Transcripts For KGO This Week With George Stephanopoulos 20240714

Plus, Congress Demands action. Were are putting america first. Democratic congresswoman Rashida Tlaib joins me days after visiting Detention Centers in texas. And now is your chance to join the military. Seth moulton takes on trumps call to serve and takes on his 2020 campaign. I got into this race very late. Was that a mistake . Announcer here now coanchor martha raddatz. Good morning and welcome to this week. So much to get to, from the president s salute to america to the explosive the New York Times report that dropped last night with new, firsthand accounts of the squalid conditions at a detention facility in texas. But we begin with our brandnew abc News Washington post poll, the president s Approval Rating at 44 , thats a career high in our poll. And yet, 53 disapprove of hiS Performance, making President Trump the only president in modern history to have majority disApproval Ratings for his first 2 1 2 years in office. And just 40 of americans approve of how hes handling his signature issue immigration. The numbers there falling sharply along partisan lines. The overwhelming majority of americans agree, immigration is a whole will factor heavily into their 2020 vote. The backdrop, the growing evidence of a humanitarian crisis on the southern border. That New York Times article drawing from interviews with former and Current Border patrol agents detailing outbreaks of scabies, shingles and chickenpox spreading the hundreds of children who were being held in cramped cells in a Detention Center in clint, texas. This comes just days after a government report also showed images of overcrowding in some Detention Centers. That report alleging many children were being denied regular access to showers or a change of clothes. This independence weekend, these allegations have ignited a debate about American Values and how people in government custody can and should be treated. President trump is defending the handling of those Detention Centers and the man he put in charge has too, acting Homeland Security Kevin Mcaleenan joins us now. We really appreciate you being here this morning. I know youve been concerned for months about the growing humanitarian crisis. You said it to us about six months ago on the show. I want to begin with that ig report, your own ig report. We saw those disturbing images of the migrants at some of those border facilities. And read from the reportunniry conditions of them the report as well, esave been held longer permitted under legal standards, children at 3 of the 5 Border Patrol facilities had no access to showers. Single adults at one facility, some were held in standingroom only conditions for a week. And at another, more than a month in overcrowded cells. And although standards were require cbp to make a reasonable effort to provide a shower for adults after 72 hours, most single adults hadnt had a shower in cbp custody. Being held again for as long as a month. When you read that, when you look at those images, whats your explanation . My explanation is an extraordinarily challenging situation. Since i saw you on december 30th, we have had over 500,000 people cross our southern border. The predominant crossings are made by family units, unaccompanied children and single adults. On may 11th i had a press conference at the border talking about our overflowing facilities. And the challenging conditions in them. On june 11th, i testified in front of Congress Talking about the challenges in our facilities and that we needed action on the supplemental to provide a better situation. On that night of june 10th i went on chris cuomo said that no mmpb should be satisfied with the conditions at our facilities. We have been asking for this. But shouldnt the whole of government, what was the actual plan to deal with it . Youve been talking about it all these months, but still you have this. And i want to read from the New York Times report, the report from the clint facility in el paso, they say its based on dozens of interview, some sworn statements, i read the portion earlier about diseases. The report goes on to say, the stench of the childrens dirty clothing was so strong it spread to the agents own clothing, people in town would scrunch their noses when they left work. The children cried constantly. One girl seemed likely enough to kill herself that the agents made her sleep on a cot in front of them. Back to this, why couldnt you do more . You knew there was a crisis. Right, we have done a tremendous amount. Since december 30th when we last talked about this, we had 20 medical providers in our facility. Now we have over 200. We had the Public Health service corps. We have pediatricians for the first time in history trying to help address conditions where children are coming across. 300 in those months, april and may. Two, we built temporary facilities. Spaces that are much more appropriate. High ceilings. More room for family and children. They provide additional space. We did this all without the funding, hoping that we could get a supplemental to get ahead of the status. We brought buses to transport people to better places. You talk about this press conference last week, you spoke about the clint facility after an earlier ap report described inadequate food, water and sanitation. Heres what you said about the allegations at clint. Unsubstantiated report created a sensation. Thats balanced somewhat since several Media Outlets saw the facility, a wellequipped process. The New York Times report is talking specifically about the clint facility. Why did you call those allegations unsubstantiated . Because the facility is cleaned every day. Because