CNN "CNN Newsroom" - Transcript: "Interview with Rep. Al Green"

Interview

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JOHN BERMAN, CNN HOST: The Hispanic invasion of Texas. I want to show you some live pictures not far from where I'm standing about 5 miles down the road. Crowds have been growing as President Trump's arrival gets closer and protests are planned. I will tell you the atmosphere in general is much more charged than we have seen it to date. I have heard a lot of shouting over the last 20, 30 minutes.

Joining me is Democratic Congressman Al Green, who is in Houston. Congressman, you said in your words that 22 deaths are too late for President Trump to denounce white nationalism and that he needs to do more. What do you want him to say today, and what do you want him to do practically in the future?

REP. AL GREEN (D-TX): Well, thank you for having me on. And I regret that the circumstances are such as they are. My sympathies are with the people of El Paso and the people of Ohio as well. Thank you, Mr. Berman.

The President can do more. He could declare a national emergency. He can then take up the issue of buybacks for these guns, weapons of mass destruction, as it were, when it comes to long guns. He can look for funds to fund this war against white nationalist terrorism. The President can do much more than he's doing.

The President has engaged in distraction by talking about mental health issues. I think mental health issues are important, but I also know this. If it is someone who is labeled an Islamic terrorist, the President doesn't talk about the mental health of the person. The President talks about what we have to do to deal with the terrorism. And the President out to focus on the terrorism as it relates to this white supremacy.

BERMAN: Mental health is not an either/or when it comes to violence. It can be a both. You can deal with both at the same time. And Republican Congressman Mike Turner, who represents Dayton, and who has an "A" rating from the NRA, a Republican, now says he supports a ban on assault weapons, now says he supports a ban on high-capacity magazines, talks about the red flag laws. Your thoughts on this shift from Congressman Turner?

GREEN: I appreciate anyone who decides that he or she will support the issues that you just called to our attention. We do have to ban these assault weapons. They are taking lives in and across the breadth and length of this country. So we should do this. But I don't think that this is enough, to be quite candid with you, Mr. Berman. The Vice President was on just before I had this opportunity to come on, and he made the case.

He said that the President disrespects the judiciary. He disrespects the legislative branch of government. He disrespects the press. He made the case, if you will, for impeachment. This President must be impeached. To defeat him at the polls will do history a disservice, would do our anything nation a disservice, and would not allow us to do what they did in 1868 when Andrew Johnson, who was the bigot of his time, was impeached by the radical Republicans.

There ought to be radical Democrats and Republicans who are willing to rise to the occasion and say to this President, you are unfit, unworthy, and you must be removed from office. We will not wait until the next election because we don't know how much carnage you will have caused to occur in the interim. We cannot wait. We ought to act as soon as we can to get him out of office. He has long since served his time and he should be removed from office.

BERMAN: Congressman, are you willing to work with the President that you have said for a long time you want to see impeached. Are you willing to work with him on measures to end gun violence?

GREEN: I will work with anyone on measures to end gun violence. And in working with him I will not back off my position that he should be impeached. If he is willing to work with me knowing that I will continue to work to impeach him, I will do it.

BERMAN: And the House Judiciary Committee, which would be the area that deals which impeachment would also be the committee dealing largely with measures battling gun violence. Would you like to see them prioritize impeachment over gun violence?

GREEN: I would like to see them prioritize impeachment over all other issues in this sense, that impeachment is at the root of this. The solution to the cause of the problem, which is the bigotry and the hatred that this President is imposing. I think impeachment is something that will work to provide this country the relief that it needs. The President believes that white makes right. He believes this. And we have to challenge him and take him on.

[15:35:00] I don't think that we have to wait on the Judiciary Committee, if I may say this, the Judiciary Committee does not have to take this up. It can be taken straight to the floor. Whenever I brought impeachment, it has been approved by the presiding officer. The President was just one vote away from being removed from office the last time.

Democrats have got to take -- we cannot blame Republicans for inactions. We control the agenda. There are 435 members of Congress. 235 are Democrats. It would only take 218 to remove this President from office.

BERMAN: Congressman, let me focus on what the people around me are focused on, which is gun violence and the pain here in El Paso and the shootings. When it comes to anti-gun violence laws, the Democrats, you won't get everything you want. That's just politics. So what would you be willing to accept? Would you be willing to strike a deal on red flag laws first before anything else? Because that is something that Republicans in the Senate have expressed a willingness to work on.

GREEN: I believe that when you can't get all that you need, you do work to get what you can. So I'll work to get what I can, but that's not the relief that we need and we cannot allow what the Vice President said to just be talking points, Mr. Berman. We need to move to impeach this President. Talking about these other things is important.

We ought to take them up. But we cannot allow ourselves to be distracted to the extent that we don't do what they did in 1868. We need the spirit of 1868 in this Congress so that we can impeach this President and show the world that we don't condone the level of bigotry that he is perpetrating on society.

BERMAN: Congressman, I think you made your position very clear. We will only note with Andrew Johnson the Senate didn't convict. And you have a Senate much more heavily weighted against conviction this time, at least right now. That's the reality, Congressman Al Green from Houston, thank you.

GREEN: That is the reality. Mr. Berman, if I may say this.

BERMAN: Very quickly.

GREEN: Andrew Johnson was not convicted by the Senate. But he didn't get re-elected.

BERMAN: That's correct.

GREEN: He was impeached and impeachment in and of itself is an indelible stain that ought to be placed on this President. We can't let him walk the earth without that stain. Mr. Berman, he has caused harm to society. We need to do something about it, Mr. Berman.

BERMAN: Congressman Green, again, as I said, you made your position very clear to us and I think to your fellow caucus members on impeachment. We appreciate you being with us. President Trump will touchdown here in El Paso just a short time from now. The protesters are gathering. We will bring you his arrival live.

Plus, the mother who lost her daughter to a white supremacist hate in Charlottesville, speaks live to CNN, her message for the country now. You are going to want to hear this. That's next.

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