Ro Khanna Throws Support Behind Biden's Proposed Supreme Court Plan: 'It's Common Sense'
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) joined Cat Oriel on "Forbes Newsroom" to discuss the investigation into the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump, President Joe Biden's Supreme Court reform proposals and Vice President Kamala Harris's campaign.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Hello, everyone. My name is Cat Oriel with Forbes Breaking News, and today I'm here with
00:07Representative Ro Khanna of California. Congressman, thanks so much for joining me today.
00:11Great to be back on.
00:13Happy to have you back on. So you are a member of the House Oversight Committee, which had
00:17a hearing last week following the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump.
00:22During the hearing, you called on Secret Service Director Cheadle to resign, and in that moment,
00:26she was a bit unwilling to do so. But, you know, she did very soon after the next day
00:30resign. That was over a week ago now, though. What are the latest updates on the Congress's
00:36end in terms of the investigation into the incident, the Secret Service, and ensuring
00:41this never happens again?
00:42Well, I was really frustrated by the director's lack of transparency and lack of accountability.
00:51And I was the first Democrat on the House Oversight Committee to explicitly call for
00:55her to resign. It led to many other Democrats speaking out. And I'm glad she took accountability
01:01and did resign the next morning. I think she heard loud and clear that there was bipartisan
01:06anger at the failures that happened. I mean, it was a horrific assassination attempt. We
01:12still need answers. We need to understand why those lapses took place, what they're
01:19doing to rectify it, what they're doing to make sure that something like that never happens
01:24again against any former president, current president, or presidential candidate. And
01:30I expect answers in the upcoming weeks.
01:34Answers in terms of what methods of getting it? I know there have been a bipartisan task
01:38force. You know, is that going to be enough? Or what other methods of answers do you think
01:43you'll get?
01:44Well, I certainly think they need to talk to the bipartisan task force. But I also think
01:48they owe the Oversight Committee answers. We need to know why those security lapses
01:53took place, what those security lapses were, who was responsible for it. Was it really
01:59a lone shooter or were more people involved in any way? I think that has to be definitively
02:04answered. What was the motive of the attack? How do we make sure that this type of attack
02:10never happens again? Is there a lack of resources that the agency needs? And if so, what can
02:15Congress do to help?
02:17I'm curious from your perspective, as someone who spent a bit of time on the campaign trail,
02:22have you personally ever felt unsafe by the protection of Secret Service?
02:26Well, as a member of Congress, I don't get Secret Service protection, nor do I think
02:31we can have 435 members of Congress.
02:33If you were on the campaign trail with a president at a presidential rally, how have you felt,
02:37you know, being a member of Congress at a presidential rally and felt like, you know,
02:41Secret Service, their protection of that event?
02:43I have always felt safe when I was on the campaign trail for Bernie Sanders or for President
02:50Biden. And, you know, I think that the vast, vast majority of Secret Service agents are
02:56heroic and courageous and they risk their lives to protect the leaders of this country.
03:01The issue here is the leadership and what happened and what were the failures. And that's
03:05what we need to answer.
03:07A few days after the incident, you know, we had the RNC and their vice, President Donald
03:13Trump, former President Donald Trump announced his decision to pick Senator J.D. Vance. So
03:18I'm just curious your response to his selection.
03:21Look, I've known Senator Vance for many years.
03:23We've worked with Tim Ryan.
03:24We did a tour through Ohio with Silicon Valley leaders to invest in places left out.
03:30But I've been disappointed with his positions.
03:33It has nothing to do with him as a person, but his positions.
03:36I believe that a woman should have the right to control her own body, shouldn't have a
03:41ban on abortions nationwide after six weeks, which is his position.
03:47I disagree with him in his view that we should reduce legal immigration.
03:52I think we need immigrants to start businesses and startups and have Silicon Valley thrive.
03:58And many of the Silicon Valley leaders are supporting him, also believe in increasing
04:02legal immigration. I disagree with him in terms of massive corporate tax cuts.
04:07He wants to give the wealth, people already have wealth, more tax cuts.
04:11I want to invest in places that have been left out of globalization.
04:16So we just have two very different visions for the country.
04:19Those topics that you mentioned, are those what scare you the most about a potential
04:23second Trump presidency?
04:25Or is there anything else that frightens you about that possibility?
04:28Well, what frustrates me is that we're going to disappoint people with giving them false
04:34hope. I was in Johnstown, Pennsylvania and Franklin, Pennsylvania last week, and I
04:39introduced the modern steel bill.
