YouSaid · the spoken record

Marco Rubio

lines on the record
101
first
2018-06-24
most recent
2018-06-24
sittings or episodes
1
sources
podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

  1. “Run for the Senate? Well, I just felt like to get things done at the scale that we're talking about, the Senate was not conducive to it. My second term has been a lot better. I think it's been helpful to have an administration of my own party, people that I know there and still retain the majority in the House and Senate. But it still probably moves slower than I would like it just because I'm an impatient person. I'm not unique in that frustration, I suppose. But I certainly feel like my second term has been more productive than my first one so far just because of different dynamics. And frankly, the longer you do something, the better you get at it too. So maybe that's part of it.”

    2018-06-24 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 254 — Sen. Marco Rubio · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  2. “Yeah, I caught a pass when I'm on the floor of the Florida House of Representatives. He threw it pretty hard too. And these are just things that we picked up from all of our different trips around the world and chances we've had to meet with people. This is good. You probably know about this. Politics and eggs, New Hampshire 2016”

    2018-06-24 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 254 — Sen. Marco Rubio · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  3. “No, I don't think they should leave the country. No, I think that, all right, this is the former embassy in Libya, so we were there. So they had driven us out of there. Gaddafi hadn't been captured yet, but he had been overthrown. That was probably a trip we shouldn't have taken. It probably wasn't safe to be there.”

    2018-06-24 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 254 — Sen. Marco Rubio · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  4. “About not kneeling? Yeah, look, I don't agree with why they're doing it. They have a right to do it, the Constitutional right to do it, but I don't agree with necessarily everything they're saying. Now, I do agree that there is a large number of, particularly young African American males in America, who feel their interaction with law enforcement is different than others. And whether you agree with them or not, that that's true. If they feel that way, we have to address it. If a significant portion of the American family feels that way, then we have an issue. And so we've got to address it.”

    2018-06-24 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 254 — Sen. Marco Rubio · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  5. “Well, I think he has a First Amendment right to speak. If he is an NFL player, in the NFL, they'll fine you because your socks aren't high enough. So, you know, it's a kind of a catch-22. And he has a, whether you agree with the statement or not, you think he has a right to speak. But at the same token, I don't necessarily agree with what he's saying. It's a complex issue.”

    2018-06-24 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 254 — Sen. Marco Rubio · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  6. “So, this is obviously our, we call it our ambassador chair when ambassadors come see us or whatever. So, university, I'm a Florida graduate, but the University of Central Florida went undefeated this year, and I think if you win every game in college football, you should be the national champion, but that's not the way it played out because they weren't invited to that. But this is the one. See if we can work around here. This is a gift from the King of Jordan.”

    2018-06-24 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 254 — Sen. Marco Rubio · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  7. “As I told you earlier, I mean, I think being from New York, he understood that you could dominate earned media by driving mail. Dominated every new cycle in America since June or July of 2015. And I don't think that's an accident. I think he, in his time in New York as a developer and a promoter of a brand, really learned how to do that. And it was a key part of his victory, to be”

    2018-06-24 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 254 — Sen. Marco Rubio · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  8. “Probably one. I would also say that the way the other outlets have behaved sometimes is the other. Look, they're in a business. CNN is in business, MSNBC, Fox News. They're in business. They sell advertising and the rate of that advertising is based on view. Yeah, of course. And what drives eyeballs, whether it's traffic on a website, or by the way, fundraising through direct mail, is outrage and strong language. That's what gets you famous. If you're a house member that wants to be a national figure, you go on TV and you say things that are over the top. And that's the culture and environment that we're in. The media is a part of it. Politicians participate in it.”

    2018-06-24 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 254 — Sen. Marco Rubio · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  9. “I think you can try. You know, his era was not easy either. But I think the difference now is it's almost always politicized. The other side rather than seeing the value of why you're doing it, we'll immediately figure out how to line up with whoever it is you're fighting against and justify it. Because if you're for it, they've got to be against it. And that fever at some point, I hope, will break for the good of our country, but that's not the trend right now.”

