'This Week' Transcript 6-11-23: Sen. Lindsey Graham and Sen. Chris Coons
Interview
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Well, George, thanks for a chance to be on this morning.
There is one thing that I agree with Senator Graham on here. Former President Trump is entitled to a presumption of innocence. Under our system, anyone who's charged with a federal crime is entitled to due process of law, to effective representation and to a presumption of innocence. That's where we then diverge.
As I think you stated clearly and has been stated clearly in the indictment, former President Trump has no one to blame but himself for being federally, criminally indicted. All of the charges arise from his misconduct, his alleged misconduct after receiving a federal criminal subpoena to produce classified documents, critical national security documents relating to our nuclear defense, to our nation's potential response to an attack that he then spoke with his attorneys about concealing or destroying. He directed his aide Walt Nauta to move in order to conceal them from his own attorneys in the face of the federal subpoena.
President Trump behaved in ways markedly different from former Vice President Pence or President Biden, in how he responded once he became aware that he inappropriately retained critical national security classified documents. That's the basis of this prosecution. And it is a sad day George for a former president of the United States to be federally criminally charged.
But the basis of the rule of law in our democracy is that no man is above the law. And although President Trump went on the offensive last night has attacked, the Department of Justice has called for the defunding of the FBI, I remain confident that he will get the due process of law to which he's entitled. And in the end, a jury, a jury of American citizens, a jury of his peers will determine whether or not he was properly charged. And whether or not he violated federal criminal law.
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I think there's no evidence that the Federal Department of Justice has been weaponized. Let's just look at who's leading this investigation at the prosecutor. He is someone who is a career federal prosecutor, he ran the Public Integrity section for years. He led the prosecutions, the investigations and prosecutions of high-level Democrat.
Now former Senator John Edwards, a candidate for president. It was this federal prosecutor Jack Smith, who led that investigation in those charges. He went after State Senator Silver from New York, a prominent powerful Democrat. This is a man with a real record of independence. And as I just reviewed with you, George, the critical differences in the conduct of the charged individual here, former President Trump from the conduct of Vice President Pence, and President Biden is the basis of this case.
So, look, although, you know, my colleague pointed back to things that allegedly happened years ago under former President Clinton or former Senator Clinton. I think the challenges here are for Republicans to explain to the American people why they are confident President Trump should be reelected, given his casual even callous mishandling of critical national security documents. This isn't a minor case of who kept a handful of documents inadvertently. He's been charged for knowingly and willingly concealing, that he retained willfully federal documents that were critical to our national defense.
So, I think as we move forward in the election campaign, President Biden is going to keep doing his job as president, he's going to keep showing that he's not distracted by these issues, that he's focused on delivering good and real results for the American people. He'll keep working to deliver lower prescription drug prices -- costs, protecting veterans' health care, investing in infrastructure, all things that he's able to do because of bipartisan legislation he signed into law last year. Whereas --
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-- former President Trump promised to do all those things. But Joe Biden got them done. That'll be the focus of the campaign. And that's why I support Joe Biden for reelection next year.
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I think we should be worried given his conduct and given his record. And given what he says, frankly, that the former President responded to this stunning indictment by going on the attack that he and a number of other Republican contenders for the presidency focused on attacking law enforcement on calling for a defunding of the FBI, on criticizing federal law enforcement, rather than having any pause or any moment of reflection about the consequences for our national security. I think the best thing for Joe Biden to do in this campaign is to keep showing that he is an effective and capable president by continuing to solve big problems.
George just two weeks ago, he skillfully and successfully negotiated with Speaker McCarthy a resolution to the potential threat of default that gave us a strong framework for moving forward in budget and appropriations matters for the next two years. Despite some suggestions by his opponents, he's sharp, he's skillful, and he's continuing to lead as our president, despite the distractions of former President Trump's rising legal problems.
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