Kevin Sheekey on Why Michael Bloomberg is Running

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: I have to ask you the Ted Kennedy question, if anybody remembers that, why does he want to be president?

KEVIN SHEEKEY, CAMPAIGN MANAGER, BLOOMBERG 2020: Listen, I think Mike has stated himself, he thinks Donald Trump was an existential threat across issues that he cares about like guns, gun control and the environment and public health and other issues. And he thinks that if he doesn’t get in this race and actually shaking up Donald Trump is slated to win.

AMANPOUR: You say that very boldly and boldly. What do you mean? His polls are high. I mean, right now, particularly on the economy. Let us just say what we know about his poll. We’ll put the thing up there. Look, Trump approval, 55 percent on the economy and, you know, 40 say no, but that’s generally what puts a president or an incumbent or a challenger over the top, right, the economy.

SHEEKEY: Yes. I think, listen, Trump is a complicated, obviously, individual. He has extraordinarily high personal negatives. The economy is obviously doing quite well, your poll shows that. But when you really look at presidential campaign, we don’t have a national campaign. We have a campaign that happens in six states. It happens Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Florid and Arizona today. And the “New York Times” polled earlier this month, we’ve polled it ourselves. And if the election was occurred today, Donald Trump has a pretty clear shot, according to the “New York Times,” of actually winning all six states. He only needs to win three or four of them. But if he had an election, you know, and it was in those states today, he would win.

AMANPOUR: Even with the impeachment process?

SHEEKEY: Yes. Listen, I think I worry a lot that we’re setting ourselves up here to impeachment, acquittal and re-election. You know, there are — listen, we’re all outraged by what is going on. Anyone who looks at those things, you should be outraged by what this president has done. Except it’s not helping in the places where this election will ultimately be decided. There are about 31 congressional districts in this country that are swing districts. Mike Bloomberg spent an enormous amount of money and time and his own leadership to focus on 24 of those races last year. All Republican. We elected 18 Democrats, 15 of them were women. But if you’re in one of those districts today and you’re a moderate member of Congress, almost all of them would tell you today, these impeachment hearings are threatening their re-election. Now, if you think about that, those are the districts too where we tilt the presidential election, which by definition, it means, hey, listen, these impeachment proceedings are making the president’s re-election more likely not less likely.

AMANPOUR: Many Democrats will not like to hear that. But I want to ask you because Mike Bloomberg in his, you know, announcement said, I have taken on Trump and I have won. Are you talking about those local and congressional elections that you supported and you’ve just said, you want to hand amount —

SHEEKEY: Yes. Back to what I said. Listen, I think the president should be impeached. I think, fundamentally, he has violated his constitutional responsibilities. But, you know, back to those districts, hey, listen, Mike Bloomberg took on in its scale in way that no one else has, changing congressional districts around the country that were Republican districts. Mike Bloomberg took on the issue of coal and led a campaign that’s closed 300 coal plants in the United States.

AMANPOUR: How much will that endear him to the people he wants to wrest away from President Trump?

SHEEKEY: You know, listen, our polling shows that in those districts that people want change