Transcripts For CNNW Jay Inslee CNN Presidential Town Hall 20190411

Framing his Campaign Around climate issue. He says this is the 11th hour to solve the problem and if elected hell make Climate Change the number one priority of the United States. Tonight governor inslee will take questions from democrats and independents who say they plan to participate in the democratic primaries and caucuses. Please welcome governor jay inslee. Thank you, i appreciate it, thank you, thank you, thank you. All right, thank you. Please be seated. Govern governor inslee weve got a lot of questions from this audience, questions on Climate Change. Get right to the first question. From a student at American University here in washington. Edward, go ahead. As a College Student who studies Environmental Science i dont understand why the white house has openly denied science and is willing to bolser initiatives. Ive yet to decide who i support for president in 2020. What can you say to me and others in my generation on the verge of losing hope through political inaction on Climate Change . Let me help you decide who to vote for for president of the United States. I have some kindly words of wisdom. Before we do that, though, can we thank cnn and wolf for what theyre doing to help us make a rational choice for president . Thank you, wolf, thank you. Well, edward, heres what i would tell you and this is a little bit of personal advice. We know how dire this situation is. You and i know that we are the first generation to feel the sting of Climate Change and we are the last generation, literally, who can do something about it. So we know that this is a unique moment in american history, and actually in human history. Because its a moment of urgent peril. But it is also a moment of great promise where we can build a Clean Energy Economy and put people to work by the millions defeating Climate Change. I believe its actually very important and i appreciate you coming here tonight to talk about this because at the same time we have to be scientifically literate. We also have to understand something basic in the american character. And that is that we are a can do people. We are an optimistic people. We are the people that defeated fascism, and went to the went to the moon. And people who have the capability of rallying to great challenges, now can do the same thing if we get inspiration from the white house like we got john f. Kennedy. Ive been fighting this battle, edward, for 20 years. I know youve got to keep your spirits up. I will tell you something ive learned. You know what the most Important Renewable Energy fuel is in america . Its perseverance. Weve got this big time. And now when we get a president of the United States that understands that Wind Turbines dont cause cancer, they cause jobs, okay, they cause jobs. Governor well know what to do. Governor, youve called the green new deal, in your words, an aspirational document. You embrace it in sentiment, but do you fully endorse it . Well, i endorse exactly what is going on here, which is this has done three really beneficial things for america. Number one, its got people talking about Climate Change. This is one of the reasons im running, there was only four minutes of Climate Change in the last three president ial debates. Im going to end that. Number two, it has also raised peoples ambition as to the scope of the challenge. We have to decarbonize our entire economy in the next several decades. Green new deal has succeeded in helping people understand that. And third, and this is really important, it has led people to recognize that we have to not have not just a transition, we have to have a Just Transition to clean energy. Were the first victims of Climate Change, which our marginalized communities get help. Lets bring in a student studying communications at American University. I was wondering what you could describe a transition to a greener economy would look like and what would you have to say to americans who live in coal, gas and oildependent economies . What it would look like is a presidency where we have someone who has made a pledge to the american people, that i will make this pledge right now, if i am elected to this high honor, i will make defeating Climate Change the number one priority of the United States and i believe i can accomplish that. The reason is, is that now people are understanding the loss that people are suffering from this. I met a woman named marcia moss, at seminal springs, a beautiful Little Community of mobile homes, that got devastated. This woman named marcia moss asked me to come to her house. She showed me what was left of everything she owned. She showed me my house is destroyed. I only have two things to sustain me right now. One is my driveway, because i built it. She had this beautiful little rock inlay she did. And im proud of that. But the other thing that sustains me is hope that were going to build Clean Energy Future so that we reduce Carbon Dioxide so that the western United States is not consumed by these forest fires and she was happy that i provided her that hope. Thats what an administration looks like, 100 Clean Electricity, millions of new jobs, a Just Transition, and this, it is time to end the gravy train of giving 27 billion to the oil and gas industry of hardearned taxpayer money. That money needs to go governor. You just said 100 Clean Electricity and energy. What happens to the 1. 