MSNBC "The Beat with Ari Melber" - Transcript: "Dems ramp up impeachment probe."

Interview

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MELBER: Stay with me. I`m going to bring it as promised, California Congressman Mark Takano who just announced his support for impeachment proceedings. Thanks for coming on The Beat tonight.

TAKANO: My pleasure Ari.

MELBER: Did you reach this position because you think, President Trump committed a crime?

TAKANO: I did reach this decision. I struggled with this and I`m - I kept on coming back to the obstruction of justice, being a very serious crime and that I could not give him a pass on, on obstructing justice and that no person is above the law, especially - not especially but even - even the person who holds the highest office in the land.

MELBER: So you`re - and this is where it`s very interesting with what we`ve been discussing here. Now you`re someone who actually has a vote in the matter. You think he committed a crime and you think leaving that unaddressed by the House, regardless of what the Senate may do. I imagine you`re not going to tell me tonight that you have a secret plan to convince Mitch McConnell to remove the President from office and so who knows what would happen but you think that the House should do that. Your speaker Pelosi has said she also thinks he committed crimes that he should be - she`s even said reportedly according to Washington Post, he should be jailed. So is there something here where you and she agree on that but disagree on going forward and how do you see this going? Or do you want to convince her otherwise?

TAKANO: Well, look this is - this is not a matter of my substituting my judgment for Speaker Pelosi`s. I have tremendous amount of respect for Speaker Pelosi. This is about me representing my district, the 41st district California. It`s about my neighbors, my voters and you know, being back in the district has been an opportunity for me to get in touch with where - take a pulse on where people are and there is a responsibility of a representative to not just represent their interests but also - to be the conscience. Here, I think the two are emerging. My conscience as a representative and what they`re telling me they want and I am - I am very - I`ve come around to feeling and believing that you know, the heart of the matter is that the Mueller report did not exonerate President Trump. That it laid out very serious, serious evidence about the President`s interference with an investigation and it was not a trivial investigation. It was - it was not about private conduct. It was about - about Russian interference in our elections and elections are the foundation of our democracy. And he must be held accountable and I go back to you know to when I was a 13 year old boy and I watched gavel to gavel, the hearings, the impeachment hearings led by Peter Rodino and showcasing those hearings was a new member of Congress Barbara Jordan of Houston, Texas and she captured my imagination as a 13 year old boy and she actually inspired me to think about a future in politics. It was so important for me, a minority 13-year boy whose grandfather sat behind me, he sat behind me smoking his pipe, reading his Japanese pulp fiction. And you know, he had lost his wife`s property during World War 2 because they were in turned in internment camps and their five green houses in Bellevue, Washington were casualty of that great injustice. So the constitution had failed him but I saw before me a woman who declared that her face in the constitution was whole, it was complete and she really comes my imagination and at stake here was a lesson, a civics lesson for all 13-year olds, 12-year olds. I have a - I just got an email from someone who congratulated me for coming out and taking the stand. She watched - she was 10-years old when she watched those hearings and so at stake today is a lesson for all young people that no person is above the law, that obstruction of justice is a serious crime, especially when it`s about obstructing an investigation of great national importance.

MELBER: And that`s what`s interesting to hear sort of you really laid out and give us your thought process as Americans are wondering whether this is over or not. What`s going to greet Speaker Pelosi when she comes back? That is the decision maker for the floor of the House. Congressman Takano, thank you so much. John Flannery, Washington, thank you.

TAKANO: My pleasure.

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