THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT FOR 'THIS WEEK' on November 27, 2016 and it will be updated.
MARTHA RADDATZ, ABC HOST: And for more now, let’s turn to Republican senator and former presidential candidate, Ted Cruz of Texas.
Senator Cruz, you heard Tom talk about his family. You have Cuban heritage as well from your dad’s side of the family. What was his reaction?
SEN. TED CRUZ (R), TEXAS: Well, look, this is a powerful moment for people all across the country, and especially for Cuban-Americans. I was with my dad when he found out the news that Fidel Castro was dead, and he simply said, "Praise God."
You know, for so many of us whose families have been imprisoned, have been tortured, have seen the destruction of Cuba that Fidel Castro carried out -- my dad as a teenager was imprisoned and tortured by Batista. He was beaten in a prison cell, had his teeth kicked out of his mouth. My aunt, my Tia Sonia, whom I adore, she fought in the counterrevolution against Castro, and she and her two best friends in high school were thrown in prison and tortured as teenage girls. And what they did to girls in Cuban prisons was -- was unspeakable.
And, you know, I first heard that Castro had passed a final judgment with a text from my cousin Bibi (ph), who is my Tia Sonia’s daughter, who just said that she got to call her mom and tell her mom, "Fidel is dead."
And for a man who has tortured and murdered and oppressed, for so many, it is thankful that he is no longer with us.
RADDATZ: So many powerful stories like that. You know, you put out a statement paying tribute to Castro’s victims, those who trod (ph) against him. Do you think his death will open a new chapter with increasing liberty for Cubans? What happens next?
CRUZ: Well, look, that is certainly my hope and my prayer. Unfortunately, the policies of the Obama administration have made that less likely. What the Obama administration has done is strengthened Raul Castro. Raul is the dictator now. You know, I asked my dad at dinner last night, well, what do you think happens now that Fidel is dead? And he shrugged and said Raul’s been in charge for years, that this is -- the system has gotten stronger. And what Obama has done is funneled billion of dollars to Raul Castro, which is being used to oppress dissidents.
You know, in 2015, roughly 10,000 political arrests occurred in Cuba. That is five times as many as occurred in 2010 when there were only about 2,000. This tyrannical regime has gotten stronger because of a weak president, weak foreign policy, and it is very much my hope and belief that with a new president coming into office in January, President Trump, a new administration, that U.S. foreign policy -- not just to Cuba, but towards our enemies, whether they are Iran or North Korea -- will no longer be a policy of weakness and appeasement, but instead using U.S. strength to force and press for change.
But I look for the day -- you know, I’ve never been to Cuba. I’ve never been to the land where my father was born, where he grew up. I look forward to coming Cuba but seeing a free Cuba where people can live, where it’s pulled out of --
(CROSSTALK)
RADDATZ: So do you think the embargo was working?
CRUZ: -- land that time forgot.
RADDATZ: Do you think the embargo was working? Do you want to double down on that?
CRUZ: You know, what I will say is the economic pressure was having real effect. Cuba was a client state of the Soviet Union for many, many years. When the Soviets collapsed, it put enormous economic pressure on Cuba. But then Venezuela stepped in and provided petrol dollars in exchange for troops. When Venezuela’s economy was cratering, President Obama stepped in with billions and is propping up the administration.
This ought to be a moment where Cubans are dancing in the street because they’re being liberated, but instead -- listen, if you dance in the street, you’re going to be thrown in jail. Cuba is not a free society. Do you know, in 2015, some 2,000 churches in Cuba were declared illegal? A hundred were destroyed by the government. You don’t have the freedom to worship God, to speak, and it is my hope that we will see U.S. strength prompting real change and real freedom in Cuba.
RADDATZ: Let’s turn to -- to President-Elect Trump. You met with him last week --
CRUZ: Yes.
RADDATZ: -- in Trump Tower. You said you want to work with the new president in whatever capacity you can have the greatest impact. What capacity might that be?
CRUZ: Well, listen, we’ve got a lot of work to do. This election was a mandate for change. It astonished everyone. It astonished the pundits, it astonished the pollsters, and it was an overwhelming mandate. It was over 300 electoral votes. It was winning all across the Midwest states that had gone Democratic for years after years after years, states like Pennsylvania and Michigan and Iowa and Wisconsin.
We have a mandate for change. And Republicans have been given the opportunity -- we’ve been given control of the White House, of every executive branch, and both houses of Congress. We can’t blow it. We have got to deliver.
And so I’m excited about working with President-Elect Trump, working with the new administration, to actually deliver on the promises we’ve made to repeal Obamacare, to lift the burdens on small businesses, to unleash energy, to --
RADDATZ: Well, on that -- on that point, Senator Cruz --
CRUZ: -- confirm strong principled conservatives to Supreme Court justices.
