CNN "State of the Union with Jake Tapper" - Transcript Interview with Joe Biden

Interview

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TAPPER: We're in Macomb County, Michigan right now. This is a county that President Obama and you carried twice, and then President Trump carried by 12 percentage points in 2016.

You're a son of Scranton, you're somebody who likes to talk about the working class, the middleclass. Why do you think so many of these folks turned against the Democratic Party in 2016?

BIDEN: Look, I think, number one, a lot of them was taken for granted. When we ran, I spent a lot of in Macomb County, a lot of time in Detroit. I was given the responsibility getting it out of its bankruptcy and getting it on its feet.

I was the guy that was asked - the Recovery Act, make sure we made sure we were in a situation where we saved General Motors and Chrysler.

I come from Claymont. You know Claymont, you're a Philly guy. Claymont's a working class neighborhood, it used to be -- have 6,000 steel workers in Claymont. It shut down, Worth Steel.

But the point is that I think it was the feeling that they were taken for granted. I don't know that for fact. And I think that he used that dog whistle on race, now it's a bullhorn, and I think that -- look, the neighbors I come from, and I think, presumptuous of me to say, you come from, people don't want a handout, they just want a fighting chance, just give me a shot, I've been looking for a shot.

TAPPER: So now when you ran for president and when Barack Obama ran for president, you both, you both said you would renegotiate NAFTA. You didn't. He did. Nancy Pelosi said that the USMCA, which President Trump signed into law, is a quote "Victory for American workers."

Does he deserve credit for that?

BIDEN: No, I think - remember, he didn't -- he wasn't the one that pushed that particular one that passed. The House amended the bill, amended the bill, so he couldn't

TAPPER: He signed it.

BIDEN: (inaudible) a big deal though. Here's what he -- they amended. He was giving pharma a way out, giving them a gigantic break, just like he's doing now with pharma.

If you -- they are building plants overseas and getting tax breaks for it. That's what it was about with him, and they said, no, no, we're not going to do that. We're not going to --

(CROSSTALK)

TAPPER: -- renegotiated NAFTA and you didn't, is the point.

BIDEN: Because we had a Republican Congress that wouldn't go along with us renegotiating.

TAPPER: But doesn't he deserve some credit for that? It's better. USMCA is better than NAFTA.

BIDEN: It is better than NAFTA, but look what the overall trade policy has done, even with NAFTA. We now have this gigantic deficit in trade with Mexico -- not because NAFTA wasn't made better, because his overall trade policy and how he deals with it made everything worse.

TAPPER: I guess my only point is, I'm a blue collar guy sitting in Macomb County, Michigan, if I were that person.

(CROSSTALK)

BIDEN: Yes.

[09:35:00]

TAPPER: And I'm sitting here listening to your pitch and I'm thinking, I like what he has to say, but he's part of the establishment that's been selling my jobs down the river. He supported NAFTA, he supported - let's most favored nation status for China. And Trump did renegotiate NAFTA and Obama and Biden didn't.

BIDEN: Well, I'll tell you what we did do. We inherited the greatest recession short of The Depression. The president put me in charge of that to do something about it.

In the process of that, I was the one who was given responsibility to make sure General Motors and Chrysler didn't go bankrupt. And so we made sure they didn't, brought 80,000 jobs here to Michigan and to the automobile industry - 80,000 good paying jobs came back. He's lost 50,000 of those jobs since he's been president.

The fact of the matter is NAFTA was not a deal that was sold. When Bush said they were going to have enforcement mechanisms in NAFTA, they didn't do it. That's why after it passed and he did not insist on that, I was against NAFTA. We tried to begin to change it, because it didn't keep the deal that was made. There was not -- the enforcement mechanisms were abandoned.

And so - but look, here's what else he's doing -- we're talking about trade -- what has he done with trade to create more jobs in the United States? What's happened with this trade policy? Look what he's done with China. It's a disgrace.

What he's done, he's allowed the corporate America to be able to make money by continuing to export American jobs.

TAPPER: One last question for you, Sir. If you're elected, you would be the oldest president ever, and I know you've said it's fair for anybody to ask questions about anybody over 70 and their health. The American people have been lied to before by presidents about the president's health -- FDR, JFK, Ronald Reagan. We don't know still what happened with Donald Trump in his visit to Walter Reed last year.

Will you pledge that, if you're elected, you will be transparent about your health --

BIDEN: Yes.

TAPPER: -- all facets of your health, with urgency , so that -

(CROSSTALK)

BIDEN: Yes, when it occurs -- when anything occurs. Anything can happen, anything can happen.

That's what I did, I laid out my health records in more detail - pages and page of it even when I became vice president. I laid it all out; everything, my entire background relating to my health.

I've laid out my health records in terms of this time around and the investigations in my health made when I was at Walter Reed, in terms of by Walter Reed docs, by my docs right now, and thank God I am in good health.

But here's the deal, anything can happen. I've become a great respecter of fate, a great respecter of fate. I've seen too much of it in my family related to accidents alone. And so I guarantee you, I guarantee you I will be totally transparent in terms of my health and all aspects of my health.

And when it comes to Donald Trump versus me, just look at us, OK? Just look at us. Who seems to be in shape? Who's able to move around? I mean this idea of, you know, slow Joe.

(LAUGHTER)

BIDEN: Anyway, I shouldn't laugh about it, because -- anyway, Donald Trump -- just look at us both, watch us, and determine whether or not you think I'm misleading anyone -- not you, personally but the public.

Look at me, judge me based on -- I know what the job takes. I've sat for hundreds of hours in the Situation Room. For eight years I was vice president in every major decision. I know how difficult this job is.

And one more thing I'll do, I'll take responsibility, I'll acknowledge my mistakes when I make them, and I'll level with the American people.

TAPPER: Thanks for your time, Mr. Vice President.

BIDEN: Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[09:43:53]

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