'This Week' Transcript 9-10-23: Antony Blinken, Gov. Chris Sununu & Sen. Chris Coons

A rush transcript of "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" airing on Sunday, September 10, 2023 on ABC News is below. This copy may not be in its final form, may be updated and may contain minor transcription errors. For previous show transcripts, visit the "This Week" transcript archive.

JONATHAN KARL, ABC “THIS WEEK” CO-ANCHOR: We’re going to speak with leaders in both parties about all of this, starting with President Biden’s key ally in the Senates, Chris Coons of Delaware.

So, Senator Coons, you see the grim poll numbers, and it’s not just this latest CNN poll. What does the Biden team do? What does the president need to do to convince the American people that his policies are working and that he should be reelected?

SEN. CHRIS COONS (D-DE): Well, the great news is that President Biden has a very strong record to run on, that what we’ve got accomplished in Congress and what he’s done here at home and abroad on the world stage has made us stronger, has built a strong and recovering economy, and has put us on a great path forward -- whether it’s signing into law bipartisan bills that strengthened infrastructure and manufacturing that have brought 13.5 million new high quality jobs to our economy. Or it’s signing into law and now implementing the first reduction in prescription drug prices in a generation. Whether it’s closing background check loopholes for guns to improve gun safety in this country or investing in community mental health, he’s got a great record to run on.

And, Jon, I’ll just mention, we’re 14 months away from the election. At the same point in 2007, similar head to head polls would have predicted Mitt Romney as our next president, and in 2011, would have predicted Rudy Giuliani as our next president. I may have gotten that backwards.

But the larger point was that --

KARL: Yeah.

COONS: -- this far out, it doesn’t actually matter what a head to head poll says, what matters is what your record.

KARL: I’m not -- I would certainly concede that head to head polls this far don’t mean much. But there -- there is something that we’re seeing consistently and that is that Democratic voters saying that they want somebody else to run. In this latest CNN poll, it’s 67 percent of Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters saying they want somebody else to be the Democratic nominee. Why?

COONS: Well, Jon, as you know, our President Joe Biden says all the time: Don’t compare me to the Almighty. Compare me to the alternative.

And in the Republican primary field, the alternative seems clearly to be Donald Trump. And if not Donald Trump, someone who will hold the same policies that he does, that are anti-choice, that are racing to embrace the extremism that cause January 6, and that are choosing things like the NRA over the safety of our children.

So, I think as this campaign comes into focus in the coming year, the very strong record President Biden has to run on will move those polls in a very positive direction.

There’s a lot of Americans who have seen that President Biden is a seasoned, capable leader on the world stage. He’s just left India where at the G-20, he demonstrated how he’s masterfully pulled together 47 countries in support of Ukraine and the defense of Ukraine. Those other countries have contributed as much as we have. They are sustaining Ukraine’s brave fight against Russian aggression.

Today, he’s in Vietnam, taking another step in strengthening our alliances in the Indo-Pacific, where he’s already shown great leadership with Australia, with Japan, with South Korea, and he’s continuing in that direction.

Here at home, we have record low unemployment. Fifty years, we haven’t had this low of unemployment for this long. Inflation has come down, jobs are being created. Manufacturing is being brought back to the United States and I, frankly, Jon, think all of this point in a positive direction for our president’s reelection next year.

KARL: Let me ask you about the latest news out of the special counsel -- David Weiss investigating the president’s son, Hunter. We’ve learned that he plans to pursue an indictment on gun charges -- on the gun charges before the end of the month.

Here’s what President Biden had to say about all these four months ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

INTERVIEWER: Sir, there is something personal that’s affecting you. Your son, while there’s no ties to you, could be charged by your Department of Justice. How will that impact your presidency?

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: First of all, my son has done nothing wrong. I trust him. I have faith in him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KARL: He said many times, his son did nothing wrong.

So, let me ask you, you’re close to the president, do you have sense -- he’s obviously not going to interfere. He says he’s not interfering with this investigation. But when he learns that his son is going to be now indicted on this gun charge, what’s his reaction?