i know what our standards are and i know theyve been followed. You dont believe the New York Times report . So, youre asking the stench of childrens dirty clothing was so strong it spread to the agents. They had scabies, chickenpox. Why did you say unsubstantiated . You referenced three things that were unsubstantiated. Inadequate food, inadequate water and uncleaned cells. None of those have been substantiated. What i have a responsibility, independent office that oversees our Operations Report that went to clint station in the same time period. Do you think theyre still unsubstantiated, given the the New York Times these specific allegations. This is an extraordinarily challenging situation. We had an overflow situation, with hundreds of children crossing every day. Thats why we were asking for funding to provide adequate bed space. So they the children could be moved into more adequate. So, im not denying that there are challenging situations at the border. I have been talking about it the most. What can i tell you right now, theres adequate food, water. The reason those children were at clint station, so they could have medical, they have had shower facilities for over a year. The New York Times said the agencys leadership knew for months that some children had no beds to sleep on, no way to clean themselves and sometimes went hungry, its own agents raised the alarm according to the story. Do you know anything . Okay, we have no evidence that children went hungry, first of all. Police station cells arent a good time for children. Have you agents raised alarms were worried about it. Every in chain of command is worried about the situation for children. Thats why we built facilities, 1,000 spaces already, more opening next week. Were trying to provide as much space as we possibly can while children are in our custody. On june 1st we had 2500 children in our custody. 1200 with us over three days. Now we have the supplemental from congress, additional beds. Only 20 of those children have been with us for more than three days. Thats huge improvement based on the resources we asked from congress. Should the president have used his authorities pursuant to the declared National Emergency to redirect funds to address the conditions at the border more quickly . So the declared National Emergency doesnt apply to this scenario. This was a matter and we had already taken action soon as we could at the border to provide additional medical care, additional transportation within our existing funding. But we did that. Now that congress has come through with the funding, we are able to apply it. Lets turn to the private facebook groups withes onnive content. We cant show most of it because its so bad. Its allegedly associated with cbp agents. You have said the agency is going to look into it. Abc and others have reported that cbp leadership was aware at least one group as far as back february 2018. You served as acting commissioner since january 2017, were you aware of this socalled 1015 group . I wasnt aware of this group. I have been made aware that we had an allegation in 2016 that was investigated, followed up on. Why wasnt the website shut down . Why wasnt that Facebook Page shut down, should it have been . So, cbp doesnt control this Facebook Page. This is a group of individuals did the word go out to other agents . Actually we did put out a policy on being careful on social media the responsibility to maintain your standards and apply with a code of conduct even in your private life and even in youor personal views. What can i tell you about this set of posts, i directed an immediate investigation. It had already been reported to our inspector general. They were already looking into it. We already put several agents on administrative duties. The agents will be held accountable. I dont think its reflective of the men and women we have and i want to move quickly to the i. C. E. Raids. The president said the raids are going to be starting soon. When it was first made public, did you support the president moving forward with these raids . Balanced enforcement has to deal with interior enforcement. I have been going down to the Central America to address this. Thats why were enhancing our border security, thats why we asked for congress to change the laws and why we do need to do interior enforcement. I. C. E. Needs to be out there enforcing their authorities. And just one final question, its also been reported some close trump allies in the white house are pushing for your departure. Youre still the acting dhs secretary. Do you expect to be formally nominated, do you want to be . Im focused on solving the problems that were facing right now, addressing this humanitarian and security crisis at the border. If i can give you one last close on our men and women, martha, i have had a privileged of working alongside the Border Patrol for 16 years. These are some of the finest professionals and some of the best human beings that i know. They do their job with heart and they do their job with honor. Were not going to let a few people who dont represent the rest of the organization besmirch their them. Up next, Rashida Tlaib was at the clint, texas, border facility this week. Her account of what she saw and her response to the Trump Administration when we come back. Administration when we come back. Prices for better skin re . Try Olay Regenerist. The rich, hydrating cream is formulated with vitamin b3 and peptides to plump skin cells, brighten, and visibly smooth wrinkles. In fact, just 1 jar has the hydrating power of 5 jars of the prestige cream. For visible results without prestige prices, try Olay Regenerist with a money back guarantee. And complete your routine with the olay eye collection. Brand power. Helping you buy better. 