MSNBC "The Rachel Maddow Show" - Transcript: Interview with Sen. Elizabeth Warren
Interview
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MADDOW: A new phase of the 2020 presidential campaign and an important new phase of the response to the redacted Mueller report began this afternoon at 4:05 p.m. Eastern. And this was a surprise.
Quote: The Mueller report lays out facts showing that a hostile foreign government attacked our 2016 election to help Donald Trump and Donald Trump welcomed that help. Once elected, Donald Trump obstructed the investigation into that attack. Mueller put the next step in the hands of Congress.
Quote: Congress has authority to prohibit a president`s corrupt use of his authority in order to protect the integrity of the administration of justice. The correct process for exercising that authority is impeachment.
To ignore a president`s repeated efforts to obstruct an investigation into his own disloyal behavior would inflict great and lasting damage on this country. And I would suggest that both the current and future presidents would be free to abuse their power in similar ways.
The severity of this misconduct demands that elected officials in both parties set aside political considerations and do their constitutional duty. That means the House should initiate impeachment proceedings against the president of the United States.
Signed, Elizabeth Warren, senator of Massachusetts, candidate for president in the Democratic primary.
Joining us now is Senator Elizabeth Warren, who as of tonight, is calling for the impeachment of the president.
Senator, thank you very much for being here. I really appreciate your time. I know you made time for us on short notice.
SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Yes. It`s good to be here.
MADDOW: So, you are the first Democratic candidate calling for the start of impeachment proceedings. Other Democrats have been saying it`s not worth the political cost. It`s not worth the civic cost or, it`s arguably just too soon.
What made you decide to take this step today?
WARREN: Well, I read the report. I was on an airplane yesterday and started reading it. I read it way into the night last night, and I got to the end and realized.
This is about a point of principle. The report is absolutely clear, that a foreign government attacked our electoral system to help Donald Trump. He welcomed that help and then when it was investigated by our own federal authorities, Donald Trump took multiple steps to try to obstruct justice.
You know, this is one of those moments when I get it, that there are people who think politically, no, it`s going to be too hard to do this. This isn`t about politics. This isn`t even specifically about Donald Trump himself.
It is about what a president of the United States should be able to do and what the role of Congress is in saying, no, a president does not get to come in and stop an investigation about a foreign power that attacked this country, or an investigation about his own wrongdoing.
Equal justice under law. No one is above the law and that includes the president of the United States. It is the constitutional responsibility of Congress to follow through on that.
MADDOW: If you had a crystal ball and you could see into the future, and you could see if the argument you`re making carried the day in the House and impeachment proceedings began in the House. It was an investigation in the Judiciary Committee, they referred articles of impeachment to the House, the House voted essentially to indict the president, and then the Senate didn`t act, or the Senate voted and decided that the president should not be removed from office on the basis of those articles of impeachment.
If you could see into the future and that`s how it would go, the House says yes, the Senate says no -- would you still think it was the right thing to do for the country and it was a worthy use of resources and time?
WARREN: Yes, it would. I think that each person has to stand up and be accounted in a democracy. I think that`s why we`re elected into the House and to the Senate. And there are times when it`s beyond politics, when it is a point of principle to stand up and say, no president can do this. Because it matters, not just for this president, it matters for the next president and the president after that and the president after that.
You know, I get it. In dictatorships, the government coalesces around the one person in the middle and does everything to protect that one person. But that`s not where we live. We live in a democracy and it is controlled by a Constitution. And the way we make that democracy work is with checks and balances.
And a president who says, I don`t have to follow the law, and nobody can touch me on criminal acts -- that`s not right. The Constitution says that the House and the Senate can do this.
And look, this is not something I want to do. That`s not the point. It`s a point of principle and every member of the House and every member of the Senate should be called on to vote. Do you believe that that constitutes an impeachable offense?
I do believe that the evidence is just overwhelming that Donald Trump has committed these offenses. And that means we should open proceedings in the House. And then the House can take a vote.
MADDOW: Senator, I feel like I`ve been following your campaign closely enough that I feel somewhat confident in saying that you did not plan to be calling for Donald Trump`s impeachment in the middle of your presidential campaign. It`s not that --
WARREN: No.
MADDOW: It`s not the style that you`ve been -- that you`ve taken to this campaign thus far. It`s not -- it`s not the sort of thing that you seem to be building around.
But I take you at your word that you were struck by reading the report. You were moved by the evidence. I will tell you, I haven`t thought much about impeachment at all. I`ve been watching the Democrats in the House for one say that the ones in leadership positions, who have a say saying no, no, they don`t want to do it or not any time soon.
When I read the report, the one thing I made sure to watch on TV, I took a break to watch -- see what Jerry Nadler would say, because I had read enough of the report that day. But by the time he was speaking, I was 1,000 percent sure that what he was doing was getting in front of the cameras to announce that he was opening an impeachment inquiry. And I would not have expected before reading the report myself.
Because of what I experienced, because of what you`re saying you just experienced, I wonder if you think more of your colleagues than people are expecting might come around to this, that this report might have actually jarred something significantly loose compared to how people felt about this issue before?
WARREN: Yes, I think that`s a good point. And it very well may have.
You know, I hope everybody in Congress actually reads the report. I think it`s important. But it is exactly where you started this question, that this isn`t what I had planned to do.
I got into the race for president because my life`s work about what`s happening to working families across this country and how it is that the road is getting rockier and steeper for working families. We have a government that works better and better for those at the top and worse and worse for everyone else, particularly for families of color.
I got in it to talk about things like a wealth tax and universal childcare and universal pre-K and student loan debt and all those things are there at elizabethwarren.com. I hope lots of people will go and look at them and volunteer and be part of that campaign.
But we`re not an America that can be politics all the time. It can`t be a race all the time. There come moments that are serious enough and what`s happened that we have to stop, take a deep breath and be willing to say that`s wrong. And I`ll stand up and say so. And I hope a lot of other people will, too.
MADDOW: Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts, candidate for president in 2020 -- Senator, I know your time is at a premium and the heat of this campaign. Thank you for making time to explain this to us tonight, and much appreciated.
WARREN: Thank you.
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