CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: "Interview with Rep. Ted Lieu"

Interview

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BLITZER: Jim Acosta reporting for us from Minneapolis.

Let's get some more on all of this.

Democratic Congressman Ted Lieu of California is joining us. He's a member of both the Judiciary and Foreign Affairs committees.

Congressman, thanks so much for joining us.

So, what does it tell you that these two associates of Rudy Giuliani are now charged by the federal government with conspiracy to buy political influence?

REP. TED LIEU (D-CA): Thank you, Wolf, for your question.

We have a clear pattern here. In 2016, Russia interfered in our elections and help Donald Trump. In 2018, we now know that these two associates Rudy Giuliani help funnel hundreds of thousands of dollars of foreign money to a pro-Trump super PAC.

And then, last month, we learned that the president of the United States solicited Ukraine to target his American political opponent. We're all Americans. And we cannot have the American president continue to receive or solicit illegal assistance from foreign powers.

BLITZER: How will this indictment, Congressman, impact your ability to get documents, to get testimony from these two men?

LIEU: So, I'm on two of the committees of jurisdiction, and on Foreign Affairs, Oversight, which is being led in this investigation by the Intel Committee.

We have sent out subpoenas to those two associates of Rudy Giuliani's. As you know, we also have recently subpoenaed Rick Perry. We have subpoenaed numerous other witnesses.

And why are there so many subpoenas? It's because we're seeing epic corruption, corruption at an unprecedented level among senior White House staff, going all the way up potentially to the president.

BLITZER: What questions do you have for Rudy Giuliani at this point?

LIEU: It is very suspicious timing that, right after his two associates had a lunch with him, that they immediately tried to escape the country.

And they were thankfully stopped by law enforcement at Dulles Airport. I want to know what Rudy Giuliani knew about the funneling of money to a pro-Trump super PAC, about what the associates were doing in trying to get a member of Congress, then Congressman Pete Sessions, to write a letter criticizing the former U.S. ambassador.

This is all very corrupt, very shady. We want to get answers.

BLITZER: House Democrats have also, as you know, subpoenaed the energy secretary, Rick Perry, for documents.

The administration has made it clear, though, it won't cooperate. So how likely is it that you get any information from Secretary Perry?

LIEU: If Secretary Perry wants to clear his name, he would come in and testify and provide documents. If he did nothing wrong, he would give the information for the American people to see.

What we already do know is that Donald Trump cut off military aid to Ukraine. And then, about a week later, he had a phone call with the Ukrainian president. And right after the Ukrainian leader raises the issue of military aid, Donald Trump asks for a favor. [18:15:01]

One of those is to target Biden. And then we know there was a full-on pressure campaign to get Ukraine to target and investigate the Bidens. This was not a one-off conversation Donald Trump had. It was a full- on campaign. And we want to know what Rick Perry's involvement was in that campaign.

BLITZER: You're scheduled to also hear from the former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch tomorrow morning.

Are you confident that that will go ahead as scheduled, or do you expect the Trump administration to intervene and prevent her -- she still works at the State Department -- from appearing?

LIEU: I wouldn't be surprised if the Trump administration continues to obstruct and prevent her testimony.

But she is free to come, and she is free to speak her mind and provide information and documents, just as Ambassador Volker did. And we understand that she was recalled earlier, and she is not particularly someone that is a loyalist to some of these enablers of Donald Trump.

I think she has a story to tell, and the American people should be able to hear her story.

BLITZER: But the difference is that Ambassador Kurt Volker, who was the special envoy to Ukraine, he had resigned a few days earlier. So he was a private citizen when he went and answered questions before the committee.

She still is a U.S. government employee. She's a career diplomat, a Foreign Service officer.

LIEU: She is.

But she's getting a formal request from Congress to appear and testify about potential misconduct in our federal government. I believe she has every right to come forward and to give that testimony. And I expect her to come forward.

BLITZER: But what if Secretary Pompeo says, you can't go?

LIEU: Then we will subpoena her as well.

And Secretary Pompeo needs to be careful, because I don't think he would want to have an article of impeachment leveled against him for obstruction of Congress.

BLITZER: We have also learned, Congressman, that a political appointee over at the Office of Management and Budget, Michael Duffey, was involved in freezing that U.S. military assistance to Ukraine.

And career officials raised lots of concerns about whether that potentially broke the law.

Do you want Duffey to testify in your investigation?

LIEU: Absolutely.

And, again, this new development shows that this was not a random conversation Donald Trump had with the Ukrainian president. It was very clearly deliberate that Donald Trump halted critical military aid. And then they passed it off to a political appointee to continue withholding that military aid, even though it was likely illegal.

And they kept doing that. And then they sent Mike Pompeo to tell the Ukrainian leader that aid was still withheld. They would continue to pressure the Ukrainians to investigate Biden. This is so wrong on so many levels. It's un-American. It's corrupt. It's a betrayal of our values.

BLITZER: Congressman Ted Lieu, thanks so much for joining us.

LIEU: Thank you, Wolf.

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