CNN "State Of The Union With Jake Tapper" - Transcript "Interview with Secretary Julian Castro"

Interview

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

Officials in the Bahamas say the death toll, now at 43 people, is still expected to rise drastically after Hurricane Dorian, the strongest hurricane to ever hit the Bahamas in recorded history, turned neighborhoods into rubble.

And here in the U.S., one government agency is now backing up President Trump's incorrect claims from last Sunday about the storm's path.

Joining me now is Democratic presidential candidate and former HUD Secretary Julian Castro.

Secretary Castro, I want to ask you about President Trump and his decision to at least temporarily call off peace talks with the Taliban at Camp David.

You said you want to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan. What do you make of it all?

[09:30:02]

CASTRO: This is another bizarre episode, Jake, for two reasons. First of all I think like most Americans I don't know what to believe anymore that comes out of the mouth or the tweet of this president. Folks will remember that just a few days ago he said that he had been in touch with China, apparently in order to try to calm the markets and staff later said that that wasn't the case.

And so the way he tweeted this out, I'm still looking for confirmation that an actual, physical trip to Camp David was planned. But if it was, if it had been planned, that's bizarre as well. Because even though I do support a negotiated political settlement there that will increase stability and make sure that Afghanistan is not used as a base of terrorist operations, it's very odd to invite a terrorist organization like that to Camp David. That's not in keeping with the way that the United States negotiates.

And, you know, I draw a straight line between this and the fact that he has elevated Kim Jong-un with three summits now, even though in the first summit, the Singapore summit, Kim Jong-un promised North Korea would give to the United States an inventory of its weapons so that we could use that as a basis for future negotiations. They never did that. And still at the same time there was a second summit and third summit.

So, this is the worst president when it comes to negotiating I think that we've had in a very long time. It's another bizarre episode. It's more of his erratic behavior that people are tired of and that's one of the reasons I believe that he's going to lose in 2020.

TAPPER: The president has spent a lot of time in the last week trying to insist his tweet a week ago today in which I told people in Alabama and other states but the incorrect information was Alabama, that the storm -- Hurricane Dorian was going to hit them much harder than had been predicted. That was not true according to the experts at the time.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration put out a statement I think on Friday which disputed its own scientists and weather experts to back up the president's claim that Alabama would likely be hit much harder than anticipated. What did you think of that?

CASTRO: Look, those organizations are supposed to be independent neutral scientific organizations that don't play politics. That's what we want them to be.

Under the Trump administration, whether it's them or it's folks who remember the National Park Service, after the National Park Service on the very first day of this administration they put out that photo that showed that his crowd size at the inauguration was not what he claimed and he tried to browbeat them. This is a president that steps all over the traditional role of a chief executive when it comes to these organizations. And what happens is you compromise the trust that is supposed to exist between their work and the American public.

And so it's a real embarrassment. Yes. I wish I could say that I hope this president is going to not do that again but again it's the same erratic behavior, destructive behavior, that is deprofessionalizing the government of the United States of America and turning us into a banana republic little by little I think Americans have had enough of it and they're going to make a change in 2020.

TAPPER: Both Bernie Sanders and your fellow other fellow competitor, former congressman Beto O'Rouke, has suggested they would be opening to leveraging, using U.S. financial aid to Israel to push that country to pursue a two-state solution with the Palestinians. Is that something you would consider?

CASTRO: Well, look I believe that we're going to have an opportunity after the September elections in Israel. I hope we're going to have a new opportunity to be a part of trying to bring those two parties together for peace there, with a two-state solution.

I agree that with our allies, sometimes tough love is in order. But I would hope that we wouldn't have to go down that road. Israel is an ally. It's going to continue to be an ally.

I have deep concerns about Netanyahu and his administration and we do need to ensure that the rights of Palestinians, human rights are respected.

[09:35:00]

So I would hope that we wouldn't have to go down that road.

TAPPER: OK. You would hope -- you would not necessarily want to leverage USA to Israel to push him to do that, is that what you're saying?

CASTRO: Well, that would not be my first move. I'm not saying that would not ever happen, and I think we're going to have a new opportunity after September because I'm hoping that they're going to have a new administration.

However, I think there's a lot of working room between here and there.

TAPPER: There's a new poll out today suggesting that former Vice President Joe Biden remains the front-runner in the Democratic race. A lot of polls of Democratic voters suggest that one of the reasons for this is a lot of Democratic voters think Biden is the most electable, that he has the best chance of beating Trump than any other Democrat. What do you think?

CASTRO: What I see is that, you know, every time Democrats have won since 1960, they've won because we had a nominee that excited young people, brought together a new diverse coalition of Americans, and was able to get that victory, whether you're talking about Kennedy or even Carter in '76 in his own way, Bill Clinton in 1992 or Barack Obama in 2008, I'm confident that I can reassemble that Obama coalition, and then take it to the next level. So we can go back and get Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania that we lost by less than 77,000 votes collectively. And also go get the 29 electoral votes of Florida, compete in places like Arizona, Texas and Georgia.

And -- so that is what I think the winning formula is for Democrats in 2020. It's not to play it safe. It's not to believe that if we're just a little bit different Republicans that we're going to will win.

TAPPER: All right. Secretary Castro, thank you very much. Good luck Thursday at the debate state.

CASTRO: Thanks a lot, Jake.

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