CNN "Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees" - Transcript: Interview with Congressman Ruben Gallego of Arizona

Interview

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BERMAN: Although he has Jared to talk to when he wants.

Abby Philip, thanks very much for being with us. Appreciate it.

So, with the president blaming the shutdown on what he calls obstructionist Democrats, we thought it might be useful to actually speak to a Democrat.

Joining us now is Congressman Ruben Gallego of Arizona.

Congressman, thanks so much for being with us this evening.

REP. RUBEN GALLEGO (D-AZ), ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE: Thank you.

BERMAN: I know you said you are against any funding for the wall. You have urged fellow Democrats not to negotiate. Does that mean you would vote against anything $1 more than the $1.3 billion that's already on the table for border security?

GALLEGO: Look, the party is not an obstructionist party, to be clear. We are the party that actually passed through consensus, both the House Democrats and house -- and Senate Republicans a bill that got 100 percent of the vote in the Senate, 99 percent vote in the House. The only obstruction is happening with this president.

Another thing to note is that we actually gave this president close to $2 billion last year in terms of border money for border security and he has not used 96 percent of it. So, the idea that we're going to throw more money at a campaign promise that he said Mexico would pay for I think is just not a proper use of government funds.

Will we continue to negotiate? Of course. You know, we are here to keep government open. But the biggest sticking point you have is a president that cares more of what Fox News pundits say than what the government actually needs. And that's actually how a functional government that he is not leading.

BERMAN: So, Sarah Sanders did say the president is willing to negotiate. We're not entirely sure what that means or how much. When Democrats take over, when Nancy Pelosi becomes speaker, which we assume will happen January 3rd, are you suggesting there might be some room to budge at least a little off that $1.3 billion?

GALLEGO: Look, we're here to talk. Obviously, I can't speak for Pelosi. I know Democrats have always been the adults in the room. Unfortunately, President Trump has been hard to negotiate with.

If he listened to us and actually negotiated with us two years ago, he would have had $25 billion for a wall and we would have had the DREAM Act. Instead, he ended up listening to the worst elements of his cabinet, as well as some pundits that basically guide his decisions.

BERMAN: I do want to ask you, his threat to close the southern border, his threat to withdraw foreign aid to those central American countries, do you take that seriously when he writes stuff like that?

GALLEGO: No. I think that's a bigger danger of the fact that no one takes this president serious. He is the boy that cries wolf a little too much. But also, I think it's disturbing the president of the United States is holding the American economy hostage.

Look, there are problems with NAFTA. I think we have to renegotiate a lot of aspects of it. But if you do such an abrupt action as closing down the border, you're going to affect a good one-third to one-fourth of the economy of this country. For people that do rely on paychecks.

So, if he really wants to make America first and great or anything else like that, don't threaten the economy in the process of trying to fulfill your campaign promise, which you said, again, that Mexico was going to pay for.

BERMAN: Now he says Mexico will pay for it but indirectly.

Lastly, I do want to ask you about a letter sent by two Republican committee chairs today, Bob Goodlatte and Trey Gowdy. They are both retiring. They sent the letter to the Department of Justice.

And among other things they said, quote: There has been no effort to discredit the work of the special counsel. No effort to discredit the work of the special counsel.

What do you make of that given the president, the Republican president, goes after the special counsel Robert Mueller in the investigation every week, if not practically every day?

GALLEGO: Well, it's not just the president. There have been plenty of Republicans and leadership positions that have undermined the investigation, by their public statements as well as basically running some shoddy investigations. If you look at the House Intelligence Committee and their investigation, it was basically an effort to cover up whatever this presidency did. They didn't call the proper witnesses. They didn't subpoena the proper documents. They didn't put people under oath.

So, this whole thing is for them to try to, I would say, recast their part in basically allowing this presidency and the Republican administration led by Paul Ryan to undermine this investigation the whole way.

[20:10:05] BERMAN: And on their way out the door, as part of this six-page letter, one of the main points is they think there should be an additional special counsel brought on to investigate James Comey's investigation of Hillary Clinton. What's your reaction?

GALLEGO: This is just pure obsession by, you know, these Republicans. Hillary Clinton is no longer a presidential candidate. The president is Donald Trump. He has clearly done some levels of violation that should be investigated. They need to get over it. Hillary Clinton is not your president. She's not the person that should be investigated. The collusion, the crimes that have occurred have occurred under this administration. It's time to look into and see what happened instead of trying to dodge it and distract by throwing Hillary Clinton out there.

BERMAN: Just to be clear, the investigation is in collusion. There's been no conclusion on collusion just yet. But I appreciate your point.

Congressman Ruben Gallego, thank you so much for joining us. Have a very happy New Year.

GALLEGO: Thank you. Happy New Year.

BERMAN: Thanks so much.

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