CNN "CNN Newsroom" - Transcript: "Interview with Rep. Michael Soto"

Interview

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CABRERA: More now on our breaking news. Hurricane Dorian poised to make U.S. landfall as a category 4 storm. With Florida now in its direct path. I want to turn to Democratic Congressman Darren Soto whose 9th Congressional District is in Central Florida. Congressman, I know your district is more inland but could still feel the affects of the rain and wind. What's the number one thing you want residents to do now?

REP. DARREN SOTO (D-FL): To be prepared and take it seriously. Get a couple of days' worth of food and water. And flashlights, as well as charge up your chargers and make sure your gas tank is filled. You know the very basics like having safety kits. We're doing our part with FEMA to prepare for what could be a category 4 to hit the coast along central Florida. So everybody just needs to take it seriously and we'll wait and see.

CABRERA: This is a big holiday weekend. I would imagine amusement parks and beaches are pretty popular, the final weekend before the end of summer. Do you worry about Florida taking a big economic hit as summer ends?

SOTO: Well, certainly it's not going to be a joyous Labor Day weekend for central Florida. I was just at Universal today and I know them and Disney will experience some cancelations, but local residents, many times often will take up hotel rooms there, being that they generally don't lose power. And so some of our central Florida residents choose to wait out the hurricane in style at the theme parks. So they generally get more local business during this time period.

CABRERA: You're the first person from Florida of Puerto Rican descent to serve in Congress according to your website. Here's what Trump is saying about this potential threat to your state. I quote, Hurricane Dorian looks like it will be hitting Florida late Sunday night. Be prepared. And please follow federal and state instructions. It will be A very big hurricane perhaps one of the biggest.

Congressman, that's very straightforward but in stark contrast to how the President treated the threat to Puerto Rico calling the Mayor of San Juan incompetent, calling Puerto Rico one of the most corrupt places on earth saying he's the best thing that ever happened to Puerto Rico. All as the hurricane, big storm was encroaching and coming closer. Congressman, what do you make of the difference of tone?

SOTO: Well, it's more of a personal vendetta against Puerto Rico ever since President Trump oversaw the worst disaster response in modern history, largest death toll, over 3,000 people, longest black out. And he has a sore spot for it because he knows it was a failure that cost lives. So now he's bitter about it and continues to attack leaders down there, whether it was the former governor, whether it is the current mayor or others. And really that's not what we expect out of a President but this divider in chief it's just more of the same.

In Florida we had a better response with Hurricane Maria. And I expect we're going to have a good response here with Hurricane Dorian. I had several briefings with FEMA. We have supplies waiting in the wings. We have folks who are embedded from FEMA throughout the state. We have the state of emergency called including two of the three counties I represent, Orange and Osceola County. So we're getting ready and prepared and I know for central Floridians this is not our first drill. So I'm very hopeful that despite the heavy storm coming in that we're going to be ready.

CABRERA: I want to pivot to our reporting that President Trump is considering taking away military aid to Ukraine which includes weapons, training, equipment, intel support. There was $250 million allocated to fund that, Congressman. This is another action that will certainly make Putin happy, no?

SOTO: Sure. It's a gift to his best buddy, and one of the biggest threats to our democracy, Russia and Vladimir Putin. But it doesn't help with our allies in Europe. Certainly, Ukraine which used to be a puppet state of the Soviet Union, that has even had assassination attempts against its president for their independence from Russia who continues to try to influence their society there.

[15:45:00] And it's not an American interest. We want to promote democracies, not dictatorships like what Russia seems to be with Vladimir Putin never having elections. We don't have a free press over there. So we need to make sure that Ukraine doesn't become another one of them and part of that is that military might, making sure that Russia knows they shouldn't be messing with Ukraine and that $250 million is more of this nativism withdrawing from the national stage that we've seen whether it's in central America, whether it's in Europe or other areas like Africa that President Trump just is defying what Congress has allocated and he's withdrawing from global leadership for our country.

CABRERA: This money, these funds are under review right now. If ultimately, it's rejected or withheld, what kind of response can we expect from Congress?

SOTO: There will be lawsuits. We'll also use the budget for leverage. We're facing similar situation with the foreign aid to central America. When that was cut, we saw this refugee crisis start at the border with areas like Honduras and Nicaragua and El Salvador gripped in bloody battles with cartels. We know that foreign aid helps stabilize these regions or provides buffers to regions like Europe with our investment in Ukraine.

And it also says to our allies that you can't trust the word of the United States because the President at any given time may undercut long standing agreements and relationships. And that makes the homeland less safe whether it's with the refugee crisis or whether it's emboldening Russia to mess with us and intrude in our elections or whether it's destabilizing our strongest allies in Europe.

CABRERA: Congressman Darren Soto, I know it was a challenge to getting to the studio today for our conversation. I'm so glad you made. Thank you for being here.

SOTO: Thanks for your accommodation, appreciate it, Ana.

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