Sen. Amy Klobuchar talks about the issues driving her campaign in Post Live interview

Good morning everyone, welcome to the Washington Post. I'm Editor Fred Ryan and I'd like to thank you for joining us this morning. Today is the latest installment of our

live

Washington Post 20/20 candidate series, and we're excited to bring you in-depth one-on-one

interview

s that explore the qualifications and priorities of the men and women seeking to become the next president of the United States. Our guest this morning is Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar, after a distinguished legal career in 2006 she became the first woman elected to the United States Senate from Minnesota now in her third term. Senator Klobuchar has earned a reputation as a prolific legislator and she has one of the best records in the Senate when it comes to getting her bills signed into law.

She has introduced more legislation. This morning, more than any other Senate Democrat, we will hear from Senator Klobuchar about how she would shape the political landscape as president, including her views on

issues

ranging from climate change to infrastructure to health care. Recently, Senator Klobuchar outlined more than 100 things she would do during her first hundred days as president. We probably won't get to 100 today, but let's get started. Please welcome Senator Klobuchar to the Washington Post. Robert Kosta, thank you Robert, thank you again, Senator, please take a seat. Good morning, I'm Bob Costas. political reporter here at the Washington Post thank you very much for joining us this morning for another

live

post

20/20 conversation and thank you very much Senator Klobuchar for being here this morning well, thank you Bob for taking some time away from the

campaign

trail Senator Klobuchar that we covered her on Capitol Hill and on the

campaign

trail now, of course, a former Minnesota prosecutor, U.S.

Senator now running for president, he faces many difficult questions not only as a candidate but also as a U.S. Senator. The big problems in the world, one of them at the moment is the escalation of tensions in Iran, would you support a military intervention? Not at this point, I think if the president was serious about it, he always leaves everything on the table, but if he was serious about it, he has to go before Congress to get authorization for military force instead. of relying on prior authorization of military force, dating back to 9/11 involved Al Qaeda, which is a problem here, so that would be my first answer and the second is that we didn't have to be where we are today with the news this morning that 17 people Iran claims to have arrested. and that they are going to execute him for what they claim are our connections to the CIA or the fact that a British tanker crew was taken hostage.

We wouldn't have to be there if he had simply stayed in the Iran nuclear deal for so long. For a long time our main one of our main focuses of us. Foreign policy was to make sure Iran didn't get a nuclear weapon, which is why we made that deal. It may not have been perfect, but it was something that needed to be done to make sure we achieved that goal and kept people safe. decided to basically leave our European allies holding the bag, gave influence to China and Russia, walked out of the deal and claimed it was going to make us safer and get a better deal, where are we now? 17 people supposedly arrested a crew taken hostage and as we speak Iran is pushing the limits when it comes to uranium enrichment, so what would I do?

I would work to renegotiate that agreement again as part of the renegotiation if you re-entered the agreement as president, but before then. Now, should sanctions be eased to try to reduce tensions at this time? I think if I went back to this, there are things I would like to change with some of the sunset time periods and things like that, but I don't. I don't think you want to accept the sanctions that we already had on missiles and things like that, but what I do think we should do is see how we can reduce tensions diplomatically and I'm not because what I'm talking about here are some of the other sanctions that we have had been in place for a long time and that complemented that agreement because, of course, they did not exclude our other terrorist activities by talking about diplomacy as president. try to negotiate directly with the Iranian leaders.

I think it depends on the circumstances. Of course, we are better when we work with our allies. We were stronger when we worked with our allies, something that this president doesn't seem to understand and he kind of has this go-it-alone attitude, which in my opinion has not improved our security internationally, certainly has not improved our reputation internationally and What we need when we need help from people is to want to support their allies and show that they can do it, one last thing. Regarding Iran, you are inside the US Senate based on your conversations with senior officials and your colleagues in the US.

We are heading towards military intervention. We've had some briefings on this that are classified, so I can't review them, but we're always concerned with this president, who at any moment could decide to do something and he certainly has sent. some more troops to the Middle East because of this escalating crisis, but again we've been very firm in our belief that it's including some Republicans that if you're going to take any action you have to get an authorization for military force, the president continues. to attack minority women members of Congress freshmen members of Congress one of them is her state representative Omar, are you close to her politically?

Are you friendly with her? I know her pretty well, she was a legislator in our state, we have some disagreements politically. I made it clear, but that's not really the problem right now. The problem is that he has chosen to go after four elected women members of Congress. He's chosen to tell them that they should go home, basically, which is a racist code word in my opinion. mind and he has pointed her out specifically, she is, by the way, a mother of three children, one of them quite small. I don't know if he has safety from her right now, but in the past he has received serious enough threats against her that a man went to prison, so my immediate concern for her is her safety.

