Announcer joining us on newsmakers is the chair of the Democratic National committee, tom perez and joining us with the questioning are our guests from Washington Post and politico. I want to begin with the dnc rules for the debate. We sat down with john delaney, one of the candidates, and he is one of a number of candidates who said we understand why dnc put in place these debate rules but still feel it is unfair that the dnc and not voters are deciding who is in or out of this race. We have given unprecedented access to candidates. It is hard. Our first set of rules were put into place for a half months before the first debate. 1 is what you needed to make in the polls. Or having a certain amount of individual donors who gave you a dollar. The purpose of that was, we wanted to make sure that there were multiple pathways to the debate stage because some people are wellknown nationally and some arent. And they deserve, but they are very talented so they deserve an opportunity. I think we have been incredibly inclusive. 20 people made the debate stage with us two debates. And the closer you get to the primaries, and caucuses, historically, we have shown that you have to make progress. So actually the voters are having input, because they are, ive spoken to so many voters who said boy, i saw soandso on the debate stage and i had given her money. It made me proud tos feel part of it. So we have given the grassroots a role. Again, a 1 polling threshold for the first two debates. A 2 polling threshold for the next debates, i would submit that is not a high bar. So many have made it. I think the process has been remarkably transparent. There comes a point where you have to demonstrate youre making progress. Polling is one way that we can get a handle on who is making progress. Steve but in some cases with a governor, senator or former congressperson not making the stage. Is there anything you would change or do differently . Tom i think we have been quite transparent and markedly inclusive. I had a set of meetings recently and back to back i had the falling people for whom i have Great Respect, the first meeting was, you have to reduce the field. And by the way, i do not get is think it is our place to reduce the field. Youre not going fast enough. My second meeting was youre going too fast. So, one thing ive learned in this job is that you have got to do your best. You have to listen. You have to be inclusive. And the fact that we have criticism from both sides, youre going too fast, youre going too slow. Tells me that i think we have probably found a fairly good sweet spot. Jaqueline on the topic of debates, nearly all the candidates have come out in favor of having a debate are, a debate strictly focused on Climate Change, top priority for millennial and youth voters. Why not have a debate on Climate Change . Tom Climate Change is a huge existential threat and we have done more on Climate Change than ever before. We spoke early onto the networks when we were talking to them like in 2017 and 2018. I said we want to have debates about the issue, we do not want to talk about hand size like the republicans did in 2016. We want to talk about health care. Climate change is one of those issues i would agree with campaign debates. What we have already seen in 2020 is, we have had robust discussion about Climate Change in the debates. In addition, cnn did come i it was a six or seven hour climate forum, msnbc is doing the same. And the challenge we have at the dnc is Climate Change is incredibly important and so his gun violence reduction. So is gun violence reduction. So is immigration. So is health care. And we received inquiries from about 40 to 50 organizations reflecting 10 to 15 different issues, wanting a debate focused exclusively on their issue. If we go and have 15 debates each on one issue, i dont think that is the most effective way to carry out our debate cycle. So i take a backseat to no one in my commitment to Climate Change and thats why we were affirmatively working with the networks to facilitate those forums. That is why we have had more discussions of climate in our debates than ever before. And we will continue to do that because it is a hugely important issue. Just as the other issues are. The president is going to have to be the multitasker in chief. I think part of what we see in the debates is we want to analyze and assess how are they with the wide array of issues. When i talk to the mothers of the movement and they want to debate on gun violence and they say have any more people have to die before congress does something . It is a compelling point. What everybody asking for debate on their issue has in common is that they have a very compelling issue. We have tried to deal with it by making sure we cover these issues in the debates. And we have additional forums and we continue to make sure that issues like climate they get the attention absolutely deserve. Former Vice President biden has come under withering attack from the white house in recent weeks. It has gone on for days and days and days now, over some supposed connection he and his family has to ukraine. The Trump Campaign has been hitting biden with millions of dollars in attack ads now. This has also been going on for days. Yet the committee has not, your committee has not done much to provide joe biden with air cover. Has done not done much to defend him. Why have you made that decision not to do that . Tom first, let me correct your premise. Every allegation about the Vice President in connection to ukraine has been unequivocally debugged. Debunked. This is about a president that his attempt to distract attention from his own impeachable misconduct by deflecting attention onto the Biden Campaign. And onto the Vice