CBS "Face the Nation" - Transcript:

Interview

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BRENNAN: We now turn now to Senator Joe Manchin. He is a Democrat from West Virginia, a state that gave candidate Donald Trump 68 percent of the vote and has the fourth highest gun ownership rate in the country.

Senator, welcome to the show. I know you...

SEN. JOE MANCHIN (D), WEST VIRGINIA: Thanks for having me, Margaret.

BRENNAN: I know you are trying to do something...

MANCHIN: Yes.

BRENNAN: ... on gun control.

You were with the president this week. Do you have any idea what the vote count is on the bill you're putting forward?

MANCHIN: Well, first of all, it's not gun control. It's gun sense.

Pat Toomey and myself -- I introduced a bill in 2013, and Pat was my co-sponsor. And we worked together on this. And we protected the Second Amendment rights. We protected law-abiding gun owners.

All we did was go into the loopholes at the gun shows, on the Internet sales, commercial transactions, when you don't know people, and make sure that we do that background check before you have that gun.

BRENNAN: Though that bill didn't cross that 50-vote threshold back in 2013. Where are the votes now?

(COUGHING)

MANCHIN: Excuse me.

If President Trump would have been president in 2013, that bill would have passed.

BRENNAN: You think he's giving the kind of leadership now that will allow your bill to pass?

MANCHIN: No one -- no -- well, I'm -- I'm very hopeful.

President Trump has said background checks is needed. This bill of ours, the Manchin-Toomey bill, should the base bill they work off of. John Cornyn has a good Fix NICS. That was part of our bill. Let's incorporate those.

But this makes gun sense. It makes common sense. It keeps it out of the hands of the wrong people. When the terrorists go on the Web site, and said, if you want to do harm in America, go down to the gun show, buy what you want.

That's all we're saying. But you have to respect the law-abiding gun owner. They're not going to sell the gun to strangers or criminals or terrorists. They're going to do the right thing.

But when you don't know them, and the transaction is commercial, you should make sure you have a background check. That's all we have said. So, I think that we can with the president. And he can set his legacy.

President Trump coming forth to something like this and putting his support behind will give Republicans enough cover to support this in the most reasonable, responsible way.

BRENNAN: But you don't have an explicit commitment yet from the president on this?

MANCHIN: No. He -- we had a great meeting on Wednesday. And I know the NRA said they had a great meeting on Thursday. So, if we both had great meetings, can't we come to get a good, great result from those meetings, and do something that's supporting and protecting our children?

And we have school. We have to have school lockdowns. We have to have schools secured. That has to be done. Mental background, making sure -- the bill that Lindsey is talking about is very good. When people say something and they come forward, then we should act upon that.

BRENNAN: The president called out your partner on this bill and said that Pat Toomey was afraid of the NRA, because you didn't include an increase in the age limit for purchases of some weapons in this bill.

Are you actually going to consider including that?

MANCHIN: Oh, the age, it is a no-brainer.

BRENNAN: You are going to revise your bill to include it?

MANCHIN: That is a no-brainer.

But I'm saying -- but, again, it's going to take the president's support to put that into the bill to make sure we can get the votes to pass it. But if there's...

BRENNAN: Is that why this -- this provision isn't in there right now.

MANCHIN: The provision wasn't in there. It wasn't brought up at that time. That's the only reason it wasn't. It wasn't said -- it wasn't brought to our attention that that was a criteria that we should say, well, your handguns is 21, but long guns or the assault rifles are at 18.

That wasn't considered. We were just trying to move the ball forward and say, listen, background checks just at gun shows and on the Internet makes gun sense. It's common sense. Couldn't even get that.

So, when he said you didn't put that in there, it wasn't considered because it wasn't brought up to that level.

BRENNAN: You're very specific in what you're proposing. But, broadly speaking, are you concerned that this push among Democrats for more gun regulation could hurt your own personal prospects?

(CROSSTALK)

MANCHIN: It will stop everything.

I'm not going to take the guns away from any law-abiding gun owner. I'm going to protect the Second Amendment rights. But we have to make sure that we're moving in a way that we can get something accomplished. How do you secure the schools? How do we make sure that the children -- I said only fear child should have going to school in the morning, did they do their homework and are they ready for their math and English tests?

That's what they should be scared of. They shouldn't be scared of their safety. And we have got to make sure that we do that. Mental background. There are so many things that contribute to this.

But to have an open system to where you can go to a gun show and go to a table that's not by a federal licensed dealer and buy whatever you want without anyone asking one question needs to be stopped.

BRENNAN: I want to ask you about trade.

MANCHIN: Yes.

BRENNAN: Do you support the president's proposals on tariffs?

(CROSSTALK)

MANCHIN: I like where the president is going on this. I really do.

And, here, West Virginia, Weirton West Virginia, Ravenswood, West Virginia, we have lost thousands and thousands of jobs.

BRENNAN: So, 25 and 10 percent tariffs, you're fine? You're not asking for any revisions?

MANCHIN: Well, I'm not -- I'm not going into particulars, OK?

I think, at the end of the day, we will come to what is responsible. But if someone is charging West Virginia -- or charging the United States of America 25 percent for us to send our goods to their shores, and they're coming into our market at 5 percent, don't you think it should be tit for tat, it should be basically equal?

We're talking about fair trade. Free trade hasn't worked well for West Virginia. It really hasn't. We have lost thousands of jobs. And we're taking about a fairness to the system.

(CROSSTALK)

BRENNAN: So, concerns about trickle-down costs, price going up for your constituents, you have dismissed those?

MANCHIN: That's Wall Street talking. That's all Wall Street talking.

I know exactly. And there's an old saying. Follow the money. That's what is talking here. The people at Main Street are saying, we got devastated. We got hurt. We have lost good jobs with benefits. We can't compete.

When you have China producing 50 percent of the world's steel, you have the United States of America basically is consuming, the largest importer of steel, put the dots together. And Lindsey talked about that.

Connect the dots. We have got to do something. But, also, we wouldn't punish our favored trading nations, where we have surpluses with them, and there's not a negative trade war.

BRENNAN: I want to ask you, because you sit on Intelligence Committee. Three dozen White House officials had their security clearances downgraded this week. Does it concern you how the White House is handling classified information?

MANCHIN: Well, it's a serious consideration there, my goodness, yes, because I know, sitting on the -- just to give you an example, I sit on the Intel Committee.

There's 15 of us that sit on the Intel Committee in the Senate. We can't even discuss with the other 85 senators what we talk about and what we understand and what we learn. That tells you how serious it is, the top-secret information that we're able to have access to.

This is very serious. I have faith in John Kelly that he will get this under control. It is of serious concern, and something has to be done. And we have to get those people in responsible positions with the clearance as quickly as we can.

If there is a problem, and you can't get through it, then they're going to have to make some decisions on they want to have this information.

BRENNAN: Senator Manchin, thank you for joining us on set.

MANCHIN: It's always good to be with you. Thank you.

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