Sen. Doug Jones On His Plans For Bipartisanship
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: The president is taking on his former chief strategist Steve Bannon after a book filled with bombshell quotes from Bannon came out. President Trump then released a statement reading, in part, "Now that he is on his own, Steve is learning that winning is not as easy as I make it look. Steve had very little to do with our historic victory, which was delivered by the forgotten men and women of the country. Yet, Steve had everything to do with the loss of the Senate seat in Alabama held for more than 30 years by Republicans." The Democrat who won that seat is Sen. Doug Jones of Alabama. He was sworn into office yesterday and he joins us now. Good morning, Senator.</s>SEN. DOUG JONES (D), ALABAMA: Good morning. Thanks for having me.</s>CAMEROTA: So listen, you were a target of Steve Bannon's. I mean, you beat Roy Moore, thereby beating Steve Bannon. What do you think of this feud unfolding today?</s>JONES: Oh, you know, look, Alisyn, I don't -- I don't want to get in the middle of feuds between Steve Bannon and the president. I am certainly over Steve Bannon. We won this race. We got sworn in yesterday. I'm ready to work for the people of Alabama and to get going right now. So, I'm just -- I ignored Steve Bannon during the campaign and we're going to ignore him now.</s>CAMEROTA: Well, I promise we are going to get to your agenda, but it's hard to ignore some of the things he said because you will have to deal with the unfolding Russia investigation. So, let me just read one relevant thing --</s>JONES: Right.</s>CAMEROTA: -- and get your take on it, OK?</s>JONES: Sure.</s>CAMEROTA: So, here's what Steve Bannon is quoted as saying in this book. This is about the meeting that Don, Jr. had with the Russian lawyer. "The three senior guys in the campaign thought it was a good idea to meet with a foreign government inside Trump Tower in the conference room on the 25th floor, with no lawyers. They didn't have any lawyers. Even if you thought that this was not treasonous or unpatriotic, or bad s***, and I happen to think it's all of that, you should have called the FBI immediately." You were a former U.S. attorney.</s>JONES: Right.</s>CAMEROTA: Do you think that meeting was treasonous?</s>JONES: Well, you know, look, here's the thing about that. That was all said by Steve Bannon in a book and I think that this investigation is going to play out. All of that information, at one point or another, is going to come out. I don't think it's appropriate right now to really comment from my standpoint. Let's just see how this plays out, both with the Mueller investigation and in the Intelligence Committee here in Congress. And let's see what the real facts are, not just based on a book that Steve Bannon writes.</s>CAMEROTA: That's fair, but do you think that Don Jr. should have taken that meeting?</s>JONES: I'm not going to comment on that. I don't want to -- I just don't think it's appropriate right now for me. I've been -- I've been a United States senator for just, you know, less than a day. I mean, I'm going on my 19th hour right now. Let's let me see how things go. My desk is still blank -- it's starting to fill up. Let me get my feet wet around here and just see how things go. But I will tell you this. I do think that it's important that people in Congress, people around -- in the Senate and the House let these investigations take their course rather than just making public comments a lot. I think they need to take their course. I know, as a prosecutor, that's what I wanted to do. Let the prosecutors do their work, let the committees do their work because all this will come out at the appropriate time.</s>CAMEROTA: You've been there 19 hours. Are you shocked by the dysfunction yet?</s>JONES: No, not yet. We -- you know, we had one vote. It went pretty simple, so all good so far.</s>CAMEROTA: At your swearing-in ceremony your friend, former Vice President Joe Biden, was there.</s>JONES: Right.</s>CAMEROTA: What advice did he give you?</s>JONES: You know, Joe has always said be yourself, Doug. That's all he has ever told me over the course of the many years that I have known him. He said be yourself. You know the people of Alabama. You know -- you be true to yourself and you'll do -- you'll do great in Washington, D.C. And that's, I think, the best advice that anybody can give someone and I certainly take it to heart.</s>CAMEROTA: Let's talk about what you're going to do now that you're there in Washington. First order of business I keep the government funded through the next two weeks. That's what the deadline is. As you know, there are some sticking points.</s>JONES: Yes.</s>CAMEROTA: So, CHIP -- that's the children's health program that I know you feel very strongly about.</s>JONES: Right.</s>CAMEROTA: But there -- but, it's complicated. So how do you vote on that?</s>JONES: Well, I want to see what it is. Again, you know, like I say, I haven't seen all the details about what's going to happen in the next couple of weeks with that vote. I really want to see that program funded. And I know how this place works, and I know that there are give and take down the road and there's going to be people looking to put things in that budget. I really want to see that and I want to reach out. I think as soon as we can get rid of the snowstorm up here in Washington now that's kind of shut things down today, I want to talk to the other senators and colleagues on both sides of those issues and find out how to best get that program funded. The government's going to have to be funded at some point -- I know that. And I hope that the CHIP can be extended for as long as we possibly can do it.</s>CAMEROTA: Yes.</s>JONES: It's important to 150,000 kids in my state.</s>CAMEROTA: Yes. Listen, I know that you've called it -- you think that your colleagues are using it as a political football -- using children's health as a political football. But listen, here's the sticking point, which I think that you already know. If -- the Democrats don't want to siphon the funds for paying for CHIP out of a preventative health fund that was set up by the Affordable Care Act. So --</s>JONES: Right.</s>CAMEROTA: -- how do you vote if you -- in order to fund CHIP -- if you have to siphon funds from another program?</s>JONES: You know, Alisyn, let me do this. Let me -- let me -- let me spend more than 19 hours in a whirlwind up here and talk to my colleagues about their particulars on that issue, and let me find out what is their reasoning on that. Let me go to the other side of the aisle. That's the one thing I campaigned on, listening to both sides. So, I'm not going to get pinned down just yet. You know, you can -- we can ask a lot of questions but until I can spend some time up here talking to both sides of these issues, I can't reach across with anybody just yet. That's what I want to do and that's where I think I can be -- hopefully, be effective within the Democratic caucus, as well as working with Sen. Shelby and others on the other side of the aisle.</s>CAMEROTA: Have your thoughts gelled yet on how you feel about the Dreamers and whether or not you're willing to protect them if it means funding the border wall that President Trump wants?</s>JONES: Well, I feel very strongly about the Dreamers and the DACA program. I want to see exactly how that's going to shake out, as well. I do feel strongly about that. I think it's important, and we just heard Sec. Johnson talking about that. That's going to be a sticking issue, but I think it's really a bipartisan issue. What I would love to see -- and this may be pie in the sky, I know this. I've watched, you know, Washington for many years. But I'd love to see Congress, the House and the Senate, carve out some of those issues and just tell the American people look, these are issues that we all agree on. Let's carve those out and move forward and let the -- let the -- you know, the partisan rancoring go on to some other issues. Let's see what we can do on that. It may not be possible. That's going to come up. I'll take it one step at a time.</s>CAMEROTA: OK. Senator Doug Jones -- I know that has a nice ring to it for you. We'll give you a little bit more time to get your feet wet and after about 48 hours you'll be an old hand, so we'll have you back. Thanks so much.</s>JONES: You got it. Thank you, Alisyn.</s>CAMEROTA: OK -- Chris.</s>CHRIS CUOMO, CNN HOST: All right. Another big story this morning is this massive winter storm bearing down on the northeast. Up to a foot of snow is expected in some places. We have a live report coming up.