'This Week' Transcript: Sen. Tim Kaine and Newt Gingrich

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT FOR 'THIS WEEK' ON October 16, 2016 and it will be updated.

MARTHA RADDATZ, ABC HOST: With those brand new poll numbers, let’s go straight to the Democratic vice presidential nominee, Senator Tim Kaine. Good morning to you, Senator Kaine.

I want to start right off --

SEN. TIM KAINE (D-VA), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Hey, Martha.

RADDATZ: -- with that new ABC News/Washington Post poll out this morning. Secretary Clinton at 47 percent, Donald Trump only 4 points behind at 43 percent. Your opponent has lost the support of dozens of elected officials and his party is facing a rash of sexual assault accusations and is talking about conspiracy theories on the campaign trail. And you’re still within the margin of error.

I know you’ve said before you always thought it would be close, but after all this why doesn’t your ticket have a bigger lead?

KAINE: Well, you know, Martha, you’re right. I -- I have always said this was going to be close and I really believe that. I’m campaigning in Florida, a very close state. I come from Virginia; all of our races are close. And I’ve just assumed that from the very beginning. And we’ve just got to keep making our case over the next three-plus weeks.

We like where we are in the polls in the states that matter, but we’re not taking anything for granted, especially in the last couple of days, as Donald Trump has kind of started to go wilder and wilder. I think after -- by all accounts -- losing the first two debates, he started to make wild claims, kind of scorched earth claims about the election being rigged, et cetera.

So we have to keep putting out a message and we need to call on everybody to speak out about the fact that we run elections and we run them well here. He shouldn’t be engaging in those scare tactics. And so we’re needing to push that message, and we ask the GOP leaders also to stand up for the integrity of the American electoral process.

RADDATZ: Senator Kaine, I do want to say, his campaign just announced a new fundraising record of $100 million they say comes from mostly small donors. That would say something about his grassroots support.

KAINE: Well, we don’t have any doubt that he’s going to have some grassroots support. I mean, that’s why he won the GOP nomination. In a field of a lot of candidates, the GOP decided that he should be the nominee. You point out correctly that a lot of leaders have had cause to really regret that and have abandoned Donald Trump over these sexual assault allegations, and some are speaking out. Speaker Ryan yesterday spoke against his claim that this would be a rigged election.

But he’s got support and so, you know, if anybody looks at our schedules, they will know we’re not taking anything for granted. We are really pushing very, very hard. Because, look, we’ve got a different vision for our country and policy than Donald Trump that we’re really proud of. But also when somebody is saying that the election is rigged, and questioning the integrity of our election, Hillary and I stand up for the integrity of our elections. Hillary and I stand against Russian efforts to meddle in American election.

Now there’s a lot reasons even beyond policy and vision for the country why we have to do everything we can to make sure that the result is as clear as it can be come the evening of November 8.

RADDATZ: Senator Kaine, you point out that the Trump campaign has said that the Clinton campaign is in collusion with the media. The election is rigged. And the women making accusations are all rigged and sent forth by the Clinton campaign or the media. Can you say unequivocally that the Clinton campaign had nothing to do with getting these women to come forward?

KAINE: Absolutely. These are -- these are folks who, frankly, saw Donald Trump look America in the face, when you and Anderson Cooper were engaging in the debate last Sunday night, and when he was asked directly, listen, you’re caught on tape saying the grossest stuff about the way you treat women, did you actually act that way? And he didn’t want to answer the question, but you kept pressing and he eventually said, no, those were my words, but I didn’t act that way toward women.

As soon as he looked folks in the face and said those were not my actions, that was essentially the invitation to people who knew otherwise to come out and say, wait a minute, I’d had an experience with Donald Trump.

That’s what’s going on. It’s not because of our campaign, but it’s very characteristic of Donald Trump that now he’s blaming these women. He’s making weird claims that, no, I couldn’t have assaulted this person, she’s not attractive enough to assault. How bizarre is that. He’s blaming the media, he’s blaming the GOP, he’s saying that American can’t run a fair election. He is swinging at every phantom of his own imagination because he knows he’s losing.

