CNN "State of the Union" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Adam Schiff

Interview

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TAPPER: After the president decided not to bomb Iran last week, Democrats found themselves doing something a little unusual, praising him.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff joins me to respond to the vice president.

Plus, 22 presidential candidates made their pitches to voters in South Carolina this weekend. We will talk to one of them.

That's next.

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[09:30:28]

TAPPER: Welcome back to STATE OF THE UNION. I'm Jake Tapper.

When President Trump decided to call off a strike against Iran last week, the political response might have come as something of a surprise. Republicans, some of them, criticized the decision not to attack, and top Democrats applauded it.

Joining me now, the Chairman of the House intelligence Committee, Congressman Adam Schiff.

Chairman Schiff, good to see you.

You said you were glad President Trump called off the Iran strike and it would have been disproportionate.

President Obama's former Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence Mike Vickers says that the White House needs to respond with its own strikes against air defense systems and military bases, or the Iranians will only be more emboldened.

Is Vickers wrong?

REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): I think he is wrong.

I think that this would have been a disproportionate strike. It was certainly not authorized by Congress. And it would likely have escalated the situation and led to potentially great miscalculation and outright warfare with Iran. So, it could have had disastrous consequences. I do think there

should be a response to the downing of this drone and to the attacks on the shipping. But this is an attack on the international community, on the international right of free navigation.

It ought to be an international response. It shouldn't be the U.S. acting alone. And I also think we need to look beyond...

TAPPER: What would be an appropriate response?

SCHIFF: Well, I think the appropriate response is to work with our allies to protect the freedom of navigation. There are a number of ways that we could do that.

But I also think that we need to make sure that we provide some kind of a diplomatic off-ramp to this escalation of tit for tat that could lead us into war.

And I really think we have to look beyond the last 24 to 48 hours, and consider the last 24 months, where we walked out of this agreement that Iran was complying with. We urged Europe to do the same. We increased sanctions. We did everything we could to deprive Iran of any economic benefit of staying in the deal.

And now the vice president and others express surprise that Iran may leave the deal and go back to enriching. It would be surprising if they didn't.

And that is a catastrophic result, but it is eminently predictable. It's the foreseeable consequence of the last two years of us heading into this dead end, where we either go to war with Iran or we have a nuclear Iran.

And this was exactly what the JCPOA was designed to prevent.

TAPPER: Right.

SCHIFF: And so, yes, the president made the right last-minute decision, but, frankly, the lead-up to that over the last two years has been disastrous.

TAPPER: Let me ask you.

President Trump tweeted yesterday that he's going to delay plans for these ICE mass deportations in major cities across the United States to allow two weeks for Congress to -- quote -- "get together and work out a solution to the asylum and loophole problems at the southern border."

Are you open to negotiations on this to avoid those deportations two weeks from now?

SCHIFF: We have always been open to negotiations.

And, in fact, we have been negotiating. And there is a bipartisan package in the Senate of some emergency supplemental relief to try to provide assistance.

But make no mistake. There is nothing that Congress is doing or not doing that compels the administration to have facilities where children don't have blankets or toothbrushes or soap.

And for the vice president or the president to blame Congress for their own malfeasance is just completely besides the point and unethical and unacceptable.

They could cure this problem today, but they don't want to, because, frankly, the cruelty is part of their policy. It's part of what they think will deter migrants from coming here. It's part of what they think will motivate the Congress to build a wall.

And to use these children that way is, I just think, immoral.

TAPPER: I wonder what you thought about Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez referring to the detention centers at the border, some of which have -- do -- horrific -- do have horrific conditions -- she referred to them as concentration camps earlier this week.

Did you think that was an appropriate description?

SCHIFF: That's certainly not the terminology that I would use.

Look, these are abysmal detention centers. And there's nothing praiseworthy about them in any way.

But I think analogies to the Nazi concentration camps are always fraught. And I think they should not be used, except with great care. So it's certainly not the terminology I would use.

But let's not let that distract us from these terrible conditions that are going on that you described.

And to have Trump lawyers in court saying that this is perfectly acceptable and these conditions are fine, I would like to see those Trump lawyers or people in the Cabinet spend a week in one these facilities sleeping on a concrete floor with an aluminum blanket, and see whether they think that is so consistent with American values.

[09:35:08]

TAPPER: Let's turn to the growing calls for the impeachment of President Trump.

At least 75 House Democrats now, nearly a third of your caucus, support launching an impeachment inquiry. Now, the third ranking House Democrat, Jim Clyburn, told me on the show earlier this month he believed President Trump will eventually face impeachment proceedings.

Do you agree?

SCHIFF: I don't know the answer, Jake.

Certainly, the administration and the president seem to be doing everything they can, everything they can to push us into an impeachment. And we may get there. We may get there.

At this point, as you say, a third of our caucus is there, and two- thirds is not there.

What would get me to that point is, if we get to a final court decision compelling administration to provide testimony and documents, and they still refuse, then I think we're in a full-blown constitutional crisis that would compel that kind of remedy.

I may get there before that point, Jake. So I continue to listen to people that I respect greatly within our caucus, constitutional lawyers like Larry Tribe and others, and weigh this, I think, every day, and have continued discussions with the speaker about it.

But, at this point, I'm not prepared to recommend it.

TAPPER: Now, you said this week that Robert Mueller, the special counsel, needs to testify by August.

You still have not subpoenaed him, despite calling for voluntary testimony since April. Mueller has made it pretty clear he's not going to come before you guys willingly. Are you going to subpoena him? And, if so, when?

SCHIFF: We have been in private discussions with the special counsel's office. It's not clear that he will refuse to come in voluntarily. We are negotiating what the conditions of that appearance might be.

But, yes, we are running out of time. It's my hope that we will reach a final conclusion. Either he's going to come in voluntarily, or we're going to have to subpoena him. I hope that we will reach that decision this week, because we want to have him come in during July.

And I think that's going to be the case, Jake, whether it's voluntarily or involuntary by subpoena.

TAPPER: All right, Chairman Adam Schiff, always an honor to have you here. Thank you so much for joining us.

SCHIFF: Thank you, Jake.

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