CNN "Erin Burnett Out Front" - Transcript: "Interview with Sen. Jeff Merkley"

Interview

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

SCIUTTO: That's the consistency, right, the question is why the consistent support for Russian positions. Boris Sanchez at the White House, thanks very much. Out front now Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley. He is a member of the Foreign Relations Committee. Senator, we appreciate you taking the time tonight.

SEN. JEFF MERKLEY (D-OR): Thank you, Jim. Good to be with you.

SCIUTTO: So let's start with this news, CNN learning details about this clash between Trump and America's closest allies at this dinner.

[19:05:02] Why do you believe that President Trump is pushing so hard to bring Russia back into a group that it was kicked out of for annexing territory in Europe that it still occupies today?

MERKLEY: Well, the President has consistently refused to take on Russia not over their interference in our elections, not over the annexation of Crimea, not over the occupation of eastern Ukraine, not over the assassination of Russian expatriates. the list goes on and on. And here we are right now with Russia continuing an active social media campaign in the United States, trying to deepen the divisions in our nation, probably going to work to interfere in our next election.

We need a watchdog for America and the President is playing lap dog to President Putin. There is no explanation for it and there is no justification for it. It's pretty horrific.

SCIUTTO: Here is Trump's public reasoning for bringing Putin back to the to the G7. Have a listen, I want to get your reaction.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Having them inside the room is better than having them outside the room. By the way, there were numerous people during the G7 that felt that way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Of course, the President never delineated who those numerous people were. In the simplest terms though, should Russia be required to return the territory illegally invaded before being readmitted to the group that it was expelled from for that illegal invasion?

MERKLEY: Absolutely.

SCIUTTO: So your answer is absolutely not, in other words? They should not be allowed in until they return that territory.

MERKLEY: Absolutely. Yes. They should be excluded until they correct that situation. You have to stand up to horrific action around the world. You can't just roll over and that's what President Trump has been doing. He's been saying, "I love the Russians' leader and he gets an A for

leadership." A for leadership doing very bad actor functions around the world. It is certainly not an A in the eyes of American security or the American people.

SCIUTTO: So two members, two fellow members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Democrat and Republican, Republican Ron Johnson, Democrat Chris Murphy, both denied visas to visit Russia now. Should the President be coming to the defense of sitting U.S. senators here and pushing Russia to grant them those visas?

MERKLEY: He should be coming to their defense instantly. He should be saying, "I've wanted to have a dialogue with Russia, but we're not going to have it if they're blockading American senators from being able to participate in a dialogue and by visiting groups within Russia and dialoguing with Russian officials." You would think you instantly defend the Americans in this situation.

I'm troubled by the parallels that we have under the global Magnitsky Act where the crowd Prince of Saudi Arabia proceeded to assassinate American resident journalist and the President failed to stand up for the American resident journalist and continues to just say, "Well, they buy our weapons, so all they're fine in the world."

These things are not fine and America has been a leader and taken on human rights violations and National Security issues. A leader of the allies. Now the allies, basically, are rejecting American leadership and that was on full display at the G7.

SCIUTTO: Yes. You could say the values have effectively been extracted from U.S. foreign policy under this president. I do want to ask you about one more topic tonight. You, of course, just wrote a book about your visits to the U.S. border and we learned today that Trump administration notified Congress, it plans to move at least $155 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA, that's a disaster relief fund money to immigration enforcement at the border. There's even a tropical storm is nearing hurricane strength.

I'd like to know based in part on your experiences at the border, what your reaction is to the Trump administration moving this money.

MERKLEY: Jim, this is deja vu all over again. I released a memo last year that had been forwarded to me that laid out a massive movement of funds out of FEMA and into projects at the border with no consultation, with Congress, and very concerned that we're undermining the ability to prepare for storms in this coming hurricane season, and to respond to the damage from the storms when they arrive.

The President if he wants money reprogrammed in this fashion ought to come to Congress and lay out the vision, but not take away from preparedness during the middle of hurricane season.

[19:09:58] SCIUTTO: Yes. He tried to get the money from Congress and he couldn't do it, so he's finding other sources. Senator, thanks so much for joining the program tonight.

MERKLEY: It's good to be with you, Jim. Thanks.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source