CNN "CNN Newsroom" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Gregory Meeks (D)
Interview
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[10:18:54] HARLOW: All right. It's being called a first major step in the removal of nuclear weapons from the Korean peninsula if indeed that happens. You've got these new satellite images that now appear to show North Korea dismantling a key test facility in the (INAUDIBLE) region. South Korean officials are hailing it as a, quote, "good effect" on denuclearization.
Let's talk about this and much more with Congressman Gregory Meeks, Democrat of New York and a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
It's nice to have you on this and a lot of topics. So let's begin on that. South Korea likes what it is seeing in these satellite images. And they say, look, this is proof positive that North Korea is taking steps towards denuclearization. Does the Trump administration deserve credit for this ?
REP. GREGORY MEEKS (D), FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE: Well, I think that we need to investigate further. I mean, I know that from what I've heard and talked to individuals, there are several different kind of facilities that are there in North Korea. One is what they utilize -- and I understand this has not been utilized since 2012. If that is in fact the case, then I think that we should be focusing more on what they utilized in the tests they were doing in 2015 and 2016 and 2017.
[10:20:01] One is an old type of equipment and the other is new. So if they're just dismantling something that they had utilized or had not utilized in 2012, then we don't have anything here.
HARLOW: Yes. It's --
MEEKS: And I think that's what needs to be investigated.
HARLOW: It's a fair point as our Will Ripley reported last hour. This is where sort of liquid fuelled rockets were tested. Not the new solid fuel, which are much more difficult to detect because they can be rolled out immediately and then utilized.
You sit on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was invited by your committee to testify this week. He declined due to a scheduling conflict. He will testify in front of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee tomorrow. Have you had the opportunity for him to testimony before you? What is the most pressing question you were planning to ask?
MEEKS: Well, it's both. One, about North Korea because, you know, when I look at what took place, if you compare the North Korean -- what the president did at the so-called summit and what the president did pulling out of Iran, do you have any agreement to have someone that's on the ground in North Korea that way and going to all of their sites so therefore we can verify what's taking place as opposed to guessing?
Secondly, does even Mike Pompeo know what took place in those two hours in Helsinki with the president being exclusively with Mr. Putin? Does he even know? Because when I see Mr. Coats, he doesn't know. And seems like no one else knows. So I would like to ask him those questions, although I do think it would be more appropriate to do it in a classified session.
HARLOW: Congressman, I'd like your response to the White House threatening to strip six individuals who have been critical of the White House and the president from their security clearance, two of them McCabe and Comey don't have their clearance anymore. So it would be effectively taking away the clearance of these four individuals.
Here is how Republican Senator Rand Paul justified it.
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HARLOW: He is speaking about John Brennan who said the president's actions on stage and words with Putin were tantamount to treason. Does he have a point? MEEKS: No. I think that, you know, just as some people talk about
our Constitution, it's First Amendment rights also. And so individuals have the First Amendment right to say -- this is not Russia. We don't jail people, we don't take things away from people for them saying what they think. I believe --
HARLOW: Well, there's a difference between jailing someone and stripping them of their security clearance. But I hear your point.
MEEKS: But -- so what this president is doing in my estimation is -- and it's not a surprise. He does it all the time. He knows what took place in Helsinki has been a mess. So what -- and I -- not my words but again, Senator Rubio, Senator Cruz called him a con man when they were doing the campaign. And what you do is to shift the view, to shift your mind away from something, you bring something else up. And that's what they're trying to do.
HARLOW: On the topic of Russia, let me ask you about some "Daily Beast" reporting that's come out in the last few days. And it's reporting about a trip you took to Russia with Congressman Dana Rohrabacher of California back in August of 2015 and this was a time of very high tension between the United States and Russia. This is after Russia had annexed Crimea, invaded Ukraine, shot down Malaysian Airlines Flight 17.
Let me ask you about the purpose of your trip there. Why did you go? And did you meet with any Russian officials while you were there?
MEEKS: Well, I went with an official (INAUDIBLE) and the ranking Democrat on the Europe Eurasia and Emerging Threats Subcommittee. The chairman of the committee decided that he wanted to go. And the committee approved it. So I wanted to make sure, knowing what the chairman's position was on Russia, that I thought it was important given the significance of the time that they did not hear one voice, they needed to hear both voices.
And I wanted to make sure that they knew that we were not pleased with the going in and taking over of Crimea. We were not pleased with the fact that they were going into the eastern Ukraine. So I wanted to make sure that they heard two sides of the voice -- two voices. I know what the position of the chairman was. We heard it in the committee. That was my purpose of being there.
HARLOW: Any meetings with Russian officials?
MEEKS: No. The one person I can recall --
HARLOW: OK.
MEEKS: -- was somebody from the Dumas.
HARLOW: OK.
MEEKS: At an open meeting.
HARLOW: An open meeting. Final question about the future of your party. We heard Seth Moulton, Congressman Seth Moulton on this weekend with Jake Tapper. And he said when it comes to leadership of the party, this is bigger than one person. What we need is a new generation of leadership to be honest about the problems we face.
Who do you think embodies, Congressman, the future of your party, the future of the Democratic Party, more right now -- Nancy Pelosi or the candidate up in November Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez?
[10:25:02] MEEKS: Well, I think -- and we just had a motion actually in Democratic caucus just before my coming here where we are saying that we're going to be focused on winning these elections together. And then we want to take the time --
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HARLOW: I understand that, Congressman. But I'm running out of time. And I really want to know from you, because Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who won New York 14 here and is up for general election in November, a lot of people are pointing to her and saying, you know, a candidate like this far, far to the left is the future of the party more than the Nancy Pelosi. Are they right or is Pelosi more the future of your party?
MEEKS: I don't think that there is any one person. What makes our party good is the diversity in our party. We have people from all different points of view, just like America does and that's why we are different.
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