CNN "CNN Newsroom" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. John Garamendi

Interview

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BALDWIN: My next guest is one of the lawmakers working to prevent President Trump from doing that in Iran. Democratic Congressman John Garamendi is a senior member of the Armed Services Committee. Congressman Garamendi, a pleasure, sir. Welcome.

REP. JOHN GARAMENDI, (D-CA): Always.

BALDWIN: Listen, we just got a bit of a history lesson from this retired Navy Captain sitting to my right, you know, history has taught us that, also that Presidents don't always comply with seeking congressional approval. You heard the President, you heard how close this came -- 10 minutes. Did you expect him to come to you all first?

GARAMENDI: I really do not expect President Trump to obey either the Constitution or the law. There's plenty of indication in his recent histories that that's the case. However, in this situation, we're talking about war. We're not just talking about a border wall and moving money, with or without the approval of Congress.

Clearly, the Constitution says that only Congress can declare war. That doesn't mean that the Department of Defense, the Army, Navy Air Force, cannot defend themselves against an attack. However, we're now talking about a retaliation, not a defense.

Therefore, the President must come to Congress if he intends to carry out a kinetic that is offensive military action against Iran. No questions. It is the Constitution. It's time for him to obey the Constitution, make the case, argue it before us. Obviously, there is time available. We've discovered that last night, and let's do the right thing at the right time. Meaning, bring it to Congress.

BALDWIN: We know that this President likes to govern from the gut. Hillary Clinton famously said he can't be trusted with the nuclear codes because he could be baited by a tweet after a handful of attacks. Congressman, do you commend him for having some restraint last night?

[14:10:10] GARAMENDI: I think the problem is not to whether commend him or not, but to take a look at the chaos that exists within this administration. Take a look at the fact that the entire leadership of the Department of Defense is turning over. Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force, all of it is turning over at this time to say nothing of the Secretary of Defense. That's a chaotic situation.

Many of us have said for some time, that the President is creating an extraordinarily dangerous situation with the chaos in the administration. The fact that he decided publicly, which is, in my view, a mistake to delay a reaction or response is, okay, it's good; to do it publicly is bad. And, as your guest suggested a moment ago, there are many, many different kinds of responses, all of them need to be clearly telegraphed to Iran ahead of time that you're going to be held accountable; multiple ways that could be done.

And also, we need to bring our allies into this. Going this alone without the Allies not only in the region, but in Europe is a serious mistake. The President stepped back, avoided that. I wish he had done it quietly. It didn't happen. And now we're going to have to move forward. But keep in mind, he must come to Congress.

BALDWIN: You talk about, you know, our allies in that part of the world. What about just your colleagues, you know, there on Capitol Hill, some of your Republican colleagues actually wanted this strike to happen. To them, you would say what?

GARAMENDI: Lindsey Graham? Lindsey Graham has more moves than the clock. It makes no sense. Lindsey, one day is quiet; the next day wants to go to war. My suggestion for Lindsey Graham is okay, Lindsey, you be the first one over the trench.

BALDWIN: What if -- if there were a scenario where DoD could come up with a strike zone that would not have any casualties, would you support that kind of military response given how provocative Iran has been?

GARAMENDI: Clearly there has to be a response. There are many different kinds of responses. Your Captain sitting next to you, retired, said, elicited probably five or six, within three or four seconds, I don't need to repeat all of them.

There are many different ways to go about this. Clearly, there has to be an accountability here, no doubt about that. Is that a military response? What we call kinetic? That's things that go boom. You have to plan if it's going to go boom, somebody might very well die. Keep that in mind.

That is, it may or may not be collateral damage, it may or may not be a military death in the way. But yes, if you're going to do kinetic, and that is one of the options, and it may be appropriate, depending upon where the design is and what the implications are.

But I think -- and this is extremely important. What is the second and third effect? What is going to happen after America takes a response? If it's a kinetic response, what then could happen? Are we prepared for that?

BALDWIN: What are the possibilities, Congressman? For Americans sitting there thinking, "My God, are we about to go to a war with Iran?" What would those ripple effects be?

GARAMENDI: That is why the President must bring his plan to the Congress.

BALDWIN: Got it.

GARAMENDI: It is quite possible that a kinetic -- that is a military action that goes boom -- could very well lead to second order effect, and that is back and forth, and pretty soon we have a full scale war. The President has to come here. He has to explain what it is his strategy is -- short term and long term. And in doing so seek the consent of Congress for what could very, very well be a war.

Now, among the actions that are possible are ones that are not kinetic, not warfare. And there could be some very strong actions that could be taken in that regard. Among those were just stated by the by the retired Captain a moment ago, and certainly there could be continued isolation, additional sanctions, and many, many other things could be done that are short of war.

BALDWIN: Sure, sure. Congressman Garamendi, thank you very much.

GARAMENDI: You've got it. Thank you.

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