2 million americans working in fossil fuel extraction and power generation. I appreciated her question. I wanted to ask the second part of your question. Very important question. One of the things we talk about in this is that we need a Just Transition. This is going to be a huge transition. We are a fossil fuelbased economy, largely right now and we know were going to have to go to Clean Energy Sources by the midcentury. This is just a scientific fact. While we do this we have to make sure that people during that transition have opportunities along with everyone else. So we need to do the kind of things weve done in sen trailia, washington, where we are closing our last coal fired plant to have about a 55 million fund to help those employees in training and transition assistance, to help businesses where we can make sure that local economy continues to thrive. And give a transition period of several years so that theres not, you know, trauma for these families. This is very important. But we know we can do this. And ill tell you why. We are a country of unparalleled innovative talent. I know that in my state. Weve invented digital, you know, economy, the First Successful jet airplane, the artificial kidney machine. We even invented the 4 cup of coffee in Washington State and we know that there are going to be jobs aplenty. Its interesting, there are 3 Million People, you mentioned a million in fossil fuels, 3 Million People tonight working in clean energy in the United States. Its growing twice as fast as the rest of the u. S. Economy, the most rapidly growing job in america is Solar Installer and second is wind turbine technician. This is a future that i believe is our destiny to grasp. When we do it were going to bring everybody along, thats the american way and im pledging that tonight. Governor, weve got a question from evan brooks, a member of the College Democrats at the university of maryland. Hello, governor inslee. One of the strengths of your campaign is the environment. Unfortunately theres not been much information about your stances on several issues. Recently Nipsey Hussle was attempting to do good in his community and tragically was gunned down. How will improve gun violence in urban areas where gun violence is entrenched. This is something near to my heart ive been fighting now for over a quarter of a century. Ive known that it is time to confront the nra and develop common sense Gun Legislation for a quarter of a century. And ill give you an example of that because, you know, sometimes politicians talk and dont back up with action. Have you noticed this . Well, in 1994 when i was a freshman legislator i was representing eastern washington. It was a very republican area, very agricultural area. And a lot of hunting folks, a lot of racks in pickups but we needed just a few votes to pass the assault weapon bill and i knew if i cast that vote i was probably going to lose my seat in congress, which is hard to do because i liked it at the time. And people said, look, youre going to lose your seat if you voted for this. I voted for that bill. I provided one of the critical votes to get it over the top. I lost my seat, but i have never regretted that vote. I do not believe any congressmans or politicians seat is more important than any childs life, and i fundamentally believe that. Governor weve done a lot more. Weve passed three we have passed three major gun safety legislations by initiative in our state and were not done yet. We are not going to back up against the nra, we have them on the run. This countrys moving forward to common sense Gun Legislation. Im glad to be part of that. Weve got a question. Deanna rhetter, a student focusing on psychology at catholic university. Given that Washington State has legalized marijuana what is your view on legalizing marijuana across the country . Thank you, i missed your name. Deanna rhetter. Deanna, listen, i appreciate that. Im happy to share washingtons experience, which is that we legalized marijuana several years ago and the fears of a number, including myself. I actually did not support the initiative when it came up several years ago because i was concerned about youthful usage. But what we have found is that those foears have not come to pass. I am happy to share that with the rest of the world. Weve not had adverse results with our young people. Weve not had ramping criminality in the distribution of marijuana and it has been helpful by providing about 700 million of revenue so that we can help the health of our children in schools for our children so it has been an unallowed success in the state of washington and its my belief its time for the United States to decriminalize and legalize marijuana. I believe that very, very firmly. Now, this is just part of our effort to right some of the injustice in our judicial system too. Because the drug war has been one of the elements of such Racial Disparities in our judicial system and we need to bring justice back into the justice system. One of the reasons i was the first governor to offer pardons to over 3,000 people with marijuana convictions because the drug war has resulted in too much racial disparity. So i hope we get the whole country to follow washingtons lead. By the way, i think that sounds like a theme. Follow washingtons lead. Look west for success. I kind of like that. Governor, you mentioned the crime bill. When youre a u. S. Congressman, you voted in 1994 for the 1994 crime bill which included stiffer penalties for drug crimes contributing to the massive incarceration of a lot of people of color, as you know. Do you now regret that vote . Listen, that was a situation where many democrats, including myself, believed we needed some response to the epidemic of crime at the time. But i will tell you that this, if i knew then what i know now i would not have cast that vote. It has resulted in Racial Disparities in our system. Since then i have been very dedicated in helping to right the disparities that exist and they didnt happen just because of that bill. Theyve been very deeply ingrained in our society. Ill just give you an example of the things ive done. We know that the drug war has been one of the reasons for Racial Disparities. We know that having panels of just white folks when youve got a black defendant on a criminal trial is not a healthy thing so weve changed our rules to try to get more diverse jury panels. We have adopted the template of a law to try to reduce Police Violence so we dont get so much Police Violence, particularly against people in the communities of color, and we are training people, Police Officers in deescalation tactics so they do not get involved in violence against communities of color. All of these things are very important. Were doing a bunch of other, more longterm efforts as well. Let me ask you, as president you would have the pardon power. Yes. The power to pardon individuals, how far would you take that pardon power on this specific issue . Well, id be very pressed to take it to donald trump, ill tell you that. That would be very challenging. No, on this issue, no, i have used the pardon power to try to right wrongs probably more aggressively than certainly my predecessors where we have found untoward sentences and ive also been working to reduce the time period of sentences. I will tell you in my state i think we have people for property crimes that are serving too long in jail when they could be having rehabilitation and training so that they dont have recidivism. Ive been frustrated because ive not been able to get my legislature to join me yet. This is an ongoing effort. I look forward to future success. Governor, weve got a lot more questions for you. Were going to take a quick break. Well be back with more from the town hall with governor jay inslee. Im working to make connections of a different kind. 