Fox News Channel Interview - Transcript

Interview

FOX NEWS CHANNEL INTERVIEW WITH REP. JAN SCHAKOWSKY (D-IL)

SUBJECT: INTERROGATION METHODS INTERVIEWER: MEGYN KELLY

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MS. KELLY: A brand new poll out this morning on the CIA interrogation controversy. Some Democrats want a so-called truth commission, an independent commission to investigate the way America questioned terror suspects in the months after 9/11 and the decisions, the legal decisions behind it.

Others say, all right and separate and apart from an independent commission, we should have a congressional inquiry. But a New York Times-CBS News poll just out this morning shows that just 34 percent of Americans actually want that, and 62 percent of Americans, the majority say, it should not happen, no commissions of either kind.

Joining me now is Illinois Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky. She is a member of the House Intelligence Committee and she wants congressional hearings on enhanced interrogation methods.

Congresswoman, good morning to you.

REP. SCHAKOWSKY: Good morning.

MS. KELLY: Thanks so much for being here. So this poll comes out this morning and the first thing I did when I saw that 62 percent of the American public does not want these hearings is, I went to look at it by party lines, how does it break down? Eighty-nine percent of Republicans do not want any hearings, 60 percent of independents do not want any hearings and 51 percent of your own party, Democrats, do not want any hearings.

In light of what seems a clear American majority from all parties against this idea, how can you support it?

REP. SCHAKOWSKY: Well, I think that it is the duty of the Congress of the United States to look into something, not in terms of retribution even, but whether or not -- we need to set new policies that eliminate torture. Torture should not be a policy option.

My concern is that if this issue gets swept under the rug that despite the fact that the president has outlawed the possibility of using torture that 20 years or 30 years from now, they may look back at the Bush administration and say, well, there were no consequences to waterboarding people, throwing them against walls and confining them in small boxes with insects. Starting from George Washington when he was general in the Revolutionary War, we aren't that kind of person. We aren't that kind of country and even John McCain, not even, this is a man who, himself, was confined and tortured, said that it's not about them, it's about us.

MS. KELLY: Right. But John McCain is against these hearings as well, and even President Obama is against these hearings and even top Democrats are against these hearings and you didn't answer my question, which is --

REP. SCHAKOWSKY: Okay.

MS. KELLY: How can you justify the push for these in the U.S. Congress when your constituents and the vast majority of Americans across party lines don't want them?

REP. SCHAKOWSKY: Do you think that we should decide to govern because of polls?

MS. KELLY: Aren't you supposed to listen to your constituents? Don't you represent them?

REP. SCHAKOWSKY: Of course, we do, but I think that there is a huge principle involved here and I just want to tell you that we have had very constructive discussions about these issues in a classified setting in the intelligence committee, and I think that it is an important discussion for the American people to hear.

Now, having said that, we are meeting with top leadership in the House this week with the chairman of the committee to make decisions about how to proceed going forward, and I do think that a lot of this is in a state of flux, but a number of people, including the president who said now it's up to the Justice Department to decide if certain individuals should be held accountable --

MS. KELLY: And that's happening.

REP. SCHAKOWSKY: For torturing people.

MS. KELLY: That's happening. So that's my question to you. So President Obama has got the Department of Justice looking into whether there should be legal consequences for the lawyers who authorize these procedures or, more accurately put, who found that the law would allow them. So that's happening.

So why the need for Congress to spend its time doing it when we have a lot of important things as you know in this country to deal with separate and apart from this and the American public as I mentioned doesn't want you to do it?

REP. SCHAKOWSKY: Well, first of all, the intelligence committee -- that's what we do. It's not like we're working on health care, energy, those are other committees. I serve on those. But the intelligence committee oversees the intelligence community that conducted these kinds of techniques, this kind of torture.

We may need to change some policies. We may need to suggest new laws that for the future we'll make sure that these techniques aren't used, that there are no legal contortions that are gone through to say that they are legal.

MS. KELLY: That's an interesting point.

REP. SCHAKOWSKY: I think it's important that we look at that.

MS. KELLY: Can I ask you about that? Because I think maybe you can explain to me. What is the value of looking back at what happened and who was behind it and so on and so forth, whether it's a commission or its Congress, versus if you are very concerned about waterboarding, you want to make perfectly clear it's torture, you're worried about 20 years down the line someone saying it's not torture.

Why not just pass a law making it clear that waterboarding is torture, once and for all? Put a period at the end of that report and then we go forward?

REP. SCHAKOWSKY: Because regular order if we were to suggest legislation requires, in fact, that we hold hearings and have this discussion.

MS. KELLY: Not looking backward though, but looking forward, that's my question.

REP. SCHAKOWSKY: Well, we could do that. We haven't decided exactly what the content of those hearings are, but in order to pass a law that would outlaw torture, we'd have to have a discussion about what happened. I say we need to follow some of these threads, let them take us where they will and that may mean that there are some changes in the law and that we shouldn't shrink back from our duty as I see it to do just that.

They don't have to be divisive hearings. I think this can be a very important and uplifting debate about who we are and the soul of our country and what we do as a people.

MS. KELLY: All right. Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky, thanks so much for coming on and sharing your insights on it with us.

REP. SCHAKOWSKY: Thank you.

MS. KELLY: We appreciate it.

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