The second thing is that we stand up and denounce this for what it is when he was enjoying that song, send her home, he didn't stop that song and two things that came. In my opinion, the first was when John McCain was in my state in Minnesota and someone said something racist about Barack Obama. He invited her to a public meeting just before the elections approached. McCain put a stop to this and said no, that's not true. He is a good man, we can disagree why they don't do that, what happened, colleagues, I don't know anymore, but they haven't done it and you should ask them.

I think it's because they don't want to piss him off, so yes, I could be frank. I'm known for being outspoken, so that's okay, so we welcome you here today, thank you, yeah, okay, so the second thing about this, beyond your safety, beyond that we should clearly confront this, not only Democrats, but also others. There are really two more things to learn from this: the first is that when you say this it infiltrates our society at a point where we are so fractured that it is very dangerous and it is one of the reasons why I am running for president because I believe that we should move to a higher plane in our politics and America is bigger than this illustration of this was during the height of his rhetoric during the 2016 campaign.

I heard the story of a family of four in Minnesota whose parents had been in our state. until 9/11 and had not experienced discrimination, as you remember, President Bush stood up and said we shouldn't take it out on all the people in this region or on the Muslims. He said it very clearly and people took it seriously. I remember there was a prosecutor at the time and I went with the United States Attorney and we met with our Muslim community to make it clear that we were going to protect them from hate crimes. Now let's fast forward to 2016, Donald Trump's run for office, the rhetoric all around, and what's happening.

This family of four goes out to dinner and it's a normal restaurant, this guy walks by and looks at him and says you four go home exactly the same words, you four go home, go home, where did you come from and this little La girl looks at her mother and says mom, I don't want to have dinner at home tonight, you said we could go out to dinner tonight, you think about the words of that innocent girl, she only knows one house and that is my state, she only knows a. Our home is the United States of America, so we must remember that when he says these things it is not just one person who says them, that is why that song was so significant, he happens to tolerate that type of rhetoric and the last and last thing that is.

For me, the most important thing is that he does this to distract people from what I hope we talk about in the time we have left and those are the

issues

before us. I have a quote from Toni Morrison that was actually given to her by Congresswoman Omar. Twitter and says that the function, the very serious function of racism, is distraction, it prevents you from doing your job well and that's what it's doing and we just have to remember that every day to catch, yes, you stand up, but you have to recognize it. It's a trap because it doesn't want to talk about the broken promises and the more than ten thousand lies that this newspaper has documented, the broken promises that litter the carpet of the Oval Office, it doesn't want to talk about it because that's because that's what really makes the people who voted for him not the ones at the rallies that's what makes them step back and think hmm maybe I should vote for someone else these are the pharmaceutical prices that have been going up and up through the roof this is the fact that he didn't do anything on infrastructure when he promised that this is the fact that we just talked about about Iran, so what's really important, as painful as what he says, is to respond, but then remind him people why you're doing it, it's not just to rally your base it's to distract from other issues if you were the Democratic presidential candidate, would you invite Congresswoman Omar to speak at the Democratic National Convention?

Oh, I even thought about that. I think it should have many voices at the convention and I think it will be something that our party and our will will decide, but I think we will know how many voices we have always had, including that convention. I think I'm not going to extend invitations to people if only I had that power and then I'll make that decision. I wouldn't commit to anyone speaking at the Democratic convention now, so yes, I'll take Barack Obama. You said Democrats should focus on politics, but what should they do to counter President Trump, if anything, on race? that at the head of the campaign I think again that we have to firmly confront racism after Charlottesville said that there are two sides, when the other side is a Ku Klux Klan, no, there are not two sides, so that is the first thing that assumes the second. the issues that will combat racism and not just the rhetoric of racism, but actual economic injustice, are racism and I would start with voting correctly, how can you have economic justice and equity if people can even exercise their right to vote? everything from the voter suppression we're seeing across the country to the fact that in the state of Georgia, if the Secretary of State, running for governor, had withheld fifty-eight thousand voter registrations because of things like hyphens in the names, Stacey Abrams I'm most likely governor of the state of Georgia today, so I'm reauthorizing the Voting Rights Act, which I will push as president, it used to be a bipartisan effort, second, looking for innovative ways to facilitate that people vote, registering on the same day, we know. those states that have it, by the way, some are red states, some are like Iowa, meaning two Republican senators.

I think they have the same day, but they have more open voting laws. You have mainly in New Hampshire, some of these states that have made it easier to vote, they are not always pure blue states. I just want to make that clear, but what they have in common is that they have high voter turnout, whether they're red, purple or blue, like my own state, same-day voting record. I'm thinking about passing my bill that says all children, when eligible to vote, should automatically register when they turn 18. This is a country where we have the highest level of technology.