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Your doctor should monitor your weight and may stop treatment. Upper respiratory tract infection and headache may occur. Tell your doctor about your medicines, and if youre pregnant or planning to be. Ready to treat differently with a pill . Otezla. Show more of you. Welcome back to cnns democratic president ial town hall with governor jay inslee. Governor, weve got another question, sam, a freshman at the university of Maryland College park, studying theater and politics. Good evening, governor. Donald trump oerrdered thousand of children to be permanently taken from their parents in an evil act of intentional cruelty. How can the democrats justify failing to impeach President Trump for this . Tough question. This is a tough question because we know his multiple outrages. Look, when i heard about this child separation, my blood just wanted to boil. You ask trudy, shes been married to me for 46 years, and she thinks the hottest ive ever been, in a bad way. So, i mean, really, this just makes you so angry. I had the same thing when i heard about the muslim ban. I was actually getting on my bike to go for a ride and my chief of staff called me and said theyre banning muslims coming into Seattle International airport. I got off and went down to see to help those families become reunited. There were husbands 50 feet away from giving their wife a hug after not seeing them and then Donald Trumps policies separate them. This is a really hard issue. And i have not faced it because im a governor. I dont exactly have that. I believe the Current Situation right now is we should have a dramatic engaged concerted energetic and successful effort in november 2020 to make donald trump a blip in history. Thats what i believe. And i believe that is today, today. Today i think that is the most fruitful and potentially successful because just filing articles of impeachment, as you know, doesnt solve the truck, you have to have a conviction in the senate. So for my money at the moment were doing what we should do which is to get ready to remove this person from this high office, and remain very vigilant about getting information because it may turn out a lot more dark things that we dont know about yet. Were not done with this investigation. For instance, they just discovered a black hole, did you see the picture, the first black hole theyve ever taken a picture of it, we think Donald Trumps tax returns are in there somewhere. You mentioned the travel ban. Your state, Washington State has been very aggressive in confronting President Trump on the travel ban, family separation at the border, weakening of obamacare, the Affordable Care act. Do you see yourself as part of the socalled resistance . Not just part of it but i like to think of myself as a leader of it because he has offended so many values that offend my state. And injure my people. Look, this is serious business. We have provided 800,000 People Health insurance because of obamacare thanks to the leadership of president barack obama. And we have 20,000 people who are getting treatment for opioid problems. So we have this opioid crisis, and this person in the white house, for only political reasons, wants to strip my citizens of health care. And i have trouble thinking of a more venal thing to actually try to do and i hope hes not successful. So we have been fighting him. We have sued him as much or more than any other state and im proud to stand here to tell you that we are 180, we have beat him 18 times in a row in the courts. Governor, continuing on health care, which is obviously so critically important, i want to bring in laura kaplan, a member of our revolution, aligned with senator bernie sanders. Im a primary care physician. Many of my patients who have survived life threatening illness have experienced medical bankruptcy due to exorbitantly high medical bills. On review of your public option plan it is unclear how this crisis could be prevented. As you noted in our state, laura, we are going to be hopefully the first state to have a public option and its just one step forward, which would provide the state to provide a mechanism to get insurance for those who dont have access to the private markets or medicaid. And im very hopeful this can be an example for the rest of the country. I do think there is a refrain tonight because i think my state can be a template for a lot of things, including health care. That wont be the end of it. We will have to expand federal health care dramatically. I believe we should lower the age for medicare, we should allow people to buy into medicare so you can have medicare for people whobt want right now. We should explore new folks into health care when theyre born. This is much more to be done in the health care realm. I will share this with you. We are not going to be able to get health care done, or anything else for that matter unless we get rid of the filibuster. And i was the first candidate in this race running for president to be very unequivocal about this. If the filibuster is still in Mitch Mcconnells hand come 2021, all hope is sort of down the tubes to be able to do real significant reform. I am telling you if i am given this high honor i will lead the charge to end this cnntorial privilege, and lets get Health Care Reform and reform the United States of america. Thats what im pledging to do. We have a question from julia, originally from missouri and now a sophomore at American University, studying Political Science and public relations. Julia. As a student working three jobs to pay for an incredibly Expensive School in order to have a