ABC’s Martha Raddatz plays devil’s advocate for Sen. Joe Manchin in an interview with Sen. Bernie Sanders about climate legislation
Raddatz: “OK you say he wasn’t serious, but Manchin says his main goal is to do what’s good for West Virginia and he’s worried about inflation.”
Published
Citation From the July 17, 2022, edition of ABC News' This Week With George Stephanopoulos
MARTHA RADDATZ (ABC'S CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT): Senator I want to turn to Congress and the agenda there. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), of course, abruptly pulled the plug this week on the Democrat's quest to pass --
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT): No Martha. He didn't abruptly. Martha, Martha --
RADDATZ: OK, OK --
SANDERS: Let me disagree.
RADDATZ: Okay, let me, he abruptly, on Friday --
SANDERS: He didn't abruptly do anything --
RADDATZ: He was negotiating for a while --
SANDERS: He has sabotaged the president's agenda. No, Look, if you check the record, six months ago, I made it clear that you have people like Manchin, Sinema to a lesser degree, who are intentionally sabotaging the president's agenda, what the American people want, what a majority of us in the Democratic caucus want. Nothing new about this. And the problem was that we continue to talk to Manchin like he was serious. He was not. This is a guy who is major recipient of fossil fuel money, a guy who has received campaign contributions from 25 Republican billionaires --
RADDATZ: OK Senator, I want -- OK you say he wasn't serious, but Manchin says his main goal is to do what's good for West Virginia and he's worried about inflation. Listen to what he told a West Virginia radio station.
SANDERS: Really? Really?