COONS: Jon, there’s no news here. This is the same charge that U.S. Attorney Weiss was preparing to go to a resolution here in the court in Delaware. He was deep in addiction, Hunter was, when he misrepresented that on a background check form. That’s been publicly known for a long time. He was late on paying his taxes twice.

And in a “Reuters” poll last week, a majority of Americans, two-thirds of Americans, made it clear that they know the difference between Hunter Biden and his legal challenges and Donald Trump. Hunter Biden is not going to be on the election polls, is not standing for election next November. Donald Trump likely is, and the four different legal matters where Donald Trump has been charged with 83 counts stand in stark contrast.

As the reporter who asked that question you just played recognized, there’s no ties between President Biden and his conduct as president, and these regrettable matters with Hunter Biden. Hunter is looking forward to resolving this, to moving forward with his life and his recovery.

And I frankly admire the fact that President Biden stands by his son.

KARL: But does --

COONS: But it doesn’t implicate his leadership as president, and I don’t believe it will have an impact on his reelection.

KARL: But does the president believe his son is being unfairly prosecuted?

COONS: Well, I won’t speak for him on that matter, but he is committed to staying out of this, to allowing the Department of Justice to conduct what has now been a five-year investigation --

KARL: Yeah.

COONS: -- and to move forward with this matter as they should. And I think that stands in sharp contrast to his predecessor who interfered in lots of matters at the Department of Justice.

Joe Biden knows about the importance of the rule of law and of staying out of this particular matter and of having a hands-off approach to how the Department of Justice conducts its inquiries and its ongoing business.

KARL: All right.

COONS: So, I would expect that about President Biden.

KARL: All right. Senator Chris Coons, thank you for joining us.

JONATHAN KARL, ABC "THIS WEEK" ANCHOR: Joining us now is the Republican governor of New Hampshire, Chris Sununu.

Governor Sununu, I want to ask you about the news this weekend. We saw former President Trump was just indorsed by South Dakota’s Republican governor, Kristi Noem. By my count he’s not up to, I think, four Republican endorsements.

You – you anticipate more Republican governors getting online, getting onboard with – with Trump? I mean you know Republican governors. You spent – you are one.

GOV. CHRIS SUNUNU, (R) NEW HAMPSHIRE: Well, look – yes. I do. I do. Look, my sense is, there’s a lot of governors kind of sitting – sitting on the sidelines saying, how does this all play out, just like most of – of the Republican bases. Like, there’s a lot of time to go. We’ve only had one debate. We’re just starting to talk about the issues. The candidates are really on the ground. The fact that former President Trump is a former president, the leader of the party, and he —he doesn’t even really have 50 percent of the Republican base support tells you there’s a real problem there. That’s actually an incredibly low number.

So, you have all these other candidates out there, eight – seven – seven, eight of them at this point. That field’s going to keep winnowing down I think as – as we’ve talked about a lot. If it gets to one on one, Trump and another candidate, that other candidate is undoubtedly going to beat him by the time the convention rolls around. So, if the – the candidates have the discipline to narrow the field,, they’ll get there.

As – in terms of endorsements, look, again, if he’s a former sitting incumbent president and the leader of the part y and he only has four Republican governors behind him, that tells you there’s a problem.

KARL: Well, and – and my senses, talking to – to Republican governors, there’s a lot of them who have not endorsed anybody, have real qualms about Donald Trump. You aren’t afraid to express those. But is it time for Republican governors who do have concerns to get out there and to get behind somebody else? I mean it’s going to be to late for you soon, isn’t it?

SUNUNU: No, I think it’s time for everyone – no, it won’t be too late. I think it’s important that everyone has a voice. I mean and – and people can – can modulate and decide what that voice is going to be. Every state’s a little bit different. But everyone needs to be talking about where they stand, what issues their constituents are talking about. It’s inflation. It’s the border crisis. It’s a lack of – of financial controls. It’s all these things that were actually good ideas by the former president. He brought those ideas in, in ’16, ’17 and ’18 and it didn’t get done. It didn’t get done.

So, we just need to find the conservative leader that can fulfill on the mission, that’s all. And there’s a lot of great opportunities in the field now.

