CNN "Erin Burnett Outfront" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Ted Lieu

Interview

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BOLDUAN: OUTFRONT now, Democratic Congressman Ted Lieu of California. Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Congressman, thanks for being here.

REP. TED LIEU (D-CA): Thank you, Kate.

BOLDUAN: So with that video, you've seen it, context is always key and we don't have much of context from what the French government released. But it surely did feel really awkward. You have been a vocal critic of Ivanka and Jared Kushner working at the White House. What do you make of this?

LIEU: Thank you, Kate, for your question. The French government knew exactly what the videotape looked like and they chose to release it and I find that very interesting. I don't know why Ivanka Trump was at the G20. Like many Americans, it was not clear to us what she was doing.

[19:20:02] She has very little foreign policy or diplomatic experience. It does send a message to the rest of the world that America doesn't seem to take the G20 all that seriously when this happens.

BOLDUAN: Oh, you think that's what it is? I mean she's a senior adviser to the President. If you think she is his closest adviser, one of his closest adviser, why not have them there, do you see that argument because that's what the White House is saying.

LIEU: So the reason we have nepotism laws in America is we think it's not a good idea for you to have your children as your closest advisors, especially when you're President of the United States. You should actually have people who have foreign policy experience, who have experience in diplomacy. Again, it's not clear what experience Ivanka Trump brought to this other than being the daughter of American President.

BOLDUAN: Few Americans have set foot inside North Korea. The President made history this weekend doing that, we know. Ivanka Trump also went into North Korea. She was seen entering this blue building as you see with Jared Kushner where you then can cross into North Korea away from cameras.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo throughout the visit remains largely in the background and it reminded me how Rex Tillerson has a recent complain that Jared Kushner boxed him out on key issues, I think even including North Korea. Do you think the same thing is happening now with Mike Pompeo?

LIEU: It could be and what's troubling is that at least secretary Pompeo was confirmed by United States Senate. Here again you have people, Ivanka and Jared, with very little foreign policy or diplomat experience, not confirmed by U.S. Senate, who are taking these roles and position and really edging out people who do have either experienced or have a confirmation by the Senate, so I think this is, again, not a good way to run American foreign policy.

And on the issue of North Korea, it's a really big deal for the American President to step into North Korean soil and the United States got exactly nothing for that.

BOLDUAN: If you are concern kind of the role of secretary or lack thereof of Mike Pompeo and of Ivanka Trump, you do sit on Foreign Affairs, is there something that you want the committee, you want the Congress to do about it?

LIEU: Yes. The first we want to know is what kind of strategy does the Trump administration have for a variety of conflicts including North Korea, including Iran. As of this moment, the American people have no idea, for example, what the administration has in terms of Iran, what they want Iran to do. So that's why today I led a letter with Congress members Spanberger, Malinowski, Houlahan asking very basic questions of the president such as what are your goals for Iran and how do your current policies get us to those goals? We don't even have these very basic answers.

BOLDUAN: Ivanka Trump isn't the only Trump child in the news today, Don Jr. is facing big backlash for retweeting a racist posting, questioning Kamala Harris' race. I mean basically saying that she's not a black American because her parents come from Jamaica and India. You have endorsed, you were the early endorser and backer of Kamala Harris. The campaign's response to this is basically they say racist attacks like this didn't work against Barack Obama and in their view they say, quote, it won't work now. What do you say?

LIEU: Donald Trump uses race to attack people. It is no surprise that his son would also use race to attack people. What this also shows is that the Trump campaign is very scared of Kamala Harris. She's relentless campaigner and a fighter. I've known her for many years. I'm glad the rest of America is finally seeing who she is. She is smart, tough and we saw she's presidential, she's going to be our next president.

BOLDUAN: We will test that theory because we've got many, many more months to go in this campaign. We will see. Congressman, thank you for coming out. I appreciate your time.

LIEU: Thank you, Kate.

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