'This Week' Transcript 2-11-24: PM Netanyahu, Sen. Coons & Gov. Kemp

Interview

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Jonathan, I don't know what the White House will or won't disclose, but here's what I know --

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

-- of the president I work with and alongside whom I serve -- when I came back from the Middle East with a bipartisan group of 10 senators, we went to Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Israel, I thought the president might have us over to the White House for 15, 20 minutes.

He had us in at 7:00 at night. We sat down with his national security team and for 2-1/2 hours, he went around the table and asked for our insights and our input, and then he led a masterful conversation about the challenges to our security, the pathway to peace, the difficulties with Iran and with its proxies.

And as we walked out 2 1/2 hours later from the White House, I turned to one of my Republican colleagues who is not publicly a big fan of the president, and I said, what did you think? And he said, that's incredible.

This is a man who is sharp, who is on top of his game, who knows what's going on in the Middle East, and around the world. And as he said in his press conference, we should be focused on two things -- the outcome of this report he was cleared completely, while Donald Trump faces 40 federal felony charges for obstruction of justice and refusing to protect our national secrets, and President Biden is accomplishing remarkable things for our country.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Yeah, ask Bibi. He knows.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Right. Jonathan, you've been at this a long time. As you well know, small gaffes are a part of what all of us in public life do. Speaker Johnson of the House just confused Iran and Israel. He said we are beginning to send aid to Iran. Donald Trump confused Nancy Pelosi and Nikki Haley.

Here's what matters, not the occasional small gaffe. He had a 12-minute press conference where he was focused, engaged, purposeful, and all you're focused on is that one minute at the end.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

That's not what distinguishes him from his opponent.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

And, Jonathan, if press coverage focuses relentlessly on things that don't represent Joe Biden's real body of work, you can push toward that kind of result. That poll should have been about, who's actually working to secure our border? Joe Biden, who's worked across the aisle for months with a bipartisan group in the Senate, or Donald Trump, who is willfully killing the bipartisan border deal in the Senate, not because he wants to secure America, but to secure his own re-election.

What that poll could have been about is, who understands that our alliances keep us safer? Joe Biden, who's led 50 countries to come to the defense of Ukraine, or Donald Trump, who alarmingly last night bragged about a story where he claims he threatened a NATO ally to throw them to the Russian wolves if they didn't pay up? NATO isn't a protection racket. It's a security alliance.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

So, the substance, the difference. Joe Biden and Donald Trump, and most elected officials, make small gaffes, just like the ones you just showed. That's not what matters.

We are in a fight for the soul of our nation. And the idea that somehow Joe Biden forgot the date of his son's death is offensive and appalling. And what you should be focused on, in my view, what that poll should have focused on, what our nation should focus on --

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

-- is the way that Donald Trump is undermining rule of law, democracy, and our safety as a nation.

Confused, untruthful, and alarming in the things he says.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Yes.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

But let's -- let's take that border issue, OK? After months of coverage about, you know, disaster at the border, JOE Biden and a bipartisan group in the Senate did what the Senate is supposed to do, negotiate and negotiate and negotiate, came to a tough deal. James Lankford, the most conservative adult human I'm friends with, worked his heart out with Senators Murphy and Sinema. We finally had a deal.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

And why is it dead? Trump tanked it. He picked up the phone and killed the bill for his own re-election.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Joe Biden ran to restore the soul of our nation and, frankly, to make sure that Donald Trump was not re-elected. Donald Trump is again going to be the candidate of the Republican Party. Joe Biden is the one Democrat who has beaten him, who can beat him, and who will beat him. And if you look hard at his record of protecting our veterans, of making our country safer, of passing big, bipartisan bills, 15 million jobs created, restoring manufacturing, the stock market at an all-time high, unemployment at a record low, his record is strong and deserves re-election.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Thank you, sir.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source