CNN "Erin Burnett Outfront" - Transcript: Interview with Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib of Michigan

Interview

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BURNETT: And next Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib who called the President a profanity and called for his impeachment in the same sentence is speaking out in her first primetime national interview.

Plus breaking news, Paul Manafort, he shared polling data, the internal polling data with a Russian operative. Did you know that that -- we found that out today? I mean, this is the closest link yet between the Russians and the Trump campaign and it's only one little tiny part of what is a lot of redactions.

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[19:26:58] BURNETT: New tonight, Democratic Senator and rumored 2020 candidate Kamala Harris defending freshman Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib for using an expletive to describe President Trump while vowing to impeach him. Here's Senator Harris.

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BURNETT: To applause. And here's exactly what Congresswoman Tlaib said just hours after being sworn in.

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TLAIB: And when your son looks at you and says, Mama, look, you won. Bullies don't win. And I said, baby, they don't. Because we're going to go in there and we're going to impeach the mother --

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BURNETT: Out front now from her first national primetime interview, the Democratic Congresswoman from Michigan, Rashida Tlaib. And Congressman, thank you for being with me. I know you've got votes. I mean, look, it's been nearly a week since you made those remarks. Are you surprised it is still being talked about so much?

TLAIB: Very much so. I can tell you, you know, I'm very unapologetically me. And I know people back home that I've represented for six years in the state legislature in Michigan are kind of used to my realness, used to this passion and -- that I have. And I know for many people it did get the best of me at that moment and for many people it might have been very much a distraction. And that's what I'm really wanting to get this hump over it is to start talking about the Trump shutdown and how critically important it is for us to be able to get our government back up and running because of the huge human impact and the toll that it's taken on our residents back home.

BURNETT: So when -- you know, when other Democrats have come out, you know, they've obviously -- you know, they've criticized you for this, right. It's not just been Republicans. And it certainly just hasn't been men, you know that, right? I mean, you know, here's a few of them. Elissa Slotkin, you know, your fellow new Congresswoman from your state spoke out yesterday. Here's a few.

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BURNETT: You know, Brad Sherman there at the end, Congresswoman, is obviously he's introduced articles of impeachment, right, so he agrees completely with your sentiment. You know, I guess what I'm trying to understand, and I know it's got to be hard, right, because you were saying you were caught up in the moment.

TLAIB: Absolutely.

BURNETT: But do you feel like the right word to say is I'm sorry, I wish I hadn't said it. I don't like the guy but I wish I hadn't -- I'm sorry or is it fair to say you don't really feel comfortable going that far?

TLAIB: No. I mean, what I want to do is not allow women like myself that have every right to be angry and upset and mad and to curse. That somehow they're not allowed to do it in some sort of public forum. I can tell you this, what I completely very much don't like is that it did become a distraction. For me it might have been, you know, if a heat of the moment or whatever, but I got to tell you it's like right now we're in the middle of a shutdown and I'm getting interviewed to talk about cursing instead of talking about the veterans I just left back home. And then again --

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ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: Right. TLAIB: And to continue on to know that we passed to open up government and it's sitting in the Senate right now. We don't need the president of the United States to sign these bills. You know why? Because within ten days, they become effective and then we can get our government back up and functioning.

I don't understand why we're not able to do that and then go back to the negotiation table. If you really do care about the American people, then let's get our government back up and running. You know, our focus is so much on this versus the fact that right now, I have residents that have nowhere to turn to.

Food assistance -- I mean, think about SNAP and the food assistance. People are literally waiting for it to be put on their carts so that they can go and get milk and eggs for their kids.

BURNETT: I do want to talk to you about the shutdown, but I do think people -- it's an important question when you talk about what's happened with discourse in this country.

TLAIB: Absolutely.

BURNETT: And what we believe about our institutions and the offices that represent us as American citizens, right? I mean, look, the president came out. You know, he's talked about you specifically.

I wanted to give you a chance to respond. Here is President Trump.

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BURNETT: Separate from the person, do you agree? Do you think that there's a point there about the office? Not the person.

TLAIB: The only person disgracing the office of the president is the president of the United States currently and that's Donald Trump.

I'm not going to, you know, continue to discuss the fact that -- continue on to -- for him to say what he said and continue to do the exact same thing that he's criticizing me for.

He has to be putting the American people first. He has to understand that the culture and this kind of dissent that he has for me is something that is felt across this country. I am not the only one that is this angry and this upset and as a person, again a woman of color, as a person that is newly elected here, the first thing I have to vote on and I did was to get the government back up and running, and now, he continues to delay that and continues to hurt our families.
BURNETT: And he's going to be talking about that tonight. He's going

to be addressing the nation in a couple of hours, Congresswoman, on why he says there's a crisis on the border, why the government shutdown should not end until he gets the funding for his wall. Obviously, you're opposed to that wall.

Your Democratic colleague John Sarbanes last week came on this show. He said he's opposed to a wall, but he's open to fencing, that the word choice might matter here.

I want to play it for you.

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BURNETT: Does the word matter to you? Would you vote for a fence but not a wall, Congresswoman?

TLAIB: Look, actions matter more than words. And I can tell you, we have to be a humane country. This is not about a wall, Erin, and we all know it. We need to stop talking about the fact that this is about a wall. He could have done it when they had the majority in both the Senate and the House.

We passed -- what we passed out of the House of Representatives is exactly what McConnell and all of his colleagues voted for before the new members came into the House of Representatives, before the Democrats got back into the majority. What is he waiting for? We didn't even put anything in there that many of us campaigned on.

We basically sent back exactly what they passed literally weeks before we got into office until we got sworn in and so I'm really frustrated with the fact that we keep trying to move this about a wall when we all know it's not about a wall.

BURNETT: There's also obviously talk out, right now, in your party, with the big change that's happened in the House, about taxation. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has floated out taxing the wealthiest in this country up to 70 percent. What she referred to as, quote, the tippy tops. Would you support that?

TLAIB: Look, you know, I have the third poorest congressional district in the country and we need to get to a point where we all pay our fair share. Too many families are hungry. Too many families are suffering because inequality in education funding. All of that from public education to a number of issues that I think are really important to our country, but we can take care of that later. We need to focus on the shutdown.

[19:35:01] BURNETT: All right. Well, I appreciate your time. Congresswoman Tlaib, thank you so much.

TLAIB: Thank you so much.

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