CNN "CNN Newsroom" - Transcript: Interview With Rep. Vicente Gonzalez (D-TX) Regarding Ongoing Attacks Of Biden On Buttigieg

Interview

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BIDEN: Look, he is the one who has been attacking me, George. I never said a word about him. But he's talking from the beginning about how I don't have a record to run on, that Biden -- all the problems from the past.

And it was used to be Barack and me. Now, he found out how proper Barack is, so it's now just me as if I wasn't any part of that administration.

And so I was responding to -- I haven't done this, I responded to his attacks on me.

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WHITFIELD: All right, joining me right now, Congressman Vicente Gonzalez. He serves on the House Foreign Affairs Committee and has endorsed Biden for President. Good to see you, Congressman.

REP. VICENTE GONZALEZ (D-TX): Good to see you, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, so we're told that you know, Biden donors want to see more of that Biden. You know, they want Biden to be more aggressive, go on the attack. Is that what you want to see as well?

GONZALEZ: Well, I think he only needs to do that if appropriate when people are attacking him, obviously.

But I think he has displayed real presidential skills. If you see his last debate, he was the only one who could really articulate the importance of an American leadership in NATO.

He has the foreign experience, foreign world experience in terms of meeting with world leaders and dictating foreign policy.

He really is the only candidate that could get us past the finish line in November and that's why he is being attacked not only by other Democrats, but by Trump's administration.

He continues to be attacked by his administration because they know if we have a Joe Biden, at the end of the day in November that will be the most complicated election for Donald Trump.

But also, we can't call a winner when only two of the widest states in the country have voted. So I think Biden needs to get down the road to other states like Nevada, South Carolina.

I believe he's going to do well in Texas. He's been endorsed by a lot of African-American members of Congress, a lot of Latino Members of Congress. And I think he's the leadership position within the field of Democrats that are running right now and we need to keep staying behind him and assure that we have a winning candidate when we get to November.

We can't just get emotional about someone we like, we really need to take a look at who is the most viable candidate to beat Donald Trump in November, and that the only person that can do that is Joe Biden.

WHITFIELD: So do you worry that Biden being more aggressive, you know, against his Democratic opponents is contrary to what Biden said early on, which was you know, he wants to be a unifier within the party and his clear opponent was Donald Trump.

Do you think that his recent campaign ad or even his, you know position against Buttigieg on the Friday night stage is contrary to all of that?

GONZALEZ: I think he is probably responding -- I believe he is more responding to members of his own party who are attacking him on issues that he is trying to clarify.

But at the end of the day, I think he is still the best candidate who can beat Donald Trump in November, and we need to be cognizant of that and get behind the winner and get behind the person who could take us past the finish line.

They're all great candidates. Joe Biden is the only one who can win in November.

WHITFIELD: Okay. Okay. You see, that's advantageous then.

Well, let's talk about, you know, the General Election, you know, moving forward, you talk about there are other states where you feel confident that, you know, Biden will be doing well. It isn't just about, you know, Iowa and New Hampshire.

But, you know, there are some new polls that indicate that you know, Biden's electability is slipping and has in recent weeks and months. Are you concerned that when polled about him being the best candidate to take on Donald Trump that the numbers have dwindled a bit.

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GONZALEZ: No, I'm not. You know, a day or two and a presidential race isn't eternity, and he has been the steady ship since day one. And I believe that he will continue to be that steady candidate all the way through the election.

I mean, you're going to see ups and downs in every campaign, but at the end of the day, I think the American people realize that Joe Biden is the only one with the experience and the capable campaign to keep forging ahead and get us past the November election defeating President Donald Trump.

WHITFIELD: Okay, some Republicans want to make sure that, you know, Joe Biden doesn't even make it to the General Election.

GONZALEZ: That is right. They absolutely are trying to do that.

WHITFIELD: I mean, the President's allies you saw, you know, what has transpired in the last 24 hours. The President's allies in Congress, you know, continuing to attack Biden and even threatened and say they want to launch these investigations into Hunter Biden, regardless of what just transpired in the impeachment process.

Here's what G.O.P. Senator Lindsey Graham had to say earlier today.

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SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): The Democrats are being played and I'm not going to be played. So we're going to look at the Hunter Biden-Joe Biden connection to the

Ukraine. We're going to ask the State Department, why didn't you do something about the conflict of interest?

When John Kerry's Chief of sStaff was warned about Hunter Biden's conflict on Burisma, what did you do if anything? That's all legitimate.

Rudy says he's got the goods. All I can tell Rudy and anybody else, if you've got some information connected to the Ukraine against anybody, go to the Intel Committee, not me.

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WHITFIELD: So what do you think about that? I mean, even Lindsey Graham went on to say that, you know, he had a conversation with the Attorney General Barr about the goods, the information that the personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani has right now. This is four days after the end of the Senate trial.

GONZALEZ: Yes, it doesn't surprise me. This is a continuation of their political attack against Joe Biden, because they know this is the candidate who can defeat Donald Trump.

WHITFIELD: Do you think this is going to undermine, hurt Joe Biden?

GONZALEZ: It is to try to hurt Joe Biden's campaign. And I think a Democratic voters are smarter than that.

WHITFIELD: Do you think it will undercut --

GONZALEZ: I don't believe so. At the end of the day, I think smart Democratic voters see through that and Joe Biden is going to do well.

WHITFIELD: Okay. Well, what do you see in the days ahead for Joe Biden? Does he address it? Does he not? I mean, you know, how do you see this potentially --

GONZALEZ: This has already been addressed, and most of those allegations have been debunked. I think, he just needs to continue with his message to the American people that he is the most capable candidate to take us past the November election.

And I think most of the American people know this. We're going to see as he continues down this campaign path, and I think his numbers are going to increase in every state from here on out, and we're going to continue seeing Joe Biden at the front of the pack.

And I think he's going to be our candidate in November and we're going to defeat Donald Trump.

WHITFIELD: Okay. Except that you know that the President is not going to let it go. It sounds like he, you know, and other Republicans are going to keep going on it.

GONZALEZ: I think that's going to hurt him. WHITFIELD: Okay.

GONZALEZ: Because it's clear that it's a political fiasco.

WHITFIELD: Okay. Well, lastly, let me ask you, you know, you serve in the House Affairs Committee, you know, I want to get your reaction to this attack in Afghanistan killing -- which led to the killing of two U.S. service members. What do you know about the circumstances of what happened and the concerns from this --

GONZALEZ: We don't know the details. We will be talking about that here this next week. My prayers go out to the family that lost these two soldiers.

WHITFIELD: Yes. All right. Congressman Vicente Gonzalez. Thank you so much for being with me. Appreciate it.

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