    2018-06-24 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 254 — Sen. Marco Rubio · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  10. “So he jumped right into the poverty issue across America, the farm workers, sort of anywhere where he found that there was injustice. Angered him, he went after it with a sort of moral outrage that I really think picked up after 1963, 1964, and in his time in the Senate. I also think that if you look at his history, like civil rights early on, there was a lot of suspicion about him, that he really wasn't, you know, he's a guy that authorized wiretaps and so forth. In the aftermath of it, I mean, he embraced it and went after it with a sort of tenacity that you see that he was a young man that was learning and being, as he was exposed to things that perhaps he hadn't seen in his upbringing, it brought out a sort of sort of very Catholic social doctrine moral outrage that he took action on.”

    2018-06-24 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 254 — Sen. Marco Rubio · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  11. “Yeah, so there's two bobbies, right? There's Bobby before 1963 and after. And what I kind of admired, it was kind of his energy and sort of moral drive. When he locked in on something he thought was wrong, he just went after it. And he went after it.”

    2018-06-24 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 254 — Sen. Marco Rubio · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  12. “It is I was a huge, I'm a big Bobby Kennedy fan. I've read almost everything I can about him. And so I was trying to figure out where his office was. It's not in this building. It was what they called the new Senate office building, which is Dirksen, and it's not even an office anymore.”

    2018-06-24 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 254 — Sen. Marco Rubio · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  13. “Access a benefit. It's tough, you know, and it's hard, but we got to do it, and that's what we're going to work on doing. But our system is not conducive to it, but it's the system we have, and it works better than the other ones.”

    2018-06-24 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 254 — Sen. Marco Rubio · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  14. “Well, two things. Why? The first is our system isn't built for quick action, right? And the second is because if it's not controversial, it doesn't get a lot of attention. So there are a lot of issues that we need to be dealing with, vocational training, career education, reforming higher education so that we have more options. It's not just four-year degrees for everyone that are not partisan. I mean, these are not partisan issues. That's the blessing, and that's the curse. You can't raise money on it. You can't get a lot of interest in it in the press. And so it doesn't get a lot of prioritization. And so we've got to kind of fight through that. And there are things happening at the margins, at the local level and state level, but we need to make it a strategic national priority to reform our public policies to address some of the new realities of the 21st century. We're going to try next week on paid family leave and hopefully get some leverage there, but you'll see how hard that is because one side wants it to be government program. Our side does not. We've got to figure out a way to help more people.”

    2018-06-24 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 254 — Sen. Marco Rubio · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  15. “But I'm not on the ballot for another four. Who knows what the world's going to look like in four years? And I'm not really thinking about that. I'm just thinking about what is the best way to effectuate policy change. And I think it's like what we've handled ZTE. It's not personal. The president has a view on it. I have a different view. I'm going to do what I need to do in the Senate. He'll have to do what he does as president. We'll work together on other things. I think that's the way you do this stuff. I'm not going to fall into this everyday. Can I get on television and say mean things about somebody so people will cover me? Because we already have too much of that and it's stopping us from doing too many things. I get it. There's a place for it in American politics. I've done my share of it. But there are some serious issues we need to solve. And I'm not going to spend all my time as one of the two talking heads on a screen on cable news screaming at people. I'm just not going to do it.”

    2018-06-24 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 254 — Sen. Marco Rubio · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  16. “It's not cautious. I just think that the outrage cycle is such now that if I disagree with the president on public policy, I want it to be a public policy disagreement. That's not how it'll be portrayed. It'll be portrayed as a Republican attacking the president because we've created a cycle where the way you become famous and liked and many media circles is by being a Republican that goes after the president. I think a more famous way.”

    2018-06-24 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 254 — Sen. Marco Rubio · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  17. “I do. I met with everything I said there, and I think in the long term, both of those things will be true, but for different reasons, and perhaps we're assessing now, I would just say that in the case of if Hillary Clinton had been elected, people would be asking me, why aren't you cooperating more with her to get things done? She won the election. So why would that not be true of someone of my own party is elected? Do I have differences of opinion with Donald Trump on popular policy?”

