WHEN: Thursday, July 21st
WHERE: CNBC.com's Speakeasy with John Harwood
At 39, Tom Cotton of Arkansas is the youngest member of the U.S. Senate. The Harvard-educated veteran of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars has rapidly become a leading Republican voice on foreign policy and potential future presidential candidate. Unlike some other rising stars in the party, Cotton decided to attend Donald Trump's nominating convention and accept a speaking role on its opening night. His home state's deep-red status — Mitt Romney carried Arkansas by more than 20 percentage points in 2012 — made that a low-risk proposition. And it gave Cotton, in addition to a large television audience for his speech, a chance to mingle with delegates from Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, the three most important early states in presidential politics. He chatted about Trump and his own future inside the Quicken Loans Arena with me.
A partial transcript from Speakeasy with John Harwood featuring Senator Tom Cotton follows. All references must be sourced to CNBC.com:
JOHN HARWOOD: One of the questions that has been raised about Donald Trump – is he more friendly with Russia than it is in America's best interests to be?
TOM COTTON: Vladimir Putin was a K.G.B. spy and he never got over that. He does not have America's best interests at heart. He does not have any American interests at heart. I suspect, after this week, when Donald Trump is the nominee and he begins to receive classified briefings, similar briefings to what I receive as a member of the Intelligence Committee, he may have a different perspective on Vladimir Putin and what Russia is doing to America's interests and allies in Europe and the Middle East and Asia.
JOHN HARWOOD: His criticism of John McCain. You asked him to retract and apologize. He said that President George W. Bush lied to get us into war in Iraq and didn't protect us because 9/11 actually happened.
TOM COTTON: Well, I disagree with those statements and I said them at the time. But I think that Donald Trump and a Republican Congress will have an agenda that's better for the American people. And, you know, Hillary Clinton has a lot of things to answer for as well, to include direct lies to the American people and the FBI director has now corroborated that.
JOHN HARWOOD: But you're willing to live with those things that are distasteful to you because of Hillary Clinton?
TOM COTTON: Well, I mean, the Clintons have set some of their own standards for low conduct in office.
JOHN HARWOOD: Right, but what do you think of his standards?
TOM COTTON: I've said that I disagree with those statements you cited, at the time, and I still disagree with them. I don't think they're helpful to the campaign. You know, the Republican party is bigger than any one man. It's bigger than Donald Trump. It's bigger than me. I think that Donald Trump, like all Republicans, should be focused on the issues that matter to the American people.
JOHN HARWOOD: What does the Republican party do about the perception that it is the party of less educated people, and Democrats are the party of more educated people? Because, as education levels rise, that is not a promising formula. What do you do about that?
TOM COTTON: Well, I would dispute that. I mean, we just passed legislation in the Senate that protects our food producers, our farmers, and our ranchers from very left-wing, labeling laws in Vermont, because the left is anti-science when it comes to the benefits of G.M.O. food.
JOHN HARWOOD: Is there anything specific that you would like to see your party do to broaden its appeal to Latinos, African Americans, young people, women?
TOM COTTON: I think the Republican party principles appeal to all Americans. All races, all regions, again, are dominated by working Americans. And when we appeal to the broad, working class of America, we're going to appeal more to every ethnic group. That's what we have to be focused on; the very real, practical, everyday anxieties of every American.
JOHN HARWOOD: You want to run for president some day? Do you think about it?
TOM COTTON: During the 9/11 attacks, I was a student in law school. And that obviously shifted my course in life. I ended up joining the Army. And one lesson I took away from that is it's good to have a plan in life. But write your plan in pencil because you never know what the world's going to put in your path and right now I am very happy.
JOHN HARWOOD: All right, I didn't hear no.
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