CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: "Interview with Rep. Don Beyer"

Interview

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BLITZER: All right, Jim Acosta at the White House for us.

Joining us now is Democratic Congressman Don Beyer of Virginia. He's a member of the Ways and Means Committee. Congressman thanks very much for coming in. Did the president do the right thing by cancelling, or at least postponing his trip to Poland this weekend?

REP. DON BEYER (D-VA): Yes, I think he did. I'm glad he's going to focus on Dorian hitting Florida and maybe Georgia. But I don't think that can take away from the fact that he so blew it two years ago when the storm hit Puerto Rico. And I certainly hope that he didn't go attack all the political leaders in our southern states the way he's done the political leaders in Puerto Rico. In fact, when they have needed help the most, he's been out there tearing them down.

BLITZER: And while he was in Warsaw, supposedly this weekend, he said even Vice President Mike Pence instead as you just heard from Jim Acosta, he was supposed to meet with the new president of Ukraine, obviously that's not now going to happen. What do you think of these reports that he's thinking of cutting or eliminating about $250 million in U.S. military aid to Ukraine.

BEYER: First of all, I think there will be strong bipartisan backlash against that, Senate and House. And it's really ironic. John Bolton was just there yesterday meeting with the Ukraine leaders, pledging U.S. support for their independence, their sovereignty.

It's really hard not to see this in the G7 context. Last week, we have Trump - they're trying to get Russia back into the G7 but they have not yet paid a price for stealing Crimea, and for continuing to really try to disrupt democracies throughout Western Europe and the United States.

BLITZER: I'm sure there will be plenty of opposition if in fact that decision goes forward. You heard a very different tone. And you pointed it out yourself when the president is talking about Puerto Rico and the threat to Puerto Rico, as opposed to the threat to Florida, and maybe Georgia as well. Why do you think that is?

BEYER: Well, part of it is that Florida could be a swing state in 2020. And part of it is Florida is not an island full of people of color. We have seen him again and again pick on anywhere where color is involved. But I don't really criticize his sticking up and trying to modify the impacts of the hurricane on Florida. I just wished that he would be evenhanded when it comes to the Virgin Islands or Puerto Rico.

BLITZER: But you know does he realize that the 3 million people who live in Puerto Rico are U.S. citizens? BEYER: I don't think he's ever really acknowledged that. And at least he didn't talk about dropping a nuclear bomb in the middle of the hurricane as he's apparently reported this week doing.

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[17:15:00] BLITZER: (INAUDIBLE) from developing.

BEYER: A little crazy.

BLITZER: He's denying that as you know. But Axios is confirming that multiple times.

The president says FEMA is prepared for this new hurricane, this Category 4 potentially when it hits Florida, maybe Georgia, but as you know, the Trump administration is now diverting about $271 million from FEMA in order to beef up immigration protection, as the president would call it. What do you think about it?

BEYER: I think it's crazy. He has this obsession on a wall, and now a black wall, when we know the things we really need to be concerned about at the border, drugs, for example, fentanyl are all coming right through the ports of entry. So it's a disaster. FEMA gets better and better, unfortunately with climate change we have become more practiced at dealing with this.

BLITZER: But since Congress appropriated, authorized those funds for FEMA, appropriated those funds for FEMA, does the president have the authority to simply sign some sort of document and move more than $270 million from FEMA to some other purposes?

BEYER: We don't think that he does. But he's going to say, so called EEPA authority, Emergency Powers Act but it's really difficult to make the case that there's an emergency on the border right now. The emergency is with taking care of the women and children who have turned themselves in voluntarily. And in the last couple of weeks in Congress we addressed that.

BLITZER: But $150 million is from FEMA, another $100 million or so from other disaster relief programs that he wants to reprogram. So, will you challenge that decision?

BEYER: Yes, we absolutely will. We had this fight over the last couple weeks where he was going to divert a couple of billion dollars for the foreign aid. Again, same idea, citing EEPA and he relented, thank goodness because there was bipartisan push back. I think there will be again on this.

BLITZER: Congressman Beyer, thank you so much for coming in.

BEYER: Thank you, Wolf. Appreciate it.

BLITZER: Appreciate it very much.

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