CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Gomez

Interview

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

BLITZER: Let's talk about all of this and more.

Democratic Congressman Jimmy Gomez of California is joining us. He's a member of the Oversight and Reform Committee.

Congressman, thanks so much for joining us.

REP. JIMMY GOMEZ (D), CALIFORNIA: Thank you for having me.

BLITZER: So we're learning a lot of news today. We're following a lot of news today.

What's your reaction, first of all, to this sprawling college admissions scandal? One of the coaches, by the way, who was indicted today, the UCLA men's soccer coach, individual named Jorge Salcedo, lives in your district.

What's your reaction?

GOMEZ: First, I don't know Mr. Salcedo.

But one of the things -- I'm pissed off and appalled by this scandal. I'm a son of immigrants who had to work two jobs while attending community college to change my life, to transfer to UCLA and graduate at the top of my class, and then go to Harvard after that.

There's countless people and kids just like me working hard to change their life, but they don't have parents that are going to bribe their way into college or falsify athletic records.

It's appalling. And I think these people have to be held accountable.

BLITZER: Yes, it's truly shocking, indeed.

When you read this 23-page indictment, it's enormous and it's really outrageous. And you make an excellent, excellent point.

Let's talk about some other important issues unfolding today, the growing calls, as you know, to ground this new Boeing plane, the 737 MAX 8, in the aftermath of a second fatal crash of this model.

Would you fly on this plane right now? And you do a lot of flying between Los Angeles and here in Washington.

GOMEZ: I do. I'm on a flight every week, twice a week. And it's something I think about when we take off and when we land.

And, no, I wouldn't fly on the plane. I think that we should ground those planes to be prudent, to make sure that everybody has confidence. I don't think it's something that we should toy around with. And I know that, since we don't have that many planes in the U.S., it even makes more sense.

So I would ground them, and I personally wouldn't fly on them.

BLITZER: Yes, when lives are at stake, you err on the side of caution. And you make sure that there's no further problems. You don't want to create any chances at all. You make an excellent point.

GOMEZ: Right.

BLITZER: There are some other important developments unfolding. As you heard, the New York state attorney general's office has just subpoenaed two banks, Deutsche Bank and Investors Bank, for records relating to the Trump Organization.

What do you think they might find?

GOMEZ: Not sure what they can find.

But one of the things that I'm interested, as -- being on the Oversight and being in the Michael Cohen hearing, is, really, I want to know, who is influencing Donald Trump? Is he making his decisions based on his own bottom line, or an individual, or even a foreign country?

[18:15:10]

And the only way we can get -- find that out is if we get ahold of his tax returns, and also the tax returns of his organizations. So I'm in support of asking for the tax returns. I'm in support of more investigation.

And that will make sure we keep on asking those questions. We're going to have answers, I think, that will help us make decisions on a variety of issues.

BLITZER: What happens if he and the White House resist your requests to get his tax returns, not only his personal tax returns, but the Trump Organization's tax returns? What do you do?

GOMEZ: Well, we know that it will probably end up in court.

One of the things that -- that's why it's important to have these hearings, these oversight hearings, to make sure that we lay the case for asking these returns. It's not something that we do lightly, but it's something that we have to do in order to bring more accountability to this White House.

So, most likely, it will end up in court. And that's why having these hearings and proceeding in a very step-by-step approach makes a lot of sense with what Chairman Neal has said from the beginning.

BLITZER: Tell us what's next for your committee, because we have been watching all of this unfold.

GOMEZ: I think one of the things I would love to see is getting either the -- what is -- Allen Weisselberg to come in and testify. He's the main individual that understands the complexities and the nuances of Donald Trump's organization, as well as his tax returns.

BLITZER: He's the chief financial law officer for the Trump Organization. He's worked for the Trump family for some 40 years.

GOMEZ: Correct.

And one of the things that we have known throughout our history as a country, it's often not the crime that gets people. It's the taxes. And the person who has access to those tax returns is the goose that lays the golden egg.

So I believe we got to get Weisselberg and bring him into the Oversight Committee, and anybody else that can shed some light on this -- the finances of this president.

BLITZER: And what about Felix Sater? He's the Russian-American businessman who had been working on that so-called Trump Tower Moscow project.

I understand he's now scheduled to testify at the end of the month, March 27, I think before the House Intelligence Committee. What are you hoping to ask him?

GOMEZ: I'm not -- I'm not on the House Intelligence Committee.

But if we can actually bring him in, it would be the same -- same lines, who knew what and when.

BLITZER: Are you trying to bring him into the Oversight Committee too? Is that what you're saying?

GOMEZ: Mr. Cummings has said anybody that's associated with Donald Trump and his organization is fair game. Anybody that was mentioned during the last oversight hearing with Michael Cohen is fair game.

And I think that the Oversight Committee will be laying out the justifications to bring different people in. I'm not certain if they're going to pull the trigger on Mr. Sater, but I know that they're looking at everybody.

BLITZER: Any other witnesses you want to see before your committee?

GOMEZ: I think that there are several.

I think that Donald Jr. is somebody that would be interesting to bring in. But, like I said from the very beginning, the money guy, the finance guy, which is Allen Weisselberg, we want to bring him in, because, with him, he can answer a lot of questions that other people can't.

BLITZER: Congressman Jimmy Gomez, thanks so much for joining us.

GOMEZ: Thank you, Wolf.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source