Fox News "The Story with Martha MacCallum" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Debbie Dingell
Interview
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REP. DEBBIE DINGELL, D-MICH.: Martha, it's great to be with you.
MACCALLUM: So what's your reaction to that? I mean, in terms of you know, the new version of NAFTA, in terms of immigration work, in terms of infrastructure and you look back and you know, see that in the past it's been possible to get stuff done even under the worst circumstances. But you heard Hogan Gidley say that he believes that Nancy Pelosi is the one who is preventing that progress from happening.
DINGELL: So I'm going to tell you the American people expect us -- sorry - - expect us to do something, and we've got to do it. It's unacceptable to me when the president walked in and said I'm not going to work with you an infrastructure. We got to work together. That is the reality.
Our American people expect us to do something on drugs, the pharmaceutical cost, health care, infrastructure, trade --
(CROSSTALK)
MACCALLUM: Congresswoman, he said that he said that because you know, moments before she chose the moment right before she was about to walk into that meeting to say that the president is engaged in a cover-up, I mean that is not a great way to go in and start working on the work of the American people. That's a game-changer.
DINGELL: But I'm also going to tell you that the President had already had printed signs to walk out in the Rose Garden and have a press conference. So what I'm going to say to everybody is Congress has a responsibility for oversight. They've got to follow the facts and wherever the facts go. Nobody's above the law.
But at the same time, we've got committees that are looking at this and looking at different issues, they've got a responsibility to do that. But we've got to work and have been working to lower prescription drug prices. We passed seven bills. When he says that we haven't done anything, we've been passing a whole lot of bills.
We've got to pass some bills, the Senate has got to start to take them up. Violence against women act, it's been more than 30 days since that bill went to the Senate. Nobody is bringing it up. There are a lot of things that we've got to keep working on and I'm committed to working with both sides of the aisle.
MACCALLUM: But it doesn't sound like Nancy Pelosi is. I mean, she says that you know, that -- she's talking about impeachment. She's saying that the environment looks like --she was asked today in her news conference you know, what are you going to do, what can move on to. She, you know, she's sort of hemmed and hawed and said we need to find out what this president did.
Two years of investigation that the special counsel that Democrats very much wanted in order to get this thing figured out, looked at 19 lawyers, you've heard a million times, how many subpoenas, all the documents. Why reopen the whole thing and go through all that again? Is that really what Democrats think the American people want?
DINGELL: I'm going to tell you that they've got a responsibility. When you read the Mueller report --
MACCALLUM: I have.
DINGELL: There are things that need to be preserved. Like I have, we both have. Why doesn't anybody talk about the fact that Russians are trying to divide us as a country, that they're attacking the fundamental pillars of our Constitution?
MACCALLUM: I think that's very much talked about on both sides. And you know what I think? I think the Russians probably watched this exchange we've all witnessed over casual days and they say to themselves, wow, this is the gift that keeps on giving. We wanted to create chaos and these -- I mean we need -- you know, I think the best defense at this point would be to you know, to put it aside at this point. But they love the fact that the investigations are endless.
DINGELL: Congress has responsibility for oversight. We are equal branches of the government. We're not going to abdicate --
MACCALLUM: But doesn't that mean a two-year Special Counsel investigation, isn't that oversight? I mean, isn't that -- the report was presented to them.
DINGELL: But what the report does, they did -- talk to Mueller. I think it's really important that Mueller come up and testify because Mueller reported the facts and then expects Congress to consider it. That's part of what those committee chairmen have the responsibility to do and those committees do. But the president can't walk into a meeting and say I'm not going to work with you.
Both Bill Clinton and Richard Nixon -- I'm old enough, young enough. I was an intern in college and a Republican at the time working for Senator Bob Griffin who followed the facts and ultimately. But you know, when President Nixon was president, a lot of important pieces of legislation were done in those months before he ended up resigning.
MACCALLUM: I think that's a great example. And Newt Gingrich is going to talk about that in just a moment. I spoke with him just a few minutes ago and he says exactly the same thing. And I think that the American people have very little tolerance for watching this, you know, this sort of frozen --
DINGELL: I'm going to tell you something, Martha. I believe the president got elected and you'll remember that I told people he could become elected because people were tired of partisan bickering. They want to see us get things done. He's in danger and our side is in danger. The American people are worried about a lot of things, three of the issues we just talked about, family, roads, and bridges. People can't afford their medicine and we do need a trade bill --
MACCALLUM: Yes, get it done.
DINGELL: But we need a trade bill that's going to keep General Motors from putting plants in Mexico and paying the $1.50 an hour so --
MACCALLUM: Which is obviously of great importance to you in Michigan. And Congresswoman Dingell, thank you very much. Great to have you with us tonight. I hope you'll come back.
DINGELL: Thank you.
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