    2018-06-24 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 254 — Sen. Marco Rubio · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  18. “Well, he would say that. I can only say that you've run already, you kind of understand what it means. And I don't know where I'll be in seven years in my life where my kids will be and everything else. I don't play that game anymore. Who knows? But right now, I don't have a, I'm not working towards that. I'm trying to, I know I'm going to be in the Senate for another four and a half years. I want that time to matter because I'm away from family. I want them to know that I made a difference while I was here.”

    2018-06-24 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 254 — Sen. Marco Rubio · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  19. “Now, the bush. No, because I think when you're running for president, it's different than running for county commission. It's not two people against each other. There's 16, 17 people in this race. I never viewed it as a race against Jeb Bush. I viewed it as a collection of individuals running, and it would sort itself out. Would I have preferred it not to be the case? Was it uncomfortable because I liked Jeb and we were friends, of course. But, you know, in the end, sometimes these things happen. And we had an unusual year in 2016. We had a huge class of Republicans who were all in position to run for president at the same time, and every one of them did. And every election cycle, people are speculated on. But if you don't run, I think everyone who has talked about run.”

    2018-06-24 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 254 — Sen. Marco Rubio · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  20. “Regret that at all? You know better than anyone that these states build upon each other. I mean, by the time you get to Florida, people don't think you have a chance to win. They're not going to vote for you. They're going to waste their vote on you. Now, six months later, I get re-elected and receive. So you don't say it's a bush.”

    2018-06-24 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 254 — Sen. Marco Rubio · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  21. “Yeah, but that was the end, and I didn't like that we did that in the end. It's not who I am. It was kind of at the end where you kind of just felt like someone has to stand up. But when we didn't, on Super Tuesday, we underperformed, we could have won Virginia. We came very close to winning in Virginia. Probably should have spent a little bit more time there. We jumped on it too late. If we had one Virginia in Minnesota, there might have been a different narrative. You come out of Super Tuesday, you only win one state, and the media starts saying this guy's got no chance to win. At that point, people that are supporting you will kind of gravitate to someone else because no one wants to vote for someone they think is losing.”

    2018-06-24 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 254 — Sen. Marco Rubio · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  22. “I don't know. You'll have to ask him why? I don't know. But the answer is I probably should have gone back at him just hard and it would have been forgotten and moved on. But my sense of it was, you know, I knew he probably wasn't going to make it past New Hampshire. I didn't want to spend the whole debate being the story about me fighting with Chris Christian stage. It was a tactical mistake not to come right back at him. And if you watch my Senate debates when I ran for re-election, I would leave nothing unanswered. I just attacked him on everything he attacked me on. But the race wouldn't have changed the race. It would have changed New Hampshire a little bit, but I don't know if it would have changed the race.”

    2018-06-24 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 254 — Sen. Marco Rubio · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  23. “Well, I had a bad 90. Yeah, and I had a bad 90 seconds because I made a decision, a mistake. The mistake that I made was not attacking, going back at him. You know, I knew Chris, I like him. We're friends now and we talk. But for those 90 seconds, why did he do it?”

    2018-06-24 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 254 — Sen. Marco Rubio · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  24. “In the campaign You know, I think our message was the right one about these changes in our economy. I think we probably could have done a better job of condensing it in a way that applied to people. There are things that people understood more clearly. There's nothing I could have done about the fact that there were 17 people running.”

    2018-06-24 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 254 — Sen. Marco Rubio · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  25. “Yeah, but I think you learn more from Failure to success. If you go back and see my quotes from that period of time, I told people there are no stars in politics. There are people that get attention today. There'll be a new person tomorrow. It's just not. I mean, there's not a celebrity thing. There's not sports. This is public service. And there are people that oppose you that will eventually make sure you come down and not.”

    2018-06-24 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 254 — Sen. Marco Rubio · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  26. “Right. And so you see these sorts of things and you learn from it. I think we had a, you know, I think people, the result was not obviously what I intended, but I wouldn't trade it for the world. It was an incredible experience for us. We learned a lot. I believe I'm a better senator for having done it. We made some great friendships across the country.”