successful career in the future, i am terrified how i will pay off my loans in the future. How will you help me and the hundreds of thousands of other students like me with a growing student debt . Julia, i know how tough this is. Its just its such a burden. I cant imagine its tough enough going out into a job market looking for your first job and having to put on a clean shirt and thats a lot of anxiety. So having this burden is something i know your generation is really struggling with. What i would suggest is that i would hope the things that we have done in our state, again, could be a model for success in the United States. So one of the things weve done is weve reduced tuition. And tuition is one of your burdens. We havent cut it in half but weve reduced it. This is a small help. Secondly we have dramatically increased access to Financial Aid and weve done it in a really smart way. Weve probably 20 or 30 increase eventually we will have this to the number of students getting Financial Aid. And im proud of our state because i think theyve done it the right way. We have targeted the Financial Aid to those who were really most in the need. Which are the lower, you know, quinn tile or quar tile of our students and weve given them not only free tuition, but weve given them the full meal deal. That doesnt solve the problem. You have to be able to eat and buy books and take care of your transportation needs. Our plan is probably the richest in america, and that is a template for success that i hope to follow as president of the United States. Governor, when you finished high school you got accepted to a great school, stanford university, california, went there for a year but you couldnt afford to stay there without taking out some Student Loans so you decided you would leave rather than take out the loan, why . Basically im kind of a cheap guy when it gets right down to it. Really, i loved stanford. I had a great year there. Got to play freshman basketball but did not win a scholarship. That was out of the question. And i actually dont know if i could have obtained enough Student Loans. I didnt check. I did go up to the university of washington, another great school, and majored in economics, then went to law school and tried to build a school in sela, washington, and we tried passing a bond issue on the seventh try. As soon as we passed it on the seventh try the knuckle heads in the legislature cut the funding, like in half. That didnt seem right to me. I decided to run for the legislature, and i was prompted by this issue of education. Thats why i can tell you that one of my proudest, really, achievements i think in the last few years weve had huge increations of Early Childhood education, huge increases in Financial Aid and maybe the best of all ive made sure our tea teachers get an average of a 12 wage, so we can keep the Great Teachers in the classroom. Thats an educational agenda that started back here at the university of washington. Companies close to your heart. 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Because the future only happens with people who really know how to deliver it. Welcome back to cnns democratic president ial town hall with governor jay inslee, governor, we have another questioner, robert norwood, originally from yeiowa, studyin at American University. When it came to the grounding of the boeing 737 max aircraft, the u. S. Was one of the last countries to do so. If you were in President Trumps position how would you have handled the situation . I really appreciate that question. This is difficult. I come from a boeing neighborhood and families, my best friends dad was a boeing engineer on the 727. My uncle was a manager, my cousins are boeing. This has been a painful thing for the people who make these airplanes. But i have to tell you, i would have grounded these jets much sooner. And dont hold me totally to this because i didnt have all of the briefing. But i would have been given serious consideration to grounding them after the first loss. And the reason is, is that it appeared to me at the time that there was sufficient evidence of a significant malfunction to warrant that. I do not believe the administration acted with the alertness that they should have, and i just feel terribly about this loss. Im very hopeful that the boeing company will succeed in fixing this problem. I know that they will make every commitment to do so. And i just have to tell you that one of the kind of overlaying concerns about this incident is that this administration has so frequently turned over the entire federal government to lobbyists for the regulated industries that its very difficult to have confidence in anything they do. Look, in the interior department they turned over our favorite public lands to a lobbyist for the fossil fuel industry and now were seeing wholesale removals of laws that protect us in the United States. And that has created such justifiable doubt that in any hard decision like this how could you trust this administration . I think its time for change in the white house so that you can trust somebody there to make good decisions. Governor, we have a question from another a question about another big employer in your state, Washington State, i want to bring in Christian Quigley from massachusetts, a student at catholic university, also the Vice President of the schools College Democrats. As the governor of the state where multibillion companies have been founded, how do you feel about these Companies Going to districts and saying they want to provide jobs yet they really want to receive tax breaks . Very disturbed by this, and i have to tell you that we have a very unfortunate situation for citizens across the United States. And that is large corporations now can basically threaten the taxpayers saying if you dont give me a few Million Dollars tax breaks well move your jobs to a different location. It can also force communities to compete against one another to see who can give them the sweetest deal on tax breaks. I just do not believe thats healthy for the economy and i do not believe it is just for citizens and taxpayers. So i believe we have to find a way to stop this pernicious process. And one of those ways, and were still thinking about this, but we may be able to use the federal tax code to make it that corporations cant do this because theyd essentially have some tax exposure if they ended up gutting taxpayers because of theyve threatened them with this sort of extortion. So i think weve got to think about ways to attack this. Governor, i want to go back to boeing for a moment. Its a sensitive issue. In 2013 you offered the company, boeing, based in Washington State, an 8. 