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Nausea, heartburn, indigestion, upset stomach, diarrhea get powerful relief with new pepto bismol liquicaps. The inlaws have moved in with us. And our Adult Children are here. So we save by using tide. Which means we use less. Three generations of clothes cleaned in one wash. Anybody seen my pants . 1 stain and odor fighter, 1 trusted. Its got to be tide. Up next, congresswoman Rashida Tlaib responds to my interview with the acting dhs secretary and describes what she saw on the border this week. Well be right back. Saw on the border this week. Well be right back. So by the time i get there i can just enjoy the ride. With tripadvisor, its easy to discover over 100,000 bookable things to do, from walking tours in rome to Wine Tastings in tuscany, and if you like what you see, you can book it with ease. Just another way tripadvisor helps you make your trip a masterpiece. Hoo read reviews, check hotel prices, book things to do. Tripadvisor. 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Today what i learned today and seen in the eyes of a father of a 14yearold is that its not about children only. Its also about the fathers and the mothers. But i will outwork your hate, i will outlove your hate. Democratic congresswoman Rashida Tlaib addressing protesters outside a detention facility in clint, texas, this week. She joins me from detroit. Welcome to this week. I want to get your reaction, first of all, to acting secretary mcaleenan. So, in regards to the report in regards to what he was saying its so contradictive of what we got in the inspector generals report recently. What i saw was a number of people, up to 14 in one area sleeping on the floors. Number of them saying, they didnt bathe within 15 days. Where congresswoman pressly went up to the water feature next to where the water comes out, she turned the knob and there was no water that was coming out. Literally every single woman confirmed what the one woman said. Which is, i asked for water, and they said go drink it from the toilet. I think there were too many of us. Close to over 10, 11 members of congress, several of them were in the same cell unit where the 14 women or so was at. And then i was in another area where the door they finally, they were open up the door to speak with a grandmother who was there for 40 days and hadnt seen her grandson that she came with since then. Whos also special needs. Alexandria ocasiocortez, your colleague who was at the border with you, confirmed the facilities to concentration camps, do you agree . Absolutely. Its traumatic. I mean, i dont know how to explain to people what we saw. When were explaining to people and theyre kind of looking back at us, that cant be true. Were all there. You have congressman castro, all of us were there. We saw what we saw. We heard from folks inside the facility. Some of them havent seen their children since being there. What you also need to know, the mere touch, the mere, even me holding the hand, broke them down in tears. Theyre under a lot of trauma. Theyre in a facility that is dehumanizing. This is choice by the current administration. They are choosing to not allow asylum to go through the legal procedure. Mcaleenan has been sounding the alarm for resources to help the migrants. You voted against the 4. 2 billion emergency border bill to deal with the surge of migrants. To provide shelter and care for unaccompanied children. The abouting secretary said those fund are critical to get children out of custody and transported listen to this, you know what the cbp agents said on the ground, martha. Martha, you know what they said on the ground. Ask a cbp agent. I talk to the secretary, throw more money at a broken system. Inhumane system. Three agents took me aside, away from colleagues and said, more money isnt going to fix this. They werent trained to separate children. They dont want to separate 2yearolds away from their mother. Thats not what they were trained for. Thats not what they signed up for in our service to our country. They signed up to protect the border. Not to separate children, not to people in cages. They all said that this is a broken system. This is inhumane. These are also human beings. These are also fathers and mothers, themselves. A mother of five, they all dont want to be doing this. They all know that this is a choice. Martha, in the 80s it was more that was coming across the border and we didnt do this. We allowed the Asylum Seekers to go true the legal process. Show us evidencebased approaches to making sure that people are in humane conditions. That they have medical care. That theyre not going to go hungry. This father told me he was there for four days, eating potato chips. He was gripping his son. He said im here because i have no other choice. I can tell you as a mother of two, but also as a child of immigrants, immigrant parents, i know my parents would have done the same thing for me to have a better future. But our country is doing is, creating a generation of children that will remember what our country what did to them. I wont vote for that. Thats a choice that i make. I can tell you, my district supports me 100 because they know the system is broken. They know that these agents, again, many of them overworked, suicide is up among cbp agents. Look at the numbers. Look at the report. All of us cant be lying. I want to congresswoman. When we voted against it, it was because we knew this was not the choice that we needed our country to move forward on. There is a better choice. We have seen it in the 80s. We need to do better