CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: Interview With California Congressman John Garamendi

Interview

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BLITZER: Clarissa Ward reporting for us, thank you. Horrendous, horrendous details.

Let's talk a little bit more about all of this.

Joining us now, Congressman John Garamendi. He's a Democrat. He serves on the House Armed Services Committee.

Congressman, thanks so much for joining us.

Let's discuss these late-breaking developments. As you know, the president, he is touting Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince, the denials from him, the denials from the king.

Do you think there's any chance that the crown prince was in the dark about this murder?

REP. JOHN GARAMENDI (D), CALIFORNIA: I have no idea, but we do know this. Saudi Arabia, their operatives, perhaps under the direction or not, carried out this horrendous, gruesome attack, this murder.

The country is responsible. And we ought not spend all of our time trying to figure out whether the crown prince or the king knew about it. The fact of the matter is, the country did it. Now, what are we going to do? When are we going to stand up and say that this kind of attack on journalists and journalism is not part of the American creed?

We have got a president that has already named journalists as being the enemy of the people. So don't be surprised when other countries take on a journalist, murder them, chop them into pieces and dispose of them.

BLITZER: Why do you think President Trump has been so quick to repeat the Saudi denials and the Saudi cover story?

GARAMENDI: He's protecting his backside, plain and simple. He has had a longtime relationship with Saudi Arabia. No doubt about it, in his own words. You just played those tapes. And he doesn't want this thing to go any further.

The fact of the matter is, Saudi Arabia carried this out. Their operatives did. Now, what is America going to do about it? Parse it, try to say, well, maybe the crown prince didn't know about it? Well, maybe the crown prince did know about it, but the country of Saudi Arabia carried this out in their consulate in a foreign country, Turkey.

Is America going to stand up for human rights, civil rights, and, most importantly, for the role of the press, the free press in finding the truth? Thus far, this president has been the enemy of the press.

BLITZER: As you know, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham is placing the blame squarely on the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, and he says Congress is going to, in his words, sanction the hell out of Saudi Arabia.

Senator Graham has been a close ally of the president lately. Are you surprised to hear him speak so bluntly about all of this?

GARAMENDI: No, not at all. Many of us in Congress -- obviously, the senator speaks for himself.

But many of us in Congress have been very, very disturbed about the way Saudi Arabia is conducting the war in Yemen, bombing buses, killing children, horrendous deeds that they've been doing, all of it using American-made equipment and with American support.

And Congress, at least those Democrats, myself included, in the House of Representatives, are saying enough already.

BLITZER: All right, Congressman, hold on for one moment.

Our White House correspondent, Jim Acosta, is getting some major breaking news. The president apparently what, Jim, has just given an interview to the Associated Press?

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[18:15:13]

BLITZER: There certainly is. I know you are getting more information on what the president told the AP. So, stand by.

Congressman Garamendi, let me get your immediate reaction.

You just heard the president tell the AP, you know, he is upset because you're guilty, according to him, until you're proven innocent. He is defending the Saudis.

GARAMENDI: He may want to talk to Turkey. He may want to be listening to what Erdogan said. He may want to be listening to the facts that are coming out in Ankara, as well as in Istanbul.

This took place on Saudi turf in Istanbul in their consulate, in their offices. There is nobody, except perhaps the president, that is saying, A, it didn't happen, and, B, that Saudi Arabia had nothing to do with it. In fact, Saudi Arabia had everything to do with this murder and, quite possibly, the gruesome hacking up of the body.

So, what is the president doing? Is he standing up for the free press? Is he standing up for the First Amendment to our Constitution about the right of the press? Apparently not.

He has said it many, many times, that the press is the enemy of the people. And here he is once again, instead of standing strongly in support of a journalist that was murdered by a foreign country, he is instead going the opposite direction.

And that is a horrible signal. It is a horrible signal to every journalist anywhere in the world that as far as this president is concerned the press is the enemy of the people. Apparently, Saudi Arabia believes that to be the case also.

BLITZER: What are the consequences if the Trump administration doesn't take some action?

GARAMENDI: Congress will. Congress will.

We can withhold the approval and the arms sales that the president likes to talk about. And, by the way, it is not $115 billion. There's about $14.5 billion that's actually been consummated. That is the contracts actually in place. The money will eventually change hands as the equipment does.

But the point here is really about the freedom of the press, about the role of the press and about the American civil liberties and rights that we have for journalists to carry out their tasks.

And our president, our country has to stand firmly in support of journalists wherever they may be, whatever country they may be in. Otherwise, the truth will be hidden from the people. That's what the First Amendment is all about, and this president has declared war on the press, calling the press the enemy of the people and, in his rallies, encouraging his supporters to take on the press, to condemn the press, and to otherwise harass the press that are trying to cover the president.

This is terrible. Repercussions will come on. You had a moment ago about Duterte in the Philippines. We can't allow that to happen. America has to stand firmly in support of the press, in support of the freedom of information.

Our president is going the opposite direction, and the repercussions are inevitably going to be journalists dying even more than they have had in the past.

BLITZER: Congressman Garamendi, thanks so much for joining us.

GARAMENDI: Good to be with you, Wolf.

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