Full Ted Cruz Interview: 'Premature' to subpoena Trump-Russia notes — Meet The Press — NBC News

[0:00] Joining me now from Houston is Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. Senator Cruz, [0:03] welcome back to Meet the Press, sir. Chuck, always good to be with you. Let me start with [0:08] the fact that you're in Houston and not here, and you're not the only one. I'll have Senator [0:11] Kane on. He's coming to me from Richmond and not here. Why isn't the United States Senate here, [0:17] sir? Well, it's very simple. I'm here over the weekend as most senators go home to the state [0:24] and come home during the weekend. I came back to Texas on Thursday to travel with the president [0:29] to go down to the border. And so working down here, meeting with stakeholders on the border, [0:34] meeting with Border Patrol agents, meeting with ICE officials, meeting with families who've had [0:38] family members murdered by criminal illegal aliens. And so I'm down here doing my job. I'll be back [0:46] in Washington on Monday. I hope on Monday what we'll see is finally Washington coming together [0:52] and opening up the government. What that's going to take is for the Democrats to move off the [0:56] position that they've been taking so far of no compromise, no movement. Their extreme position, [1:03] they've got to be willing to give in on. Does the president, though, need to move? He hasn't [1:06] moved at all publicly, and it's not clear what the offers are other than concrete to steel. [1:16] Chuck, that's actually not accurate. The president has said over and over again, [1:19] I've been in the room when he said it, that he's more than willing to compromise. He's more than [1:23] willing to meet in the middle. The reason we have a shutdown is, let's go back to December. In December, [1:29] the then Republican House passed funding for the entire federal government. It included $5.7 [1:35] billion for an additional 234 miles of steel barrier. When it got to the Senate, Chuck Schumer [1:42] and the Democrats filibustered that bill. Every Democrat said, no, we will not allow the government [1:48] to be funded so long as they're building even a single mile of barrier. That's why we have a [1:53] shutdown. And that's not a reasonable position. And the president's position has been, he's perfectly [1:58] happy to negotiate, to compromise. He's said many times, doesn't have to be $5.7 billion. He could [2:03] find some other number. But the Democrats have said, no, the only thing they're willing to consider [2:07] is zero, zero, zero. That's, that is not reasonable. And that's why we have a shutdown. Senator, [2:13] you yourself, I think in 2017 was, uh, you were lamenting the fact that it, that here you had all [2:19] Republican control of the house, the Senate and the white house, and things weren't moving very [2:24] quickly. He didn't make his case for a wall. He didn't, uh, he didn't plow the field over the, [2:30] over those two years to try to make this work. And he tried to jam it in at the last minute. [2:35] Isn't this on the president for his lack of being able to get congressional Republicans to come [2:41] together much earlier? You know, I don't think that's true at all. I don't think it's the [2:47] president's fault that Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats are being political. [2:52] If you look at the two years we had Republican control of both houses, we saw incredible forward [2:56] progress. We saw an historic tax cut. We're seeing booming economic results. We've got the lowest [3:03] African-American unemployment that has ever been recorded, the lowest Hispanic unemployment that's [3:07] ever been recorded. But my question was about the immigration issue. He didn't, he didn't. All right, [3:11] let's take it. He didn't do anything to try to actually get Republicans united on this. And he [3:16] jammed it through at the last minute. Well, but that's not actually right. You, you, you remember [3:21] the, the, the fairly remarkable Oval Office meeting between Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi and [3:25] the president. And Nancy Pelosi said then, she said, Mr. President, you can't pass this in the [3:30] House. She basically said, I dare you. You don't have the votes. He said, yes, I do. And she said, [3:35] no, you don't. I dare you. So he turned around, he took it to the House, which was Republican, [3:39] and they passed it. And Chuck, here's the ridiculous thing about the position of Senate Democrats. [3:45] This is not substantive. They voted for it before. Chuck Schumer and every single Democrat in the Senate [3:53] in 2013 voted for 350 miles of additional border fencing and border security. They've now shut the [4:01] government down on 234 miles. And so I think an awful lot of people are asking, well, if you voted [4:07] for 350 miles, why would you force a shutdown on 234? That, that is not reasonable. And the president [4:14] remains willing to come together and compromise. But so far, the Democrats don't want to do that. [4:20] Why not open up the government and just, uh, and, and move that the Homeland Security debate [4:25] to the side and, and debate that while you pay government workers? Well, the House passed a bill [4:33] opening the government, funding all of the government and securing the border. And the [4:37] Democrats' position can't be, we've got to force a shutdown. We're going to hold, what the Democrats [4:43] are saying is we're going to hold federal workers hostage. And, and, you know, let me know, [4:47] you've got my friend Tim Kaine coming on in a minute. He represents Virginia. There are a lot of [4:51] federal workers in the, in the Commonwealth of Virginia. If Tim Kaine and Mark Warner were to [4:56] say, we're going to put the jobs of the men and women of Virginia ahead of our partisan interest, [5:00] ahead of the fact that our base hates Donald Trump, Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, it would take [5:06] only five more Democrats in the Senate to have the votes to say this second Schumer shutdown is