CNN "CNN Newsroom" - Transcript: Interview with Senator Bob Menendez

Interview

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[10:20:00]

SCIUTTO: This just in to CNN. New reporting, the Department of Defense is planning to withdraw most support for CIA counterterror missions around the world starting next month. The changes involve returning Department of Defense personnel detailed with the CIA, as well as military equipments, such as Predator drones. Acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller informed CIA Director Gina Haspel of the decision this week. My colleague, Ryan Browne, and I are told the CIA and Pentagon have not yet responded to CNN's request for comment.

The move has sparked strong opposition from many deployed CIA operatives.

[10:25:02]

It is also the latest major policy change during the transition since the president initiated a major personnel shakeup at the Pentagon following his loss to Joe Biden.

Well, also this morning, another story we're following closely, stimulus talks appear to be stalling at best on Capitol Hill. The focus remains on unemployment benefits, aid for small businesses, as well as other targeted assistance, still some major issues out there.

I'm joined by one of those senators negotiating, New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez. Senator, thanks so much for taking time this morning.

SEN. BOB MENENDEZ (D-NJ): Good to be with you, Jim.

SCIUTTO: My colleague, Lauren Fox, reporting that the talks are falling apart this morning. You've been taking part. Are they dead?

MENENDEZ: Well, no. I think they are at a critical juncture and I've been taking part particularly on the state and local issue with five other Republicans and Democrats. But there are some critical issues.

And the real question here is whether Senator McConnell really wants this bipartisan group to even get past first base. There's many members of his caucus who have said they don't think we need to vote for anything more, and that puts him at a disadvantage in terms of a negotiation. And so this bipartisan group is trying to move forward to create a foundation. There's a lot of commonality.

The questions come down, really, as I see it for two separate issues, state and local and liability questions. And even there, I thought there was some good progress being made.

SCIUTTO: Now, that group has seemed to be willing to do some horse trading there, but Mitch McConnell has proposed a plan that strips that out in effect. Would you, would your colleagues vote for a plan that leaves those issues aside, state and local funding, liability protections and just gets money into the pockets of Americans that need it now?

MENENDEZ: Well, of course, we want to see those things that you have said, those who need it now. But you know what, the states also need it now, not about the states being amorphous. What is this for? This is for the very people who are helping us in the pandemic, public health nurses, police, firefighters, emergency management coordinators, ambulance corps.

At this rate we've lost a million of them. Moody's says we will lose 6 million more in the height of the pandemic, the people we need the most. We need them to be on the frontlines, not on the unemployment line. And that's why that's so important.

SCIUTTO: I want to move on to the administration's latest court challenge to the election. This now, another case, which the president has involved himself personally in, brought by a number of states attorneys general to throw out millions of votes in several other battleground states. Your colleague, Ted Cruz, has even volunteered to argue the case before the Supreme Court. Your reaction to this.

MENENDEZ: Well, I cannot imagine that the Supreme Court would disenfranchise millions of Americans and their votes by such a decision. This is the most fraudulent case I've seen brought before the court.

You know, there's an old adage about lawyers, if you have the law on your side, you argue the law. If you have the facts on your side, you argue the facts. And if you don't have either one of them, you bang on the table and create a diversion. At best, this is a nefarious diversion, totally without merit. To disenfranchise million, I cannot imagine the Supreme Court would even agree to hear it.

SCIUTTO: The vast majority of your colleagues still have not acknowledged President-elect Biden. They won't do it. And many of them, we did a segment on this broadcast a couple of weeks ago, immediately congratulated Trump after his victory in 2016, though it was a tighter one in many of these states. What do you say to those colleagues, and what do you say to a Ted Cruz, for instance, who called Donald Trump a pathological liar in 2016 and now is offering to argue this case before the Supreme Court?

MENENDEZ: Well, Jim, evidently, consistency is not a virtue in the United States Senate. The reality is that, you know, it's not about Joe Biden getting a congratulatory all or being acknowledged, it's about our democracy, it's about our respect for the will of the people.

Joe Biden got nearly 6 million more votes than Donald Trump. It seems to me that that pretty much is determinative along with the Electoral College that he is the president-elect of the United States. And when you are unwilling to acknowledge that, you subvert not Joe Biden but you subvert our democracy

SCIUTTO: I want to move on to another topic. We learned yesterday that Hunter Biden is under an ongoing investigation for his taxes related to his business dealings in China. I wonder, should President- elect Biden, when he takes over, January 20th, should he avoid any attempt to interfere or end this probe?

MENENDEZ: I would expect that he would absolutely not interfere with any probe.

[10:30:04]

Look, the reality is, is that question even comes to light because we have seen a Justice Department so politicized and so perverse instead of being the Department of Justice for the American people. I would expect that President Biden will create a clear wall between the executive and the Department of Justice on all these matters, and that the attorney general, whoever he or she may be that gets picked, will ultimately pursue justice no matter where it leads.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Another topic -- and this is ongoing -- the president-elect has nominated retired General Lloyd Austin to be his secretary of Defense. That would require -- as you well know -- a waiver because he has not been out of uniform for seven years yet. You supported that waiver for General Mattis in 2016, will you do the same for retired General Austin?

MENENDEZ: Well, I did so after a conversation with General Mattis then, and I would look forward to a conversation with General Austin about how he sees the role of the secretary of defense considering his past service, and how he sees it now as he will be a civilian when he ultimately takes that position, should he be confirmed.

So I'd like to have that conversation first, but in and of itself I don't have a -- you know, an ideological bar against the possibility.

SCIUTTO: Final question, because a number of Democrats have said they will not vote for that waiver. Is his nomination in danger, in your view?

MENENDEZ: No, I think it's not. I appreciate, you know, the proposition of civilian control of our military, I think it's one of the essential elements. Of course, you know, he will be a civilian when it comes to the moment of being considered as the secretary of Defense.

And I think that, you know, we saw General Mattis, who I did support, I thought he did an extraordinary job, he even pushed back against President Trump at critical times, showed that he was willing to act on behalf of the best interests of the people of the United States in terms of their national security.

So I don't think that it should be an automatic by any stretch of the imagination. Every issue depends upon the facts and circumstances before you.

SCIUTTO: Senator Robert Menendez, thanks so much for joining the program this morning.

MENENDEZ: Always good to be with you, thank you.

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