joining us now to talk about this and much more the governor of the
Commonwealth of Virginia Terry McAuliffe governor good to see you thanks for
joining us good morning Jake so let's begin with the president Trump's pardon
of a sheriff arpaio what do you make the decision bad decision goes against the
rule all I can tell you as governor one of the most important decisions I make
are those that I pardon I look for folks who for redemption to be able to go back
into the workforce and this pardon that he did had nothing to do with it and I
do agree with Senator Schumer at a time right now after we've had
Charlottesville on other issues it is time for reconciliation time for healing
let us bring this country together president Trump of course continuing to
face criticism about his response to the violence in Charlotte all this time in
his own white house is that National Economic Council director Gary cone said
this week to the Financial Times that the Trump administration quote can and
must do better and consistently and unequivocally condemning these groups
the president said this week that his response to Charlotte's vote was quote
perfect and said that the media was taking his words out of context take a
listen the words were perfect they only take out anything they can think of the
media can attack me but where I draw the line is when they attack you which is
what they do when they attack the decency of our supporters what's your
response to that sir well as you know I came right out after the president spoke
the president did not say neo-nazis he did not say white supremacist I came out
immediately and said these neo-nazis came to Virginia the alt-right came the
white supremists the Klansmen I told him to get out go home they're not welcome
in our state but be honest with you their hatred is not welcome in this
country they pretended they were Patriots they're not they are cowards
they came to Virginia armed to harm our citizens and the point is that these
people came to do harm they brought their hatred here it wasn't
both sides you had there is no moral equivalent you had one side neo-nazis
who our great country fought against adolf hitler and white supremists and
Klansmen who's spewing hatred the other side were counter protesters who were
protesting their hate I just disagree with the president it was
both sides this was one side hatred bigotry and bias and there's no place in
this country and he just needs to call it out for what it is that's how you how
did we get here Jake to this point where these people spewed this horrible
language and most importantly this is the key and it isn't about monuments
this is a broader issue about the hatred and bigotry in our country how do we do
healing how do we do reconciliation and how do we move forward as a nation
because we need to be united as the United States of America to compete on a
global basis but everybody and let's talk about schools today if every
children get an equal opportunity for a great education our children being able
to get a healthy breakfast in the morning something my wife does here 10
million more breakfasts as last year in Virginia for needy children these are
the things we need to focus on governor while I take your point on moral
equivalence what do you make of the counter protesters who are part of a
group called an tyfa that actually seek to confront the Klan and the alt-right
through violent means are they not problematic when it comes to their
tactics and and what they stand for yep and let me be crystal clear
everybody's entitled to protest everybody under the First Amendment but
it's peaceful protest I was very angry I've been very public about this that
the city of Charlottesville who had control they were in command control
this situation they got a permit to move it out of downtown Charlottesville
unfortunately sued by the ACLU and then the judge ruled that stayed in the
middle of downtown it was a boiling pot with people armed
but anyone I don't care which side you were on Jake if you came to Virginia and
you committed some act of violence we are going to come after you and we are
going to arrest you either side regardless I saw a picture today of a
gentleman with a aerosol can with like a flamethrower we're gonna we're gonna
track you down now we just arrested yesterday or put the warrants out for
two individuals one from Maryland one from Ohio who went after and attacked
DeAndre Harris several individuals attacked this young man who was a
substitute assistant teacher for special ed children in heist
he was visually viciously beaten we are now going to get to and we're gonna get
every single individual you commit a crime of violence I don't care which
side you're on we're gonna come get you let's talk about the Confederate
monuments cuz you have called for them to be removed but this is a relatively
new position for you listen to what you had to say about the Confederate
monuments back here 2015 robert e lee jefferson davis these are all parts of
our heritage and the people were in that battle the civil war many a minute
obviously for their own reasons that they had for that but leave the statues
and those things alone leave the statues and those things alone that's you in
2015 were you wrong then well that was when i gave that speech is when i had
taken executive action and remove the Confederate flag from all the license
plates in the Commonwealth of Virginia it was a very controversial move when I
did it because I said listen this is a divisive symbol that is on the license
plate and as governor I took executive action many individuals disagreed with
my action at that time so this was the first step and now what we've seen after
Charlottesville and around the country that those statues have very similar
significance to what when I when I took the Confederate flag off our license
plates they are symbol monuments should be unifiers they are now symbols of
hatred and I have said let's take them down I do not have the authority as
governor the local jurisdictions do and the General Assembly but let's go ahead
and take them down and move forward earlier this year you were asked if you
wanted to be President you said quote I don't know I might in the wake of
Charlottesville do you feel even more motivated to run against President Trump
in 2020 listen I get asked this question a lot you know I've been very vocal on
the issues you know I'm very proud here Virginia unemployment went from all the
way from five for the three seven hundreds of thousands of new jobs record
amount of investment we've made great progress I get asked this all the time
I'll give you the same answer Jake I give every single person I am the
governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia I have five months to go I want to
finish here strong in 18 I'm gonna help elect we have 38 governors up between
now and November of 2018 and that's my focus I don't know what's
gonna happen after that but I love this job I am I'm the taxpayer dime they pay
me to be governor and that's what I focus on every single day we'll see what
happens down the road but I have no intentions of running for president my
only intention is to figure and tear strong I want to get twenty billion of
economic new economic activity I'm at sixteen and a half I already have the
all-time record I want to take it to the next level today I'm going out to a
juvenile detention facility one that I'm shutting down because these two
facilities are outdated I'm very proud that we are going to build new ones
smaller I've reduced the juvenile population by two-thirds here in
Virginia I've restored more voting rights to returning citizens than any
governor in the history of the United States of America these are the things I
focus on jobs jobs jobs treating everybody with dignity and respect and
that's why I was so angry at Charlottesville because these people
came in many of her part of state they came armed they came to hurt our
citizens and they came to hurt our reputation but you know what Jake we
came out of that stronger today the Commonwealth of Virginia is stronger and
because of their actions we are a stronger Commonwealth and I'm telling
the president the same thing let us use this as an opportunity to unite to heal
to reconcile and become clearly a more stronger country there's a term in
politics Sherman asked a Sherman ask denial when somebody says you know if I
will definitely not be President I've asked I will not serve exactly I think
you just gave the the antonym to Sherman asked I think McAuliffe asked because
that sounded like an announcement speech but I appreciate where you're coming
from governor thank you so much for being here everybody's trying to get
their name in the paper to say they're running for president I will be very
clear I am the one guy to everybody keep your name out of the paper I'm not
telling anybody I am finishing up here strong in the footsteps of many of our
great governors I just want to stand on their shoulders and help people