Jorge Ramo's interview with Democratic Candidate for Vice President Tim Kaine

In a bilingual interview with Jorge Ramos for the Al Punto program, the Democratic vice presidential nominee said that Donald Trump doesn't represent American values and acts like a "clown".

Jorge Ramos (JR): Senator Tim Kaine, thank you for being with us.

Tim Kaine (TK): I’m very happy to talk, Jorge, thanks.

JR: Thank you. And I want to state, as I have always done before, that my daughter Paola works for the Hillary Clinton campaign. It is very important to make that clear. Senator, I would like to start with the first question. This has been a very hard week. Donald Trump accused Hillary Clinton of being a racist: “bigot” is the word he used. And on one program, you said that Donald Trump was an idiot. Is this the tone of the campaign? Why did you call Donald Trump an idiot?

TK: I said that his actions are the actions of an idiot, especially his actions against the Latino community. He’s talking about building a giant wall, forming a deportation force, removing 16 million people from our country. And his words of ill will and his actions on this issue are the actions of a clown. No, they are not serious actions, but we have to fight this kind of sentiment from Donald Trump, because they are not the values of our country.

JR: Senator, do you think that Donald Trump is changing his position on deportations because he is trying to win the Latino vote, and he realized it might be too late?

TK: Jorge, I’m not sure he is changing anything. His words this week are, I think, empty words, because he still has plans to remove people from this country, to build this giant wall and it’s a – he is always fighting against reform of the immigration system. There is a very, very big difference between Hillary Clinton and him. And so, some words this week are words, but his actions are very clear, and his – Trump’s actions are not changing.

JR: This week Secretary Clinton gave a strong speech in which she linked supremacists, white supremacist groups with the Donald Trump campaign. Do you think that Donald Trump is a racist?

TK: I don’t know Donald Trump, so I’m not going to offer an opinion about his state of mind, but he is saying, he is working with – with people who have very clear connections to extremism, to white supremacy groups, with people like Donald [David] Duke and others who are supporters of Donald Trump and Alex Jones and others. It is clear that he is promoting hate groups and is receiving help from hate groups. And the value of equality has been the most important value in our country since, since the first days. Thomas Jefferson and others chose equality as a central value of our country. And Donald Trump is working with groups who want to change that and do not offer respect for this very important value.

JR: Senator, I have a couple of questions about the Clinton Foundation and I want to make sure that nothing gets lost in translation. Hillary Clinton said the following, she said, “My work as Secretary of State was not influenced by outside forces.” However, AP reports that she met with more than 80 people who directly or indirectly donated to the Clinton Foundation. Isn’t that a conflict of interest?

TK: Jorge, I don’t think it is for this reason. First, there’s not been any suggestion that Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State or the department under her leadership took any action that had benefit or that was connected in any way to activities of the foundation. So that’s first. Second, the AP story that offered this, chose -you know- a small sample of meetings out of thousands of meetings she held in that period. And then noticed that, yes, half of those meetings involved people who may have contributed to the foundation. But many of these individuals she met with were people like Elie Wiesel or Muhammad Yunus or Melinda Gates, people who have had longstanding connections with the Department of State. And so, I think you look at the foundation itself, which is an organization that does enormous good around the world, and you look at the activities of the foundation, and then you look at the fact that this cherry-picking of just a few meetings, even in those meetings, they can’t find connections between official actions and any benefit to the foundation.

JR: But Senator, if she becomes president, the foundation has said that they will not take foreign or corporate donations. So if it – if it won’t be okay if she becomes president, why was it okay when she was secretary of state?

TK: Well, two things, Jorge. First, I think at every step along the way, the foundation has done what it should, which is analyze where we’re now and what should we do. It’s somewhat of an unprecedented situation, but there have been other presidents – when President Bush was president his father had a foundation that was doing wonderful charitable work that is very valuable. But at each step along the way it is important to assess it, and even, for example, the issue of foreign donations to the foundation when Hillary was Secretary of State, what does the foundation do? It works in countries around the world, including Central America, to provide services to people who need them. The fact that other governments would want to participate in offering services to those most in need in their countries, or others, is not that surprising, given the philanthropic mission of the foundation. But I do think it’s important, and I’m happy that the foundation clarified that if Hillary is elected, that moves into new territory, and there should be new and even heightened rules. The one thing I’ll say is that, that the donors to the foundation are public. There’s a transparency here that we are still waiting to see, sort of – we compare with Donald Trump, who won’t even show the American public his tax returns. He should follow the example of the foundation and be willing to disclose.

JR: Finally, let me ask you, the FBI is investigating 50,000 emails that were not voluntarily turn over to the State Department. Are you concerned about an October surprise, something that may derail your campaign?

TK: Jorge, I’m not concerned about this. I think the emails, the FBI and the State Department are looking at them. And what I hope, and Hillary Clinton said the same thing, any of the emails that relate to official duty, they should be made public. And we don’t have any fear about that, and I would hope that that would happen. You know, on the email issue, I have been with Hillary. She said, “Look, I made a mistake. I realize it, I’ve learned something from it, I won’t repeat it.” That’s what mature people and leaders do. We all make mistakes, and she’s acknowledged it, apologized for it and said she’s learned something from it.

JR: Senator, Secretary Clinton hasn’t held a press conference for 265 days. If she doesn’t want to hold a press conference, would you do it?

TK: Well, I am talking to the press almost every day, and Hillary Clinton is as well, and with journalists in cities all over the country, online and print. So every – she and I are talking to the press every day.

JR: But not with press conferences.

TK: We are not afraid of that at all.

JR: But the two of you don’t want to hold press conferences. I don’t understand why not.

TK: No, it’s – and I don’t understand – the difference between speaking with the press every day and having a press conference is not a big difference in my opinion.

JR: Senator, do you remember during the debate that Hillary Clinton had with Bernie Sanders on Univision, Secretary Clinton promised that she was not going to deport children and that she was not going to deport immigrants—

TK: Yes.

JR: Without criminal records? Will you commit here that the two of you are going to keep that promise, that you are going to stop the deportations that we have seen with President Barack Obama?

TK: Our first value, first priority on this issue is to not separate families. So, families should be together, and we do not want to separate families, and we don’t want to send children to other countries. It is very, very important. So we are going to work to do this, Jorge, somehow. First, we need to work with the governments of Central America to develop their economy and fight against drug violence, because it is important that children from those countries have a future there. So that they don’t need to leave because of the violence. We are going to work together with the governments. But when the children are here, we do not want to send children to other countries. Many of them qualify for refugee status, and if they have lawyers, then they need to receive this type of help.

JR: Senator, you received a great deal of help and learned Spanish in Honduras. If a Honduran child flees the violence in Honduras, is fleeing the gangs, the maras, and makes it to the United States, some feared that Secretary Clinton would try to deport them. She said once that, they couldn’t stay just because they were coming here with children. What do you think? Can a child who fears the violence in Honduras come and be protected in the United States?

TK: Jorge, as you said, I lived in Honduras a long time ago, and in that part of the country, El Progreso and San Pedro Sula, which are places with very, very high violence. I think – in 2015 I visited Chamelecón, a neighboring city of San Pedro Sula, a very high-violence place. I think that the children who are leaving this country are looking for asylum. The situation there is unbelievable. They can’t survive. So they are travelling here, and I think that the important thing is to help the children, to help those who come here, but also to work together with the governments of Honduras and Guatemala and El Salvador to develop the economy, more opportunity and less violence.

JR: Senator Kaine, thank you for speaking with us.

TK: Yes. Many thanks, Jorge. And I hope we can talk real soon.

JR: I hope so. Thank you, Senator.