Fox News "The Story" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. John Garamendi

Interview

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HENRY: Joining me now is Democratic Congressman John Garamendi. He is a California Democrat, Senior Member of the House Armed Services Committee. Good to see you, sir.

REP. JOHN GARAMENDI, D-CALIF.: Good to be with you.

HENRY: So NBC News kicked some of this off. I want to show you the first headline that they had. Tuesday on Christmas Day, Trump becomes the first president since 2002 not to visit troops at Christmas time. Poorly timed, since he was basically almost in the air at that point on the way to Iraq. They have since clarified sort of to say now Trump becomes a first president since 2002 not to visit troops on or before Christmas. Congressman, are some critics of the President just splitting here because of Trump derangement syndrome?

GARAMENDI: I don't know about the syndrome. I haven't heard about that before. But I'm glad that the President did go. Whether he should have gone sooner or later isn't material. The fact that he did go is important. Presidents have traditionally done that, at least the recent presidents. That's all good. And hopefully, that will provide some moral support for the troops that are there.

HENRY: But when you say you haven't heard about syndrome, I mean you had folks at CNN raising questions about why in the world was the President signing MAGA hats, that somehow this might be a violation of a military rule. And then of course, we and others all found. You've seen him the pictures of Barack Obama in 2008. He wasn't president yet but he was a senator. He was on the campaign. He was on the campaign trail and then visited the troops, and he was signing autographs. It was a nice thing to do for Barack Obama. Donald Trump does it in somehow it's the end of the world.

GARAMENDI: Well, it's not the end of my world, not the end of Donald's world, not the end of the troops' world. Sure, go ahead and sign the memorabilia. That's fine. There's no problem with that. There are some questions I think legitimately raised about the attack that he made to the Troops about Democrats. I think that was inappropriate. Certainly, supporting the troops we all do Democrats and Republicans, but that's a that's another issue. Signing hats, signing memorabilia, signing plaques, have at it.

HENRY: Last point on this -- but your question about the politics and talking about the wall in front of the troops. Did you raise similar objections in December 2016 then President Obama is on the way out of office, he talks to troops in sort of a farewell address and attacks president-elect Trump about the travel ban and a whole host of other issues. Why was it okay for Barack Obama but somehow again Donald Trump does it says -- and you're saying it's political?

GARAMENDI: Well, if it's political for Donald to do it, and for Donald Trump to do it, it's political for Barack Obama to do it in either case. I don't think it's particularly appropriate particularly on these Christmas or holiday visits that are standard or should be standard for the president to go into the war zone during that particular time of the year. They shouldn't make it political. Either way whether Obama did it or Trump did it, either way I would say not a good thing to do.

HENRY: Congressman, let's talk immigration.

GARAMENDI: Sure.

HENRY: A big issue you're confronting now and will be confronting at the beginning of the new Congress in January. One of your Democratic colleagues Luis Gutierrez is saying look, "for my friends on the left, remember, there's going to be a ransom that is going to be required. Pay it. It's the right thing to do because we're never going to be able to overcome the 60 votes in the Senate. His point being the president wants some money for the wall. Why won't you and other Democrats negotiate with him? Give him at least some of that money and then you'll get something like a permanent fix on DACA.

GARAMENDI: Well, I'm all for compromise. And particularly if there's a permanent fix for DACA, all to the better. One thing about the $5 billion is on the Armed Services Committee as I am, and also on the transportation infrastructure, we really require the government agencies to tell us precisely what they want the money for, not just generally for a road or for an airport but rather exactly whether it's going to be, how it's going to be spent. And I think the President owes that to the Congress. If he has $5 billion for border security, fences, or walls, tell us exactly where it is or where it's going to be built. And that's I think appropriate for any president to do.

HENRY: Last question. You have a reasonable approach there. But your Leader Nancy Pelosi according to the incoming White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, he told Fox today that Chuck Schumer seems to want to cut a deal but Nancy Pelosi doesn't want to cut a deal with the president along the lines that you just said. Why won't your leaders in the House say to the President, OK, give us something and we'll give you. Maybe you're not going to get $5 billion but we're going to give you some of the wall.

GARAMENDI: Well, I asked Pelosi staff about this and the word I got back was the White House has not communicated anything with her since that meeting in the Oval Office that went viral. So yes there needs to be discussions and my standing is that Pelosi in fact I know, I got the memo today offered three different ways to solve this problem. Anyone of those three ways she was willing to do. They did include money for border security, and one of the ways the other was simply to pass the existing appropriation bills with the exception of Homeland Security of leaving that for additional debate.

HENRY: OK, Congressman, we'll see if they'll finally come together. I appreciate you coming in.

GARAMENDI: We have to.

HENRY: Happy New Year.

GARAMENDI: And to you, and happy New Year to you viewers.

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