State of the Union: Interview With Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)

Interview

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Dana, this was really significant.

It showed a demonstrable crack in the strength of Vladimir Putin at home. It was a visible rejection of his war policy by a guy who had been his ally, who clearly had gone insubordinate on him, took over a town of over a million people, and brought his tanks to within 124 miles of Moscow.

So, it is very significant, and I think that it is something we have been seeing mounting. We have seen more and more criticisms of Putin. We know that he got into bed with this guy, doing business with someone who, of course, had been in prison for nine years, ran the troll -- Internet troll farm, recruited mercenaries in Syria and Libya.

And, at the other time, you see someone like Zelenskyy, who's leading with moral authority. So it is a clear difference, and as Zelenskyy continues and the brave soldiers of Ukraine continue their counteroffensive. We don't know the effect this will have, but it clearly once again shows the world the difference between what is happening in Ukraine and what is happening in Russia.

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The U.S. has shown unprecedented leadership here.

When I was there with Senator Rob Portman, we were hearing at the embassy about how babies were being named Himar because of the weapons we have supplied, you know, 1,700 Stingers, over 10,000 Javelins, Bradley tanks, Abrams tanks. The president is now -- after the recent meeting of the G7, discussion between the countries about training the Ukrainians on advanced planes.

And we have been so focused. Congress has now authorized over $40 billion to help with military assistance. And you have seen allies from Germany, to Great Britain, to Italy, really all over the world join in this effort.

As the secretary of state just mentioned, the U.S. has been leading the allies. But, clearly, Vladimir -- clearly, Vladimir Putin realizes that it wasn't what he thought. He thought he could just march into Ukraine. But Zelenskyy went down to that street corner, said the simple words, "We are here." And that is what has guided their country ever since.

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Sure.

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So, General Austin continues to talk to his counterpart in Ukraine.

And I know that we keep adjusting what we are sending. What has just happened with the budget agreement is that we locked in the president's budget on defense, which was a 3 percent increase over the year before. That is significant. There's always the possibility of an additional emergency appropriations.

But the key is that we didn't falter. Democrats and Republicans, not everybody, but worked together to get that agreement to show the world that we stood with Ukraine. That was significant, and then the ongoing discussions on additional weaponry. And you just heard the discussion about the planes in the last month and also the possibility of ATACMS, which President Biden has said he is open to now.

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The Supreme Court turned 50 years of precedent on its head, and everything that you and I talked about a year ago that would happen has happened.

We have a patchwork of laws. We have women in Texas who are told they have to keep carrying their baby after they learned that their baby is going to die. We have a 10-year-old girl in Ohio that had to go to another state after she was raped to get an abortion.

We have a law on the books in Wisconsin that's from 1849 that's governing women's reproductive rights today. The leaked Alito opinion probably said it best when they quoted a Middle Age treatise. And, as someone said afterwards, why move forward if they nailed it back in 1223?

Well, we know they didn't nail it back there. And the women of the country and the -- really, and the men who support them have come forward in big ways, voting in big ways to reject these Republican policies in Kansas to Alaska. And, unfortunately, instead of backing down on this, the Republican Party has been doubling down, putting bans in place.

The answer is to codify Roe v. Wade into law in the Congress. And, of course, as you point out, realistically, the only way we can do this is by the ballot box, and that is for the people of America to vote where they believe -- we have got 80 percent of people opposing a national abortion ban -- to vote for candidates that are willing to support Roe v. Wade in 2024.

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What I support -- and I will be very clear about this -- is Roe v. Wade, which does allow for limitations, but it also protects the life of the woman and the health of the woman.

I think that is the best way to go. But you look at what they are doing, their leading Republican candidates, Dana, are asking for abortion bans. Trump was on just last night gloating about how he had put these Supreme Court justices in place that had reversed Roe v. Wade.

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What a difference with President Biden, who is standing up for the rights of women.

I support allowing for limitations in the third trimester that do not interfere with the life or health of the women.

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I believe in the justice system.

And, in this case, Merrick Garland, this case has been turned over to a Trump-appointed, a Trump-appointed U.S. attorney who, according to "The Philadelphia Inquirer," was a registered Republican, has a good reputation, has been a prosecutor for 10 years. And he has looked at these facts.

Hunter Biden has taken responsibility as a private citizen, has paid back the taxes, and has pled to federal charges. That's what's happened here.

And if that is what the Republicans want to run on, good luck, because we're going to have a president that is running on the fact that he brought 13 million jobs back to this country, that we have seen a resurgence in manufacturing, that we are finally not just talking about taking on the big pharmaceutical companies, but that we passed my bill to allow Medicare to negotiate prices to bring down the prices of prescription drugs for our seniors, that we're doing something about veterans' health care.

That is what President Biden is going into the election year to run on. So they can do whatever they want with investigations and talk about these things. I trust the justice system, and I believe that the American people are going to see through this and look at this as a private citizen with addiction issues who took responsibility.

And you have got a president who's out there fighting every day for the American people.

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It was great to be on, Dana. Thank you.

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