RADDATZ: Well, let’s -- Senator Kaine --

KAINE: And this is what bullies do.

RADDATZ: -- let’s talk about the accusations.

Let’s talk about the accusations against Donald Trump. I want to start by reading a statement.

"There’s no question that it’s disturbing, but to come to any judgment now is definitely not something that I think is timely." That’s from the National Women’s Political Caucus in 1998 reacting to the scandals facing President Bill Clinton, two very different series of accusations, and obviously President Clinton is not on the ballot next month. But do you believe Mr. Trump also deserves the benefit of the doubt when it comes to these allegations?

KAINE: Martha, here’s what I believe -- and I don’t draw a conclusion about a particular allegation. But I think you need to look at the whole context of what Donald Trump has said about women from the very beginning of this campaign. And then the tape that emerged was not somebody else; it was Donald Trump in his own words describing how he treats women.

And so I think the American voters can look at this and reach their own conclusion. But, remember, this is a pattern of behavior --

RADDATZ: So you don’t believe he deserves the benefit of the doubt there. Based on all that --

KAINE: I think he -- I think -- I think Donald Trump needs to be judged on his own words and his own behavior, and the American voter is getting ample evidence on which they can make that judgment.

RADDATZ: Let’s talk about the hacked e-mails of the Clinton campaign chair, John Podesta, the WikiLeaks hack. One of the things in those e-mails that she apparently said in a Goldman Sachs speech, she said, "People who oppose immigration are fundamentally un-American." Your reaction?

KAINE: Well, look, we’re a nation of immigrants. And if you look at the Declaration of Independence when we broke from England, one of the bill of particulars against King George is we’ve got to be independent because King -- the king won’t let us have a working immigration system.

We are a nation of immigrants. We have to have a functioning immigration system. And for anybody whose family, you know, probably came from somewhere else a few generations to say, OK, but now we’re going to put up the drawbridge and not let anybody else in, I don’t think that’s in accord with the values of our nation.

Now we ought to have rules --

RADDATZ: So it’s -- so it’s un-American?

KAINE: -- and regulations, and that’s what Hillary and I want to do.

RADDATZ: So it’s un-American?

KAINE: To say that there should be no -- to say that there should be no immigration, yes, that is definitely contrary to the best values of our country that were laid out in the Declaration of Independence and since.

RADDATZ: I want to get to another e-mail that shows campaign communications director Jennifer Palmieri talking about Catholicism with a Democratic strategist who denounces what he calls the religion’s "severely backwards gender relations". She responds that some conservatives are only Catholic because they think it is the most socially acceptable political conservative religion.

Many took offense to the perceived mockery of Catholicism. You’re Catholic. Should the campaign apologize?

KAINE: Yes. Well, Martha, let me first say this, and this is a really important thing. I don’t give credence to any of these dumped documents because I don’t even know if they’re accurate, and they are part of an effort by the Russians and WikiLeaks to --

(CROSSTALK)

RADDATZ: I just want to say the writer of this e-mail said he said he sent this e-mail.

KAINE: Yes, but -- but I -- this is an important topic that everybody needs to know about these e-mails. One e-mail has come up with my name in it and it’s completely inaccurate. Now was it inaccurate because the sender didn’t know what he or she was talking about? Was it inaccurate because it was doctored? I have no way of knowing.

On Catholicism, I am Catholic. I’m very, very serious about my Catholicism, and Hillary views that s a real asset. And we’ve talked about our faith lives as she asked me to be on the ticket with her. So in terms of what Hillary Clinton, who’s running for president, thinks about Catholics, and the value more broadly of having a faith background, I can tell you she views at it as a plus, just as she views her own Methodism as a plus.

RADDATZ: An apology?

KAINE: I -- You know, again, you -- we all have opinions, and I don’t think you need to apologize for your opinions. But in fact that’s a great thing about our country and even about being Catholic, we have plenty of opinions. So you don’t need to apologize for an opinion, but in terms of respect for the church and people’s faith lives, Hillary Clinton has that respect because it’s what motivates her.

RADDATZ: Thank you very much for joining us this morning, Senator Kaine.

KAINE: Thanks, Martha. Take care.

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