04:40Here's how we have government financing with unions, with companies like Cleveland
04:46Cliffs or United Steel to build new modern steel plants in places that were
04:51deindustrialized, in places that were shafted.
04:53And that's what we should be doing in a bipartisan basis.
04:56And I've worked with Republicans to do that.
04:58And we work to do that with semiconductors.
05:00We should do it with steel, aluminum, drug manufacturing.
05:03Donald Trump, though, is just going to have tax cuts and he's just going to rail against
05:08immigration. And that's not going to put factories in Johnstown.
05:11It's not going to put factories in Franklin, Pennsylvania.
05:14So what saddens me is these folks, really, they want something done.
05:19They're sick of the politicians sloganeering.
05:21They want real action and we need to deliver.
05:25And I just don't think the Trump fans agenda delivers.
05:28Switching gears now to the other side, you know, after the assassination attempt, we've
05:33been getting groundbreaking news from both parties.
05:36President Biden stepping down from his own campaign.
05:38I know you've been a supporter of President Biden and allowing him to make his own
05:42decisions on his own timeline.
05:43So what do you say to the people calling on President Biden to resign and making the
05:47argument that if he's not fit to run, he's no longer fit to serve?
05:50I just think they're two very different skills to run for president requires traversing
05:55the country, going from one battleground state to another battleground state.
05:58It requires extraordinary physical stamina to be president, requires good judgment.
06:04And the president has shown that he's done the job.
06:07He stood up to Putin in Ukraine.
06:09He's helped pass landmark legislation.
06:14He's working to try to bring peace in the Middle East.
06:17So I have seen no signs that he's incapable of doing the job.
06:23There are a few priorities that he is wanting to push forward in his remaining months in
06:28office, including Supreme Court reform.
06:31So I'm wondering what you make of his new plan that he has just recently unveiled.
06:35It's common sense.
06:36Joe Kennedy and I introduced this bill in 2020 before the Dobbs decision saying Supreme
06:42Court justices should serve 18 years.
06:45You shouldn't be on this court for 40, 50 years.
06:47That was not what the founders wanted.
06:49You can be a judge for life, but not on the Supreme Court for life.
06:52And these justices should not be politicized.
06:57Every president should get two appointments, 18 years.
07:00It would take the politics out of the court and it would restore people's trust in the
07:05court. I'm glad the president is proposing this.
07:07It's overwhelmingly popular with Democrats, independents and Republicans.
07:11And I hope we can start to get it passed.
07:13Why 18 years?
07:16Well, it's convenient with nine Supreme Court justices, if you're getting a every
07:22president having two appointments, a term, the math works out.
07:27And then how about his proposal on presidential immunity?
07:30What do you make of that as well?
07:31Well, that also is common sense.
07:33Look, if I if someone gave me a million bucks and said, vote this way, I would get
07:37prosecuted if I took that money.
07:39Robert Menendez was prosecuted for bribery.
07:42The president should have the same conditions.
07:44You shouldn't be able to go to the president and say, OK, I'm going to give you a
07:47million bucks to veto this.
07:48And then people say, oh, the president's immune.
07:51Of course not. I mean, it's common sense.
07:53Everyone should be have the accountability of the law.
07:57Is there anything else you would like to see President Biden do in his remaining
08:01months in office? I'd like him to continue to focus on the places that were
08:06deindustrialized, to continue to bring smart manufacturing, advanced manufacturing
08:10back, to continue to focus on the working class, to say very simply, if you work in
08:15America, you shouldn't be poor.
08:17You should have a living wage.
08:18You should be able to afford a house.
08:20You should be able to have a good paying job and pride and dignity and those values
08:25which he's lived in Scranton, Pennsylvania and Delaware.
08:29I want him to continue to fight for them around this country.
08:33So we spent some time talking about former President Trump, President Biden.
08:36And of course, we want to look towards the future and get into Vice President Kamala
08:39Harris and her campaign.
08:41But before we get into her and her record, I do want to ask you about how she got to
08:45be the presumptive nominee.
08:47What do you say to concerns about whether it's democratic of how a person who got no
08:53votes in the primary and is not yet was not yet the duly nominated vice presidential
08:58nominee for 2024 is now the nominee for president?
09:02Well, of course, it was democratic.
09:03Anyone could have run and people made that clear.
09:06She just got all the support.
