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

Welcome back, if there was one constant in Senator Amy Klobuchar's campaign, it is that she had very solid performances in the debates that did not translate into solid numbers in the polls. That all changed in New Hampshire when her powerful debate on Friday night generated huge crowds that weekend and a growing third. -final place well ahead of Elizabeth Warren and Joe Biden asks now if he has 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 that last night, there you have it, come on, yes, there you have it.

It's a fun and funny way to make fun of it, but let me talk about it. You know one of the hallmarks of your New Hampshire campaign is that you essentially outperformed everyone. I think, by our count, you're done. doing more events in New Hampshire than any of the other major candidates who did that translated into something there, the end of that campaign, now all of a sudden you're going from a single state campaign to these things that are about to expand rapidly. , you can do it? Build a campaign to become one of the main candidates.

I'm Chuck and we're very excited, but what we've seen here in Nevada got me endorsed by the Las Vegas Sun and a recent survey in the Review Journal convinced me. in double digits, so it's a big change for us. What has happened since that debate in

just

over a week is that we raised over $12 million online, mostly from regular people, new people who donated that's the first time in a campaign like this. that we've seen an increase in people who

just

watch a debate and decide: 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, for what We are holding multiple events here.

We had over a thousand people in Reno just a day or two ago in Las Vegas. We are now taking this message statewide. 12 million dollars in one week is an im

press

ive three hundred million dollars from Michael. Bloomberg is what you are up against and I say this because you are fighting for the same part of the party here. I mean, it's got to be daunting, on the one hand, they have some money, they can start building a national campaign. but you're faced with this attack, yeah, I mean, honestly, it's discouraging, yeah, because I'm doing things like going on your show, answering tough questions, and at the same time he's posting more ads about what he wants during that same time, that's right. life. and I think what has to happen here is that he needs to go on shows like this, something he hasn't done, he just can't

hide

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

airwaves

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

When you look at the New Hampshire exit poll, you saw that. the kind of none in the Sanders wing of the party, whatever you want to call it, the pragmatist, the centrist, whatever, whatever title you want to give it, is bigger than what Sanders had, but at the end of the day you are not. Pragmatic enough, let me show you something political. Along the way, pragmatic and committed moderate Democrats seemingly cannot pragmatically agree on a preferred presidential candidate; Instead, they have handed their ideological nemesis within the party, Sanders, bragging rights in the first two races, even when he has not done so.

He also didn't touch 30% of the vote if they don't unite around someone he could be the top delegate after Super Tuesday and suddenly there aren't enough delegates left to stop him. I don't see it that way at all. This is a primary and we're not going to go back to a back room with three or four people and just say, "Okay, you got it." No, we are competing and the voters of this country can make that decision and eventually the people will. abandon this race, but at this moment this is a competition and that's how it should be.

I also think people understand that what unites us is greater than what divides us. I was the one on the debate stage when they asked me if we should have a socialist leading the ticket I was the only one who raised my hand even though I get along with Bernie, we got to the Senate together, we've worked together on prices of pharmaceuticals, my argument is that even if I don't have Michael Bloomberg's money, I will get the money. of the people as this continues, as I emerge as a stronger candidate, we are now going to have teams in every Super Tuesday state.

I am starting to travel to these states and we are going to have an event that will allow me and almost all of them to answer this at some point you are going to win you have to win somewhere and it can't just be in Minnesota we know it will be an opportunity for you Where are you going to win for Super Tuesday? There are so many states out there. I'm not going to list them all, but that's all you can get around the country. I don't know which state I'll win, but I'll do better than anyone imagined.

They are states like Colorado and Utah. It's states like North Carolina on Super Tuesday it's states like Virginia I can go around the map with you, but right now who knows who's going to win because a lot of us are bunched up in the polls. I don't have the biggest ones. identification name or the largest bank account, but I have the ability to bring people with me and that's what you're seeing slowly but surely in every state and, by the way, when the mayor, Mayor Bloomberg, and the president They faced each other on Twitter. when the president claimed the mayor was five foot four and the mayor said no, he's taller.

