CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: Interview With Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D- IL)

Interview

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BLITZER: Tonight, House Democrats are accusing President Trump of committing multiple federal crimes, including bribery, even though they were not explicitly referenced in the articles of impeachment.

We're joined now by Democratic Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, a member of both the Intelligence and Oversight committees.

Congressman, thanks so much for joining us.

REP. RAJA KRISHNAMOORTHI (D-IL): Thank you.

BLITZER: And let's walk through what the House of Representatives is about to do.

They will take a historic vote to impeach the president on Wednesday. Walk us through what will happen.

KRISHNAMOORTHI: Well, as you know, there are two articles of impeachment, one for abuse of power and the other for obstruction of Congress.

And so there will be a vote on these articles. Obviously, I don't think that the speaker is doing anything other than directing people to vote per their conscience and their constituents. And I think that's what people are going to do on Wednesday.

BLITZER: Your Republican colleague Will Hurd of Texas says, you can vote against impeachment, but still disagree with some of the president's behavior.

How do you respond to that?

[18:20:02]

KRISHNAMOORTHI: I respectfully disagree with my colleague, in the sense that this type of behavior is precisely why the framers of the Constitution incorporated an impeachment provision within the Constitution.

The framers were deeply concerned about foreign powers getting involved in the domestic affairs of America. And, specifically, they would have been extremely concerned about pressuring a foreign power or getting a foreign power to get involved in our elections.

In this particular case, that's exactly what the evidence shows that the president, over a pattern of -- over several months exhibited a pattern of conduct in which he pressured the Ukrainians to basically investigate his political rivals, thereby compromising national security and the integrity of our elections, Wolf.

BLITZER: What does it say to you, Congressman, that not a single Republican in the House is expected to vote for either of these articles of impeachment?

KRISHNAMOORTHI: Well, as you know, Justin Amash, I guess, was a Republican before he disagreed with the president. I think that he will probably vote in favor of the articles.

That being said, at this point, I think everyone has to vote their conscience and has to do the right thing and put the Constitution above party and politics. That's extremely important.

BLITZER: Should Justin Amash, who is now an independent member of the House, serve as an impeachment case manager, a manager in the course of the trial in the Senate, as some of your Democratic colleagues are recommending?

KRISHNAMOORTHI: I don't want to speculate on who the manager is going to be.

I know that Nancy Pelosi is going to assemble a team that knows the facts and brings credit to the House in presenting the case in the Senate.

BLITZER: In an interview, a new interview, as we have been reporting, in "The New Yorker" magazine, Rudy Giuliani, the president's personal attorney, made this admission about his campaign to push out the former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch.

He says this. He says: "I believed that I needed Yovanovitch out of the way. She was going to make the investigations difficult for everybody."

So, what do you think? How significant is that admission by Giuliani?

KRISHNAMOORTHI: I think it's very significant. And that's what the evidence showed during the hearings, that Rudy Giuliani and the president basically pushed Ambassador Yovanovitch away to basically install Rudy Giuliani in charge of Ukraine policy, along with the three amigos, Ambassador Sondland, Rick Perry and Volker, Ambassador Volker.

And, basically, what they sought to do was to basically commandeer Ukraine policy in favor of Donald Trump's political ambitions. And, as I said before, that's a shadow foreign policy. That is not necessarily in the best interests of the country, but maybe in the best interest of Rudy Giuliani's clients and Donald Trump's political agenda.

But that's not the way that our foreign policy should ever be run.

BLITZER: Should Giuliani be called as a witness?

KRISHNAMOORTHI: I don't know. We have never received the documents that were subpoenaed from

Giuliani. I personally -- I'm speaking for myself. I personally believe that we should always view documents from a witness before they are examined in terms of their live testimony.

And so I'd like to see those documents first.

BLITZER: Congressman Krishnamoorthi, thanks so much for joining us.

KRISHNAMOORTHI: Thank you so much.

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