Everyone gets their social security numbers once they pass the

driving

test. you get your driver's license, why can't we do the same thing with voter registration so things like that eliminate dark money from politics by passing a constitutional amendment to repeal citizens united, looking at all thepanoply of things we can do when the time comes? to the elections I think that's the first thing, the second thing is just policies, it is the African American community and the immigrant community that is most affected when things are done with cuts in heating programs or cuts in programs when it comes to helping educated people.

And so looking at how we can make that more fair is simply pushing an economic agenda that to me is about opportunity and not chaos, that means that from the cradle to the grave starts with early childhood and the fact that Children who know more words know more words. better in school and that's kindergarten all day and that's better preschool that's our job family leave and that's child care then you go to school and make sure our public schools are better funded and our teachers receive a salary and then you go to the college level and make sure that we make it more affordable, especially with one and two year degrees where there are so many opportunities, so many kids that have fallen off the grid that could come back on the grid to get those degrees and then move on to a four year degree which my sister did and never graduated from high school, went and got her GED years later and then became confident enough to get her a two year degree. degree from community college and from there he got a degree in accounting, my dad got a two-year community college degree, so I'm someone who has lived that world and understands in my heart how important it is to understand that in communities color and the reality across the country there are many paths to success Robert Muller is testifying on Capitol Hill this week you are a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee what should Democrats ask you about Attorney General William bar mm-hmm so I think the first Well, I went well, I have my own selfish thing.

I want you to ask me what that is that is related to William Barber because at the end of our hearing with the bar at the end I think I was a little tired and I came in with something like that. Of the last questions was my second round of questions and I asked him if Director Muller and his team had looked at the tax returns and the financial documents and the bars and I said, well, you'll have to ask him and I said, "Okay, what?" Are you going to do them?" available then to come here so you don't know and he said no, you have to ask him well, we haven't seen him in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee yet, but I'm very hopeful that someone will ask that question and it will be related to the loan. because members of the House who, if they are listening right now, will be able to quote that part of the transcript, so I hope that question will be asked.

I think there should be questions about what he was told, how he was able to release his report, and everything that happened with the summary that he clearly had some problems with when you look at the letter that Muller later sent saying about that summary and the characterizations of his report. I think that's important and especially journalists would thrive if there was some kind of attempt to silence Muller, but I think the real core Bob of what needs to be discussed here are, of course, the questions about obstruction of justice. Oh, questions about now, this is a good journalist, about when these things can be declassified. opinions on this matter, I have only been able to see the volume of the report on obstruction because I am on the Judicial Committee, I have been able to see those parts of the classified that I found interesting and I hope that everyone is able to see them, I think they are waiting for these trials to be made that involve some of the people who have been accused but I think it is very important for people to see that I have not even seen the volume of the report despite all the work I have done. fact about the elections in Russia I have not been allowed to see the classified part of that report only the people from the Intelligence Committee, which is crazy to me, I have been able to see it even though I am leaving the bill on the elections sure in fact, on the Assad law, I'm on the exchange committee, those were the rules that we got from the Department of Justice and I went in there and I saw the pieces that I could see in the volume, I think it's volume 2, the volume 1 is the Russian thing if I have them backwards, so you know, give me the Pinocchio one, but I think it's correct, but the Russian side had the most drafted right and that's the one we could most do something about right away because we should implement it. rules of the road in propaganda, especially paid ads, when it is expected that between three and four billion will be spent on social media companies.

I emphasize the companies' advertisements because they are for-profit companies and they should have to disclose those advertisements and not just voluntarily in all their crazy things, and if it is that way and of course the supporting paper is also returned, Why does that matter if Muller could have the opportunity to really analyze what Russia did in a way that is understandable to people and that they don't? I don't have to review a report from which all these pages are redacted. I think that will help us advance the cause to do something immediately. You just mentioned your work on 2020 ballot election security in the U.S.

The electoral voting system is vulnerable to interference in 2020 and to what extent, yes, I think it is. I think there is good work being done, like General Sony in the Department of Defense, born in Minnesota and many others who have really tried themselves diligently, but what I hate. this story even though patriotic people are trying to protect our elections is what is happening at the top and we now know from the Muller report that it wasn't just 20 states that tried to hack the equipment in 50 states, in the Muller report he said that Lo we're doing broadly and systematically if that's not enough for you Christopher Rea, the FBI director who I'm questioning tomorrow, so it'll be good Christopher Rea said it was a dress rehearsal of 2018 for 2020 give coats the The president and director of Intelligence has said that the Russians are getting bolder and that they also have other interests that might try to hack, so I think it's a scary time and I don't hate that about 14 states aren't doing it either. partial or null backup ballots New Jersey doesn't have it, so if the presidential race was close, they hacked some counties in a state, we have chaos, which is something the president seems to like, so I can't stand them stopping our safe election . neck, which was a bipartisan bill Lankford clos Bashar, not that we blame McGann, the former White House adviser, so yes, I would know, I blame the White House.

