CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: Interview With New York Congressman Gregory Meeks

Interview

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BLITZER: All right, guys, stick around. There's a lot more we need to discuss.

But, right now, I want to bring in Congressman Gregory Meeks. He's a Democrat. He serves on the Foreign Relations Committee.

Congressman, thanks so much for joining us.

REP. GREGORY MEEKS (D), NEW YORK: It's good to be with you, Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, let's get through several issues while I have you.

The president says he won't ask his potential Supreme Court nominees their stance on Roe vs. Wade. Do you believe him?

MEEKS: No, I think that he probably knows where they stand already.

That's why he said he is going to go by a list that he has already had. Had they not -- had they had a position of where they could -- possibly would support Roe v. Wade, they would have never made the list.

I believe that, early on, he made a deal with some of the ultra conservatives that, forgive me for whatever I do personally or whatever I did personally, but I will appoint your conservative judges.

That deal has been cut. And I think that, to make his list, he knows what their positions are already.

BLITZER: How likely, Congressman, do you think it is that Roe vs. Wade could be overturned with a new justice on the bench of the Supreme Court?

MEEKS: Well, I'm hoping, again, that the senators have a significant role in this.

And I'm hoping that Senator Collins and Murkowski sticks by their guns. And that then will change some of the paradigm of which I think the Trump administration is depending upon.

So, you need a majority. We know -- I believe that the Democrats senators will not vote for this person. And so if -- you just need one or two Republican senators. And I'm hoping they see through this game and they will stick by their positions.

And then that will then change and upset the president and the commitments that he has made, and maybe we should do like the Republicans did. Maybe nothing should happen until after the November elections, so we know what the Senate looks like.

BLITZER: Yes, but you got to worry, though, from your perspective, Congressman, there may be one or two or three or maybe four Democratic senators who are up for reelection in states that were overwhelmingly won by Donald Trump who might be worried about getting themselves reelected, and they may vote to confirm as well, as they did for Neil Gorsuch.

Let me move on and get your thoughts on some foreign policy issues while I have you.

The president gave us some new details about what's on his agenda for the upcoming summit in Helsinki with Vladimir Putin.

[18:30:09]

Among other things, he blamed President Obama for Russia's annexation of Crimea and Ukraine. He said he doesn't want anyone tampering in the U.S. elections. He said that aboard Air Force One just now, just a day after he cast doubt again on Russia's meddling in the 2016 election.

How concerning are all these comments to you ahead of this historic summit with Putin?

MEEKS: It's very concerning, Wolf. No. 1, I don't know how historic this is, because it seems as though we have a reality TV show. So we've gone to North Korea. Now we're going to have one with Putin. Two individuals who are authoritarian. And he seems to be disregarding those real democracies and allies that we have in Europe, in Canada.

So it seems to me, as it seems all along, that he is more comfortable about individuals who do not believe in democracy, as our allies to the west has been. And so I'm very concerned about that.

We saw clearly, he is more concerned with making a picture look like he's paling around with someone, but it's dangerous. We saw the last time when the Russians came and visited the White House, where he gave away classified information.

So I'm very concerned with this president meeting with individuals who clearly is not in accord with the western world and has not indicated that they are ready to form a more democratic society.

BLITZER: You think the president can get anything from that meeting with Putin?

MEEKS: No. I think -- what I'm worried about is just the opposite. I'm worried about what Putin is going to get from the president. It seems clear -- if you look at the North Korean meeting, the North

Koreans got more out of the president than we got from the North Koreans. We still don't know what we -- we didn't get anything. We know what they got. You know, they got removal of the war games, et cetera. What did we get? Nothing.

And now we're not hearing anything about North Korea. We're moving on to dealing with Putin.

So I am very concerned not about what the president -- because I don't think he's going to get much. But how much is he going to give Putin?

BLITZER: On another issue, Congressman, while I have you, the president just commented on the deputy attorney general, Rod Rosenstein, saying it will all work out. Those are his words. But "The New York Times" is now reporting that Rosenstein felt angry and manipulated by the White House over his role in the firing of the FBI director, James Comey. What's your reaction to that?

MEEKS: Well, you know what? I would think so. I think that a lot of individuals that have been associated with this president and his administration and beforehand have all worried about their reputation and being used by this president.

That's why I think that during the campaign, you saw many Republicans, not me, but many Republicans including Senator Rubio, Senator Cruz, call him a con man. That's what con men do. They take individuals, they use them for their benefit, and then they let them waste away.

And so if I was the deputy attorney general, I would be concerned about my reputation also. But I would stay focused on what my job is. And I think that he -- Mr. Rosenstein will, Mr. Mueller will. And I think we should let those investigations go. Don't allow the smokescreen that the president would like to put up or that what con men put up. Let's get to the facts. Once we see what those results are, then we know how to move as a country.

BLITZER: I want to get your thoughts on another story we've been following. As you know the president of the United States getting prank called by a comedian pretending to be Democratic Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey.

What does it tell you this comedian was able to get through White House staffers, have a conversation with the president of the United States aboard Air Force One? What does that say to you?

MEEKS: Well, that they need a complete security review. It should not be that easy to get to the president of the United States. I mean, generally, from what I've just heard on your panel, for example, if you can look at an area code and know whether that should belong to a senator or not. There's a way that you can check that very easily. And that should have been done here.

Now, the one thing that I will say, though, that I hope that the president does something for real, he should be -- he should be calling Bob Menendez and other Democrats so that we can resolve this very real issue of getting children back to their parents and making sure that we are not having these separations at the borderline that's taking place that's really immoral and inhumane.

BLITZER: Has he called you?

MEEKS: No, he has not called me. And I don't know of any other Democrat that he has called. So I'm hoping that he does. Maybe -- I hope he listens to someone. Because we really need to address this issue in a bipartisan manner.

We had a bipartisan bill that, you know, Wolf, that was two votes shy of having a discharge position so that we could get it on the floor to vote for it. We couldn't do that.

[18:35:05] We know that, in the past, the Senate has come up with a bipartisan bill. But it's been the Republicans on the House side that has blocked an overwhelming bipartisan bill on immigration. We need to get this done for the benefit of the American people and stop playing with it. And I think that Democrats and Republicans want to move.

And in these bills, I would add, Wolf, we're talking about reasonable border control. So no one -- don't believe the hype of what he said that all Democrats want all the free flow, et cetera. We want legal immigration. We don't want to end legal immigration. And we want people to be able to go through a process for asylum. And I think that's what's being taken place -- needs to take place.

I visited a site today. And I'll say this. And that site, I noticed every child there, they told me, had a birth certificate. That tells me that their parents was coming, not to cross illegally, but to go through the process to show and ask for asylum because of what they were running from. Every one of these kids, every one of these parents have a story. And we're not talking about that.

BLITZER: Congressman Gregory Meeks, thanks so much for joining us.

MEEKS: Good to be with you, Wolf.

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