CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: Interview With California Congressman Ted Lieu

Interview

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PEREZ: Evan Perez, thank you very much.

Joining me now, Representative Ted Lieu, a Democrat who serves on the Foreign Affairs and Judiciary Committees.

Congressman, thanks for joining us.

Can President Trump claim that Manafort's potential crimes have nothing to do with this campaign? What do you make of this new information?

REP. TED LIEU (D), CALIFORNIA: Thank you, Jim, for your question.

This new information continues to show us that there's a lot about the special counsel investigation that we don't know. And it's very clear to me that the special counsel didn't invest all this time and resources in going after Paul Manafort if there was not a link to other people who are higher up or the Trump campaign

And what this is telling us is that there is in fact such a link.

ACOSTA: And let's turn to immigration.

What do you make of what Congressman Lou Barletta was just saying there a few moments ago here on THE SITUATION ROOM? He was trying to make the case where you have to be careful in reuniting these families. And yet he's making the case you have to be careful with these families across the border, saying that there are fraudulent families coming across the border, when, in fact, a very tiny fraction of those families are not what they make themselves out to be.

What do you -- any response to what the congressman was just saying a few moments ago?

LIEU: He is misleading the American people.

Their own statistics from the Department of Homeland Security say that it's about 0.01 percent that could be fraudulent families. Everybody else are real families that got ripped apart by the Trump administration.

And this is a problem created by the Trump administration. They did not have to do this. And as we sit here today, there's still over 2,000 babies and kids who were ripped away from the parents, who have not been reunited.

ACOSTA: And what do you make of the government saying today that they need more time? It doesn't sound as if they had a process in place to eventually reunite these families. What do you make of what the government was saying this afternoon, the administration, what they were saying in court out in California?

LIEU: It's not surprising.

As CNN has reported, the government had no real plan at the beginning, when they were ripping away babies and kids from their parents. Homeland Security Secretary Nielsen needs to resign.

Not only do we have an evil policy. We also had gross incompetence. And now we're seeing now only kids and babies that have not been reunited, but the ones that have been are in bad shape. Public reporting talked about a 14-month-old infant that was recently reunited who was covered in lice, and the infant had not been bathed.

That is cruel.

ACOSTA: And I want to get your reaction to Vice President Mike Pence.

He said today that Democratic calls to abolish ICE are -- quote -- "irresponsible and unacceptable."

As you know, there are a few of your colleagues who want to see ICE abolished. How do you respond to the vice president today?

LIEU: Democrats are not -- who have said this are not saying abolish ICE and do nothing.

What they're saying is, we should have a new agency that has principles and values more consistent with what the American people believe. That means not terrorizing communities, not ripping kids and babies away from their parents.

And ICE was a new agency created after 9/11 essentially to help go after terrorists. They have gone far away from that mission. And we need to make sure that the new ICE director curbs ICE's sort of culture, so that they are more in line with their original mission and what Americans expect ICE to do.

[18:30:12] ACOSTA: And let's turn to foreign policy. Very interesting, as you know. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, he's in North Korea. If he doesn't get some concrete commitments from Pyongyang on denuclearization, what's the next step?

LIEU: I served active duty on the U.S. Pacific Command, and it's clear that the U.S. has no good military options against North Korea, so I support diplomacy.

But for that to work, the other side has to take you seriously, and it's pretty clear that North Korea did not take Donald Trump seriously at that Singapore summit.

After that summit, North Korea continued to increase nuclear fuel output. They have increased other facilities in terms of ballistic missiles. They have done a single thing to eliminate a single nuclear weapon or a single missile. And so if we're faced with this, then I think we need Congress to step in and say, "Look, wait a minute. We need to have U.S. military exercises back. We can't be giving up all these concessions if North Korea is not going to cooperate."

ACOSTA: OK. Congressman Ted Lieu, thank you very much for coming on. We appreciate it. Have a good weekend, sir.

LIEU: Thank you, Jim. You, too.

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