I think he was the person who made the calls and claimed he was serious about doing it personally, what does that mean? I don't know, you're the White House counsel and you called the Republicans and then also Mitch McConnell didn't want that bill to move forward, that's even though Richard Burr was the bill that Lindsey Graham was on the bill. law and they stopped it in its tracks and not only that they have stopped the Honest Ads Act that requires this public broadcast of what these ads are like, just like the Washington Post or ABC or CNN would have to explain what the ads are. and who pays for them is not true where why on social media and you are talking to your colleagues in the Senate the Republicans and you ask why is this stopping what do they say to you in private oh no, they are ashamed I think they know it should continue forward.

I think some of them have said that McConnell doesn't want this to go forward. Yes, some of them already know. I don't know how they can explain it to us. I mean, why even go to the Senate? If you are really allowing elections to be corrupted, why would you want that? A political party could be on either side or a foreign government or a criminal element. Why wouldn't we want to protect our democracy from paid ads that are bought in rubles or from paid ads than to have fake videos, which will be the next thing that Nancy Pelosi was just a small sample of what we're going to see, that video manipulated at the presidential level and in the Senate and House campaigns where you are I can't even tell if the videos are real or the paid ad that was sent with a woman, an innocent woman, an African American woman from Chicago in the race of Hillary from 2016, his face and said why stand in line, was paid in rubles pointed to African American pages in swing states, why stand in line to vote for Hillary?

You can text your vote at eight three, an illegal right, that's illegal, but they can't, you know they know it's paid for by social media companies and technology companies. Be social. Public services must be public services to protect elections. I think we need a big overhaul of how we regulate them. We need privacy laws. We need electoral laws. They just can't cope anymore. We're saying "Oh, we." It's so cool it's like the Internet of Ideas and you can put up videos of cats when in reality they are playing a big role in disrupting our elections, why not publicly regulate them?

They should be regulated and we have a number of ideas on how to do this. we can do it, but there doesn't seem to be a will to do it if it benefits certain people who want dirty ads

post

ed on their platforms. We are talking about the 2020 election and the outcome. One last thought, some Democrats are concerned that President Trump might not concede, being confident that if he is defeated, he will concede and walk away. I think I think he will accept. I think it would be very beneficial if we had a mandate. He didn't make a great choice, so he can't waste time. with the people in their heads about the elections, so the more votes there are to defeat him, the better off we will be and then we will not cross that bridge when you jumped into this presidential race you said you were a progressive, you have been a progressive in the Senate progressive progressive movement good , no, I think it is, I think you asked, you also said that you are pragmatic, yes, is your party moving too far to the left right now in this presidential race, we have many voices in our party we are not the party where there are a man on the republican side donald trump says how high can you jump and everyone says well maybe jump as high as i can they just go like whatever he wants right now they're doing we're a party that has different views that It's what happens when you include more people in America and we've always been like that so I'm encouraged, but what happened in 2018 when people came together in our party and we were joined by independents and moderate Republicans.

Don't forget that coalition where you think about how we won the governorship of Kansas with one candidate, Laura Kelly, but not everyone was running with Medicare. I know, I'll get to that in a minute. Leading with the Positive I'm kind of a happy warrior and looking at the proof here is that we came together, we elected more women than ever, we elected more people of color than ever and we won in states that no one thought of. We could and if you don't take my word for it, former Governor Scott Walker, okay, okay, I can only talk on my knees doing these things, so my views on this have been very clear from the beginning.

I have not hesitated. I am someone. who believes that we need to improve our health care, we need to reduce the costs of health care and there are many ways that we need to do that and the first is that we need to take advantage of the Affordable Care Act so that we can immediately do something about the costs. -share and reassure it doesn't exactly fit on a cool bumper sticker but it is something that exists in a bipartisan bill and has been proven to work in many states but the most important thing is to have a public option and you can do it . with Medicaid you can do it with Medicare and no, I don't think we should get half of America off its private insurance in four years, which is exactly what that bill says very clearly: Medicare for All bills at the same time.

I do not do it. I think it's a gradual step to move to a public option. I think it's a bold step. It's something President Obama wanted to do and it's a way to lower costs for everyone by having an option for them to buy. The other major issue that no one has addressed during Democratic or Republican administrations is pharmaceutical prices, and I have led that since I went to the Senate on the vote on bringing in less expensive drugs from Canada, which was a clove of char Sanders amends the bill to allow freeing up the bargaining power of 43 million seniors so they can get less expensive prices under Medicare, that's a bill I've led for years and the drug companies think they have two lobbyists in Washington for each member. of Congress do not belong to me and I think it's time to work on it, so I'm really excited about this, a president herself can order that she can request an exemption to lift the ban on bringing in less expensive products. medicines from other countries imagine the competitive impact that you can stop paying for delays, so abill that Grassley and I have had for years would prevent large farmers from paying for generics to keep their products on the market. much firmer and stronger if I leave the ticket and Vice President Biden has proposed adding a public option to the current law mm-hmm what makes your plan different no, you should ask him what makes your plan different than mine because I got in first so I think I'm open to doing it two ways, one with Medicaid and one with Medicare, another is a bill by Brian Schatz that I'm a cosponsor of and it's interesting that it uses Medicaid, which people don't talk much about anymore Medicaid.

