U.S. Senate Special: Senator Bob Menendez

In part two of this special edition of State of Affairs, Steve Adubato sits down with the Democratic incumbent for U.S. Senate, Bob Menendez (D) – NJ. Menendez addresses many topics including: ethics, priorities for NJ; immigration; healthcare, and the impact of the Trump administration.

10/6/18 #223

 

 

 

 

Excerpt:

"Welcome back folks. I just want to remind everyone that on November 6th there will be a very important election, not just for congressional seats in New Jersey and across the country in the house, but key US Senate races. Joining us now... in one of those key races is the Senior Senator from the great state of New Jersey, United States Senator Robert Menendez. Good to see you, Senator. Good to be with you, Steve. Interesting... Donald Trump. You and I were talking before we got on camera, you have actually never met him? No. Not before he became president, no. Okay. he did... there was a phone call we'll talk about later to you. Your impressions of him as president as a leader... and if you could take policy out of it for a second... stylistically as a leader... impact on the nation? Go. I don't think he leads. I don't think he leads. He embraces the most authoritarian figures in the world and gives the back of the hand to our closest allies. He doesn't bring people together as we expected. The President in common cause, he divides us by who we are, what we look like, where we came from and who we love. I expect a president who tries to bring the American people together. He doesn't reach out in the Congress unlike other presidents, including President Bush, who I served under, to try to forge bipartisan compromise. So, I don't think that those are the characteristics of a leader we want, particularly the highest office in the land. Bob Hugin was here a couple days ago, we did the interview with him. He had very strong, clear things to say. So listen, "I'll disagree with the President when I think he's wrong, and I'll agree with him when he's right." You say? I say baloney. The reality is that he was Trump's finance chair in New Jersey, a delegate for Trump at the Republican... excuse me for interrupting Senator, he said... when I asked him that question he said he gave the money to the Republican National Committee. No, he gave some to Trump before he gave it to... before he gave it to Chris Christie when he was in the race, then he gave it to Trump. Then he also gave it to the Republican National Committee. He was a delegate for Trump at the convention. He was his finance chair in the state. But more importantly, he has consistently taken views along with the President that are against the interests of New Jersey. Specifically? And he gives large... large amounts of money to the..."