Medicare for all Legislation; Trump's Trade Promises; Dismantling Obama Climate Policies; Gorsuch Confirmation Vote; Interview with Sen. Bernie Sanders.
BLITZER: We're waiting for the White House daily press briefing to get underway. The press secretary, Sean Spicer, expected to take questions from reporters very soon. We'll have live coverage. But first, I want to bring in the independent senator, Bernie Sanders, of Vermont. He's joining us now from Capitol Hill. Senator, thanks very much for joining us.</s>SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I), VERMONT: My pleasure, Wolf.</s>BLITZER: We have lots to discuss. But quickly on the Senate Intelligence Committee that is meeting today, holding a public hearing on Russian meddling in the U.S. presidential election, possible collusion with Trump -- the Trump campaign. The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, today, called those claims of meddling, and I'm quoting him now, he said they were "hoaxes, lives, and provocations." Do you think, first of all, that President Trump's associates colluded with Russia to try to influence the U.S. presidential election?</s>SANDERS: Well, let me just say that I would take what Mr. Putin says with a grain of salt. The evidence is overwhelming. It is enormously serious that Russia did interfere in our election. They have interfered not only in elections in the United States, but in elections around the world. That is what they are doing. And we have got to respond vigorously to that. It is a real political attack by Russia against the United States. Second of all, the issue of whether or not Trump or his associates, his campaign, had colluded with Russia in the elections is an issue of incredible consequences. I think the American people are a little bit astounded that when you have an authoritarian type guy like Putin, who is moving Russia more and more away into an authoritarian society, why it is that President Trump has only positive things to say about this authoritarian figure. What hold does Russia or might Russia have over the president? We know -- it appears at least from media that Russian oligarchs lent Trump and his associates money. Does that have anything to do with Trump's relationship with Russia? These are issues. I don't have the answers, but these are issues that must be thoroughly investigated. The American people want to know that our president is representing the best interests of the American people, not Russian oligarchs or the Russian government.</s>BLITZER: And we know the Senate Intelligence Committee is doing that investigation. The FBI is as well. The House Intelligence Committee, they've got some other problems over there, but hopefully they'll get into this as well.</s>SANDERS: Right.</s>BLITZER: Let's move on to some other important issues, senator. President Trump has said he'd like to work with Democrats on health care. But this morning he tweeted, and let me read it to you. He said, "the Freedom Caucus will hurt the entire Republican agenda if they don't get on the team and fast. We must fight them and Dems in 2018." And here's what the speaker, Paul Ryan, said in a new interview and over at a press conference earlier today about working with Democrats. Listen to this.</s>REP. PAUL RYAN (R), HOUSE SPEAKER: What I worry about, Norah, is that if we don't do this, then he'll just go work with Democrats to try and change Obamacare. And that's not going to -- that's hardly a conservative thing. If we're going to do what we said we would do, which is repeal and replace Obamacare and save the American health care system, something tells me the Democrats aren't going to help us repeal Obamacare. They're the ones who created it in the first place.</s>BLITZER: Senator, your reaction?</s>SANDERS: Well, my reaction is, you know, we can go on for a long time on this. First of all, what I would tell Speaker Ryan is, he's got to understand that the United States of America today is the only major country on earth that does not guarantee health care to all people as a right. I live 50 miles away from Canada. They manage to do it. Second of all, we end up spending twice as much per capita on health care as any other country. Thirdly, we pay by far -- by far multiple times the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. And all of that has to do with the power and the greed of the pharmaceutical industry and the insurance companies. Nobody I know, Wolf, thinks that Obamacare has been a panacea, that it solved our health care problems. But what it did do is provide 20 million Americans with more -- with health insurance for the first time. It did away with this obscenity of denying people care because they had a pre-existing condition. It did some good things. What a rational approach would be, which apparently Mr. Ryan is not prepared to do, is for us to sit down and say, how do we deal with the problems. Our deductibles --</s>BLITZER: Let me -- let me -- let me interrupt you for a moment, because I know you support what you call a Medicare single payer health care system, Medicare for all.</s>SANDERS: Yes.</s>BLITZER: And you want to work and try to get that through the current political environment. But is that at all single payer, Medicare for all system, is that all -- at all realistic right now?</s>SANDERS: Not today it's not. I am going to introduce that legislation because I think it is the most sensible and cost effective approach, Medicare for all. Medicare right now works well for people 65 or older. We should have it apply to everybody. I am going to introduce that legislation. It will not pass under the current political climate where insurance companies and drug companies have so much power. But what we can do, working together, is to say, for example, are deductibles too high under Obamacare? The answer is yes. How do we lower those deductibles? How do we lower co-payments? How do we lower the cost of prescription drugs? Trump has talked a lot about taking on the pharmaceutical industry. I have legislation in that would save billions of dollars for the American people by allowing pharmacists and distributors to purchase lower cost prescription drugs from Canada and other countries around the world. Will Trump work with us on those issues? The idea of a public option being made available in 50 states. This will improve Obamacare. Let's work together trying to do that.