important as who the next President is.
O`DONNELL: The only way to stop the stories that we`re reading in "The Washington Post" about Mitch McConnell are for candidates as strong as John Hickenlooper to enter races for the Senate and win Republican seats. You`re saying if John Hickenlooper runs for Senate in Colorado, he wins. And I`ve got to say, the polls indicate exactly that.
BENNET: Yes.
O`DONNELL: So that means, if that happens, the Democrats only need to pick up two more. Only two more. John Hickenlooper moves them within needing only two.
BENNET: I will give you his cell phone number before we split up tonight.
(LAUGHTER)
O`DONNELL: But - I mean, you - certainly in a conversation with him, you - I`m sure--
BENNET: Here`s what the - I could tell you - I mean, I can tell you what I`d say to any candidate and what I would say to John, which is that there are real pluses and there are real minuses to being in the Senate. You and I have talked about how much it`s changed since you worked there. But it is a great privilege to have the chance to serve this country. And it is an obligation I think for all of us to find the place where we can help sustain the Democratic institutions that we have. Whether it`s fun or not fun is immaterial. What we have is a job to do as Americans to rescue this democracy from Donald Trump. And that`s for people that are running for President, that`s for people running for the Senate, that`s for American citizens at home, that`s for journalists. This is a moment in our country`s history when we all have to step up our game here or our democracy is at real risk.
O`DONNELL: John Hickenlooper appeared on this program as a Presidential candidate. He is welcome on this program if he changes his pursuits--
BENNET: I`ll pass that along.
O`DONNELL: --in any way. We`re here tomorrow night. So, Senator Michael Bennet, thank you very much for joining us again tonight.
BENNET: Thanks, Lawrence. Thanks--
O`DONNELL: Really appreciate it.
BENNET: You heard it here first.
O`DONNELL: You did.
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