Chris Van Hollen says he opposes Democrats disarming on redistricting: Full interview

[0:00] Welcome back, and joining me now is Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland. [0:04] Senator Van Hollen, welcome back to Meet the Press. [0:09] It's great to be with you, Kristen. [0:10] It's great to have you back. We really appreciate your being here. [0:13] Let's start with President Trump's summit in China. [0:17] He returned without securing a commitment from China to help broker an end to the war in Iran. [0:24] I'm curious, do you think that the U.S. needs China's support in order to bring an end to the war with Iran? [0:31] I don't think we need China's support. [0:36] I think the fastest way to end the war in Iran is just to stop digging a hole even deeper, and that's what we should do right now. [0:44] After all, Donald Trump was the candidate who said he was going to keep us out of wars, and he was going to focus on bringing down prices. [0:52] And, of course, he's done just the opposite. Gas and other prices are going through the roof. [0:57] He says he's not thinking about American finances, and he's gotten into this war that's making us less safe. [1:03] So, no, we don't need China to get us out. We just need to end it. [1:07] Well, you've made it very clear you agree with the premise of the war, which is that Iran should never obtain a nuclear weapon. [1:14] Based on what you're saying, that it's time to just get out of Iran, [1:17] do you think diplomacy could actually bring about another Iran nuclear deal at this point, Senator? [1:23] Well, I know if we had people who were willing to negotiate, we could get it done because we got that done when President Obama was in office. [1:34] We had the JCPOA. The JCPOA prevented Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. [1:40] It dramatically contained its nuclear enrichment program, and it had the world's most intense inspection regime so that if they cheated, we could catch them like that. [1:51] And, of course, just last year, Donald Trump told the country that he had obliterated Iran's nuclear enrichment program, taken care of it. [1:59] And his head of DNI, Tulsi Gabbard, testified that they have no evidence that Iran wants to resume it. [2:07] So the president got dragged into this war. [2:12] Prime Minister Netanyahu said that he'd been waiting 40 years for somebody to go to war with him in Iran. [2:20] He found a president stupid enough to do it. [2:22] I blame Donald Trump for that decision, but here we are. [2:26] All right. Let me shift gears now, Senator. [2:29] I do want to ask you about something that unfolded this week on Capitol Hill. [2:34] This was your heated exchange with FBI Director Kash Patel. [2:38] It was during a Senate hearing this week where the two of you sparred over reporting about Patel's alleged drinking habits. [2:45] We have to stress that Patel has denied all of the allegations against him. [2:49] But I do want to play a section from that hearing and get your reaction on the other side. Take a look. [2:54] So there have been no occasions during your tenure when FBI personnel were unable to promptly reach you? [3:01] Absolutely not. You can ask my entire workforce. [3:04] They hear from me at every single hour of the day, as do these great gentlemen here, [3:07] as do the men and women of the interagency in state and local law enforcement in the White House. [3:11] And so there have been no occasions when your security detail had difficulty waking or locating you. Is that right? [3:17] Nope. It's a total farce. I don't even know where you get this stuff, but it doesn't make it credible because you say so. [3:22] Do you believe that the FBI can function effectively with Director Patel in charge? [3:30] Oh, I don't. But it's not simply because of this issue, the fact that there are so many reports that indicate that his drinking has meant that he's incapacitated it many times. [3:42] As I said, Kristen, I really don't care what he does on his free time, so long as he's not putting the public at risk, [3:49] so long as he's not compromising his important mission as director of the FBI. [3:54] But beyond this, we also have the fact that he has completely weaponized the FBI. [4:00] He went after agents who were helpful, helped investigate the January 6th rioters. [4:08] More recently, he went after agents who were part of the investigation of Trump's taking classified materials to Mar-a-Lago. [4:16] They didn't decide to do that. They were following their orders. [4:20] And by the way, many of them were part of the counter-espionage unit with respect to Iran. [4:26] So he fired them at the very moment we need them most when we have this conflict with Iran. [4:32] So I think he needs to go for a whole host of reasons. [4:36] Well, Senator, you took the alcohol use disorders identification test. [4:41] You challenged Director Patel to do the same. [4:44] Do you have any indication that he's actually going to take that test, [4:50] or do you think that that was a challenge that to some extent you did just to prove a point? [4:56] Well, he said in public testimony that he would do it. [5:00] He's also under oath automatically in the sense that lying to Congress is a crime. [5:07] So he said he's going to do it. [5:09] Yeah, my sense from Patel's conduct overall is he may or may not do it, [5:18] but I unfortunately won't be able to believe the results because in that hearing, he did lie several times. [5:24] All right. [5:25] Well, I do want to turn to the redistricting battle where Democrats have faced, as you know, Senator, [5:31] a series of recent setbacks in the courts. [5:34] Do you believe that Democrats are in danger of losing their fight to win back the House? [5:40] I do not. [5:44] I think the Democrats will win back the House because there's so much momentum. [5:50] People are extremely upset, as they should be, with the fact that, you know, [5:54] Trump has handled the economy in a terrible way. [5:57] Prices are going through the roof. [5:59] Life is unaffordable for millions and millions of Americans. [6:03] He started a war that he promised he wouldn't. [6:05] And so I think the momentum is very much there. [6:09] Now, obviously, these decisions, including the more recent, you know, attack on the Voting Rights Act, [6:15] which was a huge, infamously bad decision, provides some setbacks. [6:21] But I think the political winds, Kristen, are blowing strongly enough that Democrats will win back the House. [6:28] Senator Maryland is actually considering redrawing its state maps after the Democrat-led state Senate previously rejected measures to redistrict. [6:38] And these new maps would, in fact, eliminate the state's lone Republican representative. [6:45] Do you support redrawing the lines before the midterms? [6:48] What do you say to the charges? [6:49] It's hypocritical. [6:50] Oh, I do, if it's possible. [6:55] Look, here's my view, Kristen. [6:58] I've always supported nationwide, nonpartisan redistricting. [7:02] We should put on a blindfold and we should draw congressional districts in nonpartisan ways. [7:07] But Republicans have blocked that legislation at the federal level. [7:11] Meanwhile, Trump has ordered Texas to engage in redistricting, which they did. [7:16] So I am very much opposed to unilateral disarmament. [7:21] I want to thank California for what they're doing, the Virginians for what they did, despite their Supreme Court decision. [7:27] And Maryland and other states should do what we can, because the future control of the House is at stake right here. [7:35] And we need to do everything we can to prevent a continuation of what is a complete rubber stamp for Donald Trump. [7:42] You heard Lindsey Graham. [7:43] He said this is the party of Donald Trump. [7:45] It is. It's a personality cult. [7:47] And we need checks and balances, not a personality cult of rubber stamps. [7:52] All right. Senator Chris Van Hollen, thank you so very much for being here. [7:58] Thank you.