CNN "The Lead with Jake Tapper" - Transcript Interview with Steve Scalise

Interview

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Joining me now to discuss, Republican Minority Whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana, a close ally and confidant of President Trump.

Congressman, good to see you again.

You're speaking tonight at the convention. The theme is "Land of Promise."

What do you plan to say?

REP. STEVE SCALISE (R-LA): Well, Jake, what I want to talk about -- and good to be with you, by the way.

I really want to just share what President Trump is like when you're working with him. I mean, I get to see how much he cares about people. I get to see how much he's fought for and delivered for the hardworking men and women, especially the forgotten men and women of this country, as we work to rebuild the middle class, obviously, getting through COVID, some of the things he's done even with Operation Warp Speed to help make sure that every federal agency is focused fully, removing red tape, to address this crisis, and then ultimately rebuild the economy again.

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And then, obviously, I have seen some personal examples of his kindness and his caring. When I was shot, I know it was the night of the shooting he came to the hospital with Melania, the first lady, and consoled my wife, and was just wonderful to my family in those tough times.

That's a side of the president a lot of people don't really get to see. And, frankly, I think it's something important for people to know about, because that's the kind of person he really is. It's not what you always see on TV. It's the person behind the scenes and how much he fights for and cares about people that I get to see.

TAPPER: How is your recovery going, Congressman?

SCALISE: It's going really well. I appreciate that.

You know, it's a little over three years after the shooting. I had nine surgeries. And the miracles of modern medicine, a lot of miracles that happened along the way, but I still do physical therapy about two days a week to build back strength in my left leg, where the bulk of the nerve damage still is.

So working to get better. I finally dropped the crutches at the end of this year -- last year.

TAPPER: Oh, wow, that's great.

SCALISE: So, walking without crutches, and getting better all the time. Appreciate it.

TAPPER: That's great. Congressman. Good to hear that.

Republicans are not adopting a new platform for the 2020 convention, instead relying on the 2016 platform, and as well as some rather vague language put out by the Trump campaign yesterday.

What do you say to critics who suggest that this is emblematic of the party in the Trump era, that it's really more about President Trump and his personality than it is about what the Republican Party stands for?

SCALISE: Well, any platform really does reflect the things, the points that the candidate wants to make in any given election.

And so, for President Trump, you saw what he ran on in 2016. And, frankly, he's worked to deliver on so many of those things. And, obviously, there's more we want to do. And he lists that in the platform. It really is focusing on creating jobs, fighting for life, and keeping our communities safe.

Those are all things mentioned in the platform. It's interesting. If you look at the Democrat platform, they mentioned Donald Trump more than they mentioned jobs or more than they mentioned racial equality.

So I think that negative focus on the Democrat platform really shows that they're not fighting for people. They just don't like the president, but the president is -- has been fighting and delivering for those forgotten men and women.

And I think they're going to be there for him in November, which is why I think he's going to get reelected this November.

TAPPER: The -- this is an opportunity for the president.

And we have been told by people associated with the campaign and with the convention that the president plans on delivering an optimistic vision. It really is an opportunity for him to try to win over people who might like some of the things that he's done, but don't like his style.

But, today, when he accepted your party's nomination, he delivered kind of rambling address. He told a number of lies about mail-in voting and about Obama and Biden.

Does that concern you at all? Would you not rather have a president who is disciplined and optimistic, as opposed to one who is kind of rambling and just doing his list of grievances?

SCALISE: Well, first of all, to call that lies is just not accurate.

I have seen voter fraud up close. Look, in Louisiana, we put an election commissioner in jail because he was stealing votes and running fraudulent elections. And we cleaned that office up, by the way.

So, I have seen how it happens.

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TAPPER: Yes, but that wasn't by vote by mail.

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SCALISE: -- to this day.

TAPPER: He wasn't doing that--

SCALISE: Well, but if you mail ballots, Jake, to every single person the rolls, any secretary of state will tell you, you will over a 10 percent error rate, because that's millions of ballots, by the way, that will just be out there, because people move around.

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SCALISE: Some people actually are on the rolls illegally. That's why you want to ensure the sanctity of the vote.

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TAPPER: Only nine states are doing that, though. Only nine states are mailing ballots to every registered voter.

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SCALISE: That battle is not -- Pelosi is still trying to make that a national law, which would be reckless. It would be a recipe for disaster.

TAPPER: That's not happening this election, though.

SCALISE: Let make sure we fight for the sanctity of the vote.

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SCALISE: Pelosi has tried to make it. It's not happening because we've blocked it.

