CNN "Erin Burnett Out Front" - Transcript: "Interview with Rep. Adriano Espaillat"

Interview

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BOLDUAN: Yes, firsthand account and direct access to the President. Those two things we definitely see in this testimony. Great to see you, Kaitlan, so thanks so much.

OK. Out front tonight with me now is Democratic Congressman Adriano Espaillat. He sits on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, one of the committees that has been conducting these interviews. And I know, Congressman, you've been sitting in on some of these key interviews as well.

What is your reaction then to this addendum to the testimony coming from Sondland saying in this testimony that he told a top Ukraine official that the aid was not likely to be - to unfreeze, if you will, if they don't make this announcement about investigations.

REP. ADRIANO ESPAILLAT (D-NY): This could be a smoking gun and I think that first for the Republicans, they question the process. A process that they were in. They were in the room questioning the witnesses, including Sondland.

Then they went ahead and they question our vote. Then, of course, just a couple of days ago, they questioned the whistleblower. I suspect that tomorrow, Kate, they're going to question the addendum to the testimony of someone as well.

BOLDUAN: Do you see this as a smoking gun?

ESPAILLAT: I believe that is a smoking gun. I think that Sondland is a credible witness, he's someone that has been in communications with the President back and forth. He amended his testimony. I was in the room where he testified before the Committees.

BOLDUAN: That was October 17th.

ESPAILLAT: That's correct and I questioned him. And then he came back yesterday and he amended his testimony to reflect that. In fact, he did have communications with the Ukrainians about military aid.

BOLDUAN: Why do you think he that?

ESPAILLAT: I think maybe he's looking at what could happen to him and he wanted to be as precise and as transparent as possible.

BOLDUAN: Congressman, do you think then he was lying to you on October 17th or do you leave open the possibility that as he wrote in the addendum, the two statements from two other officials refreshed his memory about this encounter in Warsaw, Poland?

ESPAILLAT: The day after I was part of that process in the Committee that he was either playing dumb or he was lying through his teeth. Because many of the things that he was saying back then which some of which he amended now were really incomprehensible. And I think that he's someone that's in contact with the President, he was in contact with the Ukrainian officials, he knew about Burisma, I think he knew about that Hunter Biden was a member of Burisma, although in the committee hearings he said he didn't find out about that until the very end.

This is someone that said that corruption was a major problem in the Ukraine. There's hundreds of companies there that are involved in corruptions, yet they select the one company, Burisma, which is the one where Hunter Biden was affiliate. I think he knew that. I think they targeted it. They cherry-picked that company and they wanted the Ukrainian government to investigate the Bidens.

BOLDUAN: So then what questions do you have for Sondland now? What is your question now to him? I mean, I would assume that he's going to be one of the people that would be called for a public hearing.

ESPAILLAT: Well, we'll leave it to the public hearing. I think that he has lots of questions to answer. I think some of the questions may be what connections, direct connections he had with the President, what communications he had with the presidents vis-a-vis this conversation with the Ukrainians.

BOLDUAN: That may or may not be key, because here's one thing that he said in his testimony, let me read it for you. He said, "I did not know (and still do not know) when, why or by whom the aid was suspended." He is not saying that he knows a link, he is saying he does not know where this direction came from. That led him to tell this top aide in Ukraine.

ESPAILLAT: This is like who's on first and who's on second. This is more ...

BOLDUAN: You don't believe this.

ESPAILLAT: ... no, I don't believe that. Absolutely not. I think there's credible evidence. I would like to see Taylor testify again publicly.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

ESPAILLAT: Of course, Lieutenant Colonel was very credible as well and even Volker himself stated to Rudy Giuliani that the former Ukrainian prosecutor was not credible that he was not to be trusted. So there's a lot of testimonies there that lead to the reality that there was a conversation.

BOLDUAN: So let me ask you this and let me play for you Mark Meadows. His reaction today when asked about this, this seems to be the next defense that Republicans are now saying is that there is no link, as you're mentioning, no link to the President when it comes to a quid pro quo and so there is nothing there there. Listen to this.

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REP. MARK MEADOWS (R-NC): Any linkage that has been alleged, obviously, is based on many times second or third hand information. But I can tell you each and every time that the conversations were conducted with either the President of the United States or the Vice President of the United States, there was no linkage.

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[19:10:01]

BOLDUAN: No linkage to the President. I mean, so what do you do with that? He's not moving. It's not changing (inaudible) ...

ESPAILLAT: Look, Kate, I think the American people will make up their minds when they hear the public testimony once again from the Lieutenant Colonel, from Sondland, from Taylor and all of the other witnesses. This is again Mr. Meadows and others saying first, it was the problem of the process. Mr. Meadows was right there and (inaudible) ...

BOLDUAN: But if you don't have someone linking it to the President, do you think that's a problem for you?

ESPAILLAT: We'll see what they say publicly and you will judge for yourself, as well the American people, whether or not the President has something to do with it. I believe he did.

BOLDUAN: Congressman, thanks for coming in. An important day ...

ESPAILLAT: Thank you so much.

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