MSNBC "Hardball with Chris Mathews" - Transcript: "ICE detains almost 700 workers."
Interview
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MATTHEWS: Late this afternoon, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wrote a letter to President Trump asking him, him to call the Senate back into session immediately to consider House passed bipartisan gun violence prevention legislation. The speaker noted that Mitch McConnell described himself as the Grim Reaper has been an obstacle the taking any action. I`m joined by Minnesota senator and presidential candidate, Amy Klobuchar. Senator, thank you for joining us. You`re going have to be our reader tonight.
SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thanks, Chris.
MATTHEWS: Has something changed Mitch from saying doing nothing is unacceptable? Is that something new from him?
KLOBUCHAR: You know, I think we thought for a while these extreme risk orders or as he called them red flags would be something that might move through. But I just -- I don`t think that`s enough. And if that`s what he means, no, that`s not enough. And where I really didn`t like is when I heard him say people will just try to score points. I mean, seriously. We lost nine people in Dayton. We lost over 20 people in El Paso. And that`s how he`s thinking. What I think is we have background legislation that is sensible, picked up some Republican votes in the House that is sitting at his doorstep. We have a bill that would help with the wait times so there could be better assessments of risk.
MATTHEWS: Yes.
KLOBUCHAR: And then we also have another bill that passed the House on closing the boyfriend loophole. So there are three bills that are right there that we could pass in a day. This is not -- and I would, of course, prefer to do magazine limits and the assault weapon ban and all kinds of other things. But at least we could get that done and then move on to those other things. And so, I don`t think this is scoring points. I think there is something right in front of him, and it`s on his doorstep.
MATTHEWS: Trump`s strategy has been when the heat son as it is now, right now these days ahead, maybe another week to two weeks, the heat is on guns and availability of guns to people that shouldn`t have them. He always says something like, well, we`ll do something, blah, blah, blah. And then when the heat is off, he does nothing. He seems to follow this pattern. He knows the pattern of public interest. And he exploits it to do nothing.
KLOBUCHAR: He does.
MATTHEWS: This time. Go ahead.
KLOBUCHAR: And it is the most cynical thing. When you think about those ordinary people, the courage they showed, the extraordinary courage in the Walmart where the mom protects her baby and gets killed but her baby lives, or the veteran getting people out of there, unbelievable courage. The first responders, the police in Dayton that get there in a minute. It could have been so much worse. And yet, he`s still talking to the NRA. He`s still afraid of them. And I sat across from him after Parkland and wrote down nine times he said he wanted to see background checks. We put a video out on my Twitter feed of it. Nine times he said this. You can watch it. He said it. But what happens? He then goes and meets with the NRA the next day, and he folds. And so there is a pattern of this. You`re exactly right. When the moment is right and the cameras are on, he acts like he is going to be reasonable. He could call Mitch McConnell tomorrow and get the Senate back in session to get this done.
MATTHEWS: OK.
KLOBUCHAR: He could say I publicly call on the Republican senators to vote for this background bill and get it done. Come on. We all know that. He is just as responsible as Mitch McConnell.
MATTHEWS: After the terrible shooting at parkland down in Florida, he made fun of senators and Congress people for being afraid of the NRA. Is he afraid of the NRA? Is this president afraid of them?
KLOBUCHAR: He did.
MATTHEWS: Wayne LaPierre and that lot.
KLOBUCHAR: Yes. Yes, he is. And that`s -- yes. I was at that meeting when he said that. He was there. He said that that`s what was going on, that people get concerned about them. This is the kind of thing he says. And people have to realize that right now what`s at stake is people`s lives. That guy in Dayton got that military style weapon, huge magazine capacity, and he used that in 30 seconds he killed nine people. The vast majority of Americans think that is not OK, far from OK. And also, a great number of hunters at least want to see the background checks put in place. And I`m out here in Iowa on a 20-county tour in Robbins, Iowa, right now, and I can tell you, people are coming up to me all the time, not just Democrats, people are coming up to me in these small towns saying they want to see a change. And that`s what`s happened since Parkland. That`s why they elected two great new women Congress members out of Iowa.
MATTHEWS: OK.
KLOBUCHAR: And they went and supported that background check bill. So, the sea and the tide is changing, and Mitch McConnell is on the opposite side here of history. So, if he is not going to call us back, history will tell him differently.
MATTHEWS: You know, Senator, I`ve known you a long time, and I think your book title is very apropos to Iowa because you are the senator from next door. You are from Minnesota, which is right there on top of Iowa. Anyway, I hope you have a nice weekend with those 20 counties.
KLOBUCHAR: Yes.
MATTHEWS: Thank you so much for joining us, Senator Amy Klobuchar.
KLOBUCHAR: Yes, we will. Thanks, Chris.
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