CNN "CNN Newsroom" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Ro Khanna

Interview

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[10:30:38] JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR, NEWSROOM: House Democrats are ready to dig into the Mueller report with a series of hearings, beginning today.

This as the number of Democrats calling for impeachment proceedings against President Trump grows by the day. But there remains a big split in the party with many Dems saying impeachment is not the right move. That includes Democratic congressman from California, Ro Khanna. He sits on the Oversight, Budget and Armed Services Committee and joins me now.

Congressman, thanks for taking the time this morning.

REP. RO KHANNA (D-CA): Thanks for having me back on, Jim.

SCIUTTO: So you gave a town hall this weekend where you, when asked about impeachment, said that, to date, there isn't enough evidence to proceed. And I wonder -- and I know you've read the Mueller report -- when you see the special counsel cite 10 instances of possible obstruction of justice by the president, and lay out the case, in effect, why you believe there's still not enough evidence to proceed?

KHANNA: Well, Jim, I think the president clearly engaged in misconduct, as is evident by the Mueller report. My point in my town hall was that we need the underlying evidence. You can't just have hearings based on a summary of the evidence.

The House needs access to the actual testimonies, the actual FBI reports. And that has to be a first step. And that's why the speaker is focused on getting that.

SCIUTTO: That sounds to me a bit like a punt, right? I mean, you've got virtually the entire Mueller report as a matter of public record now. You say you're waiting for the underlying evidence and I get why that is relevant.

But if you started impeachment proceedings, you arguably have a stronger case to get that evidence. Why not just make the call today? To say this is something that needs greater investigation by Congress. Because clearly, the special counsel was not going to indict, nor was the attorney general.

KHANNA: Well, we are being very aggressive. We've got six committees investigating. And we're going to the court where, in fact, Congress this week is going to vote to hold Bill Barr in contempt, and to give Jerry Nadler the ability to get that underlying evidence, going to court.

Whether you have an impeachment hearing or not is really not going to materially impact the strategy. You still have to get the courts to order that we get this evidence. You still need to have Bob Mueller come and testify. You still need to make the case to the American people. And we're doing that.

The final point is, you need to get to 218 votes for anything we need in the House. And right now, we don't have that.

SCIUTTO: You're right. I mean, it's about a quarter that have come out publicly.

As you are investigating, there is another investigation -- in fact, there's more than one -- one by the attorney general, investigating the investigators, as it were: the origins of the Russia probe. You also have an internal inspector general investigation under way in the Justice Department.

And I'm curious, are you concerned that FBI officials, others involved in the early days of this investigation, could face criminal referrals?

KHANNA: I am. And it's a total distraction. What the American people should be focused on, what the administration should be focused on is that the Russians intervened in our election, that they hacked into county websites and they hacked into former secretary of states.

Instead of focusing on that and the threat that continues, you have this administration investigating the good people, the folks who figured out the threat. And so it makes no sense. And it's doing a total disservice to people who serve our country honorably in the FBI, CIA and other law enforcement.

SCIUTTO: As you're well aware, part of Nancy Pelosi's case for not pursuing impeachment hearings today is that she wants to get other elements of the Democratic agenda, not relating to investigating the president though. And I know that this Congress has passed a number of measures. But the fact is, measures that aren't going to get through the Republican-controlled Senate.

And given that you've got to be running on a legislative record in 2020, what pieces of legislation are Democrats going to get through the House that you believe could also get through the Senate, also become law, also get things done?

KHANNA: Well, Jim, I've had two of my bills personally passed into law. And I believe there are areas, we could get bipartisan cooperation. Infrastructure. The Democrats are willing -- desperate to do infrastructure, particularly high-speed internet, which would cost $40 billion a year to hook up every part of this country to the internet. That should pass. The Democrats are --

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[10:35:15] SCIUTTO: Not after that meeting with the president, though.

KHANNA: Well, look. I mean, we can't force the president's hand. I mean, we're willing to do things that are going to give him a political wind. We're willing to put forth legislation to reduce the cost of prescription drugs, to actually make good on what he said in the State of the Union. He said Americans shouldn't be paying more for drugs than people in other parts of the country.

We're willing to pass legislation to get us out of these bad foreign wars, to get us out of Afghanistan. So we're willing to do things. The president has to be willing to live up to what he said in his own State of the Union.

SCIUTTO: Congressman Ro Khanna, thanks for coming on this morning.

KHANNA: Jim, thanks for having me back.

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