RADDATZ: Since his election, Mr. Trump has changed his tune on some of those issues. He said he wants to keep certain provisions of Obamacare instead of repealing and replacing the whole law, that mankind may be causing climate change and he’s open to abiding by the Paris Accord, and that same-sex marriage is settled law that he would not try to have the Supreme Court overturn.
Do those changes in his tone concern you?
CRUZ: Listen, what I’m going to work to do every day is to try to work closely with the new president, with the new administration, and with my colleagues in Congress, to deliver on what we promised. I got to say, if we don’t, if we’re given the White House and both houses of Congress and we don’t deliver, I think there will be pitchforks and torches in the streets. And I think quite rightly. I think people are so fed up with Washington, this election was a mandate with change and the most catastrophic thing Republicans could do is go back to business as usual.
And I’ll tell you there are a lot of --
RADDATZ: So do you have real concerns about what he’s --
(CROSSTALK)
CRUZ: The new team Trump is bringing together.
Listen, the new team that Trump is bringing together is an impressive, serious team. Jeff Sessions as Attorney General -- I know Jeff; I’ve worked closely with Jeff in the Senate. Jeff is a small, principled, serious conservative. I think he’s going to make an excellent Attorney General. You look at the national security team that’s coming around the Trump administration. It is a strong, serious national security team. So I’m encouraged by the team that is coming together, by where there focus is. I’m encouraged by their plan for the first 100 days to act aggressively, lifting the burdens on small businesses and job creators. That’s what the president should be doing.
And from my end, I want to do everything I can to help President Trump have an incredibly successful administration, because if we deliver on the promises, that’s how we actually turn the country around, bring back jobs and raise wages for people that are hurting.
RADDATZ: I also want to just go back a little bit, back to the campaign, which at times was very bitter. You had some very strong words about then-Candidate Trump. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CRUZ: This man is a pathological liar. He doesn’t know the difference between truth and lies. He lies practically every word that comes out of his mouth. The man is utterly amoral. If morality does not exist for him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RADDATZ: Do you regret any of those words?
CRUZ: Well, listen, it was a hard-fought campaign. It was hard-fought on all sides. And it was vigorous till the end. But at the end of the day, the people have spoken. He won the election. He won the nomination. And he won the general election in convincing manner.
And my focus is on the country. My focus is we have a new president. We have a mandate. We ought to deliver on that mandate. We ought to deliver -- this election was about jobs. It was about the fact that, for the last eight years, working men and women in this country have seen their lives, they’ve seen wages stagnating, they’ve seen factories closing. We need an administration that fights every day for the working men and women of this country.
That’s my number one priority in the Senate, fighting for 27 million Texans, for jobs, for economic growth, to raise wages. You know, one of the things I’m excited about is ending this administration’s senseless war on energy so that we can bring back millions of high-paying jobs to America. That’s what the focus needs to be and that’s very much my focus.
RADDATZ: I just want to go back to those words: he lies practically every word that comes out of his mouth. Do you still think Donald Trump is a liar?
CRUZ: You know, I’m not going to relitigate the past. I’m going to focus on the future. I’m going to focus on what’s in front of us and on fixing the problems we have.
I will say one thing, Martha, it’s going to be an interesting test just in the next few days. I very much hope that we don’t see any U.S. government officials going to Fidel Castro’s funeral. I hope we don’t see Barack Obama and Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton and Democrats lining up to lionize a murderous tyrant and thug. If you wouldn’t go to Pol Pot’s funeral or Stalin’s funeral or Mao’s funeral because they were murdering Communist dictators, then you shouldn’t be doing what Barack Obama and Justin Trudeau are doing, which is celebrating Fidel Castro, a murderous Communist dictator.
And I think this is a real opportunity for U.S. officials to show where they stand. Let’s stand with human rights and let’s not celebrate someone who has 60 years of blood on his hands.
RADDATZ: OK, and just one final question -- Giuliani or Romney for Secretary of State if those were the choices?
CRUZ: Well, listen, that’s a question for the president-elect to decide. Obviously whoever he nominates is going to be subject to confirmation in the Senate and we’re going to consider fairly any nominee that comes forth. I think both Rudy and Mitt are good, capable, serious men. I know them both. I respect them both. And I think the fact that we are talking about two individuals of that caliber really reflects what we’re seeing in the Trump administration, which is this is a team of all stars that are coming together. This is a team of serious, experienced professionals who are willing to tackle the hard problems. We haven’t seen that for eight years of Barack Obama. We’ve seen, on the foreign stage, weakness and appeasement -- to Cuba, to Iran, to North Korea. I think -- I hope and pray whoever the next Secretary of State is that we do not see a continuation of that weakness and appeasement but instead we see a return to American strength and resolve and principle, and I’m committed to doing everything I can to help this administration succeed in bringing about exactly that.
RADDATZ: Thanks so much for joining us, Senator Cruz. Great to see you.
CRUZ: Thank you, Martha. God bless.
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