mr. schumer: good afternoon,

everyone. i scheduled this event for two reasons. first, i missed you. i haven't been here in this gallery for two weeks, it's -- for four week, it's sort of cold turkey. also when i heard the president speak, i couldn't believe my ears. it needed rebutting. last night was a good night for democrats. and what happened last night doesn't bode well for president trump and republicans in 2020 and beyond. obviously we took back the house. that's far and away the most ignificant change. there is now a check on donald trump. that is great news for america. want to praise all of the candidate, particularly the many women who did a great job. i want to praise leader pelosi

who did a great job in trying and succeeding in creating a majority once again. we did very well in governorships. we picked up seven, including kansas and wisconsin. wisconsin was especially sweet. we did well in state legislatures, where we picked up large numbers of legislative seats. meanwhile, republicans lost women, minorities, and suburban voters across the country by uch margins that they should worry every republican candidate in 2020 and president trump. but i would like to talk about what happened in the senate where some pundits and president trump are claiming more -- sorry. what i want to do is rebut the fact that what happened in the senate is equal or even close to equal to the losses that the president and republicans suffered elsewhere because othing can be further from the

truth. the president never seems to let reality get in the way of a good story. but when the president says that what happened in the senate more than on does the losses they suffered across the board elsewhere -- undoes the losses they suffered across the board elsewhere, he is delusional. i won't mince words. it hurts to lose such talented and accomplished senators, dear friends like claire mccaskill, heidi heitkamp and joe donnelly. the senate and the country will iss them dearly and be the lesser for their absence. but when you look at the map democrats were facing an 2018, democrats did much better than most expected and president trump did a lot worse than many predicted. if you had said a year ago when many were saying democrats could well drop below the magic 40

number in the senate, if we had told you a year ago we are only going to lose two or three seats, people would have said forget it, what are you smoking? second, as you know, there were 25 senate democrats up for reelection. 10 of those in states donald trump won. of those 10 states, democrats won six. a majority of senators who ran in states donald trump won in 2016 won in 2018, many by nice margins. and the most amazing fact of all, in three states were democrats ran for the senate, pennsylvania, wisconsin, and michigan, the very states that put president trump over the top in 2016, not only did our candidates run strong races and win by strong margins, two of them double-digit's, but the

president could not even set foot in pennsylvania, michigan, and wisconsin because his presence there was so harmful to republican senate andidates. that certainly does not bode well for him in 2020. he did make gains in the reddest states, states he won by 19 oints or more. but let me tell you, you cannot win the presidency or run the country by just focusing on a handful of states that you won verwhelmingly. to brag that because he won north dakota that makes him a national strong, political presence, especially given in light of everything else that happened last night makes no sense. i think all the crowing that

donald trump is doing is way overstated. given the map, we had a much better night then he is claiming. finally, if you can only campaign in the reddest states that you won by 30 or 40 states -- points in the last election and no one wants you in larger parts of america, that does not bode well for your political uture. that is what i say to president trump. the president claiming that wins in the senate offset the devastating loss he phases in the house -- he faced in the house, the governorships and state legislatures, and to not even win a majority of senate seats in states he won in 2016 is bad math. it's nice spin. no one should buy it. so, i know the president just spent an hour and a half yelling at some of you, but also trying

to spin the results by talking about how great he is and how great his party did. but if i am him or the republican party looking at 2020 and beyond, i would be very, very nervous. our first. >> what about the decision requesting him to resign? mr. schumer: i just heard the news, but i would say this, protecting robert mueller and his investigation is paramount. it would create a constitutional crisis if this were a prelude to ending or greatly limiting the mueller investigation, and i hope president trump and those he listens to will refrain from that.

let's see what we should do here. i know you will want to have other questions on this but let's do first the subject i talked about and then on this, and then on this, ok? i am going to stick to it. we will get your questions on the newest announcement. >> in your opinion, did kavanaugh negatively impact the numbers, the losses last night? mr. schumer: the bottom line is, we did not move forward and push forward on this nomination. the president did and he has a right to do it. but what they did is show the nation that republicans and president trump want to fill the bench with judges, justices who re anti-women's health care, who would side with radicals on no gun control. who would hurt though right's of women, minorities, voting rights, -- hurt the rights of

women, minorities, voting rights, lgbt writes, and i think that did as much to galvanize people to vote democratic as it did to vote republican, and in the long run, it is going to hurt them much more. >> on immigration reform, the president throughout the campaign showed -- pictured the migrant caravan as criminals invading the country and a risis on the border. first of all, just respond to the statement of whether he used that -- of how he used that and second if there is any chance of mmigration reform. senator schumer: this president has a tendency to rely on theater and to try to scare people, and to try to win elections that way. the repudiation he received last night shows that does not work

with the majority of americans. immigration reform is something i have been passionate about 430 years -- for 30 years. comprehensive immigration reform such as senator mccain and i and the gang of april together is something i would seriously look t. it would have a chance in a bipartisan senate for passing. there are a bunch of things i ould want to get done on infrastructure. >> what do you think about his language question mark mr. schumer: i answered that question. >> what do you think about the map in 2020? senator schumer: the map looks much better. we will have a very good shot in 020.

