'I’m going to do whatever we can to have a voice in the middle': Full Manchin

welcome back Donald Trump's attorney in the Manhattan case has made it clear Trump has no intention of settling he decided we have to fight now president Trump will not take a complete deal in this case it's not going to happen there's no crime I don't know if it's going to make the trial because we have substantial legal challenges that we have to to front before we get to that point well those motions and a trial will likely stretch well into 2024. this will have major implications whether we like it or not for governing in Washington throughout this calendar year in 2023 and of course for the campaign year of 2024 West Virginia senator Joe manchin represents a state that voted for Trump by nearly 40 points in 2020. he himself has not said whether he plans to run for reelection next year or not or whether he may instead run for president on an independent ticket if they deem if he deems the parties too far to the left or right and the nation's leading Centrist these days Senator manchin joins me now Senator uh welcome back to Meet the Press hey Chuck it's always good to be with you look there's always a lot to talk with you about but I really want to ask you the first thing your reaction uh to the news that the former president uh for the first time ever of any president has been indicted on a criminal charge Chuck it's a very sad time for America and I feel like other people do it's very sad for our country to have to go through this uh and uh and a segment of society who believes that maybe it's biased that the system doesn't work for all uh I would have to wait and see what comes out next week but I would hope and pray that whatever comes forth that they've done due diligence are very very accurate in what they're doing and understanding that the rule of law is that basically no one's above the law but no one should be targeted by the law uh and we just got to make sure that uh that we understand that we have to come together this country cannot you know we cannot be a house divide as Abraham Lincoln said A House Divided cannot stand and we've got to come together and the rule of law makes us different any place in the world you know you said it was a sad day for the country do you see it as a sign of Health uh on the Democracy that we have a system that can do this or do you fear that this could expose an unhealthy side of our democracy well again that's What comes forth next week we'll see uh to the extent of of uh of the evidence that's had and again I say everyone is innocent until proven uh to proven otherwise and we have to understand the rule of law makes us so much different you know no one's Above the Law not a president no not any Congress person or Senator and none of us are above the law but with that we should not be targeted and the judicial system should not be targeted and used against anyone what do you mean you're saying it's targeted what do you mean by that do you think that there's a there's evidence that he he's being targeted politically them no no I'm saying that basically we've got to bring people together we've got so many problems in America when you look at what we're dealing with we've got a budget crisis that we're not even talking about right now we've got inflation we've got high cost grocery stores energy gasoline needs to get to work we get all these things and we get bogged down and continue to divide and divide our country it's not who we are as Americans it's not what the world is looking for and the leadership of America must give it our judicial system has to be fair and balanced that's what I'm hoping comes out of this that people understand it is fair and balanced and everyone's going to be held accountable but no one should be targeted do you think it's the rule of law it's who we are do you think it's a mistake for speaker Kevin McCarthy to uh to instruct House Republicans to investigate the the Manhattan D.A Alvin Bragg we don't even know what the indictment says we don't but he's already endorsed the idea of investigating him because it seems to get in the way of what you just said um of doing the the more serious business of governing well my conversations with Kevin has been about how do we get a budget how do we not hit this budget crisis and cause you know undue damage to Americans and costs I talked to him about those things how do we get a permitting bill that allows us to build what we need to deliver the energy that we need we're talking about how do we run our country how do we do our job which we're not so when you get off on these tangents and you get the extremes right in the left that's what people are tired about they're tired of seeing the political parties Retreat to the extreme right and left and say okay pick your side that's why people were saying enough is enough yeah I can't take it anymore I mean can't we just get along can't we just do our job you know a lot of your Republican colleagues in the Senate are already attacking this case which only serves to go against what you've just been telling me John barasso who's not usually a bomb thrower called a politically motivated prosecution by a far-left activist Ted Cruz called it the death of the rule of law Josh Hawley called it an assault on a democracy Tom Tillis said it doesn't pass the smell test I I focus on Brasso and tell us because I know you have good relationship with both of them I to attack this now I mean doesn't that do exactly the opposite of what you're advocating well yeah they have to understand we again I say we must come together American people want us to do our job the more you talk about that the more you make people pick a side are they right or wrong you get more uh Credence to basically is it biased or not does the rural law work for all of us let's wait until what comes out next week let's see the direction this goes but the bottom line is a very sad time in America you know you have geopolitical unrest around the world just think of the people that don't wish our society or our form of democracy to work whether it be China Russia or whoever uh they're looking and saying oh my goodness let's just sit back and kind of watch this melee unfold well I want to show them that as Americans we can work together we can meet the challenges we can basically lead the Free World and come to the aid of our allies that have the same thirst that we have for the freedoms with democracy and that's what I keep working on and I keep saying I talk to people around the country they can't take it anymore they're just tired they're wore out enough is enough please do your job get a budget live within your means start getting this crippling debt down get rid of inflation give me energy that basically gives me security but also be able to invest