Full Klobuchar: Bloomberg 'Just Can’t Hide Behind The Airwaves' | Meet The Press | NBC News

welcome back if there was one constant about senator Amy

Klobuchar

campaign it's that she's had very strong debate performances that didn't translate into strong poll numbers all that changed in New Hampshire when her powerful Friday night debate generated big crowds that weekend and a surging third-place finish well ahead of Elizabeth Warren and Joe Biden question now does she have an encore and Amy

Klobuchar

joins me now from Las Vegas senator Clovis sure welcome back to

Meet

the

Press

well thanks Chuck I can't think of a better place Devin encore than last night there you go there we go yeah there you go fun fun way to tease that but let me talk about that you know one of the hallmarks of your New Hampshire campaign is you essentially out evented everybody I think by our count you ended up doing more events in New Hampshire than any of the other major candidates that did that translated into something there the end of that campaign you now are suddenly going from a

one-state campaign to this things about to scale up in a hurry are you able to put together a campaign in order to become one of the leading frontrunners I am Chuck and we're really buoyed but what we've seen here in Nevada I got the endorsement of the Las Vegas Sun and a recent poll in the Review Journal had me in double digits so that's a major change for us what has happened since that debate in

just

a little over a week is that we raised over 12 million dollars online mostly from

just

regular people new people who gave that's the first time in a campaign like this that you've seen a surge from people

just

seeing a debate and deciding you know what I like this person and I think she's going to have my back and I think she can lead this ticket to victory which is the number one concern of Democrats so we are doing multiple events here we had over a thousand people in Reno

just

a day or two ago in Las Vegas now and we're

just

taking this message all over the

state 12 million dollars in a week is im

press

ive three hundred million dollars from Michael

Bloomberg

is what you're facing and I say this because you guys are fighting for the same part of the party here I mean it is that has got to be daunting on one hand you've got some money you can start building a national campaign but you're facing this onslaught yeah I mean honestly is it daunting yes because I do things like go on your show take tough questions and then at the same time he

is running more ads on whatever he wants during that same time that's what life is and I think what needs to happen here is that he needs to go on shows like this which he hasn't done he

just

can't

hide

behind

the Airways he has to answer questions and of course I think he should be on that debate stage which eventually he will be because I can't beat him on the

airwaves

but I can beat him on the debate stage and I think people of America deserve that to make a decision you know

when you look at the New Hampshire exit poll you saw that the the sort of none on Sanders wing of the party whatever you want to call this the pragmatist the centrist whatever it whatever title you want to give to it it is larger than what Sanders had but at the end of the day you guys aren't pragmatic enough let me show you something political Road the pragmatic compromising Democratic moderates apparently can't pragmatically agree to compromise on a preferred presidential candidate

instead they have handed their ideological intra-party nemesis Sanders the bragging rights in the first two contests even as he hasn't touched 30% of the vote in either if you guys don't coalesce around somebody he could be the leading delegate guy after Super Tuesday and there's suddenly not enough delegates left to stop him I don't see it that way at all check this is a primary and we're not going to go back in some backroom three or four people and

just

say okay you got it

I don't we're competing and the voters of this country get to make that decision and eventually people will drop out of this race but right now this is a competition and that's how it should be I also think people understand that what unites us is bigger than what divides us I was the one on that debate stage when asked should we have a socialist leading the ticket I was the only one that raised my hand even though I get along with Bernie we came into the Senate together we've

worked on pharmaceutical prices together my argument is that while I may not have the money of Michael

Bloomberg

I will get the money from people as this goes on as I emerge as a stronger candidate we now are going to have teams in every single Super Tuesday State I'm starting to travel to these states and we're going to be doing event let me and nearly all of them answer this at some point you're going to win you have to win someplace and it can't

just

be in Minnesota we know

that's going to be an opportunity for you where are you gonna win by Super Tuesday there's so many states out there I'm not going to list them all for you but it's everything you can

just

go around the country I don't know which state I'll win but I'm gonna do better than anyone imagined they're states like Colorado and Utah they're states like North Carolina on Super Tuesday they're states like Virginia I can go around the map with you but right now who

knows who's gonna win because a lot of us are clustered together in the polls I don't have the biggest name ID or the biggest bank account but I have this ability to bring people with me and that's what you're seeing slowly but surely in every single state and by the way when the mayor Mayor