i think republicans thought they could hold us down to 40 or 41. this will ensure that in 2020 our map is better and in 2020 to our map is better still. >> bill nelson in florida, do you think you could win there? mr. schumer: there are a lot of ballots that have not been counted from what i have been told, in the hundreds of thousands. this election is not a foregone conclusion. we are in the recount stage because it's below .5% i believe. there are a lot of votes that have not been counted and a lot of them come from counties that re democrat. >> has anything changed with regard to the border wall? would you still do a daca fix in exchange for a border wall in

the lame duck? mr. schumer: as we have seen, the president is a poor dealmaker on those issues. he makes agreements and then backs off. we're dubious about making that kind of agreement with him again since twice he's shaken hands and then backed off. on the general issue of border security, we have had great discussions in the appropriations process. they have been bipartisan. ader mcconnell, leader ryan, leader pelosi and myself have come ton to the agreements. about 70% of the budget has been passed. there are good agreements on border security and other things in homeland security ppropriations. a few more have to be done. i would hope the president would not interfere and we would get omething done.

>> in order to win a majority, don't democrats have to win in states beyond just states that were obama's and clinton's question mark right now i think tester and joe manchin are the only two left? mr. schumer: that's not true. there are several others. >> how do you win in those states? mr. schumer: our focus, which we decided early on on health care, proved very, very beneficial to us, because that is the number one issue facing the american eople. why focusing on middle-class

issues that affect average voters such as health care, drug prices, things like that, i think we will expand our majority. suburbia, which used to be so republican, is now democratic. and by the way, suburbia did very well for us in states like missouri and indiana. we did better than we have ever done. our coalition is growing while theirs is shrinking. because in a few states they won doesn't undo that fact at all. >> obviously, 2020 will be heating up sand -- soon. some of your senators will be running for higher office. how does that affect your caucus? mr. schumer: our caucus has hown tremendous unity. just about every single member

of our caucus on things like health care, on things like the tax bill, have pulled together. i expect that to continue. some will be interested in running for president. so far, it has not stood in the way of caucus unity or whatever has to get done for our caucus, and i think that will continue. >> as far as a replacement for attorney general sessions -- mr. schumer: i am not going to say much until i read what they have said and why. i find the timing very suspect, number one. number two, our paramount view is that any attorney general, whether this one or another one, should not be able to interfere with the molar investigation in -- with the mueller investigation in any way.

they should not be able to end it, they should not be able to interfere with robert mueller going forward and that will help guide us as we go through the process. >> is there anything you as democrats can do to stop a nominee? r. schumer: we would hope if there is a constitutional crisis that our republican colleagues would join us in supporting the president -- thwarting the president from creating that crisis. we don't know because he has not done it so far. >> do you have any hope of a deal on taxes? mr. schumer: one of the things democrats proposed in both the house and senate was reducing some of the huge tax breaks that went to the wealthiest and

corporations and corporations in putting that into infrastructure. i -- that is something i hope the president will consider. >> democrats campaigned on a $15 minimum wage. we have not heard more about that. >> we want better jobs and better pay and we will look at different ways to get there. >> nancy pelosi said she was calling on the trump administration to with draw their support for the texas lawsuit against the affordable care act. mr. schumer: i would join her in that. >> your republican counterparts? mr. schumer: they say one thing, that they want to keep pre-existing conditions. on the other hand, they support a lawsuit that would get rid of hem. either come clean and admit you won't protect pre-existing conditions or drop the lawsuit. >> what are your views on

working with new republican senators? mr. schumer: i will work with anyone i can to move the country forward but we are not going to sacrifice our principles for that. thank you everybody. that's it. >> as your primary source for 2018, we brought you candidate debates. over 160 races from across the country. voters have now decided on a new congress with new leaders. watch the process unfold on c pan.

>> c-span's "washington journal" live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. coming up this morning, former "cq roll call" editor david hawkings and francine keifer discuss potential leadership changes in congress. be sure to watch c span's "washington journal" live at 7:00 eastern this morning. join the discussion. >> montana's close senate race was not decided until the next morning when democratic incumbent jon tester claimed victory over matt rosendale. he discussed the election with reporters wednesday afternoon.