in a new technology of the future so that's what we've been trying to do Chuck Senator you sound like a presidential candidate and I don't just say that here in this morning's Washington Post you openly admit you're thinking about it you told the post in an interview today if enough Americans believe there is an option and the option is a threat to the extreme left in extreme stream right it will be the greatest contribution to democracy I believe this is you were asked whether you would participate in a No Labels ticket and you didn't rule it out uh in or out but like I said what you just sounded like there that sounded like what a presidential candidate says when they're trying to bring the country together how serious are you about this first of all chuck if you look the last 40 years I've been involved in public service through my great state of West Virginia and since I've been to Senator representing the state of West Virginia it's always been about being a Centrist in the middle I'm I tell people I'm fiscally responsible and socially compassionate which I think most Americans they've been driven to the corners to pick a side when you're asking me what I'm going to do and what my political Ambitions would be is to make the country work together and be a United States and not to divide its states and that's what I've seen happen over the period of time I'm going to do whatever I can to have a voice in that middle that we can basically Force both sides and say wait a minute you've gone to extremes right you've got to start coming back you've got to find ways to solve problems you can't solve them from the extreme right and extreme left you can't make people make a pick a side what side are you on well I'll choose the left or the right or the D or the r because this one's not as bad as that one neither one of them are doing the job the way we should do it but one's not as bad as the other so you pick a side I think we can do better than that and if we can change that dialogue and have a movement Chuck then we've done our job 44 of Democrats this week in a Monmouth poll said that they wanted Joe Biden not to run again 25 would like to see him run again there were sort of 30 percent in the messy Middle where are you would you like to see him run again or not check out let me just tell you this I've always said this no matter who My President is whether it's a Democrat or Republican whether someone I voted for or not whether it's in the same political party or not doesn't make a difference once the pla once the people of America speak and that's our president then I'm going to do everything I can to help them be successful whether it's Donald Trump or whether it's Joe Biden I'm no Joan Biden Joe Biden for quite some time and I've tried everything I can and I will continue to try to be a productive Senator and try to help my country move forward but I've got to speak truth to power when I know that we can do better when I know a piece of legislation that we wrote was intended to give us energy Security in lower prices and make us much more able to help our allies around the world and it's going a different direction because they want to interpret it differently do you think Joe Biden liked you yeah Chuck I'm not saying that the president lied to me I'm saying that basically what we agreed on the president I agreed on with what this bill would do it would give us energy security it would bring Manufacturing lecturing back to America as quickly as possible we would not be relying on foreign supply chain such as China to run our transportation mode we talked about all of that we would pay down debt for the first time in 20 years we talked about all of that we agreed exactly that's what it should do and now to have different parts of his administration basically administering it and writing rules and regulation that are totally foreign to what we did is wrong and I'm going to fight that you need to speak truth to power but basically hold people accountable right and I'm hopeful that the president will step forward and tell his administration we will follow the law we will do what the bill is intended to do let me ask you this what's it going to take for you to endorse Joe Biden you don't seem ready to do it that's for sure I'm not ready to do anything this year only in America does the next election start after the day after the last election ended I don't do that I got a lot of work to do this year and I'm going to work with everybody come on let's get our budget under control let's get our spending under control let's make sure we bring down inflation let's do all the things that we're supposed to do and if you're just throwing bombs and attacking everybody for two years I think next year when it starts in January one year would be enough to attack you don't need an extra year so bottom line we'll find out if you're going to run for president uh January of 2024. uh my my filing date is January 15th in 2024 and I will make my decision maybe a little bit before that but not until the end of the year I can assure you and do you know whether for sure you're going to be running as a Democrat or is something else well you know the party identification is not going to change me Democrat Republican I mean having a DNR should not change you as a person I'm going to still fight for the things I do can't I be a moderate Centrist with whatever identification or no identification I would think I'm not going to be changing as a person I've been doing this for a long time I'm going to continue to fight for the people of West Virginia and the people of my great country proud to be in America and when you hear people say that you might be a spoiler if you run for president what would you say to that I would never intend to be a spoiler of anything I would like to basically be a promoter of United United government a United government that basically has provided the greatest opportunities in the world my great-grandparents came to this country for the opportunities it provided I'm a product of that I'm very very very appreciative of that and I'm going to continue to try to offer that to people countless people in America and around the world Senator Joe mentioned right now a Democrat from West Virginia it is always a pleasure to get your perspective on this program thank you for sharing it with us sir well it's good to be with you Chuck thanks for having me I appreciate it enjoy the rest of your Sunday thanks for watching our YouTube channel follow today's top stories and breaking news by downloading the NBC News app

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Keywords: dc, election, government, meet the press, mtp, politics, washington, washington d.c.

Id: KdCFZwIO9SU

Length: 13min 0sec (780 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 02 2023