MSNBC "The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell" - Transcript: "Democrats call for Kavanaugh impeachment."
Interview
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O`DONNELL: Joining us now is freshman Democrat Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin from Michigan. She is a member of the Armed Services Committee and the Homeland Security Committee. She was the Acting Assistant Secretary of defense for International Security Affairs under President Obama and is a former CIA Middle East analyst. Perfect night to have you here. Let`s start with the Auto Workers. Do you support the Auto Workers?
REP. ELISSA SLOTKIN (D-MI): I mean of course. I mean, I`m from Michigan so--
O`DONNELL: Wait. Didn`t you see what President Trump said about - he said a lot of words but he never said yes, of course.
SLOTKIN: Well, I mean, I think it--
O`DONNELL: Don`t you want to be more careful in your answer?
SLOTKIN: No, it`s just - it`s not a hard one for me. I have two GM plants in my districts. We have a huge number of auto workers in my district and you know the UAW built itself up in my state. We were the most unionized state in the country for a long time. So we`re used to standing with labor and we stand with them now. And I just - I urgently hope all sides are going to get back to the table tomorrow morning and work this out.
O`DONNELL: I mean these things can be solved quickly but in a business as giant as GM, there are massive losses for basically every hour of a strike like this.
SLOTKIN: For everybody. I mean, the workers are losing money too, right? They`re living on $250 a week now as we - as they strike. So everyone suffers. No one wants this to go on but there is a point where you know, folks have to push for what they believe in and that`s what they`re doing right now so.
O`DONNELL: What would you say to General Motors if you got a chance - if you could tell them what they - what they should be considering when they think about the Union`s position?
SLOTKIN: I just think it`s important that we all remember the ark of the story and the ark of the story is when GM went through - was really suffering, the workers took it and absorbed some of the pain in order to keep GM`s doors open, in order to keep that kind that company solvent. So now that they`re doing better and we`re thrilled that they`re doing better, we want them to do better. You know it`s time that they give their workers what they deserve so I think it`s just putting it into context, I think it`s - that`s important.
O`DONNELL: And the company was a big beneficiary of the Obama administration`s intervention which they paid back. It`s not - it`s not like they took something from the government but they did have a support system from the government when they needed it. Let`s turn to what`s going on the drone strike in Saudi Arabia. You`re an expert on the region. Former CIA analyst, what do you see there? What do you see in the administration`s reaction to it?
SLOTKIN: Well, I mean I think you`ve had guest on who have talked about it in similar ways but I just think it`s a strong step by the Iranians and you know they`re going to deny it but you know we need to do a full analysis of what actually happened but more than just a tactical moment, I think we have to realize that this is - this is kind of how warfare is going to be fought in the future. This is not I think a one off incident. What folks have been able to do with drones obviously has been really significant over the past couple of years. So more than just this one strike, I think we`re looking at something that`s going to be part of our future. The Iranians listen, they`ve taken an aggressive step. Obviously an attack on Saudi Arabia oil fields, it`s going to prompt a lot of questions about a response. I just think we need to be level headed, take a breath, make sure we understand where these strong came from, who operated them and why and then taken the next move without kind of just you know, Yosemite Sam shooting off--
O`DONNELL: How long do you think it will take to get a real assessment of what has happened?
SLOTKIN: Well, I can just go from my prior life as a CIA officer. If we had what we thought would be it you know, an Iranian rocket or an Iranian mortar, we would have a proper weapons team come in, take a look at it, do the forensics, understand where it was manufactured, compare it to other examples we have and we do an analysis. We do it thoroughly and we bring in the right expertise so that`s what I want the Saudis to be doing. I think they`ve invited the U.N. in to help do that and I think that that`s a good positive step but there`s no way an hour or two after an incident like this we should be claiming we know exactly what happened.
O`DONNELL: The President tweeted, he was locked and loaded just instantaneously.
SLOTKIN: Yes, I just - it`s just not language that`s helpful and you know, the President goes back and forth--
O`DONNELL: But how does the region see that, that language from the President? How do they react?
SLOTKIN: I think the problem is if we don`t know here in the United States kind of where the President is at any given moment, what does the region think is going on? And I don`t think this President wants war with Iran. I think he and Bolton came to blows or not blows but came to you know argue about this. But you can get in an inadvertent war without meaning to and when you use language like that and you escalate and you risk kind of knee jerk reactions, you can find yourself in a conflict that you maybe didn`t want to be in but you`re in it because everyone gets their backs up and they don`t back down.
O`DONNELL: Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin, thank you very much--
SLOTKIN: Thank you so much.
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