'This Week' Transcript 12-15-24: Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas, Sen. Eric Schmitt, Sen. Adam Schiff & Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt

A rush transcript of "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" airing on Sunday, December 15, 2024 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.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Let's bring in Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

Mr. Secretary, thank you for joining us this morning.

Can you clear up the confusion here?

ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS, SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY: Absolutely, George, and thank you very much for having me.

There's no question that people are seeing drones. And I want to assure the American public that we, in the federal government, have deployed additional resources, personnel, technology, to assist the New Jersey State Police in addressing the drone sightings.

Some of those drone sightings are, in fact, drones. Some are manned aircraft that are commonly mistaken for drones. And we do see duplicative reporting. But there's no question that drones are being sighted.

Let me set the record straight here, George. There are thousands of drones flown every day in the United States, recreational drones, commercial drones. That is the reality, and in September of 2023, the Federal Aviation Administration, the FAA, changed the rules so that drones could fly at night. And that may be one of the reasons why now people are seeing more drones than they did before, especially from dawn to dusk. And so that is the reality.

But I want to assure the American public that we are on it. We are working in close coordination with state and local authorities. And it is critical, as we all have said for a number of years that we need from Congress additional authorities to address the drone situation. Our authorities currently are limited, and they are set to expire. We need them extended and expanded.

STEPHANOPOULOS: What exactly do you need?

MAYORKAS: We want state and local authorities to also have the ability to counter drone activity under federal supervision. That is one important element that we have requested, and we've heard it echoed by the state and local officials themselves.

STEPHANOPOULOS: You know, President-elect Trump has put out a post on this. I want to put it up on the screen right now. He says, “mystery drone sightings all over the country. Can this really be happening without our government's knowledge? I don't think so. Let the public know, and now. Otherwise, shoot them down.”

Your response?

MAYORKAS: Well, we are aware of the drone sightings, as I – as I've said. I think there are more than 8,000 drones flown every day in the United States. With respect to the ability to incapacitate those drones, we are limited in our authorities. We have certain agencies within the Department of Homeland Security that can do that, and outside our department, but we need those authorities expanded as well.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Are there any legitimate national security concerns here? For example, have you seen any evidence at all, especially in these recent sightings in the northeast, of any kind of foreign involvement?

MAYORKAS: We have not seen any foreign – we know of no foreign involvement with respect to the sightings in the northeast. And we are vigilant in investigating this matter, the Department of Homeland Security, with the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the lead.

STEPHANOPOULOS: But there have been concerns in the past. In fact, a Chinese national was arrested in California this week, allegedly for flying a drone over Vandenberg Air Force Base. Last year you had drone flights over Langley Air Force Base in Virginia, over a nuclear facility in Nevada.

So, what is the national security concern right now?

MAYORKAS: Well, when a drone is flown over restricted air space, we act very, very swiftly. And, in fact, when an individual in California flew a drone over restricted air space, that individual was identified, apprehended and is being charged by federal authorities. And so we act as swiftly as possible when an individual does fly a drone over restricted air space and violates the rules.

You know there are, George, more than 1 million drones registered in the United States.

STEPHANOPOULOS: That's an awful lot. But bottom line you're saying Americans have nothing to worry about?

MAYORKAS: Look, it is our job to be vigilant in the federal government with our state and local partners on behalf of the American public. And we can assure their safety by reason of that vigilance. We've deployed personnel, technology, and if there is any reason for concern, if we identify any foreign involvement or criminal activity, we will communicate with the American public accordingly.

Right now, we are not aware of any. If we become aware of any, we will communicate accordingly and take appropriate action.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Secretary Mayorkas, thank you for your time this morning.

MAYORKAS: Thank you, George.

STEPHANOPOULOS: We're now joined by Missouri senator, Republican Eric Schmitt.

Senator Schmitt, thank you for joining us this morning. We just saw James Longman talking about Travis Timmerman, a resident of your state. Have you had any contact with him or his family?

SEN. ERIC SCHMITT (R-MO): I haven't. It's positive news, of course, and we're happy to see that revelation and, of course, there's a lot more that's going to unfold there, but I think President Trump has been clear as far as us intervening there. I don't think that's a situation that we should do, but I do think diplomacy will be important especially in these critical hours in the aftermath of the -- of Assad, you know, being overthrown.

STEPHANOPOULOS: The president has said we're not going to -- president-elect has said we're not going to intervene there. He says the United States should have nothing to do with it, but we are there right now. There are U.S. troops in Syria conducting counterterrorism operations against ISIS. Do you think those troops should remain?