7 billion tax break to maintain and grow its workforce in Washington State but what followed was four straight years of job cuts at boeing, even with a slight uptick in 2018 boeing still has fewer employees than it did before you enacted that tax break. Did you make a bad deal . I made an unfortunately deal, this is one of the things we just talked about, this question. Boeing should not have been able to threaten the state of washington to move 20,000 jobs out of our community. Were the best place to make airplanes and have been for many decades. But they threatened my state and 20,000 jobs unless they got certain tax benefits. I liken that as extortion. I dont think thats right. I think we should be protected from that type of behavior. Now, my job is to help grow jobs in the state of washington. And fortunately, were doing quite well. Weve been listed as the best place to do business by cnbc and the best place to be an employee by ox fam. And weve got the greatest gdp growth and the greatest wage growth in the United States. So we have been able to be successful because we have had successful job creating opportunities in part through clean energy. Just one other comment of something i think the rest of the country will find of interest, you know the republicans basically say that if you do anything for working families youll crater your economy. Well, guess what . Washington state, since ive been governor, now has the highest minimum wage in the United States with the most rapid period of gdp growth in the United States. We have blown up the republican theory of trickle down economics. Were building a middle class. We know that we build an economy in the middle out, not the top down, this is what were doing in Washington State and its working big time. I want to bring in joseph an administrator in the school here in washington, d. C. , president of the Young Democrats of maryland, a delegate to the Democratic National convention in 2016 for hillary clinton. Good evening, governor. Good evening. I wanted to ask you about your state. In 2013 your legislature failed to pass a budget agreement on time, you and the legislature were forced to call two additional legislative sessions to get to agreement. It happened again in 2017. And as of today, with a deadline of april 28th, you still have not reached a budget agreement. After 34 hard days of failing to reach a budget agreement here in washington, why should we believe that you would do better . Well, i will tell you one thing for sure, donald trump would not have done better in Washington State. I will tell you that for sure. And there is no reason to believe that he would have been more successful corralling legislators to reach an agreement. This has been very frustrating to me, in part because ive had the great pleasure of having a republican majority in my senate until very, very recently and that has made reaching agreement very, very difficult and i have found you just need to be persistent to make sure you finally get consensus. But i will tell you something as far as the nature of your question, why you should be confident i can get this job done, well ive been a leader with a republican senate. We were able to pass the largest transportation package in the history of the state on a bipartisan basis, even though the republicans said no for four years, i just kept at it, we were also able to pass the largest educational budget where we put several billion dollars with a teacher pay increase of 12 a year into our budget. Again on a bipartisan basis. So i am able to work where necessary and where appropriate for republicans. But i will tell you this, im never going to vender a womans right of choice to republicans, never going to go backwards when ive eliminated the death penalty. Never going to go backwards when they want to repeal gun laws, and repeal minimum wage. Im sticking with that. All right, governor, were going to take another quick break, well be back with more of cnns democratic town hall with governor jay inslee. Help i need somebody help not just anybody help you know i need someone woman man what shoroad trip. With it first . woman yes. woman offroad trip. couple [laughter] couple vo whoa man how hot is the diablo chili . waitress well. Youve got to sign a waiver. [laughter] ranger you folks need bear repellent . woman ah, were good. man yes. vo its a big world. Our new forester just made it even bigger. woman so what should we do second . vo the 2019 subaru forester. The most adventurous forester ever. My time is thin, but so is my lawn. 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And all medicines you take, including herbal supplements. Taking amiodarone with epclusa may cause a serious slowing of your heart rate. Common side effects include headache and tiredness ask your doctor today, if epclusa is your kind of cure. Welcome back to cnns democratic president ial town hall with governor jay inslee. Im bringing a student from ones hopkins. Go ahead. Governor ips lee, President Trump has taken a sledge hammer to the Global Security order established by the United States and its allies decades ago. Hes attacked nato, undermined our alliance with south korea, and cozied up to dictators around the world. What will you do to restore our International Credibility . Defeat donald trump, number one. Thats the first thing. Im pretty confident about that. I believe im a perfect matchup against him because im a very optimistic person and hes a very pessimistic person. I believe in the ability of america to do big things he wants to crawl down and just put a wall around us. I believe were technologically oriented and he refuses to invest in new energy technologies. In answer to your question, i have a fundamentally disagreement with donald trump. He has a world view, if i was going to categorize it, of thinking that for him to win somebody else has to lose. And i really believe he extends