It covers people of all ages and, as you know, already allows for the negotiation of prescription medications, so it could be an interesting option. Brian's bill right now does it on the exchange, so that would be one way to do it and the other is off the exchange. so that anyone can buy it, we're not just talking about people who qualify for the Affordable Care Act, which is a plan that Tim Kaine and Michael Bennett have, which I'm a co-sponsor of, and that would allow you to buy into Medicare. so that's another way to do it, no, that's me talking to voters on the campaign trail and they say they like your style of politics, since you say you consider yourself a proven progressive and you're also a pragmatist, they say which we also like the vice president.

Biden, if they are choosing between you and Vice President Biden, what is your proposal to them? What sets him apart from the bigger picture of Vice President Biden? Well, the first is that I'm from the Midwest, and if anything, that's what really brings our party together. Now we want to win and everyone knows that in 2016 we had some major problems in the Midwest. In fact, I led the ticket in my state, but a state that I have won every place, every race, every time I have won every congressional district, including Michele Bachmann's, three times in a row.

I have won the counties. I have won congressional districts where Donald Trump won by more than 20 points and I have not. I did it by selling myself, going to people, being honest with them, looking them in the eye, being frank and telling them, listening to them and coming back with solutions, and as a result it was noted in my introduction. I've passed over a hundred bills that I've been Democratic leader on in pretty stagnant times and these were not volleyball resolutions. The second thing about me, being a woman, I like to say let the best woman win, I think we saw that in 2018. that women were allowed when they ran, they were able to win in some really tough districts.

Personally, I think the politician in the United States who has bothered Donald Trump the most is Nancy Pelosi, who happens to be a woman. so I just look at those factors and I think that's something you asked that differentiated me from the vice president and then I think the rest of this and the topics and things will be left for the debate stage with a lot to be finished. Yesterday I felt satisfied. I got my final poll, so I'm qualifying for the fall debates based on the polls and then thank you, that will be good. You are a former prosecutor.

Do you think Vice President Biden's support for Crime Bill 94 should be an issue? I think it's something that he is explaining and he will continue to explain and I think he has started to do that. I think it's bigger to take this to a bigger place because then we're not just spending this whole election relitigating the past, I think the records. are important and I think you should, in my case, I would argue that the fact that I've gotten those pasts and I've worked very successfully on the other side of the aisle is that I have someone who has a respect, I'm in leadership in our party in the Senate, I think those things should matter and along with that comes explaining the correct votes and explaining why you did things or if you would change them today, that's all good, but I think the most important thing for the people of this country It is a positive result. economic agenda in the future and that, of course, includes criminal justice reform.

I see it as an economic issue when you leave people out of your economy if they have been away for so many years that they are not even part of your families. They are not part of the economy and that is why I was a strong supporter of the First Step Act along with the number of current senators running, which reduced sentences for non-violent offenders. I did it and I went into it as a prosecutor. Which I think is a useful view to have former prosecutors here saying this is not right, we have to change it.

I always used to say where we like to be a business when we are prosecutors' offices and we want to be efficient. and be responsible for our sentences, but we are not a business in a very important way, we don't like to see repeat clients, and that means that you have drug treatment and mental health treatment available and you look at things in terms of how to do it. For starters, it prevents crime and prevents kids from going down that path when they interact with the system, so I have very strong feelings about this. I think we just started with the first step action and we need to move on to the second step action.

Since 90% of incarcerated people are in state and local facilities and I think I'm actually a good person to do that, several of my colleagues have worked on that and one of my most fun things is staying with the price. I say one of my funniest things on that debate stage is when these guys keep going. I'm the only one in this scenario who has done this and I felt like going. I'm the only one on stage who announced in eight inches of snow. it's okay with half in my hair, so anyway there are several of us who feel very strongly about this, but I think having a former prosecutor do it is interesting, one of the former prosecutors who is running against the Senator Harris as a prosecutor who once threatened a criminal.

She charges against the parents of True Institute and she has had to respond to some criticism of her record as a prosecutor. When you look back on your tenure as prosecutor in Hennepin County, do you have any regrets as you look now at criminal justice reform and the way things are moving? Away from mass incarceration and helping those who are non-violent drug offenders. Do you regret what you did as a prosecutor? Okay, first of all, just to give an idea. I think sometimes people think you're like a case of Perry Mason with something like that. case I had tens of thousands of cases I think we had about 15,000 cases a year I had 400 and they are very proud of our office and just as a side note, we do not use criminal sanctions or those types of child support cases, even though they were truancy cases school, in those truancy cases we use them in some child support cases, but we don't use them in truancy cases.

