CNN "Erin Burnett Outfront" - Transcript: Interview with Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts

Interview

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BURNETT: New tonight, Deutsche Bank admitting its in talks to cooperate with two House investigations focused on the bank's ties to President Trump. Now, Deutsch Bank is important. It has a two- decade long relationship with Trump including loaning Trump businesses over $300 million for a golf course and hotels when other banks would not.

Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner also has an unsecured line of credit for between $5 million and $25 million, and the bank paid more than $600 million to settle a money laundering scheme with Russians.

OUTFRONT now, Democratic Congresswoman Ayanna Presley who -- she sits on the House Financial Services Committee which is one of the ones investigating Deutsche Bank, that they're cooperating with.

Congresswoman, what can you tell us tonight about what your committee is trying to find out from Deutsche Bank?

REP. AYANNA PRESSLEY (D-MA), FINANCIAL SERVICES COMMITTEE: Well, first, I just want to say how appreciative I am to have been appointed to this committee under the leadership of Chairwoman Maxine Waters. This House is the only checks and balance right now we find ourselves the country at a crossroads at a time where corruption is at a height and we're very polarized.

The American people deserve truth and this committee will pursue that. We've got a full agenda. There's a lot of emphasis on the current occupant of this White House and this entire administration is daily undermining and threatening and rolling back civil right and protections. And so, I'm happy to have been appointed to this committee so I can address those issues of consequence to the American people and especially the Massachusetts seven from consumer protection to student loan debt to the impact of red lining and the like.

BURNETT: Which -- and look, I understand that. On this issue of Deutsche Bank, what can you tell us specifically that you're looking at? This is a bank a lot of people have been pointing to for a long time and now we're hearing they're cooperating with your committee. What are they providing? What are you asking for?

PRESSLEY: I believe that news broke as I was coming here. I look forward to confirming with the chair of the committee and my other committee members about what will be the extent and the reach of that investigation. But the point is that both committees that I have the honor of serving on both respectively with Chairwoman Maxine Waters and Chairman Elijah Cummings for oversight, in particular. The Republicans gave this administration a free pass and those days are over.

So, we will be pursuing answers for the American people. They deserve to know the truth and I'll be doing that in both capacities both with Financial Services and with the Oversight Committee.

BURNETT: And on that capacity, I want to ask you about the government shutdown tonight. You know, Nancy Pelosi saying stay tuned. You today tweeted out this video, you went to the Senate to demand that they vote to end it, obviously the Senate bills both failed today. It all comes down to the wall.

Today, the president said he has other ways, other ways to get that wall and he kept using the word alternatives. I wanted to play it for you.

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BURNETT: So he kept saying alternatives, alternatives, alternatives repeatedly. Do you know what those are?

PRESSLEY: He doesn't know what they are. This is unconscionable that he has continued to frame this shutdown in the context of border security while every day threatening the health, the safety and the security of the American people.

This tsunami, this manufactured crisis, what happened to his campaign about America first? So in what way is America first? First to be held hostage by this administration? This is unconscionable and this is -- there's a residual and reverberating effect here not only for the 800,000 furloughed federal workers but I just introduced legislation to support those federally contracted workers hourly low wage workers, service workers, custodians, food service --

BURNETT: Which is important. They're not getting back pay. So, I think when people say, at the end, some people get back pay. A lot of people will not and it's important to make sure people understand that.

PRESSLEY: And then a member of his cabinet has the audacity today so tone deaf, again, another demonstration of the lack of empathy and compassion and connection to the struggles and the hardships of the American people --

BURNETT: Secretary Ross are you referring to?

PRESSLEY: Secretary Ross -- to say the people should just go get a loan from the bank. If you're making $27,000, $32,000 a year, what bank is going to give you a loan?

The point is that they have created this hurt for the American people and framed it in this Trojan horse of debate about security and they're compromising the health and security of the American worker and family every day that this shutdown goes on.

[19:45:06] The House has done its job. We have passed bipartisan legislation. I voted on my 11th bill today to move on, to move forward, to fund this government and we need to get to legislating. We have a legislative body for this country and we cannot legislate. We need to have a policy debate about immigration reform, a comprehensive, compassion pathway to citizenship.

Shut down is not policy, but we can't have that debate while the government is shutdown. This Republican Senate needs to do its job. They're not employees of Trump Tower.

BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, Congresswoman Pressley. I appreciate your time tonight.

PRESSLEY: Thank you.

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