CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Raja Krishamoorthi
Interview
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BLITZER: We'll see what happens, Sunlen, thank you very much. Sunlen
Serfaty up on Capitol Hill.
Joining us now, Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois. He's a member of both the Intelligence and the Oversight Committees.
Congressman, thanks so much for joining us. As you know, at least 56 House Democrats are now calling for impeachment or beginning at least impeachment proceedings against the president.
Where do you stand?
REP. RAJA KRISHNAMOORTHI (D), ILLINOIS: I think that the Mueller report laid out impeachable conduct, especially the obstruction of justice parts of the report, Volume II.
I think that the concern that I have is we want to begin the impeachment proceedings at a time when we've collected enough evidence to get to a conviction.
I think that the concern of folks like myself and others is that you don't want to have impeachment be an empty exercise, where the result could be the president being absolved and then being able to legitimately claim total exoneration, which would be a horrible result.
So I think that, right now, we have to do our homework, complete the investigations, gather as much evidence as possible, which is what we're trying to do, and move the American people to where we are right now.
BLITZER: So when you say conviction, are you referring to a conviction in the Senate, 67 votes would be needed in the Senate, 20 Republicans would have to vote for conviction, even if the president were impeached in the House?
Is that the requirement you're seeking?
KRISHNAMOORTHI: Yes, I think that we have to get to a place where we meet with the approval of the American people, where a large majority of the American people are where we are, which is that this obstruction of justice conduct is really unacceptable for a president to engage in.
BLITZER: According to a new CNN poll, as of right now, only 41 percent of Americans want to see the president impeached and removed from office while 54 percent disagree.
Are you taking that political calculus into account?
KRISHNAMOORTHI: Well, I think what we know is that we could possibly impeach the president in the House. But unfortunately, in the Senate, it appears a conviction is unlikely because of in party what you just cited with those statistics.
I think part of the reason why the American public is not there is because they're not necessarily familiar with all the details of the Mueller report, which is what the Judiciary Committee is trying to address by having these hearings.
And part of it is we have to gather more evidence, which is, I think, what Mr. Mueller was pointing to in his Volume II when he said we needed to resolve certain issues before getting to a judgment of prosecution.
So that's what we have to do right now and what we're trying to do in the Intelligence Committee, the Oversight Committee, the Judiciary Committee and others.
BLITZER: Let's get to some other sensitive issues unfolding as we speak.
(CROSSTALK)
KRISHNAMOORTHI: What other sensitive issues.
(LAUGHTER)
BLITZER: There are plenty of them, including an interview with Jonathan Swan of Axios. In that interview, the president's son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, said he wasn't sure whether he would call the FBI if he received another phone call, another offer from a Russian offering dirt on a political opponent. I want you to listen to this exchange.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JONATHAN SWAN, AXIOS: Does it not set off at least some alarm bell when you see an email saying that the Russian government wants to help --
JARED KUSHNER, TRUMP SENIOR ADVISER: Like I said, the email that I got on my iPhone at the time basically said, show up at 4:00.
I didn't scroll down; I never would have thought about that --
(CROSSTALK)
SWAN: It had Russia in the subject line.
KUSHNER: Again, I would get about 250 --
[17:15:00]
KUSHNER: -- emails a day. And so literally saw "show up at 4:00." I showed up at 4:00 --
(CROSSTALK)
SWAN: But would you call the FBI if it happened again?
KUSHNER: I don't know. It's hard to do hypotheticals. But the reality is, we were not given anything that was salacious. (END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: What's your reaction?
KRISHNAMOORTHI: I think it's completely unbelievable that, A, he did not know that the Russians were coming to potentially offer dirt on Hillary Clinton. That's the reason why Don Jr. suggested the meeting.
And, two, the fact that he would say that he wouldn't refer this particular -- the subject of this meeting to the FBI for further investigation and that he would take the meeting is very, very problematic.
One of the reasons why Mueller did not charge them with a campaign finance violation is because they did not know the law with regard to campaign finance violations and receiving foreign contributions.
To say that now, after what Bob Mueller did in the report and knowing that accepting something of value from a foreign entity would be a campaign finance violation and then saying you wouldn't still go to the FBI if someone approached you, is very, very problematic.
BLITZER: You heard our correspondent, our congressional correspondent, Sunlen Serfaty, report that your committee, the Oversight Committee, is setting up votes, potentially to hold the attorney general William Barr, the Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in contempt for failing to turn over documents related to a controversial citizenship question in the 2020 census.
What information specifically is your committee missing?
And do you believe this vote will force these officials to comply?
KRISHNAMOORTHI: Well, as you know, recently, we learned from documents obtained from a computer of a Republican strategist, someone who is familiar and involved with this citizenship question being placed on the survey, that this was done for purposes of giving the Republicans an advantage in the polls in the next election.
And so we are trying to get more information about what they knew, specifically Wilbur Ross and Mr. Barr, with regard to that information we just learned.
I was at the hearing where Wilbur Ross came before us. He was very evasive. He claimed the reason why the citizenship question has been placed on the census is so the Justice Department can better enforce the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
That's a laughable proposition. I think it was a pretext for what they're really trying to do, which is trying to advantage the Republican Party through placing the citizenship question in and depressing the number of Latinos and other immigrants who would otherwise answer the questions on the survey.
So that's what we're trying to get at and I think that if they don't comply with the request by the deadline that's set by Chairman Cummings, I think a contempt vote would be very appropriate.
BLITZER: Congressman Krishnamoorthi, thanks so much for joining us.
KRISHNAMOORTHI: Thank you. Thank you.
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