When I first walked into the office, the number one demand and I asked the leaders of the African-American community and people in the neighborhoods was that we take on some of the cases of their babies and their children who had been shot by gang members basically and that They had remained inactive and felt it was unfair that those cases were not being handled in some way. In some cases, the police had not even found the perpetrators, so we made a big effort with billboards. I remember the case of a small-time kid, Byron Phillips, who was shot on the porch of his house in an African-American neighborhood and we found the guy who did it and prosecuted him and sent him to jail.

Taisha Edwards, a girl who was doing her homework at her kitchen table, sweet, sweet girl who had just arrived to do her homework so she could go to the mall later or something, and the gang members They shot through it. house and I killed her on the kitchen table while she was doing her homework we went after those guys they went to jail but let me go to the regrets so I just want to make that clear. I think people have to understand what I'm proud of. our office work and we did some really good things.

We work with the Innocence Project. We asked Barry Scheck. We did a DNA review of all our cases. We actually instituted a new way of identifying eyewitnesses and I had good relations with our community because of that. When I was there, a few things, one is that federal sentencing was still a problem. I wasn't serving federal sentences, but you know, I wish at the time I had advocated for more changes to federal sentencing. I think the second thing. and I was blunt, unlike the assault weapons ban on those things, but I wish we could do more as prosecutors to make changes to gun laws back then.

The third thing is that we use grand juries for police shootings, that's how everyone did it in our state. I thought it was okay, you want the community to make the decision so it doesn't look like you as the prosecutor are making the decision and are somehow tied to the authorities, so it's not being fair when I look back now that that has changed. and so in our state in some of the major jurisdictions not for all cases because there may be more cases where the results are a little more obvious, I think, but I think it's good to take responsibility for those decisions yourself instead to turn them over to a grand jury, so that's something that would have changed when you talk to communities of color on the campaign trail.

Is there anything you can have? Do you have a strategy or way of assuring them that you're not just a prosecutor who was tough on them? crime and can be tough on their communities. Well, first of all, what I believed at the time was that we had a major problem with not getting enough resources and help for those communities and, again, I don't really shy away from the fact that we did the Minnesota rulings we don't have the penalty of death, which is good. I don't support the death penalty and we've been very good at trying to provide treatment to people and I think that's all good, it's a national model, but like everywhere else, we had institutional racism and we still practice institutional racism in our system So what I assure you is that I will continue to champion this cause and I will take up this cause with actions that speak louder than words with the First Step Act and some of the work that I have done leading federal funding for drug courts. and leading efforts to make our system work better and I think you talked about that, but honestly, that's an issue, but it's also an economic issue that you hear a lot from communities of color. thank you, moms and dads, men, you want your kids to do better, you want to be able to have good schools to send your kids to, you want to be able to have good jobs, so just talk about race issues in the box.

I don't think it does justice to our communities of color, so it's very important to extend the discussion to the economy, as well as voting rights and some of the other issues. You have a hundred-day plan to take many executive actions if you are elected president of the United States, Senator Warren, one of your competitors has many plans, what do you think of her many plans? Well, I think about it again and I mean it. I got into politics because I first got involved in sort of We had a nonprofit where we came up with ideas and we published something on Cal Idea News because at the time our party felt like it was lacking ideas and I I firmly believe in many ideas and put many of my own into it. plans, but one thing that differentiates me is that not only do I have plans, I have correct deadlines, that means that our country is going through a crisis of our democracy, people feel excluded, people feel that they have a president. who wakes up every day and sends them a mean, targeted tweet many times at them and they want to see a change immediately and that you can't just have long term plans, it will take years to make them or not make them at all. you have to reactivate this democracy.

I compared him to the first person we know of a president who proposed a hundred plans and that was Franklin Roosevelt in 1933 because he understood that you need Sprint but you also need marathons, right? The Sprints are what completely changes the dialogue, which means, of course, that there are no bad tweets to reassure our allies, that there are things that can be done that are illegal and that it is not necessary to go to Congress to finish signing us again in the international agreement on climate change that can be done on The first day, bringing back Obama's clean energy rules, which were years of work, he dedicated himself to that and Trump just left them on the cutting room floor, gas mileage standards and then, of course, worked on sweeping legislation to close the boyfriend loophole, which is a bill I've been leading forever, but a president can do it himself, there's where with domestic violence cases, if you have been convicted of a serious case of domestic violence against a wife or a husband or someone you live with and you can't get a big loophole if you are datingsomeone. someone who is fine even though half of domestic homicides involve intimate relationships, so that's a good example of a change anyway.

