CNN "CNN Newsroom" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Adriano Espaillat

Interview

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SCIUTTO: Our next guest is among more than three dozen house democrats out of 235 in the caucus who say the President has already met the constitutional threshold for impeachment. Adriano Espaillat represents parts of Manhattan and the Bronx right here in New York City and sits on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Welcome, Congressman, always good to have you on.

So, leader, the House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, she said the following yesterday. She said, we won't be swayed by a few people who think one way or another who are running for president, as I respect all of them and they have the freedom to be for impeachment. So you're among those few people. Is Nancy Pelosi choosing politics over country here by refusing to pursue impeachment?

REP. ADRIANO ESPAILLAT (D-NY): No. I think she's being fair. She's being deliberate. She's listening to all members. There are members that don't feel we should go the impeachment route. Some of us do feel that we have to go that route. And I think her role as a leader is to listen to everybody and try to build consensus as we move forward.

Of course, I feel very strongly back some time that, in fact, we met that threshold with regards to the emoluments clause, which we haven't discussed, right? That's all tied into his taxes and --

SCIUTTO: But you don't feel dismissed at all here? I mean, The Speaker of the House, a democrat, is saying, we won't be swayed by a few people, just a few people here, three dozen democrats.

ESPAILLAT: No. I think she's being a leader. And she's not taking sides. Yes, among the caucus membership, I think she will listen to us. I think that needle has been moved in the last 48 hours more towards the impeachment discussion.

66 members voted on a motion to table presented by Congressman Al Green, which had to do with impeachment as far back as January of 2018. So there is a good number of people that speak on a regular basis about impeachment and feel that way about impeachment. Several senators have asked openly for the President to be impeached, to step down.

58 women wrote a letter back in December of 2017 asking for an investigation on the sexual harassment issue and asking for the President to step down. So all these folks, all these members of Congress in their regular language on a daily basis speak or feel about impeachment. I think impeachment is not a secretive word.

SCIUTTO: Right.

HARLOW: Let me ask you about what it would do to America. So you have the ranking republican on the House Judiciary Committee, Representative Doug Collins of Georgia, saying, quote, re-litigating the 2016 election and reinvestigating the Special Counsel's findings will only further divide our country. And it's not just him.

You've got a new poll out of Monmouth University. It shows a majority of Americans are just not there on impeachment, 56 percent. That's reflected in our polling as well. Are you afraid your party might experience significant backlash if it initiates impeachment and then it doesn't result in the removal of the President? I mean, you do not have 20 republican senators who will move over to your side on this one.

ESPAILLAT: I think good government is good politics and vice versa. I think we should not abdicate our responsibility as dually elected equal branch of government. If we see smoke, we have to follow and make sure that there's no fire there. I think that polls will go on one direction or the other. They may not hold. They may change in a dramatic way, one way or the other. But we must, as dually elected members of Congress, exercise our duties entrusted by the constitution of the United States.

SCIUTTO: Bob Mueller made clear yesterday he doesn't want to testify before Congress. He said let my report be my testimony. Interesting to hear Jerry Nadler, the Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, hint that perhaps maybe the statement is enough. Would that be a mistake and do you think democrats should hold the line here and subpoena Mueller if he does not accept the invitation?

ESPAILLAT: I think he should come before Congress. I think the American people want to hear from him. I think that there are some underlying facts or information that perhaps we don't have a full grasp on. I think people are still somewhat undecided because the language in

the report wasn't decisive, as you know.

[10:25:05]

He's clearly stated that he could not proceed with indicting or accusing the President, that it wasn't constitutional, but he did not exonerate him in the obstruction of justice charge.

So people are still somewhat confused, I think, they hear from Mueller himself, that will further help create greater confidence from the American people.

HARLOW: He couldn't take, Mueller made explicitly clear yesterday, that he reads it as being unconstitutional to move to indict a sitting president.

ESPAILLAT: That's correct.

HARLOW: What's interesting is when your fellow democrats in Congress who is running for president, Eric Swalwell, Jim will be hosting a town hall with on Sunday night, yes. He said in the last few days that if he were President, he would move to eliminate the Office of Legal Counsel memo, guidelines that says that a sitting president can't be indicted. Would you support getting rid of that guidance completely?

ESPAILLAT: No. I think that's a legal discussion that should be a broad and substantive one. It's not one that we should really have off our cuff. It may apply one way for this administration or the other way for another administration. So we should --

HARLOW: Do you think it's opening a can of worms? It sounds like --

ESPAILLAT: I think that we should have a full discussion about a host of things but not a very fast reaction given the state of the facts.

SCIUTTO: Congressman Adriano Espaillat, great to have you on the program.

ESPAILLAT: Thank you so much. Thank you.

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