President. What has taken place is wrong. And what the dnc has done is, we have called unequivocally and forcefully for facebook and other networks not to air ads that have false information. And these are provably incorrect assertions. Incorrect is way too tame. These are lies. We have forcefully called for facebook and all the other networks not to air them. I applaud cnn for not airing lies. The role of the dnc, some people have said you should be airing ads. Again, the dnc in 2012 as an appendage of the obama reelection campaign. The rnc in 2020 is an appendage of the trump reelection campaign. The dnc in 2020 is running a campaign process to make sure everything a person has an opportunity to demonstrate that they are most qualified to be president. And i do not believe it would be our role to be airing ads every time there is misinformation. That is up to the campaign. What we are doing, forcefully, and will continue to do forcefully, is to call out misinformation, to make sure that networks are not aiding and abetting in the dissemination of misinformation. I think that is a critically important role. For instance, when in the aftermath of the el paso shooting, there was a whole slew of misinformation regarding an allegation that was being perpetrated on social media that one of the assailants, one of the shooters, drove away in a pickup truck with a beto bumper sticker. And we informed the Beto Orourke Campaign that this was being disseminated. They took appropriate action. And they were able to stem that. We will stick up for every campaign when they are being subjected to these disinformation campaigns. Unfortunately, i could give you many other examples of actions we have taken and we will continue to defend all of our candidates. I do not think it is the place of the dnc to be taking out ads in doing that. I think it is the place of the media to be taking down and refusing to air ads that include information that is palpably false. A quick followup. Facebook said they are knocking they are not going to take down those ads. Are you worried that even though you and the Biden Campaign claim falsehese are obviously accusations, but are you worried that the narrative will damage joe biden if he is the nominee next year . What i think people are smarter than this. If you look at the polling today, people understand in the democratic primary process and elsewhere that this is a president who lies with impunity. Or tries to lie with impunity. He is been involved has been involved with a situation in ukraine that is unconscionable. This is an abuse of power case where a president , and this is not right versus left. This is right versus wrong. It is wrong for a president of the United States of any party to shake down a foreign leader so that he can get a political favor. And the American People are not stupid. They understand what is going on. I think, and the Vice President , and by the way republicans in the senate, where working together during this. They were working together to take appropriate action to stem the violence that was perpetrated by the russians. And to build a ukraine that would be a viable ukraine. So im quite confident that the American People can see through this. You look at the recent polling on impeachment. The American People are starting to see the light. This is a president whose north star is himself. Everything he does is about himself. Hes putting his own self interest ahead of our National Security interests, ahead of our best interests. That is wrong and i think people are saying it. Jaqueline do you think the Biden Campaign has been too slow to combat the disinformation going around about the ukraine . Tom i think the Biden Campaign has been very forceful. The Vice President has spoken clearly peered he spoke the other day clearly about the need to impeach this president. And im confident he said that with soberness because he understands the seriousness of an allegation or a call for impeachment. This effort by the trump folks, their whole modus operandi is to distort and distract. The distraction of the 2018 cycle was caravan. They did not want to talk about health care. The democrats are fighting to make sure if you have a preexist in condition you can keep your health care. We are taking on the pharmaceutical industry so we can bring down the cost of Prescription Drugs. Donald trump did not want to talk about it. So he talked about caravans. The distraction now of 2020, he is he has been caught in a blatant abuse of power situation. And now he wants to deflect , attention by trying to blame others. And the American People, as he see through the polling, the American People see through this. This is a blatant abuse of power by this president. Host chairman, you look at the money raised so far and your committee is getting vastly outraised by the republican committee. Not only that, but the trumpet administration and republicans are putting field staffers down in numerous states, organizing across the country peered why is it that your committee, your party is getting so outraised in and is it a problem for you, and is it a challenge for you that the other side appears to have a head start . Tom that there are republicans raising more than the typical dog bites man story. In 2016, the rnc outraised the the dnc 21 and we took over the house. Last year we helped take over the house and had historic gains instead houses are the last time we won this many seeds and flip seeds was 1982. We now have the majority of state attorneys general. One over 400 seats in state legislatures, flipped eight chambers. We are about to flip that state house and state senate in virginia. In a month or so. And what we have been doing, i have never made the goal to match the other side. A