    2018-06-24 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 254 — Sen. Marco Rubio · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  27. “Well, first of all, I could tell you that there's no way you can run for president as for as long as we did in terms of where we were in the race and not learn from it because you're exposed to places and people and things that you didn't know before. You know, growing up for me, immigration meant more people like my family, more people like my neighbors. And I like my family and I like my neighbors. When you go to different places around the country, you recognize that in other places immigration might mean more competition for limited jobs in a constrained economy. And doesn't mean that you change your view on the issue, but it does expose you to a different view of things and some of the challenges. You see some of the areas in the Northeast that were emptied out by globalization and automation and some of the trends that have happened.”

    2018-06-24 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 254 — Sen. Marco Rubio · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  28. “One of the reasons why we have more guns is we have a Second Amendment that gives people the right. And on the deaths, it's true it does not diminish these terrible tragedies that occur in these schools, but we know statistically that a significant percentage of those deaths involve either criminal activity at the street level or suicides, which is another crisis America is facing. That does not diminish the fact that we've had far too many shootings at schools and churches and gatherings And we need to address those. And what's the driver behind them? Because ultimately the issue there is we have young Americans almost exclusively males who want to kill a bunch of people for reasons that sometimes they don't fully understand. They happen to be using guns, but the core issue is they want to kill people. And we have to stop that. We have”

    2018-06-24 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 254 — Sen. Marco Rubio · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  29. “And I talk to them every day. And so I talk to multiple parents from Parkland, a couple from Pulse on a regular basis, email, phone calls, text messages, and they've each settled into a different part of this issue. Some of them are working on school safety improvements, which I think is an element of it. A lot of them have worked with us on what we think might be the most effective thing in the short term, and that is helping to identify someone who is in danger and stop them before they act. We continue to look at the high capacity magazine limit. The problem with that is we can't really get a consensus we can justify on the number. And we've talked about the buyer's permit. So we are in case of the red flag law, it's there. We're looking for a vehicle to attach it to so we can get it passed. Florida already has one.”

    2018-06-24 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 254 — Sen. Marco Rubio · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  30. “But let me go back on the age one. I support that, but that wouldn't have done anything in Texas where he was 17 years old and walked. I don't know if it gave it to him or he took it, but he didn't. He used a revolver and a shotgun.”

    2018-06-24 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 254 — Sen. Marco Rubio · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  31. “I said I Well, let me say on that one, you're talking about pulse. Pulse was a terror attack. We keep forgetting it. He was motivated, and he said it, and he was motivated by a radical jihadist element. He happened to use guns for that attack. In the case of, he was also a licensed security guard in Florida, and he was well aware.”

    2018-06-24 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 254 — Sen. Marco Rubio · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  32. “So we have universal background checks in America. The only places that are not checked for backgrounds in this country is if you have a private sale. And people keep pointing to gun shows. In gun shows, the vast majority of the exhibitors, almost all of them in most gun shows, are federally licensed firearms dealers. You have to undergo a background check. Only private sales are prohibited. And the reason why private sales are prohibited is because these individuals are not in the business of selling guns. For them to conduct a criminal background check is not going into the NICS system is complicated. It's not the same as running a background check on a tenant. It's a totally different, more complicated system, largely open to law enforcement. Now we might be able to innovate an idea called a buyer's permit where the obligation would be on the buyer to present a permit in which they went and got their background run and actually the interesting thing about that idea is that it would actually allow us to conduct sting operations against the black market, go in the street and arrest people.”

    2018-06-24 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 254 — Sen. Marco Rubio · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  33. “No, I think it's more than that in this case, and that is will these laws actually achieve something? If you look at the state of New York,”

    2018-06-24 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 254 — Sen. Marco Rubio · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  34. “So I think we have to have restrictions, but if you're going to restrict a constitutional right, they have to be limited and they have to be restrictions that actually will achieve something.”