I took a look at our website Amy Klobuchar calm down. I have over one hundred and thirty things you can do in the first 100 days and I think it gives people hope that they can see some immediate change. Do you support decriminalizing unauthorized border crossings? No. I've made it clear, I think we need to review that law, but I don't support getting rid of that entire law because I think this all comes down to law enforcement and there may be security-related cases where you would like be able to have the tool of that law, but you certainly would do it to a large extent and you can do it in the first 100 days.

I would greatly change these policies. and the emphasis on law enforcement and not separating children from their families and the closure of these private prisons like the one I visited in Homestead, the one in Homestead in Florida. I would do this in those first 100 days. I would stop these actions against the dreamers, the 2 million of them. people in our country who came here through no fault of their own and worked to put them on the path to citizenship. I would assure people that they are here on temporary status and that they came here legally like the Liberians in my state who have been here for decades working. in our hospitals and nursing homes they can stay, you know, unless for some reason they need to be deported due to illegal activity, then I would work on comprehensive reform and I have committed to achieving it in the first year that I have worked on this.

The Big Issue Twice Ted Kennedy asked me to be part of the group with Lindsey Graham that worked on it when I first came to the Senate, we reached out, this is under President Bush's leadership, he wanted to do it, what's up then again? I tried it with Obama and we passed a bill in the Senate with bipartisan support. That bill would have reduced the deficit by $158 billion. Why is this relevant to border issues? Think about that money, we could use a lot of it to reduce the deficit, but some of it and it would only have to be a small part of 158 that could be used for specific border issues and to increase our staff on things like asylum cases.

I would immediately change the policy so that asylum can be sought in those three countries of the northern triangle. and some of the money could be used to work with our allies to improve conditions in those countries, make their economy work better so that we don't see this flow of people seeking asylum, those things are practical solutions, the president knows there could be been like that. A Nixon goes to China but instead chooses to chant at rallies and revitalize his base because he doesn't want to anger them and that's what basically there are a lot of Republicans who want to move forward on immigration reform, but they don't.

I'm afraid of Let this guy go after them and let the president focus on immigration. His voters support sanctuary cities. Yes, I have supported that if this is based on my own law enforcement telling me they want to be able to do it and my own experience with it. who want to be able to protect people when they are victims of crime, now having said that, of course we should deport people convicted of serious crimes that pose a security risk. It's true, I firmly believe it and I was and was in law enforcement. We saw that happen and that should happen.

However, I will never forget the case of a girl who was 15 years old when this happened and a certain minister at her church was basically raping her, taking advantage of her and her claim on us when we were prosecuting the case. was that he didn't know she was 15 right that's what he said he thought she was old because she had put the wrong age on a job application and he used that as a defense while this was going on there were threats that they were basically going to go to the to deport her properly and to deport her mother and now there are legal protections so that can't happen, but they were doing it and we didn't know what was going to happen to her.

We found a video with the oldest, you know, call it the celebration when kids turn 15 in Hispanic culture. There was a video and it was when he was having sex with her and it said 15 in the back of the church in what was irrefutable proof, so we have to prosecute those types of convicts, but those are the cases in which It is understood that if the victims cannot be protected just because they are from another country or are undocumented, then they will be attacked even more, we only have a few minutes left, senator, just a lightning bolt here with you hanging around my water and a fascism by Marco Rubio.

It is not a small water bottle. We avoid having it to avoid those types of moments. It's a nice cup. Yes, she is very pretty. Can I keep it? I'm sure I don't know, you have to follow an ethic, you know, how I'm avoiding the lightning round with various techniques. Okay, I'm kidding. I'm not avoiding the light. Do you support the emerging debt limit agreement that extends to the rest? budget for two, well, I hope we can negotiate something. I've voted for debt limit agreements before because we don't want to cause chaos in our country, but I think it's very important to allow negotiation and I know being in leadership I know that will continue.

I haven't heard an update this week, but I spoke with Senator Schumer about it last week and I know that both they and Speaker Pelosi, those are those agreements that are being negotiated. You are on this Judiciary Committee, who on the current Supreme Court is most aligned with your judicial philosophy Wow, I know, I think of judges as a separate category from politicians. I really feel strongly about that and that you have to name names right away. I will do that. I'm not going to give you names of the people. I didn't ask you my name is on the current court I think I'm very I love this, like choosing your best friend at a sleepover, you know, it's me and by the way, Judge Stevens, could I say rest in peace?

A good example of someone who was appointed at a time when things were different and then they evolved over time in terms of their decisions and that's what you want in a judge and just when I'm very worried, you know about my main role during Judge Cavanaugh's hearing, I am very concerned. Putting judges in there who are so rigid in their beliefs that they won't change over time, but of course, I love the work that Justice Kagan and Justice Sotomayor are doing just because I was involved in their confirmation hearings. Justice Breyer and his opinions. about the death penalty are important to me and then, of course, how can they last?

