CNN "CNN Newsroom" - Transcript: "Interview with Rep. Elissa Slotkin"

Interview

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BALDWIN: Moments from now Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will head to Turkey. The group's mission, to try to get Turkey to stand down in Syria. Russia has now stepped up its role in the Syrian conflict by deploying military police to the country's northern region filling a vacuum left by withdrawal of U.S. troop there's.

And I want to share this piece of video with you. You'll take a look at this. This is a journalist traveling with Russian-backed forces, appears to show off the inside of a now abandoned U.S. base. He says, quote, yesterday morning they were here, and this morning we are here. Let's see how they lived.

Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin is with me. She serves on both the Armed Services and homeland security committees and also is a former CIA analyst. She has also done three tours in Iraq. So Congresswoman, a pleasure. First question. Just what are U.S. troops thinking right now?

REP. ELISSA SLOTKIN (D-MI): Well, I think a lot of us still have strong communications with a lot of folks who either have served in Syria, are serving in Syria and Iraq, and I think the overwhelming feeling is shame. Mostly because these are the folks who actually held out their hand and said to the folks in northern Syria, you know, if you work with us, we will stay with you. We'll give you overhead cover. And so it's that American handshake that is literally theirs that is now being broken. And so I think a lot of them are feeling ashamed, quite frankly.

[15:40:00]

BALDWIN: Listening to the President earlier today sitting alongside the leader of Italy. President Trump said that this has nothing to do with the United States, and he also said that Russia hates ISIS more than the U.S. Congresswoman Slotkin, your reaction to that?

SLOTKIN: Yes, well, I think ISIS having a caliphate that takes up big chunks of the state of Syria and the state of Iraq had a lot to do with us. Them having a capital from which they can project terrorist attacks into our homeland, into our European ally's homelands that has a lot to do with us. And I also think the Russians don't like ISIS, but the idea that somehow, we're going to just be ceding territory, breaking relationships with allies and partners. It's one thing to do it now with the Kurds. But I think the thing that's missing is that it's also about future wars and future conflicts.

We've reached out our hand and we said fight on the front lines with us, for us. And what is going to happen the next time we go to one of these partner groups and we say, hey, you've got an al Qaeda threat in western Africa or in Asia. We want you to help and partner with us because we don't want American soldiers dying on the battlefield. Are they going to be so quick to hold out their hand and shake our hand? And I think that's the thing that's missing from the conversation. It's not just about the Kurds today. It's about how we fight terrorists in the future.

BALDWIN: Sure. So, no, it's an excellent point about potential future allies and at leaves the question, well, what do we do about it? I know that the White House -- we just got a note that the White House canceled and all-House members briefing on Syria. Do you know why?

SLOTKIN: No. I don't. Again, I don't have any special knowledge. But it's not great. It's not great.

BALDWIN: OK. Let me just pivot now to this impeachment inquiry. We know Speaker Pelosi just announced she's not -- or in the last 24 hours she announced that she's not going to be holding a formal vote to authorize impeachment. Do you know why?

SLOTKIN: I mean, I think we had an interesting meeting yesterday with the entire caucus where we had the conversation to make sure, and from my perspective, to make sure that this was process was as objective as possible. To make sure that the Republicans have just as much ability to ask questions and time with these witnesses, and I was assured that they do. That the reason these sessions are going for nine hours is because both sides gets to ask questions until they're exhausted. Until they're done asking questions.

And so I think while a vote may have been necessary back in the '90s, by law it's not needed now and we're living the process. We're doing it now. So I didn't have a strong feeling about it, but that was the explanation yesterday.

BALDWIN: OK. And then just, I know you all are back from recess, And I just wanted to ask you about, you know, a lot of you folks have been talking now. You've been getting an earful, right, from your constituents back home? And I know you've been listening and then you had this standout moment with some of your constituents back home. Let me play this clip.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SLOTKIN: The issue that got to me was this idea that the President, the most powerful man in the world, reached out to a foreigner, a foreign leader, and asked him to dig up dirt on an American.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not true.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not true.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He didn't ask for that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Fake news.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: I mean, you hear some of what they're shouting at you, but I also heard you say that some of those constituents justified the President's actions by saying that the intelligence agencies couldn't be trusted. And as former CIA, Congresswoman, what do you say to that? How did that make you feel?

SLOTKIN: Yes. That was certainly the toughest moments. And listen, there's going to be people shouting, and frankly on both sides on this issue. And there was. Frankly, what was much more interesting and productive were the people who were more in the middle and saying, like, hey, I need to understand why you chose to make this decision. The hardest moments of my town halls were when people would stand up and say, well, the President had to go to a foreign leader to investigate the Bidens because he can't trust his CIA and FBI.

As a former CIA officer this one got me, because I know what CIA officers are doing every day, in many cases risking their lives to protect the homeland. I know that our FBI, our law enforcement officers who have the best interests of this country at heart and something happens to us as a nation if we stop believing in our institutions. I don't think that represents the majority of people but it was the hardest part of it and for me when my blood pressure really went up.

BALDWIN: Good on you for hosting those town halls and to listening, both for Republicans and Democrats, did that over the last couple of week. And I'm sure it was appreciated. Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin, good to see you. Thank you.

SLOTKIN: You too, thanks so much.

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