Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) Discusses Key Votes Expected On Police Reform, Allegations In Bolton Book, Mail-In Ballots
JOHN KING, CNN ANCHOR: It's a big week for the police reform debate up on Capitol Hill. Democrats in the House are advancing their plan and Republicans in the Senate will move to open debate on theirs. There's some areas of overlap but some big differences, which include whether police officers should be protected from lawsuits and whether no-knock warrants should be banned. The president making his thoughts clear on Twitter Sunday night writing, "The Democrat House wants to pass a bill this week that will destroy our police. Republican congressmen and congresswomen will hopefully fight hard to defeat it. We must protect and cherish our police. They keep us safe." Joining us now is Wyoming Senator John Barrasso. He's chairman of the Republican conference, a key lawmaker up on Capitol Hill. Senator, thank you for your time as we start this busy week. The question in the Senate, first, will enough Democrats vote with you on Republicans to start the debate? But you've got to give to get. Are you confident that there will be actual negotiating and compromise, or are we going to have Senate Republicans have a plan, House Democrats have a plan, and then a month from now we're saying nothing gets done?</s>SEN. JOHN BARRASSO (R-WY): Well, John, we have a real opportunity now to make significant progress. I think probably the best in 25 years in the areas of police reform. The bill that I've -- that was an original co-sponsor with Tim Scott, the Justice Act, it is serious and sensible and significant, and will make a difference in the lives of Americans. We need to get a result. Some people try to make a point. I want to make sure we can actually pass a law. You know, the House bill and what Tim Scott has introduced, the Justice Act, there's about 70 percent overlap and agreement there. So that to me is good place to start. We have a history already of doing bipartisan legislation with the CARES Act for coronavirus, with the Great American Outdoors Act just like week. So we can do this. But you're right, we need to make sure that the Democrats don't filibuster and Chuck Schumer has been threatening that. We have an opportunity to help communities, our country, and the police officers who need the resources to be able to do a better job than what we've seen in the past they have been doing.</s>KING: The House is obviously going to pass something that will be unacceptable to you. The Senators are saying we want to know that you're serious about having an open mind. Let's have some amendments. Are you open at all, say, on the issue of qualified immunity? Are you going to move the Democrat way or is that a non-starter for Senate Republicans?</s>BARRASSO: That's a legal term and it has to do with how many police officers they can sue. And I want to find out how many people we can save in terms of saving their lives. If you have something where you have 70 percent overlap and agreement, we ought to make sure we do that, with body cameras on officers, with doing the sorts of things to help eliminate bad police officers and help the good cops, having the resources that they need, having the accountability, the training, all of those sorts of things. So that you have better results on the street and so what happened to George Floyd will never again happen to any American. We can take and have measurable, meaningful progress, John, in that direction. But if the Democrats filibuster us in the Senate, then we're never going to get there. Legislation is made by the Senate passing a bill, the House passing a bill, and then going to a conference committee and ironing out the differences. So I think it's important that the Democrats in the Senate don't filibuster and block the whole thing because they want the issue rather than a result to help the American people.</s>KING: Legislation is also made, Senator -- and you're a sensible guy, I know you know this -- by trust. And you're right about the recent bipartisan agreements, especially after the wake of the coronavirus. But we can go back and rewind the tape. There's not a lot of trust between the parties. We're 19 weeks to an election. Are there quiet conversations under way that convince you can make that progress, or do you start this as you try to advance the bill this week in the old way, polarized?</s>BARRASSO: Well, I will tell you we have a Senate Prayer Breakfast. We get together every week and there's trust and understanding and agreement that we need to get a solution on this. It's only a group of about 20, but it is bipartisan. And we want to make sure that we solve these issues that have been plaguing America for far too long. We need results, and we need to get a result. And we've introduced I believe a piece of legislation that will make a major difference for our country and help our communities and help move us forward.</s>KING: Let me ask you quickly a couple other issues. John Bolton alleges in his book that the president of the United States essentially gave President Xi a pass, said go ahead and build the concentration camps for the Uighur Muslims in China. And the president told Axios in an interview that wasn't true. But he conceded he delayed sanctions because he was in the middle of the trade negotiations with China and didn't want to upset the apple cart, so he delayed standing up for the human rights of a population that's being persecuted in China. The House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called that appalling. Should the president have done that? Is that a piece that you would consider transactional, the dignity of another human being?</s>BARRASSO: I don't know the specifics of that. I do know, in terms of human rights in Hong Kong, that the president has been very forceful in moving in that director. A I support what the president has done, specifically with regard to human rights. It comes up every time we have hearings for a secretary of state in the Foreign Relations Committee, on which I serve. I tend to ask questions about making sure that human rights are protected. And that's a big part and an issue for me.</s>KING: Senator, this morning, the president again, on Twitter, raising the idea that mail-in voting is somehow an invitation of fraud. And he upped the ante by saying, "Mail-in ballots, 2020 will be the most rigged election in our nation's history unless this stupidity is ended. We voted during World War I and World War II with no problems. And now they are using COVID in order to cheat by using mail-ins." Does it not worry you, sir -- and I know you're a loyal Republican -- to have the president undermining the greatest institution saying if you go to states with mail-in voting for a long time, including Republican states, that it's just not true.</s>BARRASSO: Voting is a right and a responsibility and it's an opportunity we have as citizens. I take it very seriously. And it's a state's obligation to enforce those issues. What we're doing in Wyoming --</s>KING: As a Republican leader, would you ask the president to just not do this, that it's not helpful?</s>BARRASSO: Well, I tend to not want to comment on the president's tweets because, otherwise I'd be commenting all of the time. We know that in the past there has been fraud with mail-in ballots in some locations. I think states that have been doing this for a long time and are working on it and know how to do it best are able to do those sorts of things. Other states that are just going to try to recreate it at this time I think it's a problem. What I see Nancy Pelosi doing, however, with some of the legislation in the House -- and she had it as part of her $3 trillion visit to Fantasy Island as a CARES Act -- what she wanted was a federalization of all the elections. And I think the states ought to be able to make those decisions. In Wyoming, we send out to every voter an application to apply for an absentee ballot. But that doesn't mean that everyone is going to do that. But we certainly shouldn't be sending is out ballots without at least making sure that the person there has requested it.</s>KING: I think what Wyoming is doing is what should be done. That's a great point there, Senator. Senator, appreciate your time. I agree with you. Most of the time I agree with you on the tweets. I don't bring them up that often. This one, on such a fundamental issue, is important. But we can agree to disagree on that. I'm grateful for your time today, sir.</s>BARRASSO: Thanks, John.</s>KING: Thank you, sir. Still ahead for us, NASCAR investigating a shocking incident. A noose found in the garage of driver, Bubba Wallace.