CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: "Interview with Rep. John Garamendi"

Interview

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BLITZER: All right, Sunlen, thanks very much, Sunlen Serfaty with that.

Let's get some more on all of this.

Democratic Congressman John Garamendi of California is joining us. He's a member of the Armed Services Committee.

Congressman, what do you hope to accomplish with this new phase of oversight?

REP. JOHN GARAMENDI (D-CA): Well, we simply have to do our job.

There is absolutely no doubt that this administration's totally out of control. There is no doubt about the corruption in the administration. There's no doubt that the president has enriched himself at his various properties around the world to the -- to his own benefit, but not necessarily to the benefit of the taxpayers.

All of that requires investigation. And did I mention the Mueller report? That is still out there. We need the detail. We need the facts that were the foundation of the Mueller report. We need to proceed with the inquiry, the impeachment inquiry.

It may very well, yes or no, lead to an impeachment. But this is our job. This is required by our Constitution, and it is required that we carry it out.

BLITZER: President Trump, he certainly appears to be distracted by his flub over the path of Hurricane Dorian.

But this storm could have hit American citizens much harder than it did. What are the potential consequences, Congressman, of a commander in chief amplifying the wrong information in a crisis like this?

GARAMENDI: It's horrendous. It is absolutely horrendous. This is a dangerous world. Have we forgotten about North Korea? Iran is still out there. The violent extreme organizations throughout the world are still out there.

All of those -- did I mention the economy? All of those issues are out there. And in order for this nation to lead, in order for us to be a beacon that the rest of the world can look to, we have to have a president that is honest, that deals with the facts, that deals with the truth, and can move from a crisis to a crisis without getting hung up on a sharpie.

This is a very, very serious matter. We see, with regard to the military construction projects around the world, a Department of Defense that is in disarray as a result of what the president is doing to attempt to build his border wall.

BLITZER: Well, you serve on the Armed Services Committee. In fact, you're the chair of the Armed Services Subcommittee on Readiness, which means you oversee the Pentagon projects that are having their funding right now reprogrammed -- reprogrammed, that's a kind word for eliminated -- to start building President Trump's border wall.

What went through your mind when you read that list of programs, several billion dollars?

GARAMENDI: Several things.

First of all, I know each and every one of these projects. That's our task. My committee is responsible for over 1,000 military facilities around the world. We have gone through analysis. We know exactly what needs to be done. Some of these are absolutely critical projects.

If you care about what's going on with Putin, you better care about what the president has done there. Projects for the United States military to push back, to secure the eastern border of NATO have been ripped off, ripped off by this president.

We're talking about cybersecurity projects in Estonia. We're talking about military bases and preparedness in Poland. We're talking about, in the area of Ukraine, not NATO, but, in Ukraine, we are providing support, training to the Ukrainian government so that they can push back against the Russian incursions into that nation.

All of this has been sidelined -- not sidelined, buried by the Trump attempt to fund his border. It is outrageous. It is dangerous. It gives Putin a lot of leeway, and some -- some notion that the United States is not willing to stand up for NATO, not willing to stand up against Putin.

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It is extraordinarily dangerous to give that -- to give Putin even an inch. He will take it, and then he will take a whole lot more. And this president's giving him a lot of leeway on a lot of issues.

The fundamental question again in the inquiries in Congress is, what in the hell is going on between Putin and Trump? BLITZER: As you know, the president, he promised voters during the

campaign repeatedly, sometimes on a daily basis, that Mexico would pay for the wall.

He continued to make those promises after he was elected. He no longer says that now. Who would you say is bearing the brunt of this reprogramming right now?

GARAMENDI: Well, first, the American taxpayer. Mexico is not paying for it. The American taxpayer is, secondly, the men and women in the military that are posted around the world.

Schools are not going to be built. Day care centers are not going to be built. Facilities that are necessary for the support, the support of families, the support of the troops, is not going to happen. And, most importantly of all, the ability for the troops to have the equipment, to have the facilities that they need to prepare to defend this nation will not be there overseas and within America.

It is outrageous, what this man is doing, and we have to fight back, and we have got a constitutional issue here that we must pay attention to. The president is usurping, taking the constitutional authority of the Congress.

We have specifically said, no, Mr. President, you only have $1.3 billion for your border wall. That's $1.3 billion for your border wall, no more.

He's using an obscure power to circumvent the appropriation authority of Congress, the power of the purse, and we have to fight this. We cannot stand aside. This is not just about us. This is about tomorrow. This is about the next president and about the next person that wants to be an autocrat.

We're either going to have a democracy or not, and the fight is here and now.

BLITZER: Congressman Garamendi, as usual, thanks so much for joining us.

GARAMENDI: Any time.

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