CNN "Erin Burnett Outfront" - Transcript: Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) Is Interviewed About Impeaching Trump

Interview

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BURNETT: Congressman Chabot, by the way, was one of the House managers who helped Republicans make their case to impeach President Clinton.

OUTFRONT tonight, Democratic Congresswoman Maxine Waters, who is the chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee.

Good to have you with me tonight, Congresswoman.

So, at this moment, of course, no signs that any Republican will support impeachment. Do you believe Congressman Chabot when he says a motion to censure the president could have gotten more support?

REP. MAXINE WATERS (D-CA): Well, I haven't thought about it, but it really doesn't mean anything. The fact of the matter is we have moved forward with impeachment, the Judiciary Committee has put it out and it's going to be on the floor on Wednesday, and we're going to vote on it. So the discussion about censure is just meaning less at this point, and I don't -- I haven't thought about it.

BURNETT: So, a group of freshmen Democrats led by Congressman Dean Phillips right now is pushing Speaker Pelosi to name Justin Amash, a congressman who was a Republican, but is now an independent. He supports impeachment and he will vote for the article.

To support him as an impeachment manager for the Senate trial, if the House votes to impeach Trump. What do you think about that, about using Justin Amash in that way?

WATERS: I don't -- I don't think very much about that. I think that our managers must be committed to the proposition that we have taken up impeachment, our judicial committee has basically voted it out, and we have a responsibility to move forward, bring it to the floor. And I don't buy the idea that someone who's already determined that they're going to leave the Democratic Party because they don't believe in impeachment of this president should be one of our managers. I don't think that makes good sense.

BURNETT: Amash, of course, was a Republican, now he's an independent technically, but he's voting for the articles. Would you consider him?

WATERS: Well, I think one of the things we have to do is --

BURNETT: Well, I think you're talking about Van Drew. WATERS: Oh, yes, that's exactly --

BURNETT: Yes, I'm talking about Justin Amash. I'm sorry, Congresswoman.

WATERS: No, I still that -- this is a decision about the leadership, and while Mr. Phillips certainly can make a recommendation, all of the recommendations will be taken into consideration. But in the final analysis, the leadership led by Nancy Pelosi will make that decision.

BURNETT: So the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, Doug Collins, obviously we saw him, we saw a lot of him last week, made this prediction about your party and his and President Trump during last week's hearings.

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REP. DOUG COLLINS (R-GA): The other problem I have is it's going to be never ending, impeach him over and over again, investigating him over and over again. I guess I'm waiting for the committee hearing schedule in February to see what we're investigating next.

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BURNETT: Congresswoman Waters, will you rule out impeaching Trump again?

WATERS: Let me just say that, you know, his comments are just, you know, comments of a frustrated individual who does not support impeachment and he's not only been on the air time and time again, ranting and raving about the impeachment process, and so I pay no attention to what he has to say.

BURNETT: So, you know, Republicans, though, to this point, they say that your party has been looking to impeach President Trump when he was elected because you don't like him. You have looked for item after item and finally you have found one. You did say less than two weeks into his presidency, that you wanted to see him impeached, congresswoman, for other reasons than we are obviously sitting here now talking about.

What do you say to your Republican critics, when they say, look, they have been saying this since the beginning, so, you know, they're just looking for excuses.

WATERS: Well, they say these things because they cannot refute the facts. As a matter of fact, when I observed this president and the way that he conducted himself during the primary elections, the way he called names, the way he lied, the way he talked about grabbing women by their private parts, I never thought we would hear a president talk like that.

And also, I had done some research, I knew about his alignment with Putin, I know about Manafort, and the relationship was and the fact that he had been sent there by Putin, in essence to head up the president's campaign because I believe, even though I don't have the facts to prove it, I believe that Putin wanted to lift the sanctions. He's always wanted to lift these sanctions that were placed on him because of his interfering and encouraging into Crimea.

And so, I believe that they wanted to elect President Trump and Trump, I believe agreed. I will always believe this, that he agreed that if he got elected, he would lift those sanctions. He would like to do it.

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He's not been able to do it, but when they talk about we're just making things up, and he talks about this as a witch hunt, there are too many facts. This president will not condemn Putin for hacking into the Democratic National Committee, will not condemn him for hacking into our election system. These are facts.

Seventeen of our intelligence agencies have said this. Are these patriots or not? I mean, what do they think about our democracy being undermined by the president of the United States of America? If they want to say we just don't like him, they don't really care about what happened to this democracy. Don't have an appreciation for the Constitution.

And the fact that the constitution gives us the responsibility to impeach when we see this president or any president who is not go ahead for the country, who's undermining our country, who's putting us in danger, who's aligning himself with the foreign country to interfere in our elections. Those are facts.

BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, Congresswoman Waters. I appreciate your time tonight.

WATERS: You're welcome. Thank you.

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