MSNBC "The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell" - Transcript: "Hurricane Dorian death toll rises."

Interview

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O`DONNELL: And for tonight`s episode of "Meet The Freshman" we are joined now by the 40-year-old Freshman Democratic Congressman Jason Crow of Colorado. Thank you very much for joining us tonight, Congressman. Really appreciate it.

CROW: Good to be on, Lawrence. Thank you.

O`DONNELL: You were down at the Southern Border just as this news was breaking on the 3.6 billion that`s being diverted from the jurisdiction of your committee, Armed Services Committee, to fund the border wall what did you hear at the border from the people working there about what they need at the border?

CROW: So every location we visited I asked one simple question. I didn`t want to guide the answer in any particular direction. I just said what is your greatest need from Washington? What can we give you to help you get this job done and accomplish your mission on the border? And every single person gave me the same answer. They said we need more personnel. They didn`t say a wall. In fact, one agent that I was talking to who said it doesn`t matter what we build. We could put a fence, a wall, slats, barricades. They always find a way over, under or through it. But what we need is more personnel and more agents. So that just illustrated to me that the President`s drive for this wall is a political decision. He`s driving this based on his politics and his need, to show strength or to, you know, keep a campaign promise, whatever it happens to be, but this is not what the folks are saying, certainly to me, is their number one priority.

O`DONNELL: It sounds like the kind of question that if a member of Congress found you in Iraq or when you`re serving Afghanistan that a wise member of Congress would have asked you. What do you need? Is that where that kind of question comes from, for you?

CROW: Well, what I like to do when I do these visits, these Congressional Oversight visits, I just want to get information. My job is to get information to assess that information and to make good policy. It`s not to drive politics and any of these situations that`s not my background. I grew up in a family of small business owners and construction workers. I worked in construction to put my way through college. I became an army ranger. My job was about getting things done for my community and for people, not about politicizing issues. I always want to try to get the best information possible. That`s certainly my background.

O`DONNELL: I want to go to your decision this summer to come out in support of an impeachment inquiry. Tell us how you got there?

CROW: I wanted to assess all the information. I wanted to wait to see what the Mueller Report contained in it. I read the whole report, was shocked by its contents, I still am shocked by its contents. I wanted to hear what Robert Mueller had to say some of the other testimony. Ultimately at the end of the day, this was about rule of law, this was about my experience, as you mentioned earlier, in Iraq and Afghanistan and seeing firsthand what happens in a society when people don`t trust government anymore, when rule of law, order and process breaks down. And I started to see some indications of that early on in my campaign. I was talking to some folks on the campaign trail and, you know, some of them said listen, it doesn`t matter what you tell me. You seem like a really nice guy but I just don`t believe this system works for me, whether you`re a Republican or a Democrat. And that really shook me. That shook me to the core to hear people saying that, that type of apathy and resignation and I wanted to do something about it. And that`s why I said recently that we have to conduct an inquiry. Congress has to assert itself in this process and maintain checks and balances and if we`re not able to do that now, then when?

O`DONNELL: Congressman, what is your constituents` reaction been to this? As we said, stressed, you`re the first Democrat to represent this district. Here you are, in your first year, saying you want to have an impeachment inquiry of a Republican President?

CROW: Well, I walk people through my thought process on this. I get out in my community a lot. I hold town halls and coffees on the corner, round tables all the time, you know, over the last month. We were here on our district work period. I probably did 30 or 40 public events out in the community. I meet with anybody and everybody. I take their questions and I walk them through my thought process. I think that`s a lesson for other folks, don`t hide from those interactions. Even if people don`t agree with you necessarily, if you show up, if you`re willing to have the conversation with them, talk through the issue, keep an open mind, listen to what they have to say, be respectful of them. More often than not, they`ll be okay with the way you come out because I always remind my constituents that the promise is not agreement 100 percent of the time. If elected official comes up and says, you know, you`re going to agree with me 100 percent of the time, they`re not telling you the truth. The promise is about, you know, making sure you`re transparent and open with folks.

O`DONNELL: Congressman Jason Crow gets tonight`s LAST WORD. Thank you very much for joining us, Congressman, and please come back, really good to have you here.

CROW: Thank you. Good to be on.

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