Alex Padilla U.S. Senator for California

Read the approximate transcript of the interview here and below:

BLITZER: I want to get reaction to all of this from Senator Alex Padilla, Democrat of California. Senator, thanks so much for coming in. We see the president walking down those stairs right now. He’s about to be received by your governor of California, Governor Newsom. There he is. Let’s see how they react.

Shaking hands, saying something, clearly no microphones there.

It’s clearly a nice gesture on the part of your governor to formally receive the president of the United States on the tarmac there.

SEN. ALEX PADILLA (D-CA): Yes, absolutely. I mean, despite the rhetoric going back and forth.

BLITZER: The rhetoric is pretty awful, too.

PADILLA: We all have a job to do. And the governor has stepped up, not just in the response these last several weeks to the fires, but if I can put myself in his mind, he’s probably telling the president, we meet again, because during President Trump’s first term, he actually came out to California to visit other fire-ravaged areas in Northern California.

[….]

BLITZER: All right, we’re back with Senator Alex Padilla, Democrat of California. What’s your reaction to what we just heard?

PADILLA: I’m certainly hoping that’s the start of a good, productive, fruitful visit. I was mentioning before we paused that the president’s been out there before. So, it wasn’t just a thank you for the federal response to COVID, but to fires during the first Trump administration. And so we’re certainly hoping that he’ll follow through in a similar fashion after these disasters.

And, frankly, as a Southern Californian, knowing full well that — look, Southern California is there for every region of the country in their time of crisis, and now we need the country, the federal government, to be there for the Los Angeles region.

BLITZER: Because you clearly need a lot of federal aid to help rebuild these areas that have been totally devastated, there’s no doubt about that.

What’s your reaction to what we heard earlier today from President Trump suggesting that he was thinking of trying to get rid of FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which is responsible for providing emergency aid from the federal government to these kinds of situations?

PADILLA: Look, in my mind, that’s governmental malpractice, right, and a failure of leadership. To even suggest something like that, especially in the wake of these devastating incidents, not just in Southern California, but he’s coming from North Carolina that was devastated by hurricanes. It hasn’t been that long since Florida and Louisiana have been devastated, other parts of the regions for tornadoes and floods. That’s why we have a federal program. And FEMA’s there just for the immediate response and laying the foundation for recovery of these communities. Ultimately, we need state, federal, and local resources in the private sector to completely recover and rebuild.

BLITZER: Because in these kinds of disaster situations, almost always, the states and the local governments don’t have the billions and billions of dollars that the federal government has to try to rebuild.

PADILLA: Look, what President Trump is going to see is that this isn’t just another fire. The scale of it, I mean, three times the size of Manhattan, he’ll have that perspective. But the level, the intensity of the heat, the homes that are burned, other structures that are burned, he’s going to see what looks like a war zone. He made reference to a bomb, but the immense areas that’s been impacted before individuals can rebuild, before business owners can rebuild, we need roads, we need water lines, and gas lines, and power lines, and all the core infrastructure cleaned and replaced before the rebuilding begins. So, it’s going to be all hands on deck.

BLITZER: It’s interesting, because earlier today he also suggested if California wants these kinds of federal assistance, and they need a lot of federal assistance right now, California should require voter I.D. during elections. What’s your reaction to that?

PADILLA: I mean, first of all, it’s offensive to try to condition or attach strings of any type to disaster aid. We’ve never done it before as a nation, and we shouldn’t start now. Second, can you imagine the outrage from Republicans if President Biden would have suggested, before we help North Carolina or before we help Florida, we need them to change their gun laws. They’d be apoplectic.

And so we have to stay with what we’ve always done when any part of the country is in crisis, we’re all there to help.

BLITZER: Do you think the president’s immigration crackdown could have a negative impact on your state’s rebuilding right now, given all of the undocumented workers who are going to be involved, presumably, in helping?

PADILLA: You’re absolutely right. There’s a lot of immigrants, both documented and undocumented, that are victims of the fire, have lost their homes, have lost loved ones. And even if they didn’t lose their homes, many have lost their jobs. And as we’re increasing the detention, deportation activities that President Trump is doing, you got to wonder, well, what’s it mean for the workforce? Nearly 40 percent of the construction workforce in California are immigrants. And so if there’s a lot of workers that aren’t on the job for rebuilding, it’s going to take longer. It’s going to be more expensive. There’s practical impacts of the president’s overly aggressive agenda.

BLITZER: Senator, we got to run, but I take it you decided to stay here in Washington today instead of going out with the president to California because you want to vote in the confirmation process, the nomination process for Pete Hegseth to be defense secretary. How are you going to vote?

PADILLA: Yes. So, I was invited, would have appreciated an opportunity to help educate the president and his staff, but I felt it important to be here to vote no on Pete Hegseth. Unqualified, not prepared, would be dangerous and reckless as a secretary of defense.

BLITZER: Do you think he’ll be confirmed?

PADILLA: We’re about to find out. The question is really on Senate Republicans. Are there enough of them who are more loyal to the Constitution, their oath of office, and the troops in our Department of Defense, or are they trying to prove their loyalty to Donald Trump? We’re about to find out.

BLITZER: We’ll watch that vote unfold in the coming hours.

Thank you very much, Senator Alex Padilla of California. I appreciate it. Good luck to all the folks in California right now.

Watch the full interview here.