CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: "Interview with Rep. Mike Quigley"

Interview

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KEILAR: Understandably so. Kylie Atwood, thank you so much for that report.

And joining me now is Democratic Congressman Mike Quigley of Illinois, a member of the Intelligence Committee.

Sir, thanks for joining us.

REP. MIKE QUIGLEY (D-IL): Glad to be here. Thank you.

KEILAR: Let's begin with the president going all in on his claim that American Jews who vote for Democrats are, in his words, very disloyal to Israel and the Jewish people.

What is your reaction to that?

QUIGLEY: Yes, this is a very tired, old anti-Semitic trope that I hope wouldn't be used again, much less by the president of the United States. When I first got to Congress 10 years ago --

[17:10:00]

QUIGLEY: -- it was drilled into our heads that Israel can't be a partisan issue. Eric Cantor on the Republican side, Steny Hoyer on the Democratic side, said it is not in the U.S. interest for that to happen. It is clearly not in Israel's interest and very shortsighted of Mr. Netanyahu to think that this should become a partisan issue.

And for the president to move in the opposite direction is really dangerous at this time.

KEILAR: And definitely your pointing out here, this is across partisan lines. Are you concerned with the fact that he is politicizing Israel and

that may be doing long-term damage?

QUIGLEY: I think the damage has been done for the last couple of years with the Trump White House. I'd like to think that cooler heads will prevail sometime when the president is no longer in office. But there is absolutely too much at stake.

I've been to Israel numerous times and recognize the critical nature of our alliance as an extraordinarily important democracy, the only real democracy in the Middle East. That relationship matters.

But the votes on Israel are extraordinarily important and they've always been bipartisan. For him to suggest that Democrats don't support Israel is a mistake. And in fact, most Jews in the United States are registered Democrats.

KEILAR: I want to talk about the president's canceled trip to Denmark. He made this move after the Danish prime minister called his proposal to buy Greenland "absurd." Denmark has been a key U.S. ally. They provide intelligence and they've sent troops I the fights in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Does his canceling this trip where they would have discussed security issues, hurt U.S. national security?

QUIGLEY: I think it hurts our security. I think it hurts our standing in the world as a whole. I just don't know what the president is thinking.

This isn't a land deal in Manhattan, where they are trying to build a high-rise and you can pressure somebody for the purchase. This is a self-governing people of Greenland under the larger government of Denmark. So it makes absolutely no sense.

What is next?

Next week we talk about purchasing the Falklands?

And if that doesn't work we get angry with their government?

It's bizarre. I don't know how else to explain it. And for the prime minister -- the Danish prime minister to call it absurd is absolutely correct. But I guess no one told the Danish prime minister that our president thinks he's a deity and can make no such mistakes.

KEILAR: Canceling on an ally, someone who has helped in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, who provides intelligence to the U.S., what signal does that send to other U.S. allies, especially as the president could be looking for support from some of them?

QUIGLEY: I don't know if many of our allies trust us any more. I don't know if our NATO allies believe that we would be there in crunch time. We talk about the percentage of GDP they use in their defense as being very important to all of our security.

The fact is, you mentioned these -- the intelligence that we all share is as important as anything we do together to keep all of us safe.

I often quote FDR's last inaugural in talking about this president. And he talked about the fact that, to keep the peace, we need to work with allies far away to protect ourselves and others.

And indeed, he quoted Emerson, saying, in the final analysis, to have a friend, you need to be a good one and we are not a good one right now to most of our allies.

KEILAR: The president is again pushing to reconstitute the G8, the group of industrialized nations, by bringing Russia back into the fold.

What would Russia need to do in order to deserve a place in the G8?

QUIGLEY: I traveled to the G7 with President Obama when it was in Germany. And obviously Russia wasn't there. Russia has to earn a place at that table again. They've done absolutely nothing to earn that.

Their activities in Crimea and the war that's taking place in Ukraine, their all-out assault on our democratic process that continues. DNI Coats, just recently having left, still said the lights are flashing red. Many of our intelligence services are telling us that the Russians haven't left.

So given that, the fact that our upcoming critical election is at stake, you're going to invite the person who perpetrated that and continues that assault to come to the United States and work along more civilized countries?

They haven't earned that right.

KEILAR: Congressman Mike Quigley, thank you so much for joining us.

QUIGLEY: Thank you.

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