CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: "Interview with Rep. John Garamendi"
Interview
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BLITZER: All right, Jim, thank you, Jim Acosta at the White House.
Let's get some more on all of this. Joining us now, Democratic Congressman John Garamendi of California. He's a member of the Armed Services Committee. Congressman, how significant is Ambassador Sondland's revised testimony today confirming his role in a quid pro quo with Ukraine?
REP. JOHN GARAMENDI (D-CA): It's extremely important. It's one more confirmation that the whistle-blower was correct in the allegations that he brought forward. And that had been reviewed by the inspector general.
All of this is getting deeper and deeper and much more difficult for the president. We keep using the word quid pro quo. But the accurate word here is bribery and extortion. Those are criminal charges. Quid pro quo, OK, no, bribery and extortion. Extorting from Ukraine in exchange for money, $391 million of necessary medical -- military equipment in exchange for dirt to be used in a campaign, two illegal actions put together.
BLITZER: Gordon Sondland is a wealthy hotelier from Oregon. He gave $1 million dollars to the Trump inaugural committee, very active supporting President Trump during the campaign. He clearly can't be described as a never Trumper. Why do you think Sondland felt compelled to update his testimony?
GARAMENDI: Perjury, very simple, perjury. He was headed toward a perjury charge and probable conviction ending his career in jail. Clearly he should have taken an ethics and a legal course somehow somewhere during the early days even before he became ambassador.
He broke the law. He was perjured. He had perjured himself before the committee. And this is why the depositions are extremely important. All of the depositions provide information. You can't find yourself caught up in a lie because somebody else is also testifying and you're going to get caught. And that is what happened to Sondland. It may very well happen to others.
And by the way, when are we going to get the actual words? The President's words, they're hidden in a secret server not in Ukraine, not in Russia, but in the White House, let's have that. We had the Nixon tapes. Let's get the words out of that server and get all of the reductions that were in the transcript.
BLITZER: The rough transcript that was released by the White House.
GARAMENDI: Right.
BLITZER: Some Republicans have started to acknowledge that the President's conduct toward Ukraine was inappropriate. But they insist, it doesn't necessarily rise to the level of impeachment, impeachment removal from office. In light of what we learned today, how do you respond to that defense of the President?
GARAMENDI: Read the constitution. Read the constitution, the clause on impeachment. It said bribery and other high crimes and misdemeanors. The President was engaged in a bribe. He was offering money in exchange for dirt in a political campaign.
Now it also happens to be illegal to accept help, financial and otherwise, from a foreign government. So that is a crime also. In this, in here, we clearly have extortion and bribery, it's all there. It's clear. That's where these depositions are going. They're going to lay all of that out. And then in the open public testimony, we'll have it.
[17:15:06] And from my good Republican friends and colleagues, I don't know how you're going to get away from the fact that there was a crime called extortion, bribery, and campaign finance.
BLITZER: The President and his allies have stepped up the pressure to reveal the identity of the whistle-blower who prompted this entire Ukraine-related investigation. Is there anything more you'd like to see Congress do to protect the identity of the whistle-blower?
GARAMENDI: Yes. I would like to have Congress point out to the President that is his job, specifically, in the whistle-blower statutes as they relate to the intelligence community. It is the President's responsibility to protect the whistle-blower.
Now, maybe the President is going to head down another criminal activity here and that is instead of protecting the whistle-blower, harming the whistle-blower.
BLITZER: Congressman Garamendi, thanks so much for joining us.
GARAMENDI: My pleasure.
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