    2018-06-24 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 254 — Sen. Marco Rubio · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  35. “Well, first of all, it's false. I mean, the NRA, they throw out these figures that it would be illegal. If the NRA spent money against my opponents, so I guess tangentially benefited me in that regard because they didn't like my opponent's agenda. But the NRA and any group like it is mobilizing an existing feeling in America. There are people in this country who strongly support the Second Amendment. And I'm one of them. The NRA motivates that in turns it into political action. They're not a business group.”

    2018-06-24 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 254 — Sen. Marco Rubio · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  36. “I would say number one, the CNN Town Hall, people say you take a beating or it was brave. I mean, we're in America. Like the worst thing that happens to somebody in America is you lose your election, but you don't have to go into exile. Nobody's going to kill you. Number two, it's my job. Number three, on the issues that you outlined, I feel, again, as a lawmaker, that my job is to get things done. I wanted to focus first on the things that I knew we could get done, like the Stop School Violence Act, like FixNicks, and try to build momentum to do more. I don't believe, I'm telling you, there's money on both sides and influence on both sides of this issue. There are a significant amount of groups out there, including many in the media, but interest groups who support gun control and will reward you financially for it in terms of running for office. I think the NRA is...”

    2018-06-24 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 254 — Sen. Marco Rubio · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  37. “That's true Yeah, well, I think all that is true. And something that in an ideal world we wouldn't be at, and I have trouble with it. There's no doubt. I don't like elevating this guy. I also understand that this is an individual that possesses today the highest probability of a nuclear confrontation of a nuclear war since the end of the Second World War when the attack on Japan happened exists on the Korean Peninsula. And so I am willing to be flexible in how much leeway we give someone if they can avoid that. But I am concerned that any rhetoric that could be used to justify weakening existing sanctions would actually be counterproductive. And that's what we have to keep a very close eye on.”

    2018-06-24 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 254 — Sen. Marco Rubio · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  38. “Well, and that's where I measure everything by if what the president says gives strength to the argument at the UN that we should weaken sanctions, then it becomes problematic. And that's what we're keeping a very close eye on. Because if those sanctions are weakened in any way, we're going to have a problem. Kim Jong-un may walk away. Understand, he doesn't want to be South Korea.”

    2018-06-24 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 254 — Sen. Marco Rubio · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  39. “Kim Jong-un reaches a point where he says I don't know if I can attach a warhead to a missile before my economy collapses. I need to figure out a way to change this dynamic. The president takes him up on it. Going back to what I told you earlier, the president comes from a background in private life of figuring out how to make other people like him and be happy with them. And so I think his view is if Kim Jong-un likes him, he's going to get a better deal out of him than he's an open warfare with him. And he doesn't just do it with him. I've seen him do it with political opponents and with others. So he approaches it as a person who's not a politician. That said, all of it is, look, do I like the things that were said? Do I agree with them? Of course not. I don't believe Kim Jong-un is talented. I'm not the guy negotiating with him. And I'll tell you this at the end. As long as the sanctions are in place, that's the only thing that matters because that's the reason why Kim Jong-un is.”

    2018-06-24 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 254 — Sen. Marco Rubio · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  40. “Yeah, so Kim Jong-un is a grotesque human rights violator, has death camps. I mean, this horrifying things. He's a complete bizarre individual. Unfortunately, he possesses between 30 and 60 nuclear warheads, according to open source reporting and an increased capacity in ballistic missiles. I know for a fact that the last thing President Obama told President Trump in their last meeting, perhaps their only meeting, was this is the biggest problem you're going to face. I know for a fact that the president early in his presidency was presented with scenarios of what war on the peninsula would look like and the catastrophic potential loss of life and felt an obligation to do everything he could to avoid that from happening. It's easy to sit in these think tanks.”

    2018-06-24 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 254 — Sen. Marco Rubio · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  41. “If it's for that reason, of course. I mean, because it doesn't happen. Well, and I think there would be a lot of questions about how they were fired if they were fired, unless it was, you kn I mean, would people? I think so, but it wouldn't solve anything either because someone else would just pick up the mantle and continue with it. In essence, I don't think that's the reason why I don't believe it's going to happen. Firing them is not going to stop this thing from moving forward. That's why we should let it play out. And when the truth comes out, it would be the best thing for the president and for the country.”