than were doing now at the border. I want to bring up that aid package again, in a column in the New York Times this morning, the speaker of house nancy pelosi said that you and the three other progressives made yourself irrelevant to the process by voting against this bill. All these people have their public whatever and their twitter world. She said, but they didnt have any following. Theyre four people and thats how many votes they got. You know, people us, like me, were reflective of our nation in many ways. But many of us didnt want to be the first of anything. But more People Like Us have been missing in the halls of congress. More People Like Us, people of color have been missing in the chamber. Because of most of us pressly says, people closer to the pain need to be at the table making the decisions. You know what it feels to be dehumanized. Ill tell you right now, were not going to stand by and allow brown and darkskinned children to be ripped away from their parents. To dehumanize. To feel like what would you say to nancy pelosi . I honor the fact were there. 650,000 people are represented by each and every single one of us. That theres some sort of, i think in many ways, Something Special about having a refugee, having a woman that, you know, experienced alone what incarceration has done to her family, everybody has these experiences that have been missing in the halls of congress, honor that, respect that, put us at the table. Theres a better approach. They passed something out of the house still i will not support anything thats broken and dehumanizes people. Guess what, Mitch Mcconnell sent you back that something that was worse. All you can do is focus on him. Uplift the women, especially women of color within your caucus. More People Like Us, more people like me who come out to vote, we win. Im going to have to stop you there for time. Its disappointing that speaker would ever try to diminish our voices in so many way. I appreciate your comments. Thank you so much. Coming up, the powerhouse roundtable tackles our new poll and joe bidens latest apology. Well be right back. Dens latest apology. Well be right back. It has to keep up with sales, supply chain, inventory it needs to track it all, from cincinnati to singapore. Ooo and protect it all. Customer records, our financials, they better be secured. But i also need easy access, to manage data across my clouds no matter where it lives. So if an auditor shows up, i can be a step ahead. Thats the cloud i want. Is that to much to ask . Expect more from your cloud. Ibm cloud. Want to freshen your home without using heavy, overwhelming scents . Introducing febreze one. It eliminates odors with no heavy perfumes, so you can feel good about using it in your home. For a light, naturalsmelling freshness, try new febreze one. Still fresh. Unstopables inwash scent booster downy unstopables catch this week online all week at abcnews. Com, on facebook and twitter. Abcnews. 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La la la la la. Ten democratic president ial candidates campaigned in texas on friday. Hoping to win the support of a key National Teachers union. A recent quinn peipiac universiy poll shows former Vice President joe biden polling four points ahead of President Trump in texas. And in 2018, a Democrat Beto Orourke nearly defeated longtime republican senator ted cruz. Could traditionally red texas become a swing state in 2020 . We asked nate silver, do you buy that . First, lets start by making the case, why texas might be a swing state . Texas has 37 electoral votes. Is so when it flips its pretty big deal. Number one, it certainly has gotten closer in recent elections. Hillary clinton lost it by nine points. A bit more impressively beto orourke lost texas by only three points to ted cruz. Also dem graphically if you came down from outer space and wound up in texas, youd think it looked like a purple state. Latino voters made up 30 of texas voters in 2018. You also have a big asian population, a big africanamerican population. Houston, dallas, austin and san antonio, are all big vibrant, increasingly diverse cities. Some things give me pause. One concern for democrats, texas, if you poll registered voters, you see some purple numbers. Who actually turns out to vote in texas . Traditionally, its older, white more republican voters. So, could democrats win texas in 2020 . Sure, theres a chance. But do i buy that texas is already a swing state . No, im not ready to buy it. Z me again in four years. Our thanks to nate. Our our roundtable standing by to dive in including the latest from our abc News Washington post poll. Were back in just 30 seconds. Lets bring in our roundtable, abc news political analyst matthew dowd, abc news correspondent Karen Travers who covers the white house for us. Steve innskeep and fi fivethir fivethirtyeight senior Political Writer perry bacon, jr. Welcome to you. Karen travers a first here today. Matt, lets get right to the poll out this morning. Backed by a strong economy, of course, the president has reached his highest Approval Rating in polling of 44 , still well below 50 . What should any 2020 democrat be concerned about looking at these numbers . Even this far in advance. Well, 44 is like saying youre the thinnest person at fat camp. I mean, its not a good number to go in as president. As we know from the polling, the average number that the president had in abc polling over the course of his 2 1 2 presidency, is 39 . No president has been that low. I think there are parts of the poll that the president can celebrate which is on the economy, his problem is every other issue hes under water on. Democrats have to be concerned even