CNN "Erin Burnett Out Front" - Transcript: "Interview with Rep. Ruben Gallego"

Interview

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

SCIUTTO: OUTFRONT now, Democratic Congresswoman Ruben Gallego. He sits on the House Armed Services Committee. He's a veteran himself.

Congressman, thanks for taking the time tonight.

REP. RUBEN GALLEGO (D-AZ): Thank you, Jim.

SCIUTTO: So, let's begin with this. The president tweets out a picture, appears to be taken from a U.S. surveillance satellite. Those images are by their nature classified. The president claims an absolute right to declassify anything which is, of course, true.

That said at what cost? What capabilities will the president have revealed to Iran and the world here by tweeting this photo out?

GALLEGO: Well, look, I don't know. And what we should be asking is, what is the end goal of this? And what is Iran's reaction going to be to our actions? And how does that actually further the interests of the United States? It doesn't. This president is doing foreign policy by tweets. He has his mean

girl policy when it comes to dealing with our enemies and with our allies. And it's just not, you know, becoming of the president of the United States.

SCIUTTO: What do you think his -- and I know this is difficult to do. But what could be the possible benefit of denying something that the U.S. was not accused of -- it wasn't acquiesced of being involved in this failed missile launch. What is the president -- is he trying to send a message to them?

GALLEGO: Look, you are trying to find logic in what I believe is illogical actions of the president. I'm not trying to go down that worm hole. It's impossible.

I think we have to recognize this president does not quite understand where he is in terms of the world order, when it comes to the great power competition. We have in previous presidents that haven't understood what we had to do. And the one thing when it comes to power struggles in this world and trying to exert power is he needs to understand power whispers and weakness screams.

And right now, I think he is screaming.

[19:40:02] It really shows we are isolated from our allies and not in a good negotiating position when it comes to Iran.

SCIUTTO: "The New York Times", I'm going to read from here, quote in the power circles of Tehran, the idea has taken hold that Iran must eventually negotiate with President Trump. Several people with knowledge of that shift telling "The Times" this is based on their perception that Trump could win re-election and they can't survive six more years of sanctions.

Is it possible the president's sanctions strategy is putting due pressure on them and that that pressure is working?

GALLEGO: Well, I think in many regards the sanctions regime that you see with Iran has been a continuation of the policies under President Bush, President Obama and now President Trump, something that's been bipartisan in many ways. The one area I think we are lacking is the fact that we have usually had universal acceptance among our allies that the sanctions regime is the best way to force Iran to the table.

What happened when he we left the JCPOA is we have created a situation where Iran has found new allies in our old allies and trying to find a way around this. So, hopefully, we can bring back that alliance. Hopefully, we can go back for the negotiating table.

I actually do not wish the president ill. Hopefully Iran does want to negotiate with us because that's in the best interests of the world. About what you I fear, however, and what many of us fear is that we may push ourselves in a situation where we find ourselves in a hot war because we're so intent on pushing buttons such as sending out these random tweets that it creates a miscalculation by Iran and we have a preemptive war that gets started. SCIUTTO: And one thing that's clear from the G7 is the U.S. has not moved its allies on leaving the Iran nuclear deal as President Trump did.

I do want to ask about former Defense Secretary James Mattis. You, a fellow former Marine. He's speaking out for the first time since leaving the Trump administration.

Mattis telling CBS News, I'm quoting here: I will not speak ill of a sitting president. I'm not going to do it. He is an unusual president, our president is. And I think that especially with just the rabid nature of politics today, we've got to be careful. We could tear this country apart.

As you know, Mattis resigned in 2018 over Trump, tweeting the U.S. withdrawal from Syria. I wonder, he is taking subtle criticism here of the president. But he is not going so far as to say the president has made clear mistakes. The president is unfit.

And I wonder if you think that's a mistake. If he has something to say, should he say it?

GALLEGO: Well, he can make his own decisions. I think, unfortunately, he wants to have it both ways where he gets to say what he likes to say about the president. But not take criticism for speaking out against the president.

But the one thing that disturbs me about Secretary Mattis and see, you know, we can tear the country apart. This president is tearing this country apart and it's incumbent upon elected official, Democrat, Republican, independent, that we do everything to make sure this president doesn't tear this country apart.

So, you know, Secretary Mattis has a right to his privacy, has a right to keep his counsel with the president. But let's not -- let's be clear. What's happening right now is abnormal and the president is tearing this country apart.

And I'm sorry that Secretary Mattis somehow does not see that already.

SCIUTTO: Congressman Gallego, thanks so much for coming on. I hope you get a real weekend.

GALLEGO: Thank you, Jim.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source