</s>BLITZER: But you say you want to work together with the Trump administration. Earlier in the week, as you know, he invited all 100 U.S. senators to the White House for a reception. The Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, went. Dick Durbin was there. You decided not to attend. Why?</s>SANDERS: Because I'm not into social events. If the president is serious about dealing with health care, if he is serious about dealing with the high cost of prescription drugs, let's work together. I don't want to sit around just, you know -- you know, blabbering and talking about the weather. That's not the way you get real work done. I have introduced legislation that will substantially lower the cost of prescription drugs in this country through reimportation. If the -- and the president has said he likes that idea. He campaigned on that idea. So let's not -- let's stop the talk. Let's sit down and work on it. If --</s>BLITZER: Has he reached out to you, senator, or have you reached out personally to him and said, let's have a meeting? Have you actually sat down and had a meeting with him?</s>SANDERS: I will -- I -- I don't want to just talk. There is legislation out there. Look, this guy throughout his campaign said some good things among prescription drugs. If he is prepared to say, Senator Sanders, I've seen your legislation on reimportation, has 20 co-sponsors in the Senate, I know a number of Republicans are sympathetic to the concept, if he says let's sit down and work on the legislation, I'll be there if five minutes. But I don't want to do a photo op with the president if we're not going to go anyplace. He talks a good game. I want to see real action.</s>BLITZER: Another area where there has been some potential agreement between you and President Trump involves trade. As you know, he's withdrawn from the TPP, the Trans-Pacific Partnership.</s>SANDERS: Right.</s>BLITZER: You don't like that deal either. But "The Wall Street Journal" is now reporting there are early indications he's only going to make when it describes as modest changes to NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement. Do you believe he's living up to his campaign promises on trade?</s>SANDERS: Wolf, you know, I've said this before and I'll say it again, I think the president lies a great deal of the time. I think he told the American people, working class people, during the campaign that he was going to stand with them, that he was going to take on big money interests. He ended up appointing half of Wall Street to his administration. The guy he is now considering to be his FDA secretary administrator is a man who wrote in op-ed in direct opposition to a lot of what Trump said about prescription drugs. So he said one thing during the campaign, he's doing the very -- very opposite. On trade, no, I would not be surprised. We do need to fundamentally rethink our trade policies. It is not acceptable to me that profitable corporations throw American workers out on the street, go to China, go to Mexico, pay people very, very low wages. So we have got to do everything that we have -- can do to create a trade policy which not only works for the multi-national CEOs, but works for the working people of this country.</s>BLITZER: All right. I know there's another issue that you're really committed to, very passionate over, and that involves the environment. President Trump signed a sweeping executive order this week involving the Environmental Protection Agency, which officials said looks to curb the federal government's enforcement of climate regulations by putting American jobs above addressing climate change. React to that move.</s>SANDERS: Wolf, that is such a nonsensical and stupid and dangerous approach. It's almost indescribable. Look, the scientific community is virtually unanimous. While Trump and his friends may think climate change is a hoax, what the scientists are telling us, it is real, it is caused by human activity, it is already causing devastating problems. And all over the world you're having countries beginning to transform their energy system away from fossil fuel to energy efficiency sustainable energy. In the United States you're even having Republican governors, Republican mayors doing the same thing. And guess what? Far more jobs are now being created in sustainable energy and energy efficiency than are being now created in the fossil fuel industries. You had the absurdity of Exxon, the largest oil company in America, telling the president he should not withdraw from the Paris agreement. This is very dangerous because if the United States does not lead the world in transforming our energy system, I worry very, very much about the nation and the world that our kids and grandchildren will be living in as a result of the devastation caused by climate change.</s>BLITZER: Is there anything you can do to reverse his new regulations?</s>SANDERS: Well, obviously we will try to do everything that we can do. But I think you are seeing states all over this country, cities all over this country, understand how dangerous and absurd his ideas and his actions are and they're going to continue to go forward trying to combat climate change, along with countries all over the world.</s>BLITZER: The Senate is scheduled to vote next week on whether to confirm Judge Neil Gorsuch to the United States Supreme Court. You're voting against that confirmation. Will you also support a filibuster?</s>SANDERS: Well, I don't -- you know, we can argue about terminology. First of all, yes, I am going to be voting against Gorsuch for the following reasons. I had a meeting in my office with him. It was a pleasant meeting. We talked for, I think, 45 minutes. Look, here are the issues that worry me. I worry that billionaires are now able to buy elections because of Citizens United. And I know he can't comment on a particular case. I was not impressed about his views on that issue. I believe that voter suppression, Republican governors all over the country trying to make it harder for people of color, poor people, older people, to participate in our democracy. I was not impressed by what he had to say about that. Was not impressed about what he had to say with regard to privacy rights or a woman's right to control her own body. So I'm going to vote against him. Now, the rule right now are, as you know, and Democrats did not change this particular rule applying to the Supreme Court, is that if anybody objects, it requires 60 votes. So I believe somebody will object. I think that we should obey the current rules and it should require -- we should require 60 votes for Gorsuch's appointment.