CNN "Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees" - Transcript: "Interview with Rep. Ro Khanna"

Interview

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BERMAN: Interesting standard there. Kaitlan Collins at the White House, thank you very much for your reporting on this.

Joining us now, California Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna who serves on the House Oversight Committee and we should also note is co-chair of Sanders -- Bernie Sanders 2020 presidential campaign.

Congressman Khanna, thank you for being with us right now.

It now seems like the only thing the president was clear and consistent about in the G7 was his public and as we just learned, his private push to bring Russia back into the fold. Your reaction?

REP. RO KHANNA (D-CA): Well, the standards for this president are so low that if he just manages to finish a dinner without insulting a foreign leader, we breathe a sigh of relief. But the reality is that it's very concerning when he was advocating for Russia. Everyone believes in the civilized world of democracies that we should not allow Russia back into the G7 unless two conditions are met.

First, they need to get out of Ukraine and the annexation of Crimea. And second, they need to stop interfering not just in our election, but in elections across the world. And this president didn't even mention either of those two issues.

BERMAN: I will note, not everybody, apparently the prime minister of Italy agreed with President Trump. KHANNA: Fair enough.

BERMAN: And one of his arguments was it's better to have Russia back in the fold so you can bring up your problems with them to their face and directly. Is there any validity to that argument?

KHANNA: I don't think anyone believes that Russia isn't aware of their problems. We have been bringing this up for the past six, seven years. They need to get out of Crimea, they need to make a commitment not to interfere in our elections. If they do that, then they will be brought in the table.

You know, one of the things that the president said that was so offensive is this claim that Putin outsmarted President Obama. The reality is. President Obama negotiated one of the most successful arms control agreements with Russia, the new START agreement and it's President Trump who hasn't gotten anywhere, who's withdrawing from the INF and was actually made the relationship much worse.

BERMAN: He kept on bringing up President Obama, I think it was 15 or 16 times by name.

Do you think the desire to bring Russia back into the G7, making it the G8 is just to try to yet again reverse something that President Obama did?

[20:20:07] KHANNA: You know, I have not been able to make sense of president Trump's foreign policy doctrine and then someone explained it to me. It's just reverse Obama. There is no coherence to it. If Obama does one thing, even if it's good, he wants to reverse it.

And I think that's really what is motivating his policy. There is no other explanation for why you would want Russia into the G7 when they have continued to violate Ukraine sovereignty, when they are by their own admission interfering in liberal democracies elections.

BERMAN: President Trump said a number of things on this trip that weren't true. Some of them seemed to be small lies or lies about small things like suggesting the first lady got to know Kim Jong-un even though they never met.

Why do you think he does this and what impact do you think it has?

KHANNA: I think it's the consequence of someone who never held elective office. You know, when you're in private business and if you're a billionaire and a real estate developer, you can probably get away with shading the truth here and there, and you've got a battalion of lawyers and people who are there to serve your ends. When you're president of the United States, leader of the free world, every word you say matters, and I just don't think the president has grasped that.

I mean, he made a causal statement about the situation with India and Pakistan that led to India taking action because of the misinterpretation. And he's just not grown into the role. BERMAN: Lastly, we should net that Congress comes back from its

August recess next week and talk of impeachment I think back on the table. More House members have come forward saying they support an impeachment inquiry. You support an impeachment inquiry on the president.

Do you think the prospect of it actually happening, though, is growing, or does it dwindle as we get deeper into the 2020 election?

KHANNA: Well, John, I think we need to have very aggressive inquiry in the fall and I'm confident that Chairman Nadler will do that and then he's going to present the evidence to the House. I do think ultimately, it's going to be Speaker Pelosi's call about whether to bring it for a vote in the House.

But the way I see it is there is growing sentiment in the House that something needs to be done to hold this president accountable and there needs to be an aggressive investigation before the end of the year.

BERMAN: You want to place odds on whether Speaker Pelosi allows a vote on impeachment?

KHANNA: I have never been one to bet correctly on the speaker. I think you've got to have her on and it wouldn't be wise for me to be trying to guess what she's going to do.

BERMAN: Congressman Ro Khanna, we appreciate you coming on. Thank you.

KHANNA: Thank you.

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