MSNBC "All In with Chris Hayes" - Transcript: "Trump says tariff delay is for the Christmas season."

Interview

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VELSHI: The number of House Democrats supporting an impeachment inquiry of Donald Trump continues to tick off. The new total is an even 120. North Carolina Congressman David Price today joined the majority of his party in the House favoring an impeachment inquiry. House Democrats came into power looking to hold the president accountable but in almost every turn this administration has refused to cooperate. So Democrats are increasingly using the courts in an unprecedented fashion to try and carry out their oversight responsibilities. As the New York Times reports today, eight months into their majority, the House is going to court at a tempo never seen before. Fighting in courtrooms as much as fighting in hearing rooms. The House has already become a party to nine separate lawsuits this year while also filing briefs for judges in four others. More lawsuits are being drafted according to a senior aide to Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The question is when are these courtroom battles going to start yielding results for Democrats? Here to help me answer that question Congressman Ro Khanna, Democrat of California, and a member of the House Oversight Committee. Congressman, good to see you in person. That`s a privilege I haven`t had. Let`s talk about this. What does success look like to your constituents, to people who said go in there and hold this administration to account?

REP. RO KHANNA (D-CA): Well, it means getting the evidence of the wrongdoing. And here`s the thing. Usually, these things are settled through accommodation. You know, when people have a fight with neighbors, you come to a compromise. Here in the administration has refused to compromise, refused to have an accommodation. It`s unprecedented, and that`s why we`re having to go to court. And it`s unfortunate that we having to do so but we have no recourse.

VELSHI: So to the extent that there are 120 Democrats who are in favor of an impeachment inquiry, that`s more than half of the caucus, you`re not part of that. You don`t -- you don`t come into that 120?

KHANNA: Well, I support Nadler. I support the impeachment inquiry. I haven`t gone on television calling for it because Nadler has a process, and he has a timeline, and I didn`t want to put pressure on him based on that timeline. He wanted to make sure we filed the court hearing against McGahn. He did that. Now we`re in an inquiry and I support him on that.

VELSHI: Does that mean you could be added to the 120?

KHANNA: Sure, if they want to. I mean, I don`t know how they`re counting these things, but I absolutely support him in his -- in the decision he`s made.

VELSHI: So do you have a binary view of going through court or an impeachment inquiry or do you think they should both be happening?

KHANNA: I think they both are happening. And let`s look at the Don McGahn case which the Republicans are criticizing us saying why are we putting it in the same court. Here`s why we`re putting it in the same court. The underlying evidence of the grand jury testimony, we need that so that we can ask Don McGahn what he previously testified to. So that`s why we`re getting the evidence and that`s why it`s in the same court that`s also doing the impeachment inquiry that Nadler has conducted. He`s been very systematic and methodical about this and I think people will be very pleased with what his results are.

VELSHI: Now, there are some people who say this is not the job of Congress. We need you to get on with it. There are some Democrats who are concerned that if the Democrats look too eager on impeachment, something could happen. It could be a response like there was to Bill Clinton`s impeachment. There are others who say that you should be single-minded of purpose here. How do you thread that needle?

KHANNA: We can do both. We have a constitutional obligation to do both. We can hold the president accountable. We can hold him accountable for his misconduct, but we also have a major agenda. We`re talking about rural broadband and getting that passed. We`re talking about an infrastructure bill and getting that passed. We`re talking about bringing health care to folks who don`t have that and getting that passed. I think the Democrats are going to campaign ultimately in 2020 on improving people`s lives. But we can`t just say for politics let`s ignore the wrongdoing.

VELSHI: So for instance, gun safety, something that has an overwhelming majority of support in this country in both parties. You guys in the House passed a bill in February. Mitch McConnell is not doing anything about it. This is emblematic. He`s referred to himself as the grim reaper to these bills because things don`t happen.

KHANNA: Right.

VELSHI: So when it comes to election time, and you have those constituents who say what did you do for me, how do you say -- how do you make the argument that you`ve been working for them despite the fact that some of these lay-up bills aren`t getting done.

KHANNA: Well, we show them everything that the House has passed. We passed the universal background checks a few months into Congress. And Mitch McConnell, look, if you talk to anyone in the Senate, Republican or Democrat, they will say Mitch McConnell is there to do one thing, appoint conservative justices, appoint conservative justices -- judges. That all he cares about. And he will block everything else for that single pursuit. And I think the American people will get that, that we are passing bills on infrastructure, on jobs, on broadband, on gun safety, on getting back into the Paris Accords. We have passed more bills in the last six months about over 200 bills and the Senate is just not passing them.

VELSHI: What do you think about the presidential election? Where things stand now and who do you think is going to be -- we`re talking in six months, who do you think we`re talking about?

KHANNA: Well, I`m biased. I am one of the cultures for Bernie Sanders and I think he`s running a phenomenal campaign. He`s out in front in New Hampshire, an apologist today. But I think this race comes down to three people, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Vice President Biden. They are consistently in the lead in the early states. They`ve got a strong showing in South Carolina. And I think ultimately it`ll be one of those three.

VELSHI: Ro Khanna, good to see you. Thank you for joining us.

KHANNA: Thank you for having me on.

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