Transcript: Sen. Mark Kelly on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," Aug. 18. 2024

The following is a transcript of an interview with Sen. Mark Kelly, Democrat of Arizona, on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" that aired on Aug. 18, 2024.

MARGARET BRENNAN: And we go now to Arizona Senator Mark Kelly. He joins us from Chicago, where the DNC will kick off tomorrow. Good morning to you, Senator.

SEN. MARK KELLY: Good morning. Margaret.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, you just heard some of our polling, and if we zero in on your home state, a key battleground, we see that Vice President Harris is trailing Donald Trump by just one point. Donald Trump is expected to be visiting the border with Mexico in your state at some point in the coming days. Our CBS polling shows 48% of registered voters believe that if Harris wins the election, border crossings will increase. How much of a liability is that perception in Arizona?

SEN. MARK KELLY: Well, Margaret, first of all, thank you for having me on. With regards to the border. Just like so many other issues, the contrast between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris could not be more clear. Kamala Harris has supported our bipartisan border security bill that Donald Trump told Senate Republicans to run away from. So she's been working on this issue. Border crossings on the Arizona border are down substantially. She's been focused on this issue where the former President is trying to undermine our border security. I mean, he specifically told my Senate colleagues that they could not support this bill because he wanted to have this issue for the election. I've never seen anything like this before. You know, my three and a half years in the United States Senate. And I really, I think it shows that Kamala Harris is the leader that can bring us into the future. Donald Trump just wants to, you know, drag us back into the past.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Do you have any idea where the border ranks for Vice President Harris? Because she hasn't talked about it much on the campaign trail to date. She has said she wanted to revive the legislation you just talked about. She also said something about comprehensive reform with an earned pathway to citizenship. Is this a first 100 days priority for her?

SEN. MARK KELLY: Well, I've heard her talk about it. You know, I was at a, an event in Glendale, Arizona, just outside of Phoenix, the other day with my wife, Gabby Giffords. 15,000 people in the room. Lot of excitement. We discussed this, specifically myself and the Vice President, about how the border is an important issue, especially for border states, the state of Arizona that I represent. And it's not only border security. Kamala Harris really wants to reform our immigration system. Our immigration system helps support our economy. And I expect you know that she will be focused on this after she's elected president.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, you need the rest of the Congress to agree to follow that path, and you know that that's been an impediment to date,

SEN. MARK KELLY: Well that's– that has with Donald Trump still in the picture. Once he is done and gone, I really believe that my Senate colleagues, the Republicans in the United States Senate, will get back onto this bill, because they negotiated it. And this wasn't meeting them like on the 50 yard line on this issue, this was meeting them on the 10 yard line on their side of the field. And we almost had it done until Donald Trump said they were not allowed to vote for the bill. So I expect her to, you know, to help us get this across the finish line. And she said she would sign it.

MARGARET BRENNAN: So back during your 2022 Senate debate, you said Democrats don't understand the border issue. You talked about how you had to stand up to President Biden yourself when he was creating what you called a bigger crisis by taking a quote, "dumb move", by lifting Title 42 pandemic-era restrictions without a backup plan in place. Do you hold Vice President Harris responsible for those decisions as well? And how do you tell your fellow Arizonans to dismiss it, when you said that was a legitimate complaint?

SEN. MARK KELLY: Well, back in 2022 when we, you know, had what I would consider a crisis on our southern border, you know, I talked about this with my Senate colleagues, both Democrats and Republicans, and with the White House. And it was those discussions that enabled us to get to the point where we were able to negotiate a bipartisan agreement. And it addressed so many different things. It was going to provide more Border Patrol agents, more Border Patrol pay, money to build facilities to temporarily hold migrants. So we, so this legislation had a lot of things, you know, in effect it was a–

MARGARET BRENNAN: And it didn't get done.

SEN. MARK KELLY: It was a reasonable compromise. It didn't get done because of Donald Trump–

MARGARET BRENNAN: But do when you were saying–

SEN. MARK KELLY: Not because of the administration

MARGARET BRENNAN: When you were saying "Democrats don't understand this issue," do you think Vice President Harris understands this issue?

SEN. MARK KELLY: Yeah, she does, absolutely. And I think when we talk about some of the Democrats in the United States Senate that weren't really getting it in 2022 now they get it. And that's why we were going to be able to provide, I think the plan was we were going to provide about 40 votes, the Republicans about 20. We would get the legislation passed and then we could move on to some of the other stuff that Vice President Harris has talked about, which is comprehensive immigration reform.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Yeah

SEN. MARK KELLY: But again, Donald Trump, he just wants to talk about this issue, and so do my Senate Republicans, by the way, by the way. Right after JD Vance became the nominee, what did he do? He went down to the southern border in Arizona to take a picture. He doesn't actually want to fix this. Kamala Harris will fix this problem.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Let me ask you about Ukraine. I know you are very focused on that war. Their forces launched this bold incursion into western Russia. Into this Kursk area. Are you comfortable with US weapons being used on Russian soil?

SEN. MARK KELLY: Well Margaret, yes, you know I am at this point. The Ukrainians were illegally attacked by Vladimir Putin. He, I mean, he is intentionally killing women, children, old people. It was an illegal invasion. This incursion, and I'll just, let's characterize it that way for now. I don't think the Ukrainians want to intentionally hold Russian territory for a long period of time, but this really set Putin back on his heels. He has always tried to characterize himself as somebody that is going to protect Russia. I think his citizens are seeing the results of what he has done in Ukraine that now they are somewhat at risk.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Do you think–

SEN. MARK KELLY: 130,000 Russians have had to leave, leave their homes and at this point in this conflict, I think the Ukrainians did something unpredictable that could really change the tide of how this conflict's gonna play out.

MARGARET BRENNAN: A number of key former officials, including the former Supreme Allied Commander General Breedlove, wrote a letter to President Biden last week calling on him to lift restrictions on the US weapons provided to Ukraine to allow them to "strike legitimate military targets in Russia." Would you echo their calls?

SEN. MARK KELLY: Well, Margaret, those restrictions. You know, some of them have already been lifted. And since the since the invasion, now, over two years ago, we have, you know, periodically, as we should reevaluate, you know, how we're going to conduct ourselves with regards to the Ukrainians use of the security assistance that we provide them. And I think it's it's appropriate to continue to look at what their needs are. How can we make adjustments? What new weapons systems are we going to provide to them? They just recently got F-16s. My hope is that over time here, the Ukrainians learn how to better deploy that weapon system, and we're going to see some positive effects from F-16s on the battlefield. You know, the same is true for ATACMS and HIMARS and these other weapons. So, you know, so periodically, reevaluating what we allow them to use is the appropriate thing to do.

MARGARET BRENNAN: All right. Senator Mark Kelly, thank you. Face the Nation will be back in one minute. Stay with us.