TRANSCRIPT: Leader Schumer On CNN’s The Source With Brianna Keilar

Washington, D.C. – Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) tonight joined Brianna Keilar on CNN’s The Source to discuss President Trump’s disastrous tariff tax and Republican divisions on their unpopular agenda. Below is a full transcript of Senator Schumer’s interview:

Brianna Keilar: Leader, thank you so much for being with us. And as of today, there are seven Republicans that have joined Democrats in this effort to rein in President Trump's tariff power. You have Republican Senator Rand Paul in another effort that you are a part of to roll back the tariffs. And it's notable bipartisan support. But what's the end game here?

Leader Schumer: Well, the end game is to roll these tariffs back. They are the Trump tariff tax. It will cost the average American family over $4,000 a year. American families will pay more for food and for pharmaceuticals. They'll pay more for cars and gasoline and clothing, everything. So they're a disaster. It's one of the largest tax increases on the American people for a long time. And Republicans are feeling the heat from their constituents. They rarely break with President Trump, not that they always agree with him, but they're also afraid of him. But we found four who broke with us on the last bill that Tim Kaine put forward. We know that Senator Grassley and seven other Republicans have joined Maria Cantwell in a bill to prevent future tariffs. And the bill that Senator Wyden and I introduced today has bipartisan support as well. The Republicans are feeling the heat. They're fighting with each other. You know, Democrats, Brianna, are unified. We're unified in wanting to stop the massive, massive cuts to Medicaid—we want to preserve Social Security, almost sacred in America. Trump's destroying it. We don't believe billionaires should get tax cuts. And so next week, you're going to see Democrats have a Medicaid Day of Action next week, where Democrats in the House and Senate will be back in our districts talking to our constituents, how we're fighting this. We're going to have a Social Security Day of Action next week. And the week after will be cost of living week, where the high cost of living by these tariffs—we will fight tooth and nail in Republican districts, letting their constituents know how Donald Trump has broken his promises and betrayed them and how Republican congressmen and senators seem to be going along, unfortunately.

Keilar: But on these tariff efforts—and you mentioned Senator Kaine's—that's dead in the water, right? It goes nowhere. These all will be dead as soon as they pass the Senate. If they pass the Senate, Speaker Johnson won't take them up in the House. The president is clear he'll veto them. So what then?

Schumer: Well, first, Kaine's bill did pass the Senate and it goes to the House. But public sentiment is everything. And the Republicans are—

Keilar: But the Speaker is not expected to take it up. Just to be clear.

Schumer: Well, let's see if his members come back from this after we have these days of action and this week of action and tell the Speaker that this is intolerable, maybe he'll change. If not, the American people are going to know how Trump betrayed them and they are going to tell their representatives and their senators, stop embracing Trump—not only on this, but on tax cuts for the rich, on slamming Medicaid, and even touching something as sacred as Social Security. We're fighting them on every front. They're losing ground. Look what happened in Wisconsin, where they lost the election. Look what happened in Louisiana, where four ballot initiatives put forward by the conservative Republican governor were defeated in a state like Louisiana. They are losing ground. They are losing ground and we are continuing to fight.  And if we keep fighting every day in every way, I believe that Republicans will soon believe it will be poison to embrace Trump's tariffs, to embrace his cuts to Medicaid, to embrace his debt, destroying Social Security.

Keilar: To be clear, there is a bipartisan effort for a resolution in the House. So we'll be seeing where that is headed. You've been hearing administration officials, lots of emphasis today on deal making. If President Trump does strike deals here in the near term, is there a chance actually that the U.S. could come out of this in a better place on trade?

Schumer: No, damage—immense damage has already been done. It's been done in the financial markets. The average American has lost close to one hundred thousand dollars in their retirement savings. Between cutting Social Security and having the market react so negatively to the tariffs, average Americans are being hurt. And there's another point here, Brianna: chaos. He says one thing one day, one thing another day. Oh, yes, they'll do this. Keep people in the administration contradicting each other. Elon Musk calls the head tariff guy in the administration a moron. And so the chaos—businesses like certainty. Businesses need to plan. Consumers need to plan. Consumer confidence is at its lowest point in decades. And business people are already counting on a recession and cutting back. That means fewer jobs. That means fewer pay raises. That means goods being more expensive. And so the damage is already being done.