that to our international policies. So that the only way he believes america can succeed, if another country somehow is subjugated r loses some treaty right. Thats a dangerous policy. It has damaged us in our international relations. The decision to avoid the iran deal, which was a very carefully calibrated effort, to rein, our best hope to prevent a dangerous iran. Hes made this big argument that, you know, china and india should do more for Climate Change. Its not exactly going to be inspiring for them to do more if we decide to do less. So this is really a dangerous position he has put the United States in. Not to mention the National Security Threats Associated with Climate Change. I met with admirals and generals in seattle a few weeks ago and they were telling me the pentagons hair is on fire about the mass migrations that are going to happen because of Climate Change creating political instability. I do believe he has reduced our National Security, not increased it, i would have an opposed position. I want to bring in matt fitzpatrick, go ahead. Governor inslee, some people have argued that Nuclear Power as a Proven Energy source is a strategy to fight Climate Change. Do you see Nuclear Power fitting in and how do we develop nuclear safely, affordably and with proper Waste Disposal . It shows why youre a good professor. You know what the issues are here, which is look, i believe the urgency is so great and the time period so short to decarbonize our economy that we need to be open to any low cost or low carbon or zero carbon technology. That includes nuclear. But as youve pointed out in your question there would have to be four things happen before Nuclear Power would be able to become a major part of our portfolio. It would have to become cost effective, which it is not. It would have to be much safer with passive safety systems, which have not yet been developed. It would have to solve the waste problem with the waste stream and it would have to win public acceptance. My view is, it is appropriate to make rd investments to determine whether any of those are all of those can be surmounted. I think thats a proper investment and ill look forward to your thoughts after the show. Governor, i want to ask you about an idea to fight Climate Change that sounds sort of like Science Fiction thats called geoengineering. This could be sucking carbon from the atmosphere, or reflecting heat away from the earth to cool the planet. Should taxpayers pay Taxpayers Fund these potential ideas. Well, as ive indicated, this is such a challenge that we are going to need to do research and development on things that may not have a probability of success. Were going to have to make some R D Investments like we do frequently on technologies, some of which dont pan out. I do believe that car gone sequestration measures, for instance, finding a way to sequester carbon in topsoil so that farmers can be part of this effort to do no and low till drill to get Carbon Dioxide into our forests and timber. Those things make sense. And we need to dramatically increase our r d. Look, a few years ago i checked, we were spending more money on r d on one jeep than the entire clean Energy Budget of the United States. This has to be an effort like when we defeated fascism and like we went to the moon, which required major, major r d. Now, can i take a minute and tell you why im running for president . Is this appropriate . One minute. Look, i have loved being governor of the state of washington. Very successful state, ive been a very successful governor. I think its a template for how we can build an economy in the u. S. But this this is such a threat to my grandchildren. Ive got three grand kids. And i know theyre going to live a very degraded life, and will not enjoy what i have enjoyed in the state of washington, which is salmon in the rivers and clean air to breathe and snow in the mountains. And being free from infectious diseases. And i know what moral certainty that they will live a degraded life. So ive decided to run for president to make sure this is the number one priority of the United States and to make sure that the Democratic Party has this in its sights when we nominate a person to run for this esteemed office. And ive committed myself body and soul to that effort. Thats why im running for president of the United States. Yes, this is an Economic Growth issue of clean energy. But it is a moral issue very close to my heart and thats why im in this race. And i mention this because in the debates in june and to do that, we need 65,000 people to make some financial contribution at jay inslee. Com to make sure Climate Change is on the debate stage in june. If you believe it should be on the debate stage, tell them to well get this debated. Were going to take another quick break. More with cnns democratic president ial town hall with governor jay inslee right after this. Webut some of us turn outhose dreams. Into action. The bookers. The doers. 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Visit right now or call during business hours. People wake. And smile, when they see the sun. Not that one. This one. It makes knowing when to take your prescriptions clear as day. Up to fifty percent of people dont take them properly. So at cvs pharmacy we got up early and built a system that helps calculate each persons ideal schedule. Its great for doctors. And caregivers. At cvs pharmacy, were just trying to help more people have more mornings. And accessoriesphonesng to for your mobile phone. Like this device to increase volume on your cell phone. phone ringing get details on this state Program Visit right now or call during business hours. To save 30 on all the medications we carry. So go directly to petmeds. Com now. Welcome back to cnns democratic town hall with governor jay inslee. I want to bring you moreen coffee who works in Consumer Protection in virginia and a member of the arlington Young Democrats. Recently several Foreign Countries have stopped purchasesing our recycleable waste, meansing it never gets to the point of being recycled. How can we fix our broken recycling system . I thought i had the answers to every question and i dont have annancer to that. Next time we meet im going to have a better approach. We know how important this is. To riff on the