CNN "CNN Newsroom" - Transcript: Interview with Senator Chris Coons

Interview

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[12:52:45]

BASH: President Trump continues to stall the formal transition process for President-elect Joe Biden blocking the Biden transition teams access to federal agencies, to intelligence, top health officials, as the coronavirus pandemic, of course, worsens across the country. And despite that, or maybe because of that, President-elect Biden is moving ahead aggressively with things that he can do. He announced members of his White House senior staff today and will meet with the House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer in Wilmington later today. But this is what he said about President Trump's behavior.

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JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT-ELECT: Let me choose my words here. I think they're witnessing incredible irresponsibility, incredibly damaging messages being sent to the rest of the world about how democracy functions. I don't know his motive, but I just think it's totally irresponsible.

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BASH: Joining me now is Senator Chris Coons of Delaware, a close friend of the president-elect and a man who holds his Senate seat.

Thank you so much for joining me.

I want to start with the White House press secretary. She just had a briefing for the first time in a long time. She wouldn't say if the president would concede, she touted his popular vote total. Even though, as you well know, President-elect Biden has nearly six million more votes than him at this time on a national level.

What is your sense of the end insight? Where do you see it?

SEN. CHRIS COONS (D-DE): Well, Dana, the end insight is that President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Harris are going to be sworn in, in the inauguration in January.

And the challenge that we're facing as a nation, which is making us less safe, less secure, and less healthy, is that President Trump and his facilitators and supporters continuing to indulge themselves in this fantasy, that it's not harming our nation, that they continue to resist cooperating with the transition.

And I think a striking move, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Business Roundtable, the National Association of Manufacturers, not liberal groups, have all called on President Trump to begin the transition promptly. And the developments in Georgia today just reinforce the fact that there is no fact pattern under which the outcome of the election could be reversed or changed.

[12:55:05]

It's frankly past time for my Republican colleagues in the Senate and for President Trump himself to accept this and begin the transition process and the interests of our nation's security and health.

BASH: Well, let's start with what you just mentioned about your Republican colleagues in the Senate. I know you have real relationships across the aisle, you talk to them in private. What is your sense from those behind the scenes conversations about when they will finally come out at A and B, whether or not they think that will even have an impact or whether they're thinking and it's time to do that for history sake?

COONS: Well, I keep making the argument with a dozen friends, colleagues, who are Republican senators, that this is hurting us globally, that it is going to hurt us domestically, and that it's past time to make the case whether privately or publicly.

BASH: What are they saying to that response?

COONS: Some tell me that they are urging a transition. They're communicating with the GSA head or they're communicating with the White House. But, frankly, relatively few have stood up publicly and said, it's time the developments in Georgia and the developments in terms of the president's failed and flailing efforts at any litigation strategy, I think strengthen the resolve of a number of them to be more forceful, but frankly, it's past time.

So, I am testing some of these relationships and, in some cases, straining them by really pressing. But it's frankly, Dana, it's an embarrassment. And I'm clear that this is hurting us around the world. Our reputation as a democracy, where we have orderly peaceful, responsible transitions is being sorely challenged by President Trump's now two-week long temper tantrum and refusal to cooperate with the transition. And we're at a point where this is having an impact that is significant and real.

BASH: How so?

COONS: We are not -- So, President-elect Biden is not receiving the presidential daily briefing, he's not getting access to the highest level of intelligence. His COVID-19 team that is preparing for the handoff of responsibility for vaccinating more than 300 million Americans is not getting robust and real-time information about the challenges that operation warp speed may be facing.

It's this odd Kabuki, Dana, where all of the Senate got a briefing yesterday. Those of us who joined a call, it was a very constructive and forthcoming call by the general and the doctor who are leading operation warp speeds, preparations around vaccination. But that same information isn't being provided to the transition team in a robust and thorough way. So --

BASH: And --

COONS: -- whether it's public health or its security, those are harming us. But, frankly, there has also been actions taken by countries around the world, from China, in Hong Kong, to Uganda, to Egypt, where human rights advocates or candidates for office are being arrested or harassed in a way that I think shows that some of the nations that view themselves as being our potential allies or competitors are seeing this moment of transition as a moment of distraction in terms of America's leadership in advancing democracy on the world stage.

BASH: The irony is that the Vice President-elect is a sitting senator, and she gets a briefing in a way that the President-elect is not privy to because the President won't allow it. I want to ask about a substantive issue when you talk about being issues around the world. CNN is reporting that the Trump administration will take further steps in China before leaving office. The administration official tells CNN, "Newly installed Acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller has been told to focus in these remaining months on cyber and irregular warfare with regard to China in particular, and that the administration is also hoping to pressure China to come to the table for nuclear talks with the U.S. and Russia before Trump leaves office in January".

I know, Senator, you spoke this morning to the Halifax International Security Forum about U.S.-China relationships relations. Real quickly, what are your concerns with what I just reported from our sources?

COONS: Well, Dana, there's been reporting across a number of different areas of effort, whether it's cyber actions with regards to China, a meeting that is reported to have occurred in the White House about potential action against Iran, or ways in which our situation in the world in terms of humanitarian relief may be impacted by actions by the administration. All of these are concerning because it suggests they may take bold action that will make certain situations worse or more complicated without consulting with the incoming administration. We need a smooth handoff.

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And then to be clear on a previous point you made, Dana, Vice President-elect Harris is not getting the presidential daily brief, she's only getting what senators get.

DANA BASH, CNN INSIDE POLITICS: Senators get, that's what I meant. Thank you so much. We are way out of time. Thank you for joining me, Senator. Thank you for watching.

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