    2018-06-24 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 254 — Sen. Marco Rubio · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  42. “But if he did something unfair, it would be uncharacteristic of the way he has served this country up to this point. Bob Mueller, that doesn't mean that there aren't people at the FBI that behaved in ways that were detrimental. Those individuals did tremendous damage to an important bureau and agency in this country. The FBI is thousands of people work there, 99.9% are honorable people that are doing a good job every day. The behavior of a handful of people in key positions that have now been exposed has hurt the credibility of that agency. It's terrible.”

    2018-06-24 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 254 — Sen. Marco Rubio · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  43. “Well, you'll have to ask them. Obviously, they're entangled, but they have a legal strategy now and all sorts of other things associated with it. You're asking me.”

    2018-06-24 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 254 — Sen. Marco Rubio · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  44. “I think everybody should say we want to know the truth no matter how you voted for or how you feel about public policy. We want the whole truth to come out. And that's what I think the Mueller investigation gives us the opportunity to have is the entire truth. And I think I still, I'll reiterate it, the best thing that could happen for this president is for Bob Mueller to finish his work and all the truth come out, and it's the best thing that could happen for the country. He's not being.”

    2018-06-24 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 254 — Sen. Marco Rubio · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  45. “I do, and I believe that the best thing, and I've told this to the people who have asked me, have said it repeatedly, the best thing for the president and for the country is for him to finish his investigation that he'd be thorough and that the entire truth come out. I truly believe that. I believe it's the best thing for the president, for his administration, and for America. And I still do.”

    2018-06-24 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 254 — Sen. Marco Rubio · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  46. “No, I mean, I said it back in October 2016. I stand by it now. And by the way, the one thing that he was able to play like a fiddle, Putin, was he understood that the U.S. media, when those emails were leaked, they weren't focused on the leak. They weren't focused on the fact that these emails were hacked and they were focused on the contents. They were so salacious. They couldn't help report on the salaciousness of the emails and not the fact that they were illegally obtained through the work of a foreign intelligence agency. That should have been the real story. They ignored it. So he knows that”

    2018-06-24 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 254 — Sen. Marco Rubio · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  47. “I would say that if they probably fully expected Hillary Clinton to win, they may have had a personal preference for Donald Trump at some level because they hated her so much. But in the end, I think their primary purpose was not to elect one candidate over the other, but to divide American society, or I should say to exacerbate our existing divisions in a way that the next president would be weakened no matter who it was. And if you look at it today and the debates we're having in a year and a half into an investigation and the constant flow of information about Russia, you have to say they were quite successful in exacerbating and using these pre-existing divisions to weaken their”

    2018-06-24 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 254 — Sen. Marco Rubio · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  48. “I would rephrase that. I would say they most definitely interfered in the election. I believe their primary purpose was to ensure that no matter who got elected president, they would be weakened by a divided society”

    2018-06-24 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 254 — Sen. Marco Rubio · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  49. “But I didn't have any doubt in October of 2016 when I was running for re election. I think I'm the only Republican in the country that refused to talk about WikiLeaks and all the leaks from the Clinton emails. I said, this is the work of a foreign intelligence agency, and I'm not going to use it to advance my campaign or anybody else's. And I said that in October of 2016, in the middle of my own re-election campaign.”

    2018-06-24 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 254 — Sen. Marco Rubio · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  50. “But they're moving on them, and there was just about a month ago additional sanctions. So Ukrainians are now receiving military assistance, which they did not under the previous administration. So I think if you look at the policies, they're strong, as strong or stronger than previous administrations when it comes to Russia. If you view the rhetoric, my view of it is the president is not a political figure. He's not a politician. He didn't grow up and surrounded by Washington think, thanks. And his view as a person who comes out of the world of development is this is a guy with nuclear weapons in Russia that I need to be able to work with. And if I have animosity towards him, we won't be able to work together. That's how he views it. He's not a politician. Someone who's the commander in general.”

    2018-06-24 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 254 — Sen. Marco Rubio · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source