nature of your question. Weve got to stop making products that end up having to be recycled, much less in a land fill and that involves and that involves redesigning our systems, our packaging systems. I know some of the Big Companies in my state are starting to do Major Research to do that. We would like to support that research. We know plastics are an enormous environmental problem. The horrific stories of whales ingesting plastic suggests we have a lot of work to do and i believe im up to it. University of maryland. Primaries often involve litmus tests that determine whether or not a candidate is pure enough. But it is okay to disagree with some part of the partys platform. Is there any part of the Republican Party platform that you agree with . Why or why not . I agree in the republicans approach that they insist we have elections every four years for president so we can get another president. We need one. [ applause ] if i can, let me come back to this issue. Both of the filibuster and why i have such pris itization on claimt change and it has to do to some degree with the Republican Party. Theyve refused to embrace any meaningful way to combat Climate Change. We know we have a climate denier who calls it a a hoax in the white house. Because of that resistance, i know this with a political certainty, if this is not job one of defeating Climate Change, it will not get done. This you have a todo list on your refrigerator . We cant have our nominee just have it on the todo list. Its got to be on the top, otherwise we will not succeed. Because we have to understand that we dont have any support from the Republican Party at the moment. I would hope that will change. Wont it be a great day when a Teddy Roosevelt appears in the Republican Party . Would like to see it. Former president barack obama said he was worried about rigidity among progressive democrats. Said sometimes they create a circular firing squad when someone has strained from purity on the issues. I dont know what president obama was referring to. So ill with hold judgment. But i do think president obama, who look, hes a hero of mine. What he did for health care was truly magnificent. That was an act of leadership. What he did for Climate Change in his executive orders and making sure we get off coal power in the appropriate transition period, protecting clean water. The Trump Administration said theyre going to try to take away our states ability to protect clean water that has been historically the states. So im a huge admirer of his. I think he aught to be given the privilege of assuming a little bit of Senior Leader status, which on occasion allows you to drop pearls of wisdom before folks and hope they will follow them. And i think it is appropriate to ask us to be in a consensus building mode in all parties, United States house of represents, this is how you get things done. So im going to follow his advice and i look forward to singing his praises everywhere i go. Thank you so much for joining us at the cnn democratic president ial town hall. I want to thank our studio a audience as well. Tomorrow night, 10 00 p. M. Eastern. Don lemon will moderate our next town hall with former housing secretary, julian castro. Cnn tonight starts right now. Wolf blitzer, thank you very much. This is cnn tonight. I am don lemon. And you just watched our cnn town hall with washington governor and president ial candidate, jay inslee, answering questions from the audience for more than an hour, talking about his signature issue, Climate Change, as well as legalizing marijuana, and Health Care Reform. They talked about a lot. We have to talk about what we saw from the president of the United States and his attorney general. A twoman show. One bombastic and bragadocious. The other more soft spoken with a sterling reputation in washington. But make no mistake today they were both working for the same man. The attorney general saying he thinks the Trump Campaign was spied on. A offer absolutely no evidence for his claim and minutes later trying to walk back what he said himself. Well, it start would this exchange. Barr is the one who brings up the spying. You could drive a truck through. An opportunity to take back his spy claim. He doesnt. Listen. I think spying on a Political Campaign is a big deal. Youre not suggesting spying occurred . Well, i i guess you could i think theres a spying did occur. Yes, i think spying did occur. You heard that . You heard that. Stopping and thinking questions. Thinking about what he was going to say and diving right in and repeating his outrages claim that the Trump Campaign was spied on. Remember this was two years ago terrible, just found out that obama had my wires tapped in trump tower, just beor the victory. Nothing found. This is mccarthyism. Theres no evidence that happened but it didnt stop barr in a blatant attempt to have it both ways. I am not saying that improper surveill ons occurred. I am saying that i am concerned about it and looking into it. Thats all. Do we have a sound bite before that one . Can we can just play them back to back, please. I think spying on a Political Campaign is a big deal. Youre not suggesting that spying occurred . I dont well i guess you could i think theres a spying did occur. Yes, i think spying did occur. I am not saying that improper surveillance occurred. Im saying that i am concerned about it and looking into it. Thats all. Yes, you are. That is exactly what youre saying. We just played your own words back to you. This is a transparent attempt by the top Law Enforcement officer to make an incendiary charge without a shred of evidence and dodge responsibility for even saying it. Not to have to stand behind it. Democrats are furious. I want to listen to houses speaker nancy pelosi. Let me just say how very, very dismaying and disappointing that the chief Law Enforcement officer of our country is going off the rails yesterday and today. He is the attorney general of the United States of america. Not the attorney general of donald trump. But the president delighted with the attorney general who, dont forget, replaced Jeff Sessions who he really, really didnt like. Hes doing a great job. Of course he thinks barrs doing a great job because it increasingly looks like hes doing the president s dirty work and thats exactly