CNN "State of the Union" - Transcript: Interview With Rep. Moulton

Interview

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REP. SETH MOULTON (D), MASSACHUSETTS: Thanks for having me, Jake.

TAPPER: I want to get your reaction to what you just heard from Lucy Flores. Your Senator Elizabeth Warren and former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro say they believe Lucy. That's how they phrased it.

And Senator Warren says that Vice President Biden -- quote -- "needs to answer this."

What do you think?

MOULTON: He does need to answer this.

And I also just saw his statement. He said, we need to listen to women. And he is right. We need to listen to women. The bottom line here is that women deserve the respect and the opportunity to share hear these stories. And it takes tremendous courage to do so.

And that's not easy, what she just did on TV. It takes a lot of courage. And God knows she's going to get a lot of backlash for talking about this. But women need to have the opportunity and the respect to share their stories.

TAPPER: So you have recently said you're seriously looking at running for president of the United States. You were just in Iowa. You have also made recent trips to New Hampshire, South Carolina. You're going to Nevada next week, all early voting states in 2020.

Have you learned anything from your trips so far that has brought you closer to announcing that you're running for president?

MOULTON: I have been talking to a lot of veterans especially, starting with veterans and students, and trying to understand what they want to see in the next commander in chief.

And we have a tremendous opportunity right now in this country. But we also have a lot of problems. We have a lot of people who are really, really hurting, people who've just been completely left out of this economic change, people who do not trust the commander in chief, whether they agree with him or not.

The hardest job that I had in the Marines was bringing together people from all over this country with different religious beliefs, different political beliefs, and getting them united behind a single mission, a common mission to do what's right for this country, in the midst of a very difficult environment in the Iraq War.

And I think that's what we need in the next commander in chief, someone who can make sure that every American has a job in the new economy, not the old, someone who can work hard to ensure that every American has access to health care, and we get weapons of war off our streets, and, fundamentally, a commander in chief who you might not agree with, but you can trust.

That's what this election is going to be about, jobs, security, and trust. And when I -- I will tell you what. One thing you know about me, Jake, is, I'm a patriotic American.

TAPPER: Mm-hmm.

MOULTON: This country is not perfect. We haven't gotten race right. We haven't -- we haven't gotten women's rights correct yet. We haven't gotten health care right. We haven't gotten education right. But, at our best, we're a country that believes that we might. I

believe in America, and I want to help other Americans believe in this country too.

TAPPER: So when are you going to make a final decision, do you think?

MOULTON: So, Liz and I, my wife, are talking about this. It's a family decision. It's something that we have to commit to together.

TAPPER: You have a new baby.

MOULTON: And we have a new baby. She's not taking part in these discussions.

(LAUGHTER)

TAPPER: Right.

MOULTON: Although she's certainly...

TAPPER: But that's a consideration.

MOULTON: Absolutely a consideration.

It was amazing when -- I knew I couldn't make a decision like this until I understood what it was like to be a father. And as much as I got advice from people about what would that -- what that would be like, we all know that it's different when it happens to you.

And I love this girl more than I could ever imagine. I mean, I have just met her. She's only five-and-a-half months old, and I'm completely in love with her. And it's hard to leave her every time I go to Washington for a few days.

But I also feel even more invested in her future than maybe I did ever before in this job, because -- because I don't want her growing up in this country. And...

TAPPER: What do you mean you don't want her growing up in this country?

MOULTON: I don't want her growing up in this country the way that it is, with a commander in chief that we fundamentally can't trust, where -- where women are disrespected, where she doesn't have the same opportunities that a little boy growing up at the same time would have.

We have a lot of things to fix in this country. And if I can be a small part of doing that, then that's a compelling reason...

(CROSSTALK)

TAPPER: Coming weeks?

MOULTON: But, ultimately, Liz and I are going to are going to talk about this. We're going to decide in the next few weeks. TAPPER: Next few weeks.

I want to talk about a couple issues.

Special counsel Robert Mueller's report said he -- quote -- "did not establish" conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia, according to Barr's memo. Adam Schiff, the House Intelligence Committee chairman, a Democrat, is standing by his claim that he sees evidence of collusion.

