Subject: RE: Video Request: Corker TN Interview
From: "Haxo, Chris" <[email-masked]>
To: "Bhatnagar, Akshai" <[email-masked]>, Research_D <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 11 May 2016 16:20:49 -0700

Gets a pretty good question about how a fundamentally disagrees with Trump on a number of things, and responds that he thinks Trump will evolve.

*       Are you receptive to being DT's running mate if he asks?
o       No reason to believe that I'm being considered. That speculation occurred out of the blue.
*       Have you been approached?
o       Not on that. I've talked with the campaign and Trump about foreign policy.
*       Big meeting Trump and Ryan. What do you think will come out of it?
o       He's meeting with Ryan, elected leadership in both chambers. I think they'll talk through some issues and it will be a good meeting.
o       I haven't talked with Ryan or the Trump campaign about this.
*       What are the Foreign Policy topics you plan on advising him on?
o       I think advising is a strong word, we just touch base from time to time.
o       I don't consider myself an advisor.
o       If the GOP voters are looking for guidance: I've allows planned on supporting the nominee and he's working on fleshing things out, he's evolving.
o       He devising a tax plan.
o       The voters wanted a strong personality. Time to chill and see where things are at the convention.
*       Are you fine with how things turned out?
o       I respect the process, and was put off by people who talked about meddling with the process.
o       I'm now interested in how he evolves, as are the Republican voters. He will come up with more prescriptive, precise plans.
*       What did you like about his FP speech?
o       It was precise. Moving away from the politics of personality and toward policy.
o       A step towards realism and away from Neo-Conservatism which is a different side of the same coin with Liberal-Internationalism.
*       You urged Trump to lay out more specifics? Normally they would have done it long ago?
o       You're right. This has been very personality-based, the inverse of what normally happens.
o       Because there were so many people in this race, it became more personality driven.
o       We're now in a second phase, focusing more on policy, so let's chill. I'm glad to offer my assistance, but I'm not an advisor.
*       Trump said it may not be a bad thing for South Korea, Japan, Saudi Arabia to have nuclear weapons?
o       I'm not in that place, I think we need to prevent proliferation from occurring. I don't like the civil reprocessing that could be used for weapons.
*       What about NATO? Trump was ok with dissolving NATO?
o       Trump was talking about shaking up NATO, and he's right about that. We pay 70% of the cost and things are way out of balance. What needs to happen is for these other NATO countries is to step up and spend 2% of their GDP as promised, or the relevance of NATO will sink. I don't think us getting paid will work either.
*       What is your response to the Muslim Ban?
o       We sent out a statement on that. The ban runs counter to the idea of our national, but I do support a pause in people coming from some places, which is where I think most people in our country are. But I do not support a ban.
*       It seems like you have strong philosophical and political issues with the front runner. Is that fair to say?
o       With these issues, my since is that the candidate is going to evolve. I think if you look at NATO, our views will align. I think we will also align with when to use military force, using the mindset of Bush 41. There are a number of things that we agree on, but there are also things that we disagree about.
o       I think the campaign is evolving in a positive direction, and I want to be a resource because I care. I
*       You mentioned all the personality earlier, I thought it was nastiness. Was it productive for him to dredge up all of these things, even touching on Bill Clinton's past?
o       With all of the social media in campaigns today, things are evolving. When a nominee is agreed on a democratic side, and it will probably be HRC, I think it will be negative on both sides. I think this has been observed on both sides of the aisle.
o       What I care about is that at the end of the day we have policies that make our national stronger. They [Trump] have called me a few times, but they may never call again. If HRC called you wouldn't you take the call?
o       Policy has definitely taken a back seat. That is why I applauded the FP speech, because it was a step in the right direction, even if there were some things that I would have said differently.
o       When the campaign has been a so personality-driven, you should give an atta boy when there's a shift.
*       What if Trump called and asked how to moderate their tone?
o       I don't think they're going to do that.
*       I don't think so either.
o       That's sort of on the political side, I think they understand that this is a policy side.
*       Will you go to the convention?
o       People think the US senators are talking about this every day. We're not. I'm working on foreign policy all day. We don't talk about it, but it may come up when Trump visits DC. I think people are watching, I think things are easing, warming up, the candidate is focusing on policy more.
*       Your advice is to chill?
o       Yeah, everyone needs to chill and see how things evolve.

_____________________________________________
From: Bhatnagar, Akshai
Sent: Wednesday, May 11, 2016 5:07 PM
To: Haxo, Chris; Research_D
Subject: RE: Video Request: Corker TN Interview

Saved here<https://toolbox.dnc.org/?tool_name=vantage%20uploader&path=vantageuploader.dnc.org/videos/shared_show?jwt=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJpYXQiOjE0NjMwMDA3OTQsImVtYWlsIjoiYmhhdG5hZ2FyYUBkbmMub3JnIiwiaWQiOjMxNzY0MSwiZG93bmxvYWRhYmxlIjp0cnVlfQ.rhTnri6paTxF_u2tSKIo2iFkZMvy5t-XC42pkWOf3iM>

_____________________________________________
From: Haxo, Chris
Sent: Wednesday, May 11, 2016 5:03 PM
To: Research_D
Subject: Video Request: Corker TN Interview

https://soundcloud.com/memphisnews/sen-bob-corker-with-otis-sanford

Thanks!