So, I mean, voters really won’t decide until – who they’re going to be voting for until maybe November, December timeframe. I mean, look, kids are getting back to school. We’ve all come off summer vacation. You and I are in this mix almost every single day, but the average voter isn’t. They’ll – they’ll really start getting engaged as the October, November timeframe comes. And I think if you can get down to about six candidates by Iowa, three or four by New Hampshire, there’s no doubt you’ll have a one-on-one race going into Super Tuesday. And that’s where the – the former President Trump is – is really in trouble.

KARL: And – and you have real leverage in – in New Hampshire, it seems to me. Are you going to – you going to be making an endorsement before the primary?

SUNUNU: I – I would think so, yes. Yes. I fully –

KARL: (INAUDIBLE).

SUNUNU: Look, I'm not very good about being coy, you know.

KARL: So – so, who’s on –

SUNUNU: When I figure out who I'm voting for, I'll let everybody know.

KARL: So who’s on your short list? Who are you looking at?

SUNUNU: Well, I – I won’t say there’s a short list. I'm out there with all the candidates. I'm seeing kind of how they do the retail politics. I'm a big believer, good retail politics translate into good retail management. And that’s what the White House needs, someone that understands what’s happening in – in folks everyday lives, as opposed to just watching the media all the time, right?

I mean I've got to tell you, when you’re at these events, if you’ve been able to go to any of them, Jon, they’re not asking about January 6th. People aren’t asking questions about the indictments, they’re asking about inflation, they’re asking about border security, they ‘re asking about things and issues, mental health, the opioid crisis. You know, I'm – I'm blessed I'm in New Hampshire. We have the lowest poverty rate in the country. But people here are seeing the crisis in California. They’re saying, what are you going to do about the mental health crisis, the homelessness crisis that the left wing agenda has completely, you know, ignored in – in places like California, but they’re Americans too.

So, we kind of look at the whole broad spectrum of what’s happening across the country. Those are the questions that are being asked. I know the media just talks about January 6th and indictments, but let me tell you, the average voter isn’t there right now. They’re really looking at the issues that will impact them and their families.

KARL: You see momentum with Nikki Haley? I mean she seemed to get a boost after that first debate.

SUNUNU: Yes. Oh, without a doubt. I think – look, I think Nikki Haley did very well. I think Vivek did what he needed to do. Everyone was talking about him the next day. I think Mike Pence looked incredibly strong. I think Ron DeSantis did very well. I think he looked in the camera and looked presidential. He – he wasn’t being attacked, so he just was hitting the questions head on. I think there’s a lot of candidates there that have a lot of opportunity.

Doug Burgum, great governor of North Dakota. He’s spending a lot of money. He got in the race a little late, but, boy, he’s spending money. He’s hitting the ground. And he talks the right issues.

So, I think there’s still a lot of time and a lot of opportunities still to engage with the candidates.

KARL: You didn’t mention Chris Christie. Chris Christie?

SUNUNU: Yes, Chris is doing a great job. Look, God bless Chris, man, he – he kind of goes nuclear on the president and he’s got his own style. His poll numbers are surging through the roof, especially here in New Hampshire, where he’s putting – he’s putting time on the ground. He connects with folks. Again, he’s a governor, right? I tend to be pretty impartial to governors. Because what the White House needs more than ever is true, executive leadership. Someone who kind of says, the buck stops here.

The —the biggest problem that a lot of us Republican governors – going back to your first question – has with the former president was Fauci, right? Fauci. Every day we were on those calls and ever day Fauci was there. And a lot of us kept saying, Mr. President, when are you getting rid of Fauci? He never did. He just kept putting Fauci out there as the voice of American on this stuff. And he’s got to be held accountable to that, frankly.

KARL: OK, well –

SUNUNU: So, a lot of folks in the base will – aren’t forgetting those types of things.

KARL: We’re just about out of time, but – but you stand by what you told me in July when you said, quote, the Republican nominee is not going to be Donald Trump? You’re still confident of that?

SUNUNU: Nor will the Democrat nominee be Joe Biden.

KARL: Wow. OK. Double – double whammy.

SUNUNU: (INAUDIBLE).

KARL: OK. All right, Governor Chris Sununu, thank you for joining us.

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