CNN "CNN Newsroom" - Transcript: Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) is Interviewed about Impeachment

Interview

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Here to speak about it, as well as the crisis in Iran, Senator Jeanne Shaheen. She's a Democrat from New Hampshire, also sits on the Foreign Relations and Armed Services Committees.

Senator, thanks for taking the time this morning.

SEN. JEANNE SHAHEEN (D-NH): Good morning.

SCIUTTO: First, let me begin with the question of witnesses. It appears more Republicans now are open to witnesses, crucially four of them, Romney, Alexander, Collins, Murkowski. That would, if they follow through, get you to enough votes to call witnesses.

I wonder, you know, the conventional wisdom has been that the president's acquittal is a foregone conclusion. But if you were to hear from a John Bolton and if he were to repeat the story that others have said, how he viewed the withholding of Ukraine aid, is that necessarily a foregone conclusion, or is the result of this trial an open question?

SHAHEEN: Well, I'm not going to speculate on the trial. But what I think people in America want to hear, and the reason I'm glad that we've heard from four Republicans who say they want to hear from witnesses is, people want a fair trial. They want a fair process. And they want to hear from those people who might be able to firsthand shed some light on what actually was said.

And, you know, I don't understand if the -- if the White House and the president, if this was such a perfect phone call and the president says he has nothing to hide, then let's hear from those people who were in the room. Let's see those documents that we haven't -- that haven't been shared because the White House has been unwilling to do that.

SCIUTTO: Mitch McConnell has warned of mutually assured destruction if witnesses are called. The meaning of that being, OK, fine, Democrats, you might get your John Bolton, but keep in mind Hunter Biden might be on that list as well. How would you react to that? Would you be willing to hear from Biden in effect as the cost of hearing from Bolton and others?

SHAHEEN: Well, what we need to do is hear from those people who were in the room who have a firsthand knowledge of what occurred. That's what the American people want. We need a fair process, as I've said

And, you know, Hunter Biden wasn't in the room. It's a totally unrelated issue. It's a red herring that the Republicans have thrown out to try and confuse the situation.

And, you know, one of the things that we have to take as senators who are sitting on this process is a second oath in addition to our oath of office and our responsibility to the Constitution. And that's an oath that says we're going to try and get to the truth, to have a fair process. And it's hard to -- for my constituents to see how that happens when we've already got some members of the Senate, including Mitch McConnell, who are saying that they're going to do whatever the White House wants.

SCIUTTO: Fair point.

Senator, stand by for a moment. We do have some breaking news relating to the trial. This coming from our colleague Manu Raju on The Hill.

He says that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has suggested that a resolution to name impeachment managers will be on the floor tomorrow.

Manu Raju, you're on The Hill. Tell us what the news is here.

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, she just told her colleagues exactly that behind closed doors, that the House will move tomorrow, have a vote to transmit the articles of impeachment over to the Senate. First what they'll do is name -- vote to name those managers as part of a resolution. Those managers will then go and transmit the articles of impeachment over to the Senate and that will begin the Senate trial.

[09:45:01]

This has been the big question for some time, exactly when those articles would be delivered over to the Senate to begin the Senate trial. She made it very clear to her colleagues, the expectation is that that would occur tomorrow. Now, we don't know yet who the managers will be who will actually prosecute the case on behalf of Democrats, but she has not -- she indicated to her colleagues that she would not make that announcement here behind closed doors. We'll see if we learn more names, any of those names later today.

But, at the moment, Jim, the news here, Nancy Pelosi makes clear that tomorrow is going to be the day that the House will finish its process essentially, vote to name its impeachment managers, and then vote to transmit those articles of impeachment over to the Senate, and that will begin the Senate trial about whether the president should be removed from office.

Jim.

SCIUTTO: That is news.

Manu Raju on The Hill.

Senator Jeanne Shaheen back -- back with us.

And thank you for waiting a moment.

SHAHEEN: Sure.

SCIUTTO: You're going to be sitting as a juror in a trial of this president. I want to ask you, we're up for re-election in 2020. And one consistent result from polls, CNN and others, is how low on the list of topics for voters impeachment is. Well behind health care, for instance, and other issues.

Trump lost New Hampshire by less than 1 percent in 2016. I just wonder, are you worried that impeachment has strengthened the president, might strengthen your Republican opponent this November?

SHAHEEN: Well, we have, as I said, a responsibility as senators and members of Congress, probably the most serious responsibility next to the ability to declare war, that we have as elected members. And so it's important for us to do everything we can to ensure that this process goes forward in a fair way and to complete it in a way so that I want to be able to go back and tell my constituents that I have done everything possible to ensure that as much information came out as we could get and that I tried to do what I thought was the right thing to do based on the evidence.

And then the voters will have to decide. There are a lot of other issues that I hear about when I go home, including health care and national security. So there are a lot of things voters are worried about.

SCIUTTO: I get it.

OK, before I let you go, two questions in light of your position on the Foreign Relations Committee.

First on Iran. A lot of uproar, questions about how honest the president and the administration was about intelligence before the Soleimani strike. You've been unique as a Democrat. You said yesterday you were not as upset about it as some of your colleagues.

Given the briefings you had, were you satisfied that the U.S. had specific intelligence about the threat from Soleimani prior?

SHAHEEN: I thought a case was made that there was a threat to the United States. And my top concern is the safety and security of our diplomatic personnel and our men and women serving in the military, including 80 members of the New Hampshire National Guard who were serving across the Middle East.

But that's the wrong question. The question should be, was the killing of Soleimani the best option with the least risk to ensure safety for the United States? And the follow-up question is, what we should be discussing now is what is our strategy? What is our plan in the Middle East? We don't have a coherent policy to address the Middle East and address Iran. And that's what we ought to be talking about.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

Final question, "Washington Post" reports this morning President Trump is planning to divert further money from the Pentagon, $7.2 billion to be exact, in Pentagon funding to build a border wall. Of course acknowledging once again he never got congressional approval for this money.

Your reaction to that? SHAHEEN: Well, I think that's just wrong. You know, the fact is, when

we passed the appropriations bills, we included money for border security and money for the wall that he could use and he continues to steal from our military, from those projects that Congress has authorized, that our men and women in the military need.

So I think it's wrong. I hope that Republicans will again join us in trying to prevent the president from taking those dollars.

SCIUTTO: Senator Jeanne Shaheen, thanks so much, this morning. We enjoyed the conversation.

SHAHEEN: Thank you.

SCIUTTO: And we'll be right back.

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