CNN "CNN Newsroom" - Transcript: "Interview with Rep. Sylvia Garcia"

Interview

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

BALDWIN: OK. Dana, thank you very much.

As we -- this conversation is dominating not only the U.N., but the nation, the number of Democrats supporting an impeachment inquiry continues to tick up, now to more than 200. There are 235 total Democrats, which means about 30 are still not on board.

And one of them is with me now, Congresswoman Sylvia Garcia from Texas.

Congresswoman Garcia, a pleasure. Welcome.

REP. SYLVIA GARCIA (D-TX): Well, thank you for having me.

BALDWIN: You are not only a member of Congress. You are a lawyer, a former judge, member of House Judiciary Committee, which is supposed to oversee these impeachment proceedings.

And even before I ask you about impeachment, just what's your reaction to the breaking news regarding the acting director of national intelligence?

[15:15:05]

"The Washington Post" reporting that Joseph Maguire threatened to resign over concerns that the White House might try to get him to stonewall Congress.

What do you make of that, Congresswoman?

GARCIA: Well, nothing surprises me anymore. Unfortunately, this White House is more about stonewalling and ordering people not to testify, ordering people not to appear, and doing everything they can to cover up some of their activities, that nothing surprises me anymore.

BALDWIN: Is that a bad thing?

GARCIA: What -- of course it's a bad thing.

(CROSSTALK) BALDWIN: Yes. Shouldn't we be surprised? I mean, this is pretty extraordinary times.

GARCIA: Well, it is.

And how many times have you all had to say breaking news? Because something breaks every second almost.

BALDWIN: Yes, yes, yes.

GARCIA: And, for me, it's like even the acting director said -- you know, I too have sworn an oath of office for over 12 times in my 25 years of service.

BALDWIN: Yes.

GARCIA: So I know what that oath says.

We are to protect the laws of this country. And that's what this is all about. It's about the Constitution.

BALDWIN: Yes.

GARCIA: It's about national security. It's about the heart of our democracy.

It's not about this president. It's not about any president. It's about the Constitution and the rule of law.

BALDWIN: Right.

So I read a quote from you yesterday saying that you were leaning toward impeachment. Now that you have read this transcript, Congresswoman, where do you stand?

GARCIA: Well, I need to see the full, unredacted complaint.

And I mean the full every-letter version, not someone's interpretation. This is not a...

(CROSSTALK)

GARCIA: ... transcript.

BALDWIN: The whistle-blower complaint?

GARCIA: Well, no, the -- correct, the whistle-blower complaint.

I would like to see the whistle-blower and hear directly from him or her. And I look forward to seeing what the acting director does say tomorrow. I hope they don't block him from coming to us. And I will leave it up to the Intel Committee to decide what they do if he or -- if he does not come, or that we don't -- they don't get to see the full hearing on the complaint itself.

BALDWIN: You know, I mentioned there are 200-plus Democrats who are already sort of over that fence. They are in favor of this impeachment inquiry.

And since you're not quite there, I'm just curious, are they reaching out to you? Can you tell me about any...

(CROSSTALK)

GARCIA: No. Well, let's be clear. I have never said I'm not for the inquiry. I have not made a decision on whether to impeach or not, because, obviously, there's no articles prepared. There's no...

BALDWIN: No. No. No. We're just on the impeachment inquiry. I don't want to put the horse before the cart here, no.

(CROSSTALK)

GARCIA: No, exactly. And I'm not going to do that.

But I have been for the impeachment inquiry that we've been doing in Judiciary since before the summer break. I was at the press conference with the chairman when we announced it. I have been supportive of all the other inquiries.

I think question of an inquiry and the formal investigation that we're doing now on this very one issue is very critical and may just be the last straw, because, if everything is true, then I'm going to be ready to support impeachment, period.

No one should accept the fact that this president talked to the Ukraine president and asked him to -- the transcript is clear. He says, I need a favor. He talks about what -- all the work that we do for the -- and things that we do for the Ukraine government, and then says, oh, and look at this thing about Joe Biden's son, which is all fabrication.

So you look at all of those things, and it's easy. You don't have to be a judge or a lawyer to figure that out. Someone's asking for a favor, and it's political, and it's to get dirt on an opponent, that is unacceptable, it's outrageous, and we should not stand for it.

BALDWIN: Congresswoman Sylvia Garcia, thank you so much.

GARCIA: Thank you.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source