CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: "Interview with Sen. Chris Coons"

Interview

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BLITZER: We're back with breaking news on a dramatic change in impeachment testimony.

Ambassador Gordon Sondland now admits telling Ukraine that U.S. aid was tied to the country announcing an investigation of Joe Biden. The diplomat and Trump ally confirming a quid pro quo he hadn't acknowledged before.

Joining us now, Senator Chris Coons, a Democrat and a member of both the Judiciary and Foreign Relations committees.

Senator, thanks so much for joining us.

Does this amount to extortion of Ukraine for the president's political agenda?

SEN. CHRIS COONS (D), DELAWARE: Well, Wolf, this is quite a striking development.

This is not some anonymous whistle-blower. This cannot be argued to be some action by a deep state opponent of President Trump. Gordon Sondland, the ambassador to the E.U., was a major Republican donor, a supporter of President Trump, who was handpicked by President Trump and senior leaders in his administration to serve as the ambassador to the E.U. from the United States.

So, his reversal of testimony today, now clarifying that he did, in fact, directly communicate a quid pro quo on the resumption of badly needed military aid to Ukraine, conditioned on some public statement about an anti-corruption effort into looking at the Bidens, something that's got no foundation, is, I think, a very significant development.

BLITZER: Ambassador Sondland's testimony makes it clear that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was aware of Rudy Giuliani's meddling in all issues involving Ukraine.

Do you understand why he and others in the administration didn't intervene?

COONS: I don't.

Frankly, one of the things that really concerns me here, Wolf, is the ways in which career Foreign Service officers were hung out to dry, were left without active support and were made to stand aside or were recalled at the expense of this outsourced private foreign policy effort by Rudy Giuliani, who I will remind you is the president's personal lawyer, not someone with any official role in our foreign policy.

BLITZER: And the fact that he had no security clearances, is that something the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is even looking into?

COONS: We should be. There's a lot of things we should be looking into, both on Judiciary and on Foreign Relations, about this matter.

But, frankly, Wolf, I think the only time we're likely to be taking up and considering the matters that are currently in front of the House is if there are articles of impeachment voted. That will then refer the matter to the Senate, where we will sit as if a jury and review whatever those articles of impeachment have in them, and ultimately render a verdict.

BLITZER: Many Trump administration officials are now stonewalling the House impeachment inquiry, refusing to testify.

Do you think the House has enough evidence already to draft articles of impeachment, or are there still unanswered questions?

COONS: Well, Wolf, I certainly haven't read all of the transcripts that are publicly available.

But just from what I'm seeing from news reports and from what I have had access to, there's a fairly significant amount of evidence that's already been compiled in a fairly short amount of time. I will tell you, compared to comparable inquiries against then

President Nixon or then President Clinton, this has moved fairly quickly.

BLITZER: Based on what you have seen at this point, Senator, is there -- if there's an impeachment trial in the Senate, would you vote to convict and remove the president from office?

COONS: Well, if I think it's very premature for me to make any such judgment.

I think it's important that those of us in the Senate treat this with a seriousness that an historic development like an impeachment proceeding requires.

And I am, under my constitutional obligations here, supposed to look at the charges and the evidence in front of me, not based on press reports. So, without an article of impeachment and the relevant information in front of me, I'm not going to say how I would or wouldn't rule.

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And it's my hope that many of my colleagues will weigh this evidence carefully and closely and with the seriousness that it warrants.

BLITZER: Senator Coons, thanks so much for joining us.

COONS: Thank you, Wolf.

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