CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: Interview With California Congressman John Garamendi
Interview
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
KEILAR: And joining me now, Congressman John Garamendi. He's a Democrat who serves on the Armed Services Committee.
Sir, thanks for being with us.
REP. JOHN GARAMENDI (D), CALIFORNIA: Good to be with you, Brianna.
KEILAR: When you see these comments from Rudy Giuliani, do you think that they prove the president lied about his knowledge of the Stormy Daniels payment?
GARAMENDI: Well, where do you start talking about the president and lies?
Just from the very first of the opening salvo of his campaign right up to this very moment, there's been one lie after another. I think we're even past the pointing counting, probably well over 2,000 specific lies over the course of a year-and-a-half. That's the presidency, not including the campaign.
But there's another issue here, Brianna. And that is, I'm on the Armed Services Committee. We're constantly looking at the world out there, trying to judge where the risks are, what's happening, what we might be facing in terms of military action or troubles around the world.
And the White House is in absolute chaos. We have two loose cannons, Giuliani and the president, rolling around the Oval Office, crashing into each other. Chaos is ensuing, one lie, one change, things changing constantly, he said this, no, now he's saying that.
The rest of the world is going, oh, my God, what has happened to America, and what will it mean to me in my country? World leaders, I'm sure, watching this around the world, as you started off your show, are going, what in the world is happening in America, and where will it lead to, and what does it mean in the terms of international relations and diplomacy and economy?
It is a very serious problem.
KEILAR: Do you think the president broke the law, that he himself broke the law with this payment to Stormy Daniels?
GARAMENDI: Well, I don't know all the details, but I do know there are cases about congressional campaigns in which money was funneled into a campaign surreptitiously, secretly.
It is entirely possible that the president and/or Cohen had an agreement that -- a deal that money would be paid, the president would pay it back to affect the campaign.
If one assumes that the payment to hush money was for campaign purposes, and the president knew about that, and had decided to funnel the money secretly through Cohen, not directly through Cohen, but through a new LLC created in Delaware to further hide the money, people have gone to jail for that.
[18:15:21]
If the facts line up, yes, it's a crime, and it is punishable by jail. I can cite a couple of congressional campaigns in which that happened.
KEILAR: Rudy Giuliani in this interview, there were so many things for which it was noteworthy. But one of them was his explanation for why the FBI Director James Comey was fired.
He said that it was because he had refused to publicly announce that the president was not under investigation. Do you think that that's obstruction of justice? GARAMENDI: Well, we have two statements along the same line, don't
we? We have the president's statement and now we have Rudy Giuliani's statement.
The question is, in my mind, is, did Rudy -- did Giuliani dream that up himself, or was that a result of the conversation he had with the president that they would put out yet another explanation for what happened?
That is -- if all of that comes together, is that obstruction of justice? Yes. You're trying to shut down an investigation.
And I'm also curious, I guess astounded, by Giuliani's request for the attorney general and the deputy attorney general to shut down a formal criminal investigation in New York. Now, Giuliani is the president's lawyer. Is this from the president to Giuliani to try to get that shut down?
If so, question arises, is that also obstruction of justice in a different case, the Michael Cohen case?
This is just going totally out of control, and it's rolling and roiling the entire world, as they look at the top of the American government in total, absolute chaos.
KEILAR: Giuliani also said on FOX News this morning that North Korea would be releasing three American prisoners today. That has not happened.
I know that you have been watching this issue closely from your perch.
GARAMENDI: Sure.
KEILAR: Was that appropriate for him to say that?
GARAMENDI: I have found most everything Giuliani is saying to be inappropriate.
Certainly, I'm sure that the White House lawyers, as well as the Trump lawyers, are going, oh, my goodness, he's going to pop off again.
No, this is the new secretary of state's territory. Certainly, if we had heard that from Secretary Pompeo, I think we would all be elated and very happy. And, hopefully, Secretary Pompeo will carry through on what was his initial effort going to North Korea, not only with regard to the three Americans, but also setting up the eventual summit between Kim Jong-un and the president, all of which is extremely important.
KEILAR: Should the president do that? Should he have that summit if the prisoners are not released?
GARAMENDI: Well, I think that that -- I would never put it in that situation.
These Americans, their incarceration is very, very important, but also the entire issue of the nuclearization by North Korea, the -- all of the bombast that had the entire world concerned about North Korea, South Korea, and the United States engaging in a nuclear or at least a conventional war, those are extremely important.
And I would not -- I would hope the situation would not come down to, release these prisoners, or else. There are a lot of reasons why a summit could take place, if it is properly prepared and structured in a way that would lead to progress towards the denuclearization of North Korea, and also a peace treaty between the South and the North, in which the entire tension on the Korean Peninsula which has persisted more than 60 years could be ramped down.
KEILAR: More than two dozen of your colleagues believe the president should get the Nobel Peace Prize. How do you react to that?
GARAMENDI: Apparently, they haven't been watching the news.
Come on. This is chaos. You don't get a Peace Prize for creating chaos. Do you get a Peace Prize for meeting with Kim Jong-un? I don't think so. Let's talk about what the result of all this is at the end of the day. I think, once again, this is all of the effort of deflection, the effort of trying to shore up a very serious...
KEILAR: But this meeting could be a big deal. If he could get North Korea to denuclearize, would you change your opinion? Would you change your answer to that question?
GARAMENDI: It would be a wonderful thing for the entire world, and if Trump is able to pull it off, good for him, good for the world.
[18:20:05]
Whatever prizes would be appropriate, let him have it. And if that's what his quest is, and he's going to behave himself and actually get things done, then let it be the motivation.
KEILAR: All right, Congressman John Garamendi, thanks for being with us.
GARAMENDI: Thank you.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source