CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Ruben Gallego
Interview
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BLITZER: It certainly will be.
Phil Mattingly reporting for us, thank you.
Joining us now, Democratic Congressman Ruben Gallego. He's a member of the Armed Services Committee.
Congressman, thanks for coming into THE SITUATION ROOM.
REP. RUBEN GALLEGO (D), ARIZONA: Pleasure.
BLITZER: So let's talk about the House Ways and Means Committee Chairman, Richard Neal.
He says he's going to go -- he is going to -- presumably, he's going to have to go to court now, because the Treasury Department has decided they're going to ignore this congressional subpoena for six years of the president's tax returns. This could drag on and on and on, maybe even beyond the 2020 election.
GALLEGO: Well, I would hope not.
I mean, the legislation's pretty clear. It doesn't say may. It says shall. And our legislative intent is part of our oversight under the Constitution of the United States. So there is no excuse. And, hopefully, there is a judge that will expedite this. But it's not a surprise. This administration and this president have done everything they can to stop the public from actually knowing exactly who owns him, who does he owe, and what is -- how is that affecting his decision-making process in the White House.
BLITZER: Well, we will see what happens, because it could be a court battle that could go on for a while.
Let's get to the latest on Michael Flynn, the fired president's former national security adviser. These new details that are emerging right now, how does that influence your view of obstruction?
GALLEGO: Well, certainly, I would like to know who is this person that was contacting Michael Flynn, encouraging them to obstruct.
If that person was taking orders from the White House, the president or anybody close to the president, that really does matter.
It also just shows you again what kind of characters were surrounding this president, whether it's Manafort or Flynn, that he just could not see in front of him, even though he had been warned multiple times, that these were some very shady characters that had a lot of corrupt influences from Russia.
BLITZER: The only thing we know for sure is what was released in that unredacted portion of the document, citing someone associated with either the Trump administration or Congress.
If it's a member of Congress, that would be very significant.
GALLEGO: Well, if it's a member of Congress, he or she should resign immediately, because they are abdicating their duty over oversight.
They're partaking in obstruction of justice. And they'd had zero credibility in Congress.
BLITZER: Witness tampering, would you suspect that could be a problem?
GALLEGO: I would imagine so.
And I think this is why, if it's a member of Congress, Mueller did not get involved in actually filing any charges because I think that's going into some very legal gray areas.
But at least for the sake of Congress, I would hope that this member of Congress would realize that they are basically useless to their constituents at this point.
BLITZER: Do you want your Democratic colleagues in the House, the leadership, to invite Michael Flynn to come testify before a committee?
GALLEGO: I think Michael Flynn and anyone else I think that can really shed light on what was occurring in terms of obstruction of justice would be very greatly appreciated.
And I think that that probably will be happening in the future.
BLITZER: The attorney general, including as recently as today, Bill Barr, he keeps saying he doesn't have a problem with Robert Mueller going before Congress and testifying.
So why hasn't a date been set for Mueller to come and appear before Congress?
GALLEGO: Well, I think partly the attorney general's not being entirely clear. He can say that, but he needs to actually green-light it and make sure that Mueller has all the authorities to actually speak freely at these hearings.
BLITZER: He keeps saying, I don't have a problem. If he wants to go, let him go.
GALLEGO: Yes, this is not...
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: The president has a different view, but...
GALLEGO: Yes.
This is not exactly an attorney general we should be trusting. He has a history, basically, of trying to stonewall, whether the Iran-Contra affair, what we have seen right now.
If he truly believes that, he should let Mueller come to testify with also all clearances to be able to talk about all aspects of the investigation.
BLITZER: You think we're going to eventually hear Mueller come before -- before a congressional committee?
GALLEGO: I do think so. I think it may take a little while.
But I do think we're going to be able to get all the information and truly find out what happened during this investigation.
BLITZER: What do you think of the attorney general, Bill Barr's decision to get the U.S. attorney in Connecticut to launch a full- scale investigation into the origins of the Russia probe?
GALLEGO: Well, number one, I think it's a very dangerous precedent, where we're actually weaponizing the Department of Justice to fulfill the wants of a president who is living in fantasyland and conspiracy land.
The fact that he's sending it to a U.S. attorney that's known for being at least thorough and long is also showing that -- hopefully, that this attorney general is just trying to appease this president.
But it's still a very dangerous precedent. The Department of Justice works for the U.S. citizenry, not for the presidency.
BLITZER: You're from Arizona, a state that borders of Mexico.
There are these reports now that the president wants this new border wall to be painted black with spikes on top, black in the summertime, to make it even hotter, more dangerous for individuals to try to cross into the United States.
What do you think of that?
GALLEGO: I mean, look, I think the president is not really well-known for being that good about construction or property siting.
[18:15:01]
More importantly, it doesn't solve our problem. The problem we have right now are people are legally going to ports of entries and asking for refugee status.
You're still going to have that, whether you put up a black wall, a green wall, you put moat, and you put alligators around it. It doesn't matter. The president is actually trying to just fulfill a campaign promise, when the actual problem is our refugee crisis that we have.
And there are actual solid ways to do that and fix with -- that.
BLITZER: Comprehensive immigration reform would be good.
GALLEGO: Yes.
BLITZER: If you guys in Congress could get your act together and pass something.
GALLEGO: If we had Republican colleagues that would actually help us do it, that would be great. But we don't.
All we have are people that really obstruct that process.
BLITZER: Congressman Gallego, thanks for coming in.
GALLEGO: Thank you, Wolf.
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