CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: Interview With Washington Congressman Adam Smith
Interview
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ACOSTA: Obviously, a lot of questions. CNN's Erin McLaughlin, thank you very much for that.
Joining me now, Representative Adam Smith, the ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee.
You just heard that report from England, Congressman. This is very disturbing, because, obviously, either this is an attack on a target of some sort -- we don't know why investigators are looking into this -- or this is some sort of residual effect from the attack on the ex- Russian spy back in March, which I suppose speaks to the recklessness of that initial attack, because it not only put that ex-KGB spy in danger, but it also threatened the lives of people in that community, which is exactly what the British were worried about.
REP. ADAM SMITH (D), WASHINGTON: I mean, that would seem to be the most likely outcome here. There's no reason to believe that this couple was targeted.
But given where they were exposed, it seems quite likely this is residual from the original attack. But we will need more information on that. And it does bring us back to what Russia was doing there. And, of course, with the summit between President Trump and President Putin coming up here shortly, it brings into stark relief once again all that Russia is doing in the world, and really how concerned I am and a lot of others are about President Trump's meeting with President Putin.
What is he going to do? And now we hear that President Trump wants there to be nobody else in the room except for him and Putin, which means it won't even be documented. So, it so raises a lot of red flags.
ACOSTA: And do you trust President Trump -- I mean, you just mentioned this upcoming summit -- to confront Putin on this and other acts of Russian aggression? He is the president of the United States. Administration officials, they insist that the president will be tough with Vladimir Putin. Do you trust that when you hear that?
SMITH: Absolutely not.
I mean, there's no reason to believe that he will be. Look, I mean, you saw what happened at the G7. He's basically insulted and attacked our allies, placing tariffs on them, talking about how the G7 isn't pulling its weight, while at the same time praising Putin.
So, it so appears that the president is trying to reorient U.S. foreign policy towards Russia and away from our democratic allies in Europe. And that's deeply troubling, given all that Russia is doing to undermine democracy throughout Europe and our country and a lot of other places.
I believe the president is lining us up with an authoritarian dictator, instead of with democracies that promote economic and political freedom. I don't think that's what the United States should stand for. And I don't think it's in our long-term best interests in terms of our policy.
ACOSTA: And let's turn to the other breaking news we're following. What do you make of this Independence Day protest against President Trump's immigration policies?
There may have been an "Abolish ICE" T-shirt unfurled earlier or one by one of these protesters earlier in the afternoon. We're getting the latest on that as the information comes in.
But is this the best way to go about getting that message across? And are you concerned that, at some point, with this abolish ICE business, that Democrats are going to be painted as too extreme on this issue and you could be playing right into the president's hands on the immigration issue?
SMITH: Well, let's start with the most important issue, which is that President Trump's immigration policy and the way he has chosen to use ICE and enforce it is inhumane, horrific in terms of how it's treating people, and again directly contrary to best interests of the United States of America.
President Trump has basically made it clear that the U.S. no longer welcomes immigrants on a whole series of policies. Certainly, the one that has gotten the most attention was when he was separating children from their families.
But there have been a number of others. ICE is routinely making raids all across the country, picking up people who are legal permanent residents, based on, in many cases, a misdemeanor crime that they may have committed decades ago, ripping apart communities and sending the very clear message, immigrants aren't welcome. You see what President -- whenever President Trump talks about
immigrants, he talks about them as being criminals. He talks about...
(CROSSTALK)
ACOSTA: But what about this abolish ICE business? Is that going overboard, do you think?
SMITH: Well, it's not going overboard to say that we should stop what ICE is doing right now, that we should stop their policies. And I wouldn't even have a problem with saying, ICE, as it's currently constituted under the Department of Homeland Security, we should get rid of it.
But, look, obviously, you have to have some form of immigration enforcement. And in talking about abolish ICE, most of the people I have heard talk about that are really talking about the policies. They're not talking about open borders and talking about not having immigration enforcement.
But that immigration enforcement should be aimed at protecting our country, not terrorizing people in the community who pose no threat to our country.
(CROSSTALK)
ACOSTA: Let me ask you a related question on that. Members of Congress, they're trying to get answers on the families that have been separated, but the Department of Health and Human Services, you may be aware of this, says all of the congressional visits -- and you have seen a lot of them lately -- are creating -- quote -- "resource constraints" as it tries to reunite families.
[18:15:05]
Now, we know administration officials have been looking at these facilities, and the first lady went and visited some of these facilities.
What do you make of that? The administration saying, well, we can bring the DHS secretary over to these facilities and the first lady, but when members of Congress go, they're creating resource constraints. What do you make of that?
SMITH: I think that's absurd.
And this is another reason to want to get rid of ICE as it's currently constructed. There is no transparency. We don't know what's going on in there. And that's why members of Congress are desperately trying to get into these facilities to meet with the people and understand, well, what are you doing to unite families?
Why you holding the people that you're holding? There's a complete lack of transparency the way ICE currently does their business. And couple that with the open hostility of the Trump administration to all immigrants, and you can be very concerned about what they're doing if we can't see it.
So it's not a resource constraint. It's called the Constitution of the United States and Article I, the legislative prerogative to exercise oversight over the executive branch. And that's what we need to be doing.
And this lack of transparency only adds to the fear and concerns about what ICE is doing and how they are terrorizing families all across this country and, again, not in a way that makes us safer. When you're focused on people who are just members of their community who maybe committed a misdemeanor 20 years ago, you're not protecting the country from what might actually threaten us.
ACOSTA: OK, Representative Adam Smith raising some interesting questions. Thank you, Congressman, for your time. We appreciate it.
SMITH: Thank you.
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