Keilar: Republicans insist they're not cutting entitlements, but I hear your point—hard to see how they make the cuts they're talking about without touching some of those things.

Schumer: And look at that. You know, just one thing, Brianna. They say they're cutting. They're attacking Social Security. They turned off all emails to Social Security offices. How can people communicate, get their information, see if their checks are there? And furthermore, they're closing offices. They closed two in New York state—in Elmira, a Republican community that's going crazy about that. And in White Plains, where over 200,000 people visit a year. So the American people—Trump sold them a bill of goods when he was running. They're very quickly getting wise to him. And we're seeing that in how the American people are reacting to Trump. I think a lot of them are feeling that Trump is betraying them.

Keilar: On the tariff issue, you've been in the Senate for more than a quarter century. And in that time, Congress has been really willing to delegate tariff power to the president. Should Democrats have reclaimed that power when they had last the majority? You saw what Trump did in his first term with tariffs.

Schumer: Well, yeah, but we were able to beat back a lot of what Trump did on tariffs. And nothing is as extensive as this is. Over 180 countries affected. Hey, this has been so carelessly done that they're even putting tariffs on penguins. There are two islands near Australia.

Keilar: But Senator, I hear what you're saying. The tariffs are extraordinary now compared to what they were in his first term. But what he did in his first term was also pretty extraordinary. Should Democrats have protected against this?

Schumer: Congress has always had the power to deal with tariffs. And we've always had these fights in the past on some of the tariff issues as well. But now that Trump is going so overboard, Congress can, has every legal authority to take those powers back. And that's what we aim to do. And we hope our colleagues in the Republican Party, knowing how bad this is, instead of just trembling in their boots because they're afraid of Trump, join with us and side with the American people.

Keilar: Senator Cory Booker, your colleague who broke the record for longest Senate floor speech last week—he was on The View yesterday. He was asked on the show podcast if he should replace you. Here's the moment of that. 

[Video clip plays]

Interviewer: Do you think that you should be the new minority leader?

Senator Booker: No, definitely not. I don't want that job.

Interviewer: Why?

Booker: Look, I— 

Interviewer: Because you brought so many people together.

Booker: I appreciate it. And Chuck has been doing a—in the last election, remember, we won Senate races, something that often is not done. I look at Chuck as somebody who has a record of success and he has the caucus support. There's just no way—he has a firm hold on the forty-seven of us. But that doesn't take away from my role to be a leader, to be a leader in the Senate. But more importantly is to try to be able to offer leadership in our country, in our community.

[Video clip ends]

Schumer: And he's done a great job at that. I love Cory. I helped him when he was preparing for his speech. You know, we have so much talent in our Democratic caucus.

Keilar: But I want to ask you a question. I want to ask you a question, Senator, because I saw you nodding. I know you're happy with what he said. He's clearly team Chuck here, but there are a lot of Democratic voters who are not pleased with you. You're aware of this. They've been very vocal since you supported funding the government. And I do want to ask you, though, as you speak to them, why do you say that you are the man for the moment when they seem to have an impression that they would like someone else who they think has more fire in the belly from how they see things?

Schumer: Look, I have the full support of my caucus and we are all—and I think Democrats—look at the demonstrations this week, all aimed at Trump and what he's doing. Democrats are united. We know who our problem is. Our problem is Donald Trump. We are moving forward. We are totally united. I have the full support of my caucus. We all are working together. The House and Senate—Hakeem Jeffries and I met again today with our leaderships to discuss how to move forward. And we are looking forward because we know the danger of Trump. And I believe that we're going to show the American people, as we're doing already, as we're beginning to do already, how bad he is. And they will not embrace people who embrace Trump. So I'm feeling very good about the future in terms of how Democrats are united and having some real success. 

Keilar: United and with some Republicans. We are watching it, though. We'll see where it does go. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, thanks so much for being with us.

Schumer: Thanks, Brianna. Nice to talk to you.

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