for dollar. And by the way, they have got more rich people than we do. It is Pretty Simple how they raise more money. The tax bill from 2017. That was a pay to play bill. If you look at the amount of money they took in after the tax bill passed, that was a simple pay to play bill, but what we have been able to do, and i think it is important to look at the broad democratic ecosystem, the amount of money that we have been able to raise and others have been able to raise, that was what enabled us in 2018 to organize at scale. What we are doing at the dmc is we have been able to rebuild our data and technology ever structure. We were organizing wisconsin back in 2017. Walker lostscott the governors race in wisconsin, not just because we organized in milwaukee and madison, but because we were organizing across the state. He lost his edge across the state. He was losing in rural areas because we were able to close the gap there. Our investments and organizing, our investments in Border Protection and in data and technology, 6000 people used our voter file last year. We are building an infrastructure and my job is to hand over an infrastructure to our nominee that is first rate. That is exact what we are doing. While youre right that the rnc outraises the dnc, they are morally bankrupt. And they are spending it to help roy moore. Theyre helping it spending it to help donald trump and his Legal Defense fund. There spending it to help joe arpaio out in arizona. Be my guest. What we are doing is raising enough money and working with our partners, so we can build that infrastructure that enabled us to win at scale in 2018. We got three governors races in 2019. Where i feel very bullish about in kentucky, mississippi and louisiana. And then we are taking that momentum into 2020. I would much rather be us than them. Jaqueline on that note, Elizabeth Warren and bernie sanders, even the number of candidates who flipped red districts, pledged not to take corporate pac money. Is that something the dnc will do going into the general . Tom we are making sure every thing we do is consistent with our values. One thing that is clear with our candidates and everything that we do at the dnc, we are not afraid to take on corporate interests. We are taking on the pharmaceutical industry, because people are paying way too much for Prescription Drugs. We are willing to take on the oil industry, because we need a Clean Energy Economy and the other side does not believe the science. We are willing to take on these large corporations that got these unconscionable bull s of massive tax cuts. The Democratic National committee and Democratic Party and candidates for that president are on the side of working people, fighting to make sure that everybody gets access to opportunity. When you deny the climate science, that to me, how can you credibly do that . The challenge the other side is, they are just in the pocket of all of these industries. That is unconscionable. And the American People are seeing through it. Jaqueline so the dnc will continue to accept corporate pac money . Tom we have a resolution in place where we do not take money from people or entities that are inconsistent with our values. We will continue to abide by that. That is what we have done today and will continue to do. Look at our platform. Look at what we are fighting for. You will see that our platform is very much the platform that is fighting to make sure that we lower the cost of Prescription Drugs, that we take on industries that have, frankie, been profiteering on the backs of ordinary americans. Jaqueline when corporations dig into their treasury to donate money to you, what do you think they are expecting in return . Tom i think corporations want a democracy that works. Any of the corporations i talk to, who are very, very concerned about what is going on, i think what is happening with donald trump right now is not a right versus left issue. It is a right versus wrong issue. Frankie, the Republican Party gets infinitely more money from corporations than the Democratic Party. That is a fact. Because we make no bones about what we are fighting for. We want to fight for a Clean Energy Economy. We want to fight for Prescription Drug costs that are affordable. We want to fight for tax fairness. What happened in that tax bill was that large corporations and wealthy people got an unconscionable windfall. We are not shy about that. As a result, if you look at our fundraising, we are the party of the grassroots. U. S. To question, alex, why do they raise more money echo they what did they raise more money why did they raise more noodles take oodles of corporate money from industries that we do not really want to be associated with. And that is not that hard to why they take get more money. Figure out why the get more money. We have a grassroots on our side. We were able to get small dollar funding through our threshold. We have been able to do just that. So many people who have never given before are starting to give 25 to 50 and i think that we are catalyzing that, further catalyzing it. A number of candidates have done great work in that. We are trained to the primary process to ramp up grassroots trying to use this primary process to ramp up grassroots participation. We have about five minutes. Alex one more question, the question, the president is holdling a rally this week in minnesota, obviously a blue state the president wants to turn red. The Democratic Party of minnesota has been sounding the alarm saying the Trump Campaign is on the ground organizing and has been very aggressive. I am wondering why do not see that is a concern, and what if what have you told democrats in these individual states were who arere saying saying look, we are trying to sou