I thought they should start with Steve Ginsburg, the famous RBG. One time my daughter took a photo at an event where I got an award of some kind with Justice Ginsburg and I and My daughter and she were about 18 that night she came to me and said mom, I want to put this photo up. on my Facebook page. Do you mind if I cut it out because Justice Ginsberg is so great that she will regret it if you are elected president, so on the debate stage you will be on the debate stage this fall for multiple debates.

What is your plan moving forward? Well, first of all, I will continue to do what I did in the first debate, a brother. advance or not, I think those debates are a time when it is not only our Democratic base but also the Republicans and independents who are watching those debates, so you have the task of showing what you are going to be like as a candidate who is using When it comes to advancing a positive and optimistic economic agenda for this country, they're not just looking to get rid of the guy, although a lot of people are also looking for what are you going to do as president and a contrast to the president.

Trump. I was surprised on our debate stage that more people didn't do that. I mean, I got to talk about how his economic plan for the middle class and most of us has been all foam and no beer. I was able to talk about how he's been conducting foreign policy at 5:00 a.m. in a bathrobe, you know I'm enough to run against President Trump, it's important, you don't have to run against your other garbage man, there will be moments in this debate, I understand that, especially watching my debate. one night again debate one and could you differentiate?

I did some of that stuff I talked about in the first debate about how I was concerned about free college proposals that allow wealthy families to be able to put their kids through college for free. I think the money should be focused on everyone else who needs help. and I presented my idea about Pell grants and also about the differences that we've already talked about today about healthcare and how we proceed there, but I'll remind people and I'll do it. And I have always made it clear, but what unites us as a party is still much more important than what divides us, so I think that point will have to be made clear, but you are right, that is what debates are for.

I felt particularly happy. to see that I wasn't on stage with all the giants in terms of height, as I was on the first one I had, I think five men over six foot two, next to whom now someone noticed that that means I'm taller punished when I was but I was I'm I'm the average height for a woman you know next to this I look like a shrimp up there I like I'm the average height yes I'm going to be next to I'm going to be, let's see next to Ryan, who is tall , actually it's Tim R, okay, and then mayor, he's good enough to be mayor of South Bend, that's enough experience to be president, that will be something we can discuss in the debate.

I think also, are you saving? I think you can come, he's your competition from the Midwest, you can come from a lot of different backgrounds and I think that's important and we've had presidents that come from different backgrounds, like the current one that we have, he didn't have a lot of he didn't have a lot of experience in Washington. , but I think I will make the case that having some experience and having done things does matter and I know that's not a good thing to say right now, but I think it should be and I think that matters and I think it's important to look at the candidates not only based on what they say and what they promise.

This is a country of hope, not false hopes. It's not just based on what they promised but also what they can demonstrate. I've actually done it, I think it's a funny thing, it's important for voters in this election, they want to make sure that they're going to be able to make the case against Donald Trump, which I think needs to be done with that optimistic genomic agenda ignoring him at times and also using some humor against the guy who uses humor and you guys might not think it's funny and I don't always think it's funny, but he does and to point out how absurd they have to be. able to take so many hits that I announced and he made fun of me for talking about climate change in a blizzard and called me a snow woman, which I thought well, this works pretty well in New Hampshire, but when he called me a snow woman , I wrote back Donald Trump on Twitter the science of climate change is on my side I would like to see how your hair would do in a blizzard just so you know I think using those types of approaches being direct being tough being honest is going to matter in this election and that's what people look for in a candidate's final question and I really appreciated this conversation.

A question from Minnesota based on this morning's news. The New Yorker has a new story about former Senator Al Franken taking a fresh look at reporter Jane Mayer on the sexual harassment allegations against the former Senator. Would you support a political comeback for Senator Franken? Okay, that's going to be his decision, but I think he's made it pretty clear to me that that's not what he's planning right now. He started a podcast and then by working hard, greatly helped a tribal school, something he really cares about recently in our state. I think I made it clear that I haven't read this article, but I made it clear that it is the historical record that we are friends.

I didn't ask him to resign publicly, but I felt like I condemned his behavior, but I felt strongly that he should go through the ethics process, that that was the right place to do it, and at that time Senator Isakson had announced that process. and every workplace should have a process when claims are made and there are some that are so egregious that we know about sexual assault claims other things that need to be taken immediate action in the Senate that process was the ethics process and that's why I've been very I am clear about my point of view on this, but no, I have not talked about him having a political comeback.

I think he will continue to do good work and that is his plan now and it will be through different ways, including this podcast that he has published. somewhat agree. Thank you, Senator Klobuchar, and thank you for joining us here on the Washington Post live. I really appreciate it. Another great conversation. Thank you so much. That's fine thanks.