CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI) Is Interviewed About The Iran Crisis And Senate Impeachment

Interview

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

BLITZER: All right. Jim, thank you. Jim Acosta over at the White House. Let's get some more now on all the late breaking developments with Democratic Senator Mazie Hirono. She's a member of the Senate Arms Services Committee.

Senator, thanks so much for joining us. Let's talk about this unusual letter now that the Pentagon says was a mistake. A top general was saying it was a mistake. The U.S. notified Iraq of new troop movements in the region.

General Mark Milley says the implied withdrawal of troops is not happening. How do you interpret these mixed, very confusing messages, what's in this letter as opposed to what the top U.S. general now says?

SEN. MAZIE HIRONO (D-HI), ARMED SERVICE COMMITTEE: I conclude that there is ongoing chaos with this administration. And clearly the Iraqi parliament wants us to leave, and so this letter actually seemed to comport with that and only to be told moments later that that was a mistake.

So, you know, you asked earlier what is the end game, I don't think there is an end game that this administration thought about because this is the way the president makes his decision.

And so here we are with chaos in the Middle East. We are sending close to 10,000 more troops into the Middle East. Where they are going to be stationed, we don't know. We're sending B-52s. And rather than de- escalating the tensions that are already there, I think we've done the opposite with the president's precipitous action.

BLITZER: Secretary of State Pompeo briefed senators on a run this afternoon. You serve on the Senate Armed Services Committee. Have you been briefed?

HIRONO: No.

BLITZER: Why?

HIRONO: So, we're going to be briefed on Wednesday so I don't know who Pompeo briefed. Perhaps he briefed the Republicans. I do not know.

However, it is really difficult at this stage for us to give that much credence to the after the fact explanations by this administration, because first they do this killing and then they provide us with all the explanations and rationales.

How are we supposed to rely on what this administration comes up with, but the fact is that there is uncertainty, there is chaos. There is a lot of room for miscalculations going on.

And with the president just letting everybody know by tweet and says, oh, let's wait and see what happens, and then you have the Secretary of State saying, well, you know, Iran will make some noise.

This is not a game. And, you know, when you have Mitch McConnell going on the floor of the Senate saying that we treat this whole situation including impeachment, well, he was mainly talking about impeachment as a game, I would call that major projection on the part of the Republicans and their leadership.

BLITZER: After President Trump twice threatened Iranian cultural sites on twitter as possible sites for retaliation, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper now says the U.S. will not target cultural sites. Are you confident in the secretary of defense's assurance?

HIRONO: The president says a lot of things off the top of his head and then you find the adults, the few possibly remaining adults who have to make an explanation. So, you know, the president just said this -- I kind of doubt that the military will actually defy international law to go after cultural sites.

But again, these are all distractions. I think that the president is so concerned about the impeachment -- impending impeachment trial that this is a heck of a way to distract us and using basically the lives of our troops and not to mention the civilians in this area.

BLITZER: Speaking of impeachment, the former National Security adviser at the White House, John Bolton, now says he would be willing to testify before the Senate if he is subpoenaed. And Republican Senator Marco Rubio has already come out against that move. Tell us why you think Bolton would be a critical witness. HIRONO: IT's very clear that Bolton has firsthand knowledge of what

the president was doing with regard to Ukraine, and in fact, he called the whole endeavor with Giuliani a drug deal. So yes, he has information.

And if he were to tell the truth, I think it probably would corroborate what the people have already testified to and that is the president shook down the president of Ukraine to get what he wants politically.

And it is basically -- I'd say a drug deal is a pretty good way to describe what was going on there, but it's a big if that the Senate will subpoena Bolton because if Mitch McConnell has his way, nobody is going to be called on the testify.

At that point, we'll have the evidence that was already adduced in the House inquiry, and that's pretty damning evidence with regard to what the president did.

BLITZER: All right. Senator thanks so much for joining us. Mazie Hirono joining us from Capitol Hill.

HIRONO: Thank you. Aloha.

BLITZER: Aloha to you as well.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source