CNN "State of the Union" - Transcript: Interview With West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin

Interview

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TAPPER: Welcome back to STATE OF THE UNION. I'm Jake Tapper.

President Trump stunned Republicans and Democrats at the White House this week when he appeared to throw his support behind several Democratic gun control measures, including a proposal from Senator Amy Klobuchar to curb domestic abusers' access to guns and a proposal from Senator Dianne Feinstein to ban some semiautomatic weapons.

The president suggested adding both proposals to a bipartisan bill on background checks from Senators Joe Manchin and Pat Toomey.

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TAPPER: And here with us is Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia.

Thanks so much for being here.

So, that was...

MANCHIN: Thank you for having me, Jake.

TAPPER: That was...

(LAUGHTER)

TAPPER: First of all, would adding Dianne Feinstein's ban on some semiautomatic weapons, would that help your bill? Or would that...

MANCHIN: No, that wouldn't help our bill at all.

TAPPER: It would kill it?

MANCHIN: Yes. And I have told Dianne that. I'm not taking anybody's guns away from them. We can't even get

background checks that makes gun sense. There's not a law-abiding gun owner in America that doesn't believe that if you go to a gun show and if you go on the Internet, you need to know through a commercial transaction who the person is and what their intent, what their background is.

TAPPER: Yes.

MANCHIN: That's all. We didn't take -- we protected all the rights of law-abiding gun owners.

So, our bill is basically crafted that basically accepts a law-abiding gun owner doing the things that we have done in our culture, but also making sure that the bad person or the terrorist that advertise on -- on the Internet, says, go down to the gun show and get whatever you want.

That needs to be closed. That should be the base bill that we work from.

TAPPER: And we covered this extensively in 2013, when you and Senator Toomey introduced it, the NRA lobbying it heavily against it and, in your view, misrepresenting sometimes what was in the bill.

President Trump on Wednesday -- that was him -- you just heard him right there.

MANCHIN: Yes. Yes.

TAPPER: The next day, he met with three of the top leaders of the NRA.

MANCHIN: Right.

TAPPER: One of them, Chris Cox, the head lobbyist, tweeted: "I had a great meeting with President Trump and the vice president. We all want safe schools, mental health reform and to keep guns away from dangerous people. POTUS and VPOTUS" -- president and the vice president -- "support the Second Amendment, support strong due process, and don't want gun control. #NRA #MakeAmericaGreatAgain."

Very mixed messages from President Trump on this issue.

MANCHIN: Yes.

TAPPER: Do you have any idea, if the Manchin-Toomey bill were to come to his desk, would he sign it?

MANCHIN: I really believe he would.

TAPPER: You believe he would?

MANCHIN: I would. In my heart of hearts, I believe that.

We -- I would tell Chris. And I know Chris and all -- they're all -- these are good people. They're just -- this is the position they have taken. And they have been pushed to that position.

We worked and kept them involved in the drafting of the bill. They were apprised of everything that we were trying to do in a most responsible way. The president -- no one believes that President Trump is going to take your guns away. I'm not going to take your guns away.

No one believes that we don't support the Second Amendment rights, President Trump and myself and Pat Toomey. With that being said, we do believe in gun sense that averages 80, 90 percent of the people believe that you should know who that person is before you have a transaction.

And commercial transactions is where we have to start. So, that's the base bill that we have talked about. We had a great meeting on Wednesday. Chris said the NRA had a great meeting on Thursday. So, OK, we both had great meetings.

[09:20:02]

TAPPER: Right.

MANCHIN: Let's find out where it is.

But you got to do something here.

TAPPER: But Senator -- Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is not introducing gun legislation this week.

Do you have any idea if he's ever going to bring up...

MANCHIN: If the president comes forward and says, this is what I want done, this is what I'm going to support, and I will give you the cover you need, OK...

(CROSSTALK)

TAPPER: So, it's up to President Trump?

MANCHIN: That's what -- it's up to President Trump, truly.