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TAPPER: But, Congressman, look, there are nine states that do universal mail-in, which is mailing a ballot to everybody who's registered.

Your fellow Congressman Garcia, Republican from a district in California, he was elected in one of these states, in one of these nine states, California, voting out -- sending out vote by mail. He won. Utah has vote by mail. They have had it for years.

I mean, there really just is not evidence that there is widespread fraud. Of course, there's voter fraud. There's there's been voter fraud as long as there's been voting all over the world.

SCALISE: Right.

TAPPER: But there's no evidence that there is widespread voter fraud because of vote by mail.

SCALISE: Well, and I'm glad you acknowledge there is fraud.

What we have fought against -- and President Trump has been vocal about this -- is a national mandate that you have to do that, because some states might be better equipped than others to have more wide- scale voter mail-in.

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TAPPER: There is no national mandate.

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SCALISE: No, there's not.

But do you not know -- I will send you the bill. Pelosi just tried to do this the last three months. She's literally brought bills to the floor to try to mandate that.

And we blocked it. But that's where they want to go. What we would like to see is, if somebody wants to request a ballot, we will probably in Louisiana have 25 percent of our ballots cast by mail. Want to make sure that system is intact.

You saw the postmaster general testify today that they will be able to handle that volume. They have got enough money to go through the middle of next year, if we don't give them another dime. So they're going to be able to handle that volume, and if some other states do it more widespread, as long as they can make sure that those votes are counted that are legal votes.

You don't want votes that are illegal coming in.

TAPPER: How do you vote, Congressman?

SCALISE: I have typically voted in-person.

We had an election in New Orleans about a week-and-a-half ago, and I voted in-person. Every now and then, I vote by mail if I'm going to be out of town. But, usually, I like going. I like bringing my family. It's something we all do as a family, because it's a great part of democracy to walk in there and vote -- cast your vote in person.

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TAPPER: My only point is, you have voted by mail, just like President Trump, just like Vice President Pence, just like Kayleigh McEnany.

SCALISE: Right. And that ought to be there for every voter who requests it. It

shouldn't -- you shouldn't mail a ballot to every single person that's not even legally on a roll. Right now, you have got -- again, with people moving around -- most secretary of states will tell you over 10 percent of their voting rolls are people that are not living at that address anymore.

And yet ballots will be sitting out there, millions of ballot.

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SCALISE: Why don't we make sure we protect the sanctity of the vote?

TAPPER: Right. Of course, we all believe in the sanctity of the ballot.

But my point is that they have been doing this in Utah for -- with no problems for years, I think since 2012 or 2013.

SCALISE: Right. And that's Utah's prerogative.

It shouldn't be a federal mandate, though, Jake. And believe me--

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TAPPER: But that's a separate debate, though, sir. That's a separate debate. You're talking about--

SCALISE: Well, we've had the debate. And the president's been engaged in that debate, saying that we shouldn't mandate that federally.

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TAPPER: President Trump is saying that -- he has literally said today that if the Democrats win, it's because was rigged and the election was stolen, an incredibly irresponsible thing to say.

The secretaries of state in two of the states that have universal vote by mail, Washington state and Oregon, are Republicans. California had vote by mail. Your colleague Congressman Garcia was elected that way. Nevada, the secretary of state is a Republican. Utah, they have vote by mail.

My only point is, I understand you don't like the idea of universal vote by mail as Nancy Pelosi is proposing it. But I'm just talking about the existing policies, and that President Trump is saying that they are going to be corrupt inherently.

And there's no evidence of that.

SCALISE: Well, and I didn't see the president's speech today.

But what I have heard him talk about in the past is making sure that, if somebody is voting, whether it's in-person or by mail, that you're protecting the sanctity of that voting. Picture I.D. is something that we require in Louisiana. A lot of states have that too. Pelosi's bill, by the way, would have taken that away, the

verification of the I.D. So let's make sure, if somebody wants to request a ballot, they have that right and we're going to protect it. And, by the way, the post office assured that that will be prioritized.

They have got all the money they need to carry that out properly. I think that was one of the things that was at issue over the weekend, where some people were trying to make an issue where it didn't exist.

Those ballots are ready to go. If somebody wants to mail in their vote, or if they want to go in-person, I would hope that would be available to them as well.

TAPPER: Minority Whip Steve Scalise, Republican of Louisiana, always good to see you, sir.

And it's great news about your recovery. Keep it up.

SCALISE: Thanks so much, Jake. Great to be back with you.

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