I'm the only one who has the right to be five foot four in this race, the only one. You take that President Trump. I guess that's true, let me. I ask him about Michael Bloomberg. Can you imagine supporting someone who has been a Democrat as a Democratic candidate? I think only for a couple of years. I have been very clear that I am going to support whoever comes out of that convention, whoever is our Democratic candidate. If he is the one that emerges from that convention I would still support him I don't think he is the best candidate for our country I don't think people will look at the guy in the white house and say oh let's make someone richer I Think about my background, where Donald Trump received $413 million from his father over the course of his career, and my grandfather saved money in a coffee can in the basement to send my father to community college while he worked in the mines his entire life.

There's no room for $413 million in a coffee can in the basement. I would also add that the Midwest is not flyover country for me. I live there and the people who live there are not poker chips in a bankrupt casino since I've been in Las Vegas. President Trump. to me, they are my friends and neighbors, that is the area of ​​the country that we need to win and that is also a strong case that I am going to have against Michael Bloomberg. If you are the Democratic candidate, will you feel comfortable accepting financial aid? in different ways and and from Michael Bloomberg, you know there are a lot of progressive and democratic groups that have received a lot of money from him over the years.

What is the price of that money in your mind right now? We just focus on our own campaign and that is largely based and fueled by those small contributions that Amy Klobuchar calms and that have allowed me to compete with a minimum of money to be able to compete in the airways with Mayor Bloomberg and others, which for me is where I am focused. I think in the future, of course, when we have a candidate there will be enough money because of the incredible interest of the people in this country, not only enthusiastic Democrats, but also independents and moderate Republicans like the ones I brought to New Hampshire, like I'm bringing Nevada, they also want to see change in the White House and they don't agree with everything that is said on the debate stage, but they agree with me when it comes to a check of decency and even a control of patriotism.

Although you may not agree with everything on the debate stage, yes, I am very excited about the coalition I can form to defeat the president, given some of the things that Michael Bloomberg has said, whether it's about women in the workplace of which he has been accused. say or about policing African Americans, flagging things like that if he's the Democratic nominee, does that make the job of going after President Trump's character harder again? I don't think he is the best person to lead the candidacy. I think I am, but I think just like every other candidate, like me, I've appeared on his show several times and several other candidates have appeared and answered tough questions, he has to do the same thing he hasn't been on Sunday since he announced which instead is just running ads and I don't think you should be able to

hide

behind the ad.

I think you shouldn't just go to these shows. I also think he should get on the debate stage, that's why I've supported him on that debate stage, because I know. I can't beat him on the

airwaves

, but I can beat him in debates. Let me ask you this: They are being vetted for their background and criminal justice issues and now you are too and I'm curious about this as it relates to your background. There have been a lot of people who have done more analysis of his record over the years as a prosecutor, have you read this in these retrospectives and, if you have, have you kind of winced?

Do you look back on his career and think, boy? There are a few things, but if I knew what I know now, maybe I would be a different prosecutor, maybe I wouldn't have always trusted law enforcement so much and what they say on the witness stand versus what someone else says. Had everyone recognized that perhaps his 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 justice reform, that was a difficult job I oversaw 10 to 15 thousand cases every year and we did a very good job. work and was proud of our office, but we know that there is systemic racism in the criminal justice 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's doing things like videotaping interrogations, something that I advocated for and that we had in Minnesota, it's doing eyewitness identification in a different way that limits racial misidentifications, that's what we are doing now in the Senate, where I have been a co-sponsor of the first step bill to reduce non-violent sentences and as president we are good or bad.

I think having someone really lead on these issues will be a good thing because I'll be able to get that clemency board. instead and move on to the second step because I have a deep understanding of the rights and wrongs of the criminal justice system. Senator Amy Klobuchar, Democrat of Minnesota. Thank you for getting up extraordinarily early today and sharing your views. Thanks for everything. Jett thanks to Chuck