at that point of low Approval Rating and where the president stands today they dont have overwhelming leads when you go from adults to registered voters. They do have leads, but it closes fast. This is going to be an exceedingly competitive race from now until november 2020. Karen, and a majority of the country approves of the president s handling of the economy. The stock market reached another high this week. Just playing off of that, if that remains the case, simply the road to victory . The Trump Campaign hopes it is and enough to propel him. Thats the president s best number on the economy. The economy is the top issue for american voters, and thats why youll see the Trump Campaign make the president make that centerpiece of all of his campaign rallies, his campaign message. Everything else becomes problematic. Healthcare and immigration is equally as important to the economy, on that the president has high disApproval Ratings. And one of those big issues, one that weve been talking about all morning, steve, both parties seem to capitalize on immigration. You heard the dhs secretary, how difficult it will be for trump to run on the issue of immigration if this continues or if he doesnt get that wall . Well, he certainly ran on in 2018 not very successfully. But he believed that was something that motivated his base voters. We should remember that people who are more conservative have a different media diet and theyre seeing a different narrative of whats going on in these Detention Centers and whos responsible. The president has a simple message if they dont like the conditions they shouldnt come. Something he said in the last day or so. That people in more conservative Media Outlets will be saying. We should also note in the poll, martha, 44 Approval Rating is not good. As matthew correctly notes. Yet, in the same poll, when asked how people may plan to vote against various democrats, the president gets up to 46 , 47 , 48 . There are people disapprove of the president who dont approve of the president S Performance who are nevertheless saying in the same poll theyre ready to vote for them. That happened in 2016. Its the thing that could get the president back in the white house. And perry, the first look at polling since the first democratic debate, the latest abc News Washington post shows, senator Kamala Harris did get a bump after the debate but joe biden is still leading the pack. What do the latest polls tell you about what voters are looking for in the democratic field . We have had overall, the five postdebate polls. The debate seems a million years ago. Abc poll was pretty strong for biden. Biden still leads in almost every poll. The general trend in the last month has been, warren is gaining and Kamala Harris is gaining. Bernie sanders is going down a little bit and biden is going down a little bit. Biden is still the frontrunner. Hes ahead in every poll. That said, this debate performance wasnt great for him, showing up in the numbers now. Harris from fundraising, from on the ground in iowa, has a bit of a momentum right now. Can the other Democratic Candidates really chip away at biden at this point, matthew . It shows in aftermath of the debate, they can. Joe biden was sitting at 38 . Hes down to 25 . I think were in the round, some soccer, go women today, theyre playing the netherlands today. Were in this group stage and were about to go into the knockout stage soon. Probably in advance of the abc debate in september. I think joe biden and Bernie Sanders are the two weakest sort of frontrunning candidates that we have had in a party in a long, long time. I think once other candidates do well in debates thats when i think those two are really in trouble. And karen, were also seeing President Trump you see this all the time. President trump going after joe biden. Theyre taking shots at each other. Does that help biden, do you think, to be seen as a trump opponent . It helps because it allows him to make this general election. It allows biden that this is all about who can best beat trump. It allows him to skip the democratic primary at this point and focus on next year. It hurts because joe biden is getting it from all sides, from his democratic rivals and from President Trump. But youre right, the president focuses on joe biden more than any other candidate. He make Public Comments about him. He tweets about him. Yesterday, he was also tweeting about joe biden, that shows perhaps hes paying attention to the polls which shows joe biden leading him nationally and key states. I also think that the Trump Campaign feels there are weaknesses about joe biden they can exploit. Biggest asset that joe biden has is donald trump. He has electability and thats his biggest asset right now, going up against donald trump is the best thing joe biden has. And steve, the war of words between Kamala Harris and biden continued this week over the issue of busing. Going back to those debates, since their campaigns argued over whether they really disagree on the issues. Yesterday, we heard this from biden. An apology . Hang on just a second. Now was i wrong a few weeks ago to somehow give the impression to people that i was praising those men who i successfully opposed time and again . Yes, i was. I regret it. And im sorry if any of the pain or misconception may have caused anybody. Okay, steve, will that end it . He said im sorry for any pain or misconception is an actual apology. In a sense it ends we have this endless river of news going on. Were so far out from the election. We may not remember this episode weeks from now. It gets to the heart of biden appeal and his political style and the way he wants to sell himself. He wants to