over. [5:13] We're reopening the government and we're going to implement common sense border security that the [5:18] American people want. And I think they would say the same thing about you and your fellow Republicans [5:22] of the political base. I think that's why we're in this stalemate. I want to move to another topic [5:25] here. Let me ask you this. This morning, I got to say something on that point, Chuck. There is a [5:30] difference between one side, the Democrats who are saying, we will not move, we will not compromise, [5:35] we will not negotiate. And the other side, the president who is saying, I'm happy to negotiate. [5:39] And what he's proposing, the Democrats have already voted for. They're playing politics because they hate Trump. [5:46] And that's not a good enough reason for Chuck Schumer and the Democrats to shut down the government. [5:51] Let me ask you this. The New York Times reported on Friday night that the FBI, after the Comey firing, [5:56] because of what the president said, both in a letter to Mr. Comey and to my colleague Lester Holt, [6:03] they opened up a counterintelligence investigation concerned that a sitting president [6:08] was working on behalf of a foreign agent. How much of a concern is this to you? [6:13] Well, I don't know the details of the specifics there. I know what was reported publicly in the [6:20] media. And I sit on the Senate Judiciary Committee, so we will consider any allegations that come [6:25] forward. But I'll tell you, Chuck, something that is really interesting. You and I work in Washington, [6:29] but I also come back to Texas just about every week. I'm back outside the Beltway. There is an [6:35] incredible divide between Washington and the rest of the country when it comes to Bob Mueller and the [6:41] Russia investigation. The mainstream media, Washington is obsessed with it. And when you [6:47] get outside the Beltway, I don't find anybody concerned with this at all. They're concerned [6:53] with jobs, lower taxes, higher wages, more opportunity. They're concerned with securing [6:58] the border. So the questions I get are not about the latest obsession and allegations about Russia, [7:03] Russia, Russia. They're about, hey, when are we actually going to secure the border? When are we [7:08] going to keep making this country safer? So that's going to stay my focus. As a member of Judiciary [7:12] Committee, I'll consider whatever evidence is produced, but I'm not going to base it on unsubstantiated [7:18] media reports. How about on the Foreign Relations Committee? The Washington Post is reporting [7:22] that the president basically is not sharing what he discusses with Vladimir Putin behind closed doors. [7:30] Do you think you guys in the Senate ought to, for instance, subpoena a translator so that you have [7:36] a real readout of what the president and Vladimir Putin are saying to each other? [7:41] You know, I think it's premature for that. I've seen the allegations. I want to find out a little [7:46] bit more about what happened there. I want to learn more than just the allegations in the press. [7:51] Listen, I will say if you compare objectively President Trump's policies to Russia compared to [7:56] President Obama's policies to Russia, by any measure, President Obama was much easier, was much [8:02] more gentle on Russia. You and I both recall Obama leaning over on a hot mic and saying just before [8:10] the 2012 election, tell Vladimir I'll have a lot more flexibility after the election. Now there, [8:15] they weren't keeping notes. It just happened to be a network had a camera going. If you compare [8:21] substance, for example, Trump went to NATO and urged the Europeans, don't let the Russians build [8:27] a pipeline through Europe. You want to talk about what actually makes a difference standing up to [8:31] Russia? That on policy was far, far more important than much of the weakness and appeasement we saw [8:38] under Obama. And finally, before I let you go, I want to get you to comment on your colleague [8:42] Tim Scott's op-ed in The Washington Post about Steve King, Iowa Congressman, who was your national [8:47] co-chair for president. He said, he writes this, some in our party wonder why Republicans are constantly [8:52] accused of racism. Well, it is because of our silence when things like this are said. King's comments are not [8:57] conservative views, but separate views that should be ridiculed at every turn possible. He questioned in a New York [9:03] Times interview why we find phrases like white, white, white nationalism to somehow be [9:09] offensive. Where are you on this, sir? Well, listen, Tim is a good, good man and a good friend. He and I work [9:15] together on many, many issues. What Steve King said was stupid. It was stupid. It was hurtful. It was [9:21] wrong. And he needs to stop it. I think all of us ought to be united regardless of party and saying [9:28] white supremacism, white nationalism is hatred. It is bigotry. It is evil. It is wrong. And I think we [9:35] need that clarity. And I'm certainly going to urge everyone to provide that clarity. Are you going to [9:40] support him in the future? You know, what I'm going to do is urge everyone to stand for principles [9:48] that matter. You know, this same weekend in Texas, there was a movement from some activists that asked [9:54] to remove a local official in Fort Worth who was a Muslim. I spoke out actively because it was my home [10:00] state. I spoke actively against that. I said, listen, we believe in religious freedom. We believe in free [10:07] speech. We believe in diversity. And ultimately, the voters in the Tarrant County GOP did the right [10:12] thing. They didn't remove that official. So I'm going to speak out and engage. And when it comes [10:17] to speaking out against bigotry, whether it is the Klan or Nazis or anything else, I have a lifetime [10:23] of standing up to that bigotry and I'll continue it. Senator Cruz, Republican from Texas, [10:29] appreciate you coming on and sharing your views this morning. Thank you, sir. [10:31] Thank you, Chuck.