Bloomberg

and the president were going at each other on Twitter when the president claimed that the mayor was five foot four and the mayor said no he's taller I am the only one that has

the claim to be five foot four in this race the only one I you take that president Trump I guess that's right let me ask you about Michael

Bloomberg

can you envision supporting him as the Democratic nominee somebody who's been a Democrat I think only for a couple of years I've been very clear that I am going to support whoever comes out of that convention who is our Democratic nominee if he is the one that emerges from that convention I would support him I still do not think he is

the best candidate for our country I don't think that people look at the guy in the white house and say oh let's get someone richer I think my background where Donald Trump got 413 million dollars from his dad in the course of his career and my grandpa saved money in a coffee can in the basement to send my dad to a community college as he worked in the mines his whole life you can't fit 413 million dollars in a coffee can in the basement I would also add the Midwest is not flyover

country to me I live there and the people that live there are not poker chips in a bankrupt casino since I'm in Vegas president Trump's to me they are my friends and neighbors that's the area of the country that we need to win and that's also a strong case I'm going to have against Michael

Bloomberg

if you're the Democratic nominee are you going to be comfortable accepting funding help in different ways and and and from Michael

Bloomberg

you know there's a lot of

progressive and democratic groups that have that have received a lot of money from him over the years is what what is the price of that money in your mind right now I'm

just

focused on our own campaign and that is based and fueled so much by those small contributions that Amy

Klobuchar

calms that's allowed me to compete a modicum of money to be able to compete on the Airways with Mayor

Bloomberg

and others that to me is where I am focused I believe in the future that of course when we

get a nominee there's going to be enough money because of the incredible interest of people in this country not

just

fired up Democrats but also independents and moderate Republicans like I brought in in New Hampshire like I'm gonna bring in in Nevada they also want to see a change in the white house and they don't agree with everything that's said on that debate stage but they agree with me when it comes to a decency check and a patriotism check even though they may not agree

with everything on that debate stage yes I'm really excited about the coalition I can put together to beat the president given some of the things that Michael

Bloomberg

has said whether it's about women in the workplace that he's been accused of saying or about policing african-americans redlining things like that if he's the Democratic nominee does it make the job of going after president Trump's character harder again I don't think he's the best person to lead the

ticket I think I am but I think

just

like every other candidate like I have come on your show multiple times and a number of other candidates have come on and answered tough questions he's got to do the same thing he hasn't gone on the Sunday since he announced instead he's

just

running ads and I don't think you should be able to

hide

behind

the ad I think you should not only go on these shows I also think that he should take the debate stage that's why I have actually been

supportive of him on that debate stage because I know I can't beat him on the

airwaves

but I can beat him on the debates let me ask you this he's getting scrutinized for his record and criminal

just

ice issues and now so are you and I'm curious about this when it comes to your record there's been a lot of people have done more analysis of your record over the years as a prosecutor have you read these in these these look backs and if you have have you have you sort of winced do you

look back at your career and think boy there are some things but if I knew if I knew then what I know now maybe I'd be a different prosecutor maybe I wouldn't have put so much trust always in law enforcement and what they say on the witness stand versus what somebody else says do you had all acknowledged that maybe your record deserves a different look well of course what we know now was not the same as what we knew then and I have always been an advocate for criminal

just

ice reform that

was a tough job I supervised 10 to 15 thousand cases every single year and we did a lot of good work and I was proud of our office but we know that there is systemic racism in the criminal

just

ice system and the answer is of course something that I worked on when I had that job before being in the Senate is diversifying the office it is doing things like videotaping interrogations something I advocated for and we had in Minnesota it is doing eyewitness ID in a different way that limits racial

misidentifications it is what we're doing now in the Senate where I've been a co-sponsor of the first step act to reduce nonviolent sentences and as president we're good or bad I think having someone that's actually led on these issues will be a good thing because I will be able to get that clemency board in place and move on to the second step act because I have a deep understanding of the goods and the bads of the criminal

just

ice system senator Amy

Klobuchar

Democrat from

Minnesota thank you for coming on getting up extraordinarily early today and sharing your views thanks for all Jett thanks Chuck