09:07All the people who were going to run against her endorsed her on Sunday.
09:10And that shows that she ran a very adept campaign to win the support and unify the
09:16party. But there was no one who handed her the nomination.
09:21Anyone was allowed to challenge her and could have challenged her.
09:24Well, that being said, what is your reaction to her campaign?
09:27Vice President Kamala Harris launching her campaign.
09:30And as someone also from California, I'm curious about your relationship with her and
09:34whether she's the best candidate to be former President Donald Trump.
09:38Well, she's had so much energy and excitement.
09:40It doesn't come as a surprise to me.
09:42I've always known that she inspires young people, that she inspires communities of
09:47color, that she inspires women, that she inspires large people who care about social
09:54justice. And so we're seeing that now around the country.
09:58And I've known her for almost 20 years.
10:00I've always respected her as a trailblazer.
10:02I respected her as overcoming the obstacles and winning races that no one thought she
10:08could win. And I expect her to win this time.
10:11What would you say as vice president is her biggest accomplishment?
10:15I think standing up for abortion rights, for reproductive rights, she's been our strongest
10:20voice on that issue and with great moral clarity that freedom is at stake, that we don't
10:26want to go backwards for women's rights.
10:28She's also been very, very strong on voting rights and on gun violence.
10:32And those are areas that I think she's so passionate about and gives great clarity to.
10:39Well, Republicans, you know, when it comes to her record, it seems that they have launched
10:44attempts to tarnish her record when it comes to especially immigration and the border.
10:48So what's your response to the Republican-led resolution condemning the vice president as
10:53the quote unquote borders are and then have half a dozen Democrats come out in support
10:57of that bill?
10:59Well, those Democrats are in overwhelmingly Republican districts, but I think she has a
11:04clear response, which is to say we worked on bipartisan legislation to fix the issue at
11:09the border, to have stronger enforcement, to have more technology there, to have more
11:13immigration judges.
11:14And Donald Trump didn't want to do the deal because he wanted the issue instead of the
11:18solution. And we know that the solution is having more people actually process and then
11:26turned away if they're not legitimate and allowed in if they are.
11:29But instead, having just arbitrary caps makes people go not to the port of entries, but
11:35get smuggled in.
11:37And it's not a solution.
11:38So I would say we are for enforcement.
11:41That's what the bipartisan bill was.
11:44But the Republicans stood in the way.
11:46Lastly, I do want to ask you about whether there are any concerns or things that you
11:51would like to see Vice President Kamala Harris step up on because, you know, after she
11:57announced her campaign, as we mentioned, there was a lot of support from a lot of
12:02Democrats, a few higher ranked Democrats and high level officials like the Obamas.
12:08You know, it took a few days for them to get their endorsement out, but they eventually
12:11did. And someone else who it took a little bit while to get out his support and his
12:16official endorsement was Senator Bernie Sanders.
12:18And, you know, he withheld his nomination for a little bit, saying I would like to see a
12:22bit more commitments for her for the issues important to the working class.
12:26And, you know, you're one of Senator Bernie Sanders strongest allies in Congress.
12:31So I'm just curious if you've talked to him about what places he'd like to see more
12:35commitments from the vice president and whether you have some of those similar concerns.
12:40Well, we need to run on a bold agenda for the working class, for the middle class, for
12:45those who are left down in the modern economy.
12:47That means a living wage.
12:49You shouldn't work in America and be too poor to live.
12:52That means strengthening and expanding Social Security and Medicare.
12:56That means capping rents and so that people can actually afford to pay rent.
13:03That means having strategic tariffs to protect steel and aluminum and domestic industry.
13:09That means making sure that we have universal child care and that we have a tax on
13:16wealth. It means standing up with sensible antitrust legislation and standing up for
13:22what Lena Kahn's doing.
13:23And those are issues that the progressives want to make sure we do, not just because it
13:28will win, but because that's what's needed in this country with extraordinary wealth
13:33gap. And Senator Sanders and I and others share the need for us to be an economically
13:38populist party.
13:39And we're going to make sure that we do everything we can to have that agenda, because
13:45we believe that that's the best agenda for the country and what will allow us to beat
13:49Donald Trump. That's the end of my questions, Congressman.
13:52Is there anything else that you would like to add that we didn't get to touch on yet
13:54today? I just am very confident if we run on a bold, working class agenda that we will
13:59win. Thank you so much for your time today, Congressman.