TRANSCRIPT: Leader Schumer Joins Lawrence O’Donnell On MS Now To Discuss President Trump’s Disastrous Iran Deal And Efforts To Undermine The Upcoming Elections

New York, N.Y.- Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) appeared on MS Now's "The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell" to discuss President Trump's failed Iran deal and Republican efforts to undermine democracy ahead of the upcoming elections. Below is a transcript of the conversation:

Lawrence O'Donnell: Joining us now is the Democratic Leader of the United States Senate, Senator Chuck Schumer. Senator, thank you very much for joining us tonight.

Leader Chuck Schumer: Really glad to be here once again, Lawrence.

O'Donnell: So we're seeing something that I guess, you know, it's like we've been waiting for this for years. When would Trump go so far that Lindsey Graham is left speechless?

Schumer: Yeah. Well, look, I don't have too much sympathy for these guys. We gave them eight times to vote against this damn war. We told them over and over again. It was clear that he had no goals, he had no plans, that we were going to be worse off after the war than before, which we are. The Strait of Hormuz, Iran has more control. The leadership of Iran is worse. Americans are paying $4 for gasoline. It was obvious. And they were so afraid of Trump that they refused. They could have joined us in a War Resolution, and we could have actually stopped this damn war. So, you know, chickens have come home to roost for those guys, but now let's see if it's just statements for a day or two or real action with us.

O'Donnell: There's another one of these worth watching. This is Senator Husted, who's running for re-election in Ohio, where a recent poll shows Sherrod Brown doing very well -

Schumer: Up by eight.

O'Donnell: - in the lead against an incumbent, which in Senate races is really extraordinary to see. Let's watch how he is handling the most difficult question right now of his re-election campaign.

Reporter: Senator, any reaction to this Iran negotiation? Are you excited? Do you think we've accomplished anything?

Senator Husted silently walks past reporter.

Reporter: Apparently not.

O'Donnell: Now, Sherrod Brown was here the other night. He had a lot to say about what was going on in Iran.

Schumer: Look, this is not the art of the deal. This is the art of surrender. It's not peace through strength. It's payoffs through weakness. It's the worst-this is one of the worst foreign policy disasters that has ever happened in America. And it was obvious from the very beginning we were saying end this war. He has no plan. He has no goal. He has no endgame. So now we have 13 Americans dead. We have hundreds more wounded. We have oil prices at four dollars. We have a strengthened Iran and the world is laughing at America because of what Donald Trump has done.

O'Donnell: He said he wanted unconditional surrender. That was one of his terms in the first week. He said he wanted regime change because on the night he announced his war, he told the people of Iran, "this is your chance to rise up. This is the moment to rise up." Now he's telling the people of Iran as yesterday that their leaders are smart and that their leaders are good.

Schumer: And we're giving them money so they can oppress you further. I mean, it's amazing. Just unbelievable. I have never seen such a disaster. And it was predictable. But the problem was that none of the Republicans, those Republicans, who are now running away from your cameras, refused to join us. Will they now? It's on them. The American people are furious, just furious at this war. Obviously, the thing that hits home every week is the price of gasoline, which was predictable. It was all predictable. But the chaos, the idea that now Iran is strengthened when it is a bad country, the leadership anyway, it's driving the American people crazy. That's why the guy running in Ohio didn't want to answer the question. He knows what Ohioans feel.

O'Donnell: So here's a prediction that I think you're going to like. "The Republican Party will never win another election. I will sadly be the last Republican president. Senate Majority Leader John Thune and the Republican Senate must not let this carnage happen." That's Donald Trump's prediction today that the Republican Party will never win another election. You will be the next Senate Majority Leader. And he's saying all of that because the Republicans in the Senate are not trying to push through his bill to restrict voting in this country.

Schumer: Well, that's right. This is this horrible thing, the SAVE Act, one of the worst, most anti-election democracy things that's ever been proposed. They say it's, "oh, it's all about ID, voter ID." It's not. They will remove 25 million people off the rolls. Why? Because they'll require, under this act, which is not going to pass and we're not going to let it pass. We've defeated it in court. I was a lead plaintiff in the decision to do that. We've refused to give them the votes that they would want for this. We never will. What it does is it says every state send your election rolls, not to the Justice Department or the voting division, but to the Department of Homeland Security, where Musk and DOGE and Vought have installed an algorithm that determines whether you're legitimately right to vote or not. The algorithm is a fix. It'll knock 20 million people, 30 million people off the rolls, and they don't tell you. So Mr. Lawrence O'Donnell could show up at the same voting place he showed up every so often, shown his same ID. "Sorry, you're not on the rolls anymore, sir." "Well, what do I do about it?" "Next week, go to the Board of Elections." Trump knows he will lose the election - he said it - because he has created such chaos and because we Democrats have shown what we're for and the contrast between what we're for and he's for, and there's such a contrast. And so, he's got to fix it. We're not letting him do it.

O'Donnell: So one of the things he's trying to stop is mail-in voting anywhere. And one of the little known facts about this recent California election is that California primary had the highest voter turnout of any primary in any state this year, and that's because everyone in California, if they choose, can vote at home. They can sit at the kitchen table with a ballot that goes on for several pages, by the way, where you're voting on judges, you're voting on issues, you have to do a lot of homework. I know people who spend an hour and a half, two hours, filling out their ballot right and that is what gets you that high of a turnout.

Schumer: Yes, and he's even trying to hijack the post office not to deal with the mail-in ballots. Again, we will win. He will not be able to change it legislatively, which is the only way he could. We will go to court, and we will beat him. We have beaten him. His lawyers are so lousy because the good ones have left, or he's fired them because they don't say, "yes, sir," that he loses all these cases. We are going to stop this in its tracks.

O'Donnell: Chuck Schumer, thank you very much for joining us tonight. Democratic Leader of the United States Senate, a real honor to have you here.

Schumer: Lawrence, it's great to be here. We're going to keep up the fight. The country is at stake, but we're going to beat this guy.

O'Donnell: Thank you, Senator.

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