tell voters i am the guy who can work with the other side. I can work with the other side. But its also a reminder that joe biden has been around a long time. Hes been around since the days when people who have been open segregationists were still in positions in the government. He dealt with those people once upon a time. Perry . I think it puts this issue to bed. He apologized. Which is what cory booker asked for. It shows a weakness how about the fact that it was two weeks. Exactly that, cory booker should have apologized 18 days ago. If youre going to move on this issue, anyway, this is the problem with biden, he has the wrong position in the Current Democratic Party on a long list of issues, and he either has to move and he probably has to move quickly as opposed to letting this getting attacked by booker, harris, Elizabeth Warren on this issue. He had to adjust he needs to figure out where in the party apology tour . Exactly. As i said earlier, his greatest asset is donald trump. His biggest vulnerability is joe biden. And joe biden, the question is always going to be is, does he fit the 21st century american and Democratic Party . Over the steps hes taken in the last 30 days he showed hes out of sync with the country is today. The Democratic Party, for sure. Karen, one of the things that i love about your reporting is that you often tell us here at abc about what youre hearing from around the country. You talk a lot of radio hosts doing abc news radio and the questions they ask you, tell us what youre hearing about what voters are thinking of all this . This is about Donald Trumps personality and every time we talk about policy its through the prism of his personality. He announces something and its how he does it. How he plans to go down a path on healthcare. Or immigration. The president makes it all about personality because of the nicknames, the personal insults of other candidates. Youll never see the president get out there and give a detailed rebuttal to a policy position of Elizabeth Warren or joe biden. Thats how he does politics. When its on his terms voters recognize that, and then theyre not focusing on the policy theyre focusing on the personality of donald trump. How do the democrats get them back to focus on the issues . I had an opportunity to talk with democratic voters, for democrats as well, its all about donald trump. And their question, voter after voter and voter, whos going to beat this man . Thats why joe biden has seemed strong up until now because it seems he can beat him. I think the democrats are making a mistake in talking almost too much about the issues. Americans want obamacare want to stay and some improvements to their health care. I think the democrats have to be careful. Voters are concerned about donald trump. He has a high disApproval Rating. We know that theres antitrump majority in the country. The question is, are the democrats speaking to them in the right way . And think a smarter campaign, people dont like trumps personality more than his policies, i would argue. President ial elections are always theyre never fundamentally about personality or issues. Theyre always about values. I think the democrats have made mistakes in president ial elections. Obama did this well. You have to talk about all of those things, personality and policies as it relates to a big broad value that the American Public cares about. And perry, i just want to get you quickly on the secondquarter fundraising, which brought some staggering totals. Kamala, nearly 12 million. Bernie sanders, 18 million. Pete buttigieg, 24. 8 million. All really impressive hauls across the board. What do you make of mayor Pete Buttigieg getting nearly 25 million, but sitting at only 4 in the latest poll. I think it tells you, he has a deep Intense Coalition but not a broad one. He has very low numbers of africanamericans. I was surprised biden who i think is the frontrunner should have raised more than the mayor of the fourth largest city in indiana. Im surprised that biden didnt do particularly well, but i dont think mayor pete has to broader his coalition. Thoefb its coastal elite and you can raise money with them and not win many votes from them. Steve, just very quickly, congressman justin amash whos been very critical of donald trump and his belief that the president committed impeachable offenses. Announced on the fourth, hes leaving the gop. Today he said, he still wouldnt rule anything out, perhaps yoha to ask ifoure justinelse y am ay ocrat in that scenario and help reelect the president. Matt, very quick final word. Your thoughts on the president s salute to america . Id like to quote george w. Bush, what he said about the president s inauguration, that was some weird blank. I thought it was bizarre. Instead of a celebration of the troops, he looked like he was using the troops and the military to celebrate himself. I think its going to come and go. His supporters love it. Everybody that opposes donald trump hates it. I think it was a rather bizarre celebration of july 4th. He said the troops and he did stay on message most of the time. When he wasnt talking about airports. Thanks for all of you. Always great to see you especially on a holiday weekend. Coming up, is it too late for congressman seth moulton to break through in this crowded field . Our conversation when we come back. In this crowded field . Our conversation when we come back. Today we come together as one nation with this very special salute to america. We celebrate our history, our people, and the heroes who proudly defend our flag, the brave men and women of the United States military. The president stuck to his message on july 4th. Using his speech at