CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: Rep. John Garamendi (D-CA) is Interviewed About William Barr

Interview

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Let's get some more on all of the breaking news. Democratic Congressman John Garamendi of California is joining us. He's a key member of the Arm Services Committee. Congressman, thanks for coming in.

REP. JOHN GARAMENDI (D-CA): Always good to be with you, Wolf.

BLITZER: What do you think of what the attorney general has just said?

GARAMENDI: Well, a bully can only push somebody so far before they push back. I'm delighted he push back now, he should have pushed back at the very, very beginning. It's been a long highway (ph) process for America to watch this attorney general. First of all dump the Mueller report as he did and then carried on. Finally, finally he seems to have found his backbone. Stand up to the President and tell the truth. BLITZER: Yes. Because if the President has -- I'm not going to suggest -- he's lost the Attorney General Bill Barr, but if he's in a situation like this where even Bill Barr is now saying, stop tweeting, Mr. President, you're hurting all of this. That's a very significant development.

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GARAMENDI: It's extremely important. And we've seen school grounds where bullies pushing people around then he finally pushes too far. Clearly the President pushed Barr too far.

Unfortunately I think for this nation, it's been late in the process for Barr to stand up to the President and say, you can't do this. This is wrong.

BLITZER: He did, you know, point out, you know, the attorney general that even on his own without any influence on the President, he thought that seven to nine-year recommended sentence for Roger Stone was too high that should be lower. But you know, that's his position.

GARAMENDI: I would love to have him come to Congress to the Judiciary Committee and the House or Senate.

BLITZER: He is coming to the House Judiciary Committee, the attorney general at end of March.

GARAMENDI: That's a long way from now. He ought to come tomorrow and explain his position. Explain whatever the President may have said to him or maybe not said to him. This needs to be fully vetted because we cannot have a banana republic in which the President is going and taking control of the judiciary and the judges.

BLITZER: Why do you think Bill Barr is now come out and said what he said, which is obviously going to deeply irritate the President?

GARAMENDI: Well, there's my conspiracy theory so that would say, well, this is a way in which he can't protect the President. But I think it's more than that. I think it really is the President pushed him just too far. And there may have been some words that were said in private back and forth. We don't know that. It would be good to have that information.

But finally, finally the President seems to have gone too far with the attorney general. I think many, many Americans were terribly concerned that the President seemed to have gained control of the justice system in the United States. That would be a terrible problem for this democracy.

BLITZER: Because there have been reports, including here on CNN over the past 24 hours that in addition to the four federal prosecutors who quit and walked away from this case in the aftermath of the rebuke they received, others here in Washington and in New York may be doing the same thing beginning of this mass protest.

GARAMENDI: Well, I'm all for mass protests. But at the same time, I wonder who's going to replace these people. Are they going to be Trump's troops, in which case we'll see even further erosion of justice in the United States? I want them to stand tall. I want them to speak out and say as they have done. But I don't want them to leave because these are good people. These are career folks that we need in those office to properly administer justice.

BLITZER: Yes, these are career prosecutors. They're not political appointees --

GARAMENDI: Exactly.

BLITZER: -- or anything like that. But as you know, the President doesn't necessarily like all those career officials whether at the justice or the FBI or at CIA or at the State Department. He's been very critical of that element that he describes as the deep state.

GARAMENDI: Well, if I recall correctly, you got about another hour and a half, an hour and 45 minutes on this show and I'll bet you'll get a tweet that you can talk about in your last hour.

BLITZER: You think that --

GARAMENDI: And it won't be kind to Justice Department and quite possibly to Mr. Barr?

BLITZER: Well you think this is the beginning of the end of the attorney general as the attorney general?

GARAMENDI: Who knows? Trump does not take well to criticism from people that work for him. And I think he's back to his apprentice mentality thinking that this government is somehow some sort of a show, a reality show where he can fire or he can control every piece of it. And he has said very clearly, I'm the President and I can do anything I want to do because of Article II. I'm sorry, that's not the case. And today the U.S. Senate took one more step towards reigning (ph) in Trump, good. We have the Senate finally followed the House of Representatives.

BLITZER: I mean more powers legislation.

GARAMENDI: Exactly.

BLITZER: All right, we'll speak about that in another occasion. But we got to move on. Thanks so much, congressman, for coming in.

GARAMENDI: Always good to be with you, Wolf.

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