Should Democrats keep talking about this, or is it time to move on?

MOULTON: Well, we should keep talking about it, as far as it's our constitutional duty.

The Republicans have just asked for Adam Schiff to resign. We don't live in a country where, when you're standing up for the Constitution and you're doing your job, you just get asked to resign because people disagree with you.

And I don't think it's lost on people the irony of Devin Nunes calling Adam Schiff to resign. I mean, that's like "The National Enquirer" calling "The New York Times" fake news.

I mean, we can do better than this. And if there's one conclusion of the Mueller report that's very clear, it's that Russia interfered in our election. So, what Democrats and Republicans should be talking about is how to prevent that from happening in the future.

And, instead -- this is why I talk about national security. I know it's not a very popular issue in this campaign right now, but national security is not just about preventing Russia from invading us with tanks into Western Europe, which is what a lot of people seem to be focused on.

[09:45:05]

Russia is trying to hack our elections. And Robert Mueller was clear about that. China is attacking us through the Internet every single day, and stealing our business ideas and our military -- that's where a lot of American jobs are going.

So let's talk about that kind of national security. Rather than build this fifth century ridiculous border wall on the southern border, let's talk about a cyber wall that will stop Russia and China from interfering in our business.

TAPPER: Speaking of jobs, I want to ask you about a big debate going on in the Democratic Party right now.

The Green New Deal has been at the forefront of climate change conversations. You have proposed your own Federal Green Corps.

One of the core tenants of the Green New Deal, as introduced by your Senator Ed Markey and Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez, is a federal jobs guarantee. Do you support a federal jobs guarantee? MOULTON: No, but I do support increased national service. I think

we'd be a stronger country if more young people had the opportunity to serve.

And if you think back to the New Deal, the core tenet of the New Deal was the Civilian Conservation Corps. It got people to work. It gave them an opportunity to serve the country. It brought America together at a very difficult time in the 1930s, right in the lead-up to World War II.

The opportunity we have today is to make the Green New Deal not just good for the climate, but good for jobs as well, good for the economy, to put people to work helping to make energy building -- helping to make buildings more energy-efficient, helping to address climate change across this country, not just in cities, but in places like Iowa, where carbon farming should be part of the solution. I talked about that this week as well.

The point is, let -- we have two big problems in this country, two big challenges, climate change and jobs, the changing economy. Let's work on those together. And let's make sure that the Green New Deal is good for the economy, not bad.

TAPPER: You called for Nancy Pelosi to step aside after the 2018 midterms, saying the party needed new leadership.

A lot of Democrats and even some Republicans have been giving Speaker Pelosi credit for how she handled the government shutdown, how she stood up to President Trump, how she has been empowering new members of Congress.

Were you wrong? Do you think Pelosi has done a good job?

MOULTON: I do think she's done a good job.

But I also think that we need to make sure that this historically diverse class of freshmen, the most diverse class that you have ever seen, including with a lot of veterans, a lot of veterans who won tough seats to take back the House, that they have a voice in the future.

And so I'm proud of the deal we came to. We came to a compromise that enabled her to get elected speaker that set term limits for the top three leadership positions. Remember, this isn't just about Speaker Pelosi. It's about the top three.

And it's about giving the new Democrats, these new faces in the party, an opportunity to have a voice in the future. If -- frankly, Jake, if we had succeeded in just getting three new leaders at the top, and they were here for the next 20 years, that wouldn't be success.

So, where we ended up, the deal that we made with Speaker Pelosi, I think is a big win for the party. It's a big win for the future. And it's definitely a win for the younger voices in our party who want to make sure that they have a voice, that people can look at them and say, that's the future of the Democratic Party and the future of the country.

TAPPER: Thank you, Congressman. Good to see you.

And it's so -- so nice of you to say that you will -- you will commit to announcing your presidential bid on my show.

You never actually said that.

MOULTON: I didn't hear that, Jake.

TAPPER: No, you didn't actually say that.

But we will see you and we will be following. Thanks so much for being here.

MOULTON: Thanks.

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