CNN "Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees" - Transcript: Interview with Stacey Plaskett

Interview

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COOPER: Whatever else you might think of them, they truly believed the lies they were fed about the election. They really did act on them.

With this now it's Congresswoman Stacey Plaskett, impeachment manager and delegate for the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Congresswoman, thanks so much for being with us. Given your role in the impeachment trial, what is it like seeing Republicans continue to push the lies that led to the Capitol attack and try to rewrite what actually happened on January 6th?

I mean, it's all part of their ongoing support for this former President. DEL. STACEY PLASKETT (D-VI): It's enraging to hear this knowing the

overwhelming evidence that not only was the President involved in this, but that the President incited individuals who supported him, stoked them, organized them over a protracted period of time to attack our democracy.

Those were individuals who were there, who were also individuals who, but for the support of the Capitol Police and other law enforcement would have been seriously injured, some potentially killed if the President had had his way.

And the fact that they would continue to perpetrate his lie, and support him, not only is infuriating, because it's a lie, but makes it difficult to work with individuals who are so spineless that they would continue to follow an individual who would rather have them dead than him lose power.

COOPER: You know, we debated whether they even show the President talking at CPAC, given that he is no longer in office, but it's not just him. I mean, these are senators who are currently serving -- you saw one of the jurors, Republican Senator Josh Hawley at CPAC, essentially bragging about his objection to the Electoral College vote and totally misrepresenting it, by the way.

PLASKETT: Yes, as you said, the gaslighting is profound. It's not gaslighting, it is gas bombing that they are doing at CPAC and in other places, spewing lies on the floor of the House and even in the Senate.

It's going to cause additional irreparable harm, I believe, to our democracy in the long run if they are not stopped. This is seditious speech. This is in fact, treason in some ways to say that he is -- that Trump is in fact, the legitimate President of the United States. That's a lie.

We have a President that was democratically elected, and any other individual who says they are the president, is in fact, a threat to the national security of this country.

COOPER: You know, there are a number of Republicans who will, you know, hear any criticism of the G.O.P. and think, well, this is just Democrats, not wanting, you know, just wanting to be a one party state.

But all the Democrats that I've had on this program have talked about the need to have a viable, you know, opposition party that our system works best when there is a, you know, preponderance of ideas and legitimate people arguing based on their beliefs and figuring out a course, somewhere, you know, that comes out of that as opposed to not having --

I mean, right now, the G.O.P. is only at war with itself, but what does seem to be the preponderance in the G.O.P. is that it is just the party of Trump, and it has coalesced around this one person, they don't even have a platform. PLASKETT: It's amazing. You know, you and I have talked about that.

Elections have consequences. And do I applaud the fact that the Democrats have both the House, the Senate and the White House? Heck, yes.

But do I want to have a very serious discourse with individuals who are on the other side of the aisle and come to a middle ground, come to ways in which we can work together? The Democrats attempted to do that.

We did that even during the Trump administration, when we worked with the only piece of legislation that Trump was able to really get across the aisle was some form of criminal justice reform, and that was with the support of the Democratic Party.

And we're willing to do that and work with individuals throughout the next four years, but what is happening in the Republican Party is causing many of us to second guess working with quite a number of these individuals, if they cannot even come to basic truths about what happened in the 2020 election.

And as you stated, Anderson, I have a great fear about what's going to happen at local and at state levels in terms of the Republican Party trying to use elections, and trying to use election laws to keep Americans from the voting booth by closing Sunday voting, by trying to stop mail-in ballots.

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PLASKETT: To do those things that would expand the electoral votes in this country and allow more people to happen. We've got to pass the Voting Rights Act to ensure that all Americans have the right to vote.

COOPER: Yes, we're going to be talking to Stacey Abrams in just a moment on exactly that topic. Congresswoman Plaskett. I appreciate your time. Thank you.

PLASKETT: Thank you.

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