SCHMITT: Well, I think that's a longer discussion and a discussion that President Trump had in his first term. I do think we're entering a new phase, though, of realism in this country. President Trump will be less interventionist, and we get back to our core national interests. Principally defending the homeland, the Indo-Pacific, and China, and so I think that's a longer term conversation.

We'll make sure everybody is safe over there. That's the first order of business, but, again, I think people have had enough of these forever wars all across the world. We can't be everywhere all at once all the time. That's just not our capability, so I think that I'm welcoming President Trump coming with this agenda.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Even if that means ISIS gaining a foothold in Syria?

SCHMITT: Well, I think, you know, understanding what terrorism means around the world is important, but having these tripwires in other regions that pull us into wars, I think the American people have had enough of that, and I think President Trump was pretty clear about it not only in his first term, but when he campaigned, and so again, I think getting back to the sense of, you know, abandoning this failed foreign policy that's cost us trillions of dollars, that sent our men and women across the world, I think we need to revisit that, and again, get back to our core national interests.

I mean, we have drones flying above New Jersey. We don't know what they are. China has a bigger navy than we have. Not a better navy, but a bigger navy than we have right now, so getting back to our core national interests I think is a hallmark of this new realism that President Trump is ushering in.

STEPHANOPOULOS: President's nominee for director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, has a history with Bashar al-Assad and his regime. She met with Assad. She has said supportive things about him and said he wasn't an enemy of the United States, also questioned whether to use chemical weapons. Does that give you any concerns as she faces confirmation for director of National Intelligence?

SCHMITT: I know Tulsi Gabbard. She's a patriot. She served our country honorably. She, I think, fits the reform agenda. President Trump ran on disrupting permanent Washington and having people who are going to view things differently. The intelligence agencies in this country were part of the Hunter Biden laptop, suppressing that story.

There's a lot of reform, George, that needs to happen in those agencies. Tulsi Gabbard is somebody who I think can execute on that, and she's also somebody that believes in our Constitution, individual liberties, and I think this smearing her as some sort of foreign asset is a slur against hers and I look forward to her opportunity to answer these questions in these Senate confirmation hearings.

STEPHANOPOULOS: So you do have questions about her relationship with the Assad regime or no?

SCHMITT: No, not at all. I don't think so. I mean I think it's unusual for members of Congress to visit foreign countries and talk to foreign leaders. In fact, what Joe Biden has done is not talk to anybody and not be respected. President Trump I think believes in engaging in diplomacy, solving these things. He wants to bring peace to Ukraine. I think that's something the American people support.

STEPHANOPOULOS: How about the president's nominee for FBI director, Kash Patel? He put out a book called "Government Gangsters" and included a 60-person enemies list and "The Wall Street Journal" this week wrote this, I mean, in this December 1st wrote this about it. They said the main concern is Mr. Patel's stated desire to use power in a second Trump term to seek revenge against Mr. Trump's opponents.

Voters didn't re-elect Mr. Trump to practice lawfare the way his opponents have. The country wants a bureau it can trust, not a Republican version of the Comey FBI. How do you respond to "The Wall Street Journal"?

SCHMITT: Well, first of all, the idea that he came up with an enemies list is false. There's a footnote in his book related to corrupt actors and I do think Kash Patel is the right man for the job. This guy served as chief of staff for the Department of Defense. He was deputy at DNI. He was a prosecutor, he was a public defender. And let's review the tape here. The FBI was involved in spying on President Trump in 2016.

The FBI was involved in the Hunter Biden laptop coverup. They pre-bunked that story with big tech. The FBI has investigated Catholics because they attend traditional Latin mass, and the FBI has investigated parents who show up to school board meetings because under the auspices of the Patriot Act. That agency is in desperate need of reform. KashPatel is very qualified and I think he's going to get the support in the Senate.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Finally, I want to ask you about President-elect Trump's decision to pardon those involved in the January 6th riots.

You spoke out about January 6th. You said violence cannot be tolerated.

Are you confident that President-elect Trump will not pardon those who actually engaged and were convicted of violent acts?

SCHMITT: I think President Trump -- what he said is he -- he's going to look at these cases on an individual basis and as a former prosecutor or former attorney general, that's the exact right approach. And I think you do separate violence -- violent acts from nonviolent acts, but I think he's been pretty clear he's going to view these individually.

