Tapper Pushes Klobuchar: Are You Saying Trump WANTS Russia to Interfere in 2020?
The 2020 election is under fire in advance this week, with questions about whether the integrity of the vote will be well-guarded and even whether President Trump will honor the result having been raised by Democrats. On CNN’s State of the Union, host Jake Tapper asked 2020 hopeful Sen. Amy Klobuchar about interference, and whether Trump actively desires it.
“Senator, you said on CNN this week, quote, we have another presidential election coming up and this president has every reason not to protect that election, unquote. What do you mean by that?” Tapper asked. “Are you suggesting that President Trump wants foreign election interference in 2020?”
“First of all, we have ample evidence that he has not been responding to protect our election security. And you know what? Russia may have done — they didn’t use a tank, didn’t use a missile, but they used a computer and invaded our democracy all the same,” said Klobuchar, reciting obviously prepared talking points. “In the past he’s used the word meddle. Well meddling is what I do when I call my daughter on a Saturday night. This was actually an invasion of our democracy, okay? This isn’t asking your quid what are you doing tonight? This is an invasion of our democracy.”
Tapper broke into the script to repeat the question. “But you’re saying he wants that again?”
Klobuchar sputtered for a moment before saying, “I don’t know what he wants. All I know is he’s not acting like the leader to protect our national security.”
“If he wanted to do that, his administration wouldn’t be stopping the secure elections act in its tracks. They made calls from the White House when my bill with Senator Langford was headed to the floor,” she said. “They wanted to stop that bill that would have required to get assistance from the federal government for election equipment, it would have required backup paper ballots. Multiple states don’t have backup paper ballots.”
She continued, listing items in the bill, and actions she suggest are indicative of Trump’s disinterest in securing the election.
“We know his own Homeland security secretary was told not to talk to him about the threat to this election. We know his own FBI director has said that 2018 was a dress rehearsal and Russia is going to try this again. His director of intelligence said they’re getting bolder,” said Klobuchar. “All of this happens and what does he do? He goes and coddles up to Vladimir Putin again, has a nice talk with him, and never even brings this up according to his own press secretary.”
“That is wrong, and he then makes it worse by calling it a hoax,” she added. As Tapper began to move on to the next topic, Klobuchar included one more thought, and quoted Republican Sen. Marco Rubio to make it.
“I think we need to protect our nation’s security, and as Marco Rubio said, you know one time it was one party, and the next time it will be the other.”
Watch the clip above, courtesy of CNN.
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