the job trump wants everybody in his administration to do. The attorney general playing into it the president s favor lt Conspiracy Theory about a deep state out to get him. This is last year. Quote why didnt the crooked, highest levels of the fbi contact me to tell me of the phoney russia problem . And i want you to listen to this exchange between barr and Lindsey Graham today. So would it be autd that candidate was never really briefed that your campaign may be targeted by a foreign entity . That is one of the questions i have is i feel norm that he will campaign would have been advised of this. And can you think of a good reason right now why they wouldnt have been . Im interested in getting that answer. I dont understand why the campaign was not advised. Attorney general should know that. In fact were going to give you the facts now, okay. The fact is the Trump Campaign was advised. Then candidate donald trump was personally warned in august of 2016 by senior u. S. Intelligence officials that foreign adversaries, including russia, were likely to try to infiltrate his team or get intel about his campaign. Maybe ea he wasnt listening. But they advised. Thats the facts. But barr put it out there. Not only without any evidence but in contradiction to known facts. He put it throughout and now the damage is done. But with the Mueller Report expected in a matter of days, the president sounds rattled. This was an attempted coup, an attempted take down of a president. And we beat them. We beat them. So the Mueller Report, when they talk about obstruction, we fight back. And you know why we fight back . Because i knew how illegal this whole thing was. This was an illegal witch hunt and everybody knew it. Witch hunt . Guess who else was talking about a witch hunt today. Do you believe the investigation that director mueller took was a witch hunt or illegal as asserted by the president . As i said during my conformation t really depends on where youre sitting. If you are somebody whos being falsely accused of something, you would tend to view the investigation well, youre sith as the attorney general of the United States with constitutional responsibilities. It is what it is. You heard that. I just want to compare that to what barr said during his conformation hearing. Do you believe mr. Mueller would be involved in a witch hunt against anybody . I dont believe mr. Mueller would be involved in a witch hunt. Come on. We all know afterall, we heard witch hunt about a million times before from this president. Its a total witch hunt. Ive been saying it for a long time. Its a witch hunt. Witch hunt. Its a terrible witch hunt. Witch hunt. Witch hunt. So far this things been a total witch hunt. And doesnt implicate me in any way. I mean talking point and sound bite to play back for you here. No matter how many times he says it, its not true. These are the facts. Mueller has brought criminal charges against 34 people, three companies, including a half dozen members of team trump. There they are. Michael cohen, michael flynn, gates, all trump. George papadopoulos, paul manafort, and rick stone. Three people have gone to prison. Thats no witch hunt. No matter what the president and his attorney general say. All of this comes down to one thing for this president. Winning. I have not seen the Mueller Report. I have not read the Mueller Report. I won. No collusion. No obstruction. I won. Everybody knows i won. The president of the United States is all about us verses them. Us verses them. Divide, divide, divide. When he doubles down on lies and conspiracy theories. You have to wonder why hes doing it now . Is it because hes got reason to fear whats coming . I told you about the attorney general barr repeating the false claim that the Trump Campaign was spied on. Nobody knows the truth better than my next guest and thats former director of national intelligence, james clapper. Tio. A product of mastery. Lease the 2019 es 350 for 389 a month for 36 months. Experience amazing at your lexus dealer. New lower price. Wow. Thats a lot of asparagus. Yeah, you said get a bunch of asparagus. Oh, you. A bunch. I. Thought you kinda. A bunch. So, youre open all day, thats what 24 7 means, sugar. Kind of like how you get 24 7 access to licensed agents with geico. Hmm . Yeah, you just go online, or give them a call anytime. You dont say. Yep. Now what will it take to get 24 7 access to that lemon meringue pie . Pie pies coming thats what it takes, baby. Geico®. Great service from licensed agents, 24 7. Guys do whatever it takes to deal with shave irritation. So, we reimagined the razor with the new gillette skinguard. It has a unique guard between the blades. Thats designed to reduce irritation during the shave. Because we believe all men deserve a razor just for them. The best a man can get. Gillette. Run with us on a john deere 1 series tractor. Beacuse changing your attachments, should be as easy as. What about this . Changing your plans. Yeah. Run with us. Search john deere 1 series for more. Attorney general barr sounding a lot like the president today with a baseless it claim that trump team was spied on. I say baseless because he didnt offer one shred of evidence for that incendiary charge. And joining me is former director of national intelligence, james clapper. Before i get your response. It became clear to me during these hearings, watching it, that attorney general is appearing to be a political operative. Do you agree with that assessment . I tell you, don in fact, i think i made this comment to you during his conformation. And i was impressed. I dont know attorney general. But i was impressed with his demeanor and his responses during the conformation hearing. And it struck me this guys got no ambition. Hes already been the attorney general. Doesnt have anything to prove there. And hes got to be concerned about the rule of law and taking care of his legacy. But today was both stunning and scary, frankly. Because my expectation and vision of attorney general is neutrality, objectivity, stay above the political pay for and protect the rule of law. I had reason to question that today. So what did you think when you heard him echo oing that false claim about spying . Well, i was taken aback some and whatever you want to use. First of all the term spying has a very