CNN "Erin Burnett Outfront" - Transcript: Rep. Pramila Japapal (D-WA) Is Interviewed About Republican Party Turning Down The Offer To Join The Impeachment Inquiry

Interview

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BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, Kaitlan. OUTFRONT now, a member of the House Judiciary Committee, Democratic Congresswoman Pramila Japapal. I appreciate your time, Congresswoman.

So are you surprised at all that the White House declined to participate in Monday's hearing and their final excuse is, well, Nancy Pelosi has made up her mind, so it doesn't matter what we say.

REP. PRAMILA JAYAPAL (D-WA): It's really unprecedented and I think the American people should know this.

[19:05:00]

Nixon participated, Clinton participated, this White House is now, after crying foul on process for so long, saying that they're not going to participate. And it is, I think, sad. Frankly, it doesn't say anything about what the President has a defense. In fact, if you saw the hearing on Wednesday, the Republicans did not contest the facts. The facts are uncontested.

This president abused his power, tried to coerce a foreign ally into interfering in our elections and withheld aid. That is a serious abuse of power. It is also a serious undermining of our elections. If the President has a defense, he should present it, but he's not been participating.

BURNETT: So why do think they aren't showing up? What do you think the real reason is in your view?

JAYAPAL: Because I really don't think that they have a defense. Remember that the number one witness for this whole thing was the President of the United States when he went out there and he told us at the beginning that he did this and so he is the smoking gun here. And I think they have no other defense to present, otherwise they would be presenting it.

BURNETT: All right. So Republicans on your committee are trying to mount the defense instead, right, and they have requested eight witnesses. They want Adam Schiff, the Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee presumably to talk about the whistleblower. They want Hunter Biden. They want the whistleblower. Will you all approve any of those requests?

JAYAPAL: No. I believe that this is the similar list to what they gave to Adam Schiff with the exception of Chairman Schiff. And this is, again, it just shows that this Republican Party has decided that they are all in for the President regardless of what abuse he has done, regardless of how he undermines our constitution and destroys the checks and balances. And I just think it's very, very sad.

I know you're going to have Republicans on who diverge from what the party is doing right now. The former U.S. Senator from my home state, Washington State, a Republican, broke with his party in the last impeachment and he wrote an article saying Republicans should impeach this president. And I think that we just need Republicans to listen to that.

BURNETT: And we will hear from him later this hour. I want to ask you, though, about some Democrats, two freshmen from swing districts are pushing back against adding Mueller evidence to the articles of Impeachment, which I know you've got to decide do you just keep this to Ukraine, do you go more broad and here they are.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was against going through with impeachment, previous to this Ukraine matter. So with the understanding that I'm not going to entertain any hypotheticals, I was very serious when I came out and said that, very serious.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think we need to stay focused on Ukraine and that's what it's about.

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BURNETT: Are you concerned you will lose democratic votes if you go beyond Ukraine?

JAYAPAL: Well, I think nothing has been decided. But what I would say is this, Ukraine is much worse than Mueller because the President is in office. At the same time, Ukraine is a pattern of conduct that relies on things that Mueller found in his investigations, obstruction of Congress, obstruction of justice, and abuse of power.

We need to make sure we don't define it so narrowly that we don't give the Senate what it needs for the trial to be able to really make the case that this president is just continuing to do this over and over again.

BURNETT: So Congresswoman, a moderate Democrat told CNN today on the background and I want to quote this person. "For me, right now, I am struggling to see how the evidence supports impeachment at this point." Does it concern you to hear that? I mean there has been 12 witnesses, two weeks of hearings. This person obviously doesn't want to be named, but a moderate Democrat is the best I can do to describe it for you.

Do you have any concern about where you stand right now in terms of the eventual outcome in the House with impeachment when you hear things like that?

JAYAPAL: I don't think so. I think this is a very difficult moment for everybody. I don't think that any of us moderate, conservative, however you want to describe us, want to be in this position. This is a sober moment for the country. We don't want to be impeaching a president and I think everybody is going home every night thinking about their oath, thinking seriously about everything in front of us and perhaps we should be concerned about whatever decision we're taking.

At the same time we have to uphold our oath to the Constitution, because we send a message not just to this president, but every future president that you can abuse power with no checks and balances. And if we do that, Erin, we do not live in a democracy anymore. We live in a monarchy.

BURNETT: Congresswoman Jayapal, I appreciate your time. Thank you.

JAYAPAL: Thank you.

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