the Lincoln Memorial to honor American History and showcase American Military might. A few days later, i sat down with congressman seth moulton one of the military veterans in the 2020 democratic primary, who took issue with the president s speech. Moulton hasnt registered in the polls yet. I asked him, whats keeping him in this race . We started with his reaction to the president s salute to america. I think trump by saluting the troops, includes saluting the flag his unwillingness to answer the call to go to vietnam. His unwillingness to confront putin. Thats what real service to the country is, is making a sacrifice to do the right thing for others and are trump doesnt understand that at all. Reporter but President Trump used that speech to call others to service. To the Young Americans across our country, now is your chance to join our military and make a truly great statement in life and you should do it. Quite something coming from someone who refused to do it himself. Do you give the president any room to say hes grown, hes grown to appreciate the military, hes learned from whatever he did in the past . Id love to be able to say that about the president because it would be good for america. But if that were true, he would t esidenti iti our foreign policy. He wouldnt continue to put our troops at risk by threatening war with iran, by failing to stand up russia. We need a commanderinchief who does the right thing for the country. Hes not keeping america safe. Which is something that i have spent a majority of my career doing. Im sure if he was sitting here, hed say, look, north korea isnt Testing Nuclear weapons right now, theyre not shooting off Ballistic Missiles right now north korea continues to refine nuclear material. They have more now than at the beginning of the presidency. Were not near any sort of an agreement. Reporter i first met seth moulton in 2007 at his parents home in marble head, massachusetts, as the harvard graduate was heading back to iraq for his fourth combat tour. I think a lot of people look at me and say, why do you want to go back now, be a part of the war when its going so poorly . I think is this is the most important time for people to serve. Reporter while home in massachusetts, moulton helped his interpreter with his effort seeking asylum in the u. S. Did he get asylum . He did. He did, hes one of the many people who came to america looking for asylum, a perfectly legal thing to do which i think is lost in this immigration debate today. Hes an american hero, too, he put his life on the line not only for his country iraq but for his new country america. Reporter those strong feelings and that sense of service is what drives the 40yearold moulton to run for president today. You got to stand up for your country and fight for its values when theyre most under threat. Thats why i went back to iraq. As much as i disagreed with the war, i could have influence how it was fought every single day than just by being back home. Reporter on the campaign trail, moulton has opened up about his ptsd and seeking help. Recognizing healthcare is a top issue for voters. He differs with the democrats in the race calling for universal government insurance. The bottom line is, everybody in America Needs healthcare because its a human right. We should get there by doing what obama wanted from the beginning. Like a public option, medicare if youd like it, that competes against private healthcare plans. You have options, you have choices that competition will bring down prices, bring down Prescription Drug prices for everybody. You talked about Bernie Sanders and compared it, its not really alike, is that a fair i think its a fair comparison. And, what you saw on the debate stage was democrats careening to the left promising a bunch of free things without a real strategy for getting these thing done for americans. Reporter moulton didnt have a chance to make his pitch to voters on the debate stage and hes unlikely to qualify for the second debate, but he had this advice for his fellow candidates. I do think trump is going to be harder to beat than Many Democrats like to believe. If we spend our time rehashing votes from four years ago in congress, rather than realistic plans to achieve our goals, i think its going to be a really tough election for us. Thats why im running a Campaign Based on service, on reclaiming patriotism from rightwing politicians who think they own it. On what it means from a democratic perspective to keep america strong and safe. Reporter while its not reflected in many polls yet, moulton believes his message is resonating with voters, and hes not ready to give up the fight. People are excited to hear a different perspective, and a different view of how we can build the coalition that we need to beat donald trump and bring the country together to actually accomplish the things that wed like to do, not just in 2020 with winning but in 2021 with leading the country. So youre staying in . Absolutely. Ive been in tough fights before. Im going to keep going. Our thanks to congressman moulton. We talked a lot about immigration this sunday. For over 7,000 immigrants, the long journey to becoming an american citizen ended this week. In a tradition to honor Independence Day holidays, the oath of citizenship was administered in over a hundred ceremonies across the country. We congratulate these newest americans. And we also honor our fellow in the month of june, one Service Member died overseas supporting operations in afghanistan. Thats all for us today. Thanks for sharing part of your sunday with us. And have a great day. With us. And have a great day. 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