And I think that media's obsession with January 6th and the Democrats’ obsession with January 6th is because they sort of built this foundation on why President Trump should never get back in office. It started there, then the J6 committee, then these -- then the lawfare that ensued.

The American people rejected all that. They don't want to be a banana republic.

President Trump stood stared all of that down, George, and he won. He got a mandate, swept the battleground states, won the popular vote, and he's coming in on an agenda of reform.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Senator Schmitt, thanks for your time this morning.

STEPHANOPOULOS: We're joined now by Democratic Senator Adam Schiff of California.

I want you -- I want to begin Senator Schiff with you responding what you just heard there.

SEN. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): Well, let me just say, with respect to some of the nominees like Kash Patel, this is someone in my view who’s not qualified to be FBI director and someone who claimed, for example, that he wanted to shut down FBI headquarters early in his tenure and open a museum to the deep state. So this is a conspiracy theorist.

It's also someone I think who demonstrated, sadly, a principle of the first Trump administration and that is you rise to the level of your sycophancy. And the bigger the sycophant, the higher you rise. He's risen pretty high but that's not what we're looking for --

STEPHANOPOULOS: How about the question about the January 6 pardons?

SCHIFF: Well, greatly concerned about it. First of all, that he could pardon people that beat police officers, gouged them, bear-sprayed them.

But also even beyond that, just the general message it would send, George, that his first pardons are going to go to people who sought through the use of violence at the Capitol to stop the peaceful transfer of power, that played some role in that.

Really, that's -- that's who he wants to pardon?

The American people I think voted for him in part because they wanted something done about crime, not because they wanted to see him part criminals attacking the government. They want something done about fentanyl. They want something done about California’s smash and grab robberies.

This is not what they had in mind, not political revenge, not rewarding people who participated in an insurrection to stop the transfer of power.

STEPHANOPOULOS: The president-elect has also talked about prosecuting members of the January 6 Committee like you. I know you said you don't want a preemptive pardon from President Biden.

Is that because you think the Trump administration will not actually prosecute?

SCHIFF: I don't know what the Trump administration will do, but it -- it's for a couple reasons.

First, those of us on the committee are very proud of the work we did. We were doing vital quintessential oversight of a violent attack on the Capitol. But so I think it's unnecessary.

But second, the precedent of giving blanket pardons, preemptive blanket pardons on the way out of an administration I think is a precedent we don't want to set.

STEPHANOPOULOS: And you've communicated that to the president -- President Biden?

SCHIFF: I’ve communicated it both publicly and privately to the administration.

STEPHANOPOULOS: You also heard Senator Schmitt say that the idea that Kash Patel had an enemy list is false. There was -- was that list of 60 people in his book, government gangsters.

Do those people -- many members, former members of the Trump administration, many members of the Biden administration, do they -- do you think they have anything to worry about?

SCHIFF: Well, you know, I think if Patel is made director of the FBI, then all bets are off. I mean, this is someone who will do whatever dirty work the president wants him to do. So I can certainly understand concerns about him.

The remedy there is not to confirm him. That seems to be his only qualification which is blind obedience the president. The president can find other people who are loyal to him and to his interests, but who are also loyal to the rule of law.

Patel is not one of them.

STEPHANOPOULOS: You also heard Senator Schmitt say that Tulsi Gabbard, her contacts with Bashar al-Assad and her question -- her questioning whether or not he had chemical weapons is not a concern to him, is it a concern to you?

SCHIFF: It is a concern to me. I have a couple concerns with Tulsi Gabbard. The first is a complete lack of experience, never worked in an intelligence agency, never even served on the intelligence committee.

There is a very steep learning curve in trying to understand what the intelligence systems do, the role and the interaction between them, not something you want learning on the job.

But also -- and this gets to the point about her comments about Bashar al-Assad or her echoing of Kremlin talking points about the origin of the war in Ukraine -- you want someone with good judgment in that position because they may very well be whispering in the ear of the president, this is how we should interpret this intelligence, these are the steps that we should take. This is our friend, this is our enemy. Someone who had shown that kind of poor judgment is not necessarily someone you want advising this president.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Your close friend and ally, the former speaker, Nancy Pelosi. She had that accident in Europe this week. Do you have any idea how she's doing?

SCHIFF: I communicated with her daughter, Christine, and I understand that she's recovering from the surgery well. So, our thoughts are going out to her. She's an amazing person and, as strong and as tough as she is, I know she'll be back on her feet soon.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Senator Schiff, thanks for coming in today.

SCHIFF: Thank you.