He can be the first president -- and that can be a legacy for him -- to do something that takes the commercial transaction of a gun, an openness as it can be, when the Internet and the terrorists and criminals can go anywhere they want under any conditions in any state and buy what they want.

That's all we're saying. Shut that down, but don't take away my rights as a law-abiding gun owner.

TAPPER: But is it not possible that, even after the Parkland horror that we saw in Parkland, Florida, is it not possible, after the kids that we saw, motivated, rallying, coming to Washington later this month...

MANCHIN: Yes. TAPPER: ... President Trump saying he wants to do something on this,

substantial majorities of the American people saying that they want something done on this, is it not still possible, if not likely, that Congress will do nothing?

MANCHIN: Oh, it's a high probability that could happen if this thing goes mute.

The thing that happens is, is that we see a movement we have never seen before, Jake. These young children, these young adults, if you will, these schoolchildren are speaking out now.

I said, the only thing you should fear by going to school in the morning is, did you do your homework and are you ready for the test? That should be the only fear you have, not a fear, can I home safe, is someone going to attack me, is harm going to enter my life that day?

So, we've got to take that out every way, shape and form. I think the president and everyone else recognizes that. They're just afraid to move on this of who do they upset in the political arena.

Well, why don't you figure out who do you protect in society.

TAPPER: Yes.

MANCHIN: And that's our job. And that's what we have got to do.

TAPPER: I want to ask you about the president's new tariffs on steel and aluminum.

MANCHIN: Yes.

TAPPER: Only 1 percent of American steel production jobs are based in your state, West Virginia, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute.

How do you explain this policy and your support for it to the 1.8 million people in your state who might see prices go up because of this new tariff?

MANCHIN: Well, first of all, that's Wall Street talking about everybody shaking this -- the price is going to go up, we're going to disrupt the whole market.

TAPPER: You don't buy it?

MANCHIN: I don't buy it from this standpoint.

I appreciate and respect the president's throwing it on the table and throwing the gauntlet down because of this. I have -- in West Virginia, we have lost thousands and thousands of jobs. We're in steel, 20,000 jobs or more at one time. We're down to a shell of less than 1,000 or so.

It's just ridiculous what they have done. We have lost our aluminum production. When you look at who produces the steel in the country -- in the world, 50 percent of the steel produced in the world comes from China.

The United States is the largest importer of steel. Connect the dots. Even though they're saying it might not come directly from China, it comes some variation through other countries.

Now look at the deficits that we have, the trading deficits. Don't you think that we ought to prioritize the trading deficits that we have with other countries to find out how we're reciprocating?

And in West Virginia, the average worker will come to me and say, hey, Joe, don't you think we ought to charge countries that are sending us products the same as we do when we send them products? Just a fairness.

TAPPER: So...

MANCHIN: So, the president has put this on the table. I welcome it. Let's look at it and see what they roll out.

TAPPER: Last question, sir.

Teachers in your home state of West Virginia have been on strike for seven days. The West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy is pointing the figure at large tax cuts that you signed into law when you were governor as to explain the low teacher pay, saying -- quote -- "They're saying we can't afford it. Well, we can't afford it because we have done these large tax cuts."

What do you think?

MANCHIN: That's -- that's absolutely crazy.

I had the largest increases of teachers' pay, 24 percent of their pay, filled in all their steps and did everything humanly possible. We put our -- our state -- and I'm -- I'm the last person that wants to brag on what our administration did, but we worked hard, because we worked together.

We didn't villainize Republicans. We worked with Democrats and Republicans and educators. We put education on the same path and the same elevation as we did on economic vitality.

The economy and education goes hand in hand. If you think you can cut, cut, cut, cut, cut, and have no revenue whatsoever, and how in the world did we do what we did and also end up with $1 billion, 25 percent liquidity in cash reserves?

We did that by expanding and putting -- investing in education. Very little has been done since then. So, that is absolutely erroneous.

TAPPER: Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia, we always thank you. It's always good to have you.

MANCHIN: Thanks, Jake. Good to be with you.

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