MSNBC "All in with Chris Hayes" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Joaquin Castro

Interview

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

HAYES: OK. None of this is particularly confidence inspiring given both Bolton`s track record and the United States long bloody history of intervention in Latin America, and support for regimes that did things like throw dissidents out of helicopters, and murder priests.

And then there`s the new special envoy to Venezuela, Elliott Abrams, a man literally convicted of crimes in Iran-Contra, who masterminded U.S.
relationships with regimes in Latin America guilty of massacres and widespread human rights abuses.

Are these the best people to engineer a U.S. policy that actually helps Venezuelans out of their current misery?

Joining me now, Democratic Congressman Joaquin Castro of Texas, vice chair of the House foreign affairs committee, also host of a podcast called The Diplomatic Cable about foreign policy. I didn`t know that. Look at that, renaissance man.

You`re on the foreign affairs committee. Do you think U.S. military intervention to Venezuela should be, quote, on the table?

REP. JOAQUIN CASTRO, (D) TEXAS: I don`t. And honestly, Chris, this is not a question that I thought I would be answering this year. And like most Americans, I don`t think it`s a good idea. Unfortunately, you have somebody like John Bolton who over the years has been very eager to go to war in other countries, and so it should be a cause for concern. And I`m glad you`re highlighting
this issue tonight.

HAYES: Just to be clear, there`s no legal justification for U.S. military intervention in Venezuela without congressional approval, right? I mean, you can`t use the authorization of use of military force passed after 9/11, right?

CASTRO: That`s right. That deals with obviously another part of the world, so this would be a unilateral decision by the president if he made that decision. I think it would be terrible decision.

Right now, what we need to do is work with organizations like the Organization of American States with the UN and other countries in the region and do everything that we can to make sure, I think, that there is a democratic election for president in Venezuela as soon as possible and also watch out for human rights protections in Venezuela and make sure people aren`t politically oppressed.

HAYES: There`s one line of thinking, which is that this is all a stunt, it`s sort of saber rattling with a purpose, right, to spook Maduro, to try to get him worried or to get the military to switch their allegiances. The Bolton pad being done intentionally. Like, what are you being told on the Hill? What do you know about where this is headed? Where they are driving the policy?

CASTRO: We`ve not heard much. Actually, we have two briefings -- I actually have two briefings on it tomorrow. And so -- and remember the intelligence committee, for example, because the Republicans have not appointed their members, we have had zero meetings of the committee, since this term began and so year hopefully we`ll have better information tomorrow.

But, yeah, they have not reached out to congress to provide really what -- tell us what their strategy is, if they are thinking of engaging militarily what the rational for that is. So, congress is in the dark so far in terms of what the administration has told us.

HAYES: Do you -- should Americans trust Donald Trump, Mike Pompeo, John Bolton, and Elliott Abrams to pursue a policy here that ends up being good for the people of Venezuela?

CASTRO: Americans have to makeup their own minds. But do I trust those guys? No, I to don`t. Based on their track record, based on the fact that the president I think doesn`t really have an interest in Venezuela. I think it`s probably going to follow whatever John Bolton and the very hawkish
people on his staff want him to do. It gives me cause for concern. And I don`t trust them.

HAYES: Final question, the sanctions announced yesterday are a very big deal. They will have a very severe impact. There is concern that that impact will be widely felt among just the people of Venezuela, many people who are opposed to the current president and regime, whoa re already suffering, who have lost a lot of weight because of food shortages. Are you concerned essentially about this heighten the contradictions approach ending up increasing the misery of people there?

CASTRO: Yeah, oftentimes, you can use sanctions to change a country`s economic policy, for example, or essentially to punish for bad behavior.
It`s a different thing when you have people in a nation that have been basically starving for a while now, many of them the average person losing 15 or 20 or 25 pounds over a year in a country that`s literally on the verge of falling apart, a society on the verge of falling apart, to then throw more sanctions on top of that, I think it`s very bad timing.

Joaquin Castro, thanks for being with me.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source