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Transcript for Flake says Trump's attacks on media comparable to Soviet Union Dictator Stalin
past year.
Senator perdue, thank you for your time. Thanks, George. We're joined by senator Jeff flake. I know you weren't in the meeting on Thursday. You're behind this bipartisan deal presented by senators Durbin and graham on Thursday. You just heard the objections of senator perdue, your response? Well, this is a bipartisan deal. There are three Democrats. Three Republicans. We're working now to add more Republicans to that list. And we will have more this coming week. This is a bipartisan deal with both sides have compromised. There's a change to what the D.R.E.A.M. Act was. This is different from that. We have to get 60 votes. We're not under rules of reconciliation where one party can impose will. This is a bipartisan solution. I believe there is a deal to be had. I know you were not in the meeting on Thursday. You have spoken to those two were. You heard senator perdue say the president didn't use those words that were widely attributed to him. Do you believe that? I was in a meeting directly afterwards where those who had presented to the president our proposal spoke about the meeting. And, they said those words were used before those words went public. So, that -- that's all I can tell you is I heard that account before the account went public. In the moment on that same afternoon. The president is tweeting this morning. Another tweet on immigration this morning I want to read. I, as president, want people coming into our country who are going to help us become strong and great again, people coming in through a system based on merit. No more lotteries. America first. Your response? In in compromise, we get rid of the Visa lottery program. We allocate those Visas to a couple of different programs. Like tps, temporary protected status. The discussion of that program and another is what gave rise to the language that was used. I think there is broad agreement to get rid of the Visa lottery. There's agreement between us, the Republicans and Democrats, that we do get rid of chain migration as it relates to the covered population. Those who benefit from DACA will not be able to krouz chain migration to become citizens. We don't do it for everybody. Like the president wants to do. If we want a comprehensive bill, I'm all in. But we can't do a comprehensive bill that will take months and months to negotiate before the March 5th deadline. One thing I take big issue with the president on is he's saying the Democrats are not moving forward in good faith. I have been negotiating and working with the M ds on immigration for 17 years. On this issue, on DACA, or on the D.R.E.A.M. Act for a number of years, the Democrats are negotiating in good faith. We're trying to come forward with a compromise. Think we have. You'll see that this week. Are we farther away from a deal than we were on Thursday morning? I'm not sure. When we get back into town, people will realize there is only one deal in town. Only one bipartisan bill. We need 60 votes. That bill will be presented. You said you're going to give a series of speeches on president trump and his relationship with the truth and his relationship with the press. Including one coming this week. We have gotten excerpts of what you're planning to say, taking on the president's comments about the press being the enemy of the people. I want to bring you what we have. It's a testament to the condition of our democracy that our own president uses words infamously spoke bin Joseph stallen to describe his enemies. It bears noting that so fraught with malice is the phrase enemy of the people. The free preesz is the despot's enemy. What are you trying to do with these speeches? Mgt I'm trying to Sarks you can talk about crowd size. And that is innocuous. If there's a false hood there. But when you reflexively refer to the press as the enemy of the people, or fake news, that has real damage. It has real damage to our standing in the world. And I noted how bad it is for a president to take what was popularized by Joseph stallen, the enemy of the people, to refer to the pres. And then, now, today, you have authoritarians across the world using the term fake news to justify cracking down on their opposition. Or to staunch legitimate debate. That is nothing we should be proud of. So I'm going to you can that about how damaging that is. It will be, think, on the same day, probably Wednesday, that the president is giving out fake news awards. I just want to -- want the president to know that this has real consequences. And just to be clear, you don't believe the president is telling the truth with that tweet that denied he used the words in that oval office meeting on Thursday? CHLT all I can say is what I heard directly following the meeting by those in the meeting. Senator flake, thank you for your time this morning. Thank you.