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

Interview

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BLITZER: All right. We will see what the judge decides. Jessica, thank you very much.

Joining us now, Congressman Ted Lieu. He's a Democrat. He serves on both the Judiciary and Foreign Affairs Committees.

Congressman, thanks so much for joining us.

Let me get your quick reaction to what we just heard. The judge is going to make a decision tomorrow afternoon. What do you think?

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

Let me just first say I want to commend the first-responders in California fighting the wildfires. They have done an extraordinary job, and my heart goes out to the victims of these wildfires, especially to those who lost their lives and their property.

[18:10:03]

In terms of your question, the First Amendment protects the government and it protects citizens. However, if it means anything, it means the government cannot choose which reporters to ask it questions.

The government can't just pick friendly reporters to ask it questions. So I think CNN has a great legal case. I am also pleased that FOX has joined CNN in this legal case.

BLITZER: Yes, all of the major news organizations in the United States have joined CNN in supporting. And there you can see only some of them. there are so many more, but the major news organizations are all on the side of CNN.

This represents a potentially very, very significant setback for freedom of the press in the United States, depending on how this goes. We are going to watch it very closely.

Let's talk about some other issues while I have you, Congressman. The president says he will decide on the Department of Homeland Security Secretary Nielsen's fate shortly, his word, shortly. He hinted also that he might fire other senior officials after that.

What, in fact, do you think these changes will have on the Trump administration? LIEU: The president has not treated his staff well, and right now to

hang Secretary Nielsen out there like this is really unfortunate, even though I do disagree with her. This is not the way that he should treat any Cabinet official.

And if there's any message that happened on Tuesday's elections, it is that the president should be blamed. He ran a divisive campaign. He pitted Americans against each other. He tried to sabotage health care.

What Americans want is for this country to heal. We want to protect our preexisting conditions, work on infrastructure. That's what the president should be doing. He needs to change course.

BLITZER: As you know, the Justice Department has just put out a lengthy memo defending the constitutionality of Matt Whitaker's appointment as the acting attorney general of the United States.

You're on the Judiciary Committee.

LIEU: Yes.

BLITZER: You are a lawyer. How strong is that argument, in your view?

LIEU: The Justice Department is wrong. And here is why.

If we allow a president to simply take any Cabinet official, force them to resign, and then install an employee that's not been confirmed by the Senate, then there's no telling what future presidents could do.

And we can't have a situation where the Senate-confirmed nominee is then removed and someone who is not Senate-confirmed is put in that person's place. The Vacancy Act was put in by Congress to exactly prevent this situation. Whitaker should not be acting attorney general right now.

BLITZER: Do you think you could gain enough Republican support in the House and the Senate to pass a bill to protect Robert Mueller and his Russia probe?

LIEU: If Republicans want to put country over party, I do think we could do that.

And, again, Tuesday's election night results were showing that America wanted a course change, and we want to make sure that we can protect these investigations, but also work to heal America and work on issues that affect everyday Americans, health care, infrastructure.

I hope that's what the president does.

BLITZER: As you know, Democrats have now picked up a net gain of 31 seats in the House. Another nine seats are still in play right now, too close to call. The president is blaming Republican losses on what he calls illegal votes. And he says people vote multiple times by simply changing their attire. They wear a different hat, then they go back. Obviously, there's absolutely no truth to those claims.

But what is your reaction when you hear the president of the United States make an argument like that?

LIEU: Yes.

The president has no evidence for those claims. He's just making stuff up. But, in particular, this is a very damaging and dangerous claim, because it threatens the very bedrock of our democracy, which is the integrity of the ballot, of the vote.

There is no evidence that we have all of these illegal votes. What we have instead are votes that are being counted. So, in California, for example, you can submit an absentee ballot on Election Day, mail it in, and three days later, it can still be accepted.

That's a valid ballot. It just takes time to count those ballots, and when all of those ballots are counted, we're going to increase from three in California to six, at least six flips in California.

BLITZER: Yes, the president also says he wants a national I.D. for people to vote. He says you need I.D. to go out buy cereal, which clearly you don't need I.D. to buy cereal, but that's what the president's argument is.

Let's talk about Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic leader in the House. Do you think she can get enough votes to become the next House speaker?

LIEU: I do.

Nancy Pelosi has been a terrific minority leader. She was an amazing speaker. She will be an amazing future speaker. She will win the caucus vote for the nominee that we send to the floor, and I believe that come this January she will get the votes on the floor.

BLITZER: In the past hour or so the president says he supports a bipartisan criminal justice reform bill, and he says it is an example of what can be accomplished by working together, Republicans and Democrats.

[18:15:03]

First of all, do you give the president credit for supporting this legislation?

LIEU: Sure. I'm glad the president supports this legislation.

I voted for it on the House floor, and this is a step towards criminal justice reform. There's a lot more that needs to be done, but I'm glad the president is at least supporting this initial first step.

BLITZER: Can Democrats work with the president on other issues? LIEU: Absolutely, if the president wants to protect preexisting

conditions, work on infrastructure. Last year, I introduced an infrastructure bill.

If he wants to work on those issues and on helping veterans, we will work with him. If he wants to take us backwards and attack immigrants and pass laws that are divisive and harmful, we will stop him.

BLITZER: You opened the interview by mentioning the deadly wildfires that are still raging in your state of California, and our hearts go out to all of those people, and we applaud all of the firefighters, the first-responders.

Governor Jerry Brown of California says this is now the new normal. First of all, how is your district out in California doing?

LIEU: Not well.

The northern part of the district got severely affected. My city of Malibu has lost hundreds of homes. I visited shelters, and it is these windy conditions, the Santa Ana winds, that really drove these wildfires. Some of the firefighters I met with said this is one of the worst fires they have ever seen, but it is now 47 percent contained.

And that's a remarkable achievement for these firefighters, and we just want to make sure that people can now go back to their homes. The ones that were destroyed, we will help them with their FEMA claims and other assistance.

BLITZER: There's a lot of work that you guys need to do, and the federal government will be involved. Of course, our hearts go out to all of those folks. This has been a horrendous situation.

Congressman Ted Lieu, thanks so much for joining us.

LIEU: Thank you, Wolf.

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