MSNBC "The Rachel Maddow Show" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Seth Moulton
Interview
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MADDOW: Congressman Moulton came for the queen twice, two election cycles in a row, both times he missed, with consequences. There has been open talk on the left about a primary challenge to him for his congressional seat if he runs for his House seat again. But it`s an interesting question about that House seat because that`s not the only platform that Congressman Seth Moulton has.
Today, Congressman Seth Moulton announced that he has a whole other idea. Today, he announced he`s running for president in the crowded Democratic primary, full speed ahead.
Joining us now for the interview is Seth Moulton, congressman from Massachusetts, presidential candidate in the Democratic primary.
Sir, thank you for being here.
MOULTON: Thank you very much for having me, Rachel.
MADDOW: Really appreciate it.
All right. So, I`m going to go right to it.
MOULTON: Go for it.
MADDOW: So, I said on Twitter today that I was going to have you here. And I have -- I have a lot of people following me on Twitter. I don`t know why, but it`s great.
And I said that you were going to be here, and there`s something that`s called getting ratioed on twitter, which means more people respond with a reply than retweet your message to pass it to other people.
MOULTON: I know. I know.
MADDOW: I have never been ratioed before, but I was today when I said that you were going to be here because people are so mad at you about the Nancy Pelosi thing. And I got to think when you decided to make this run today, you`re running not -- you don`t get to straight up run for president. You have to run to be nominee in the Democratic Party.
MOULTON: Sure.
MADDOW: This is really fresh in the minds of Democratic Party activists right now, this effort of you to take on Pelosi two years running. Tell me
* tell me how you feel about that anger, and about being sort of a big part of your national profile as you start to do this?
MOULTON: Well, look, I`m willing to challenge the Washington establishment. And, frankly, I think we should have a nominee who is willing to challenge the Washington establishment because outside the Twittersphere, Twittersphere, that`s what people want on the ground. That`s what I`ve heard everywhere I go.
In fact, when I`ve gone to early primary states over the last two months, this hardly even comes up. But if we are going to challenge Donald Trump, we have to show that we`re willing to change Washington. And as a result of that challenge -- which, by the way, was never just about Pelosi. It was about the top three leadership positions and it was about giving a new generation of voice in our party.
As a result of that challenge, we got the Climate Change Subcommittee, we got the Voting Rights Subcommittee, we got term limits on leadership. They`re going to allow this historically diverse class of freshmen to actually have a chance to lead themselves.
MADDOW: You don`t think the Climate Change Subcommittee would have happened without that challenge?
MOULTON: No, absolutely not. That was a product of that challenge at that time when our leadership said, okay, we have to do some things to win more people over to our side.
The fact that we came to a compromise on term limits, let`s not forget that gave Speaker Pelosi the votes that she needed to become speaker. And it did so without forcing these freshmen who had won their elections on a promise to vote against her to have to change that vote.
MADDOW: You don`t run against her in the end?
MOULTON: No, because I wanted the freshmen to keep their promise. In exchange for that term limit deal, I said I would support her. That`s good for the party, it`s good for her, and she`s doing a fantastic job of standing up to Donald Trump.
But it also ensures in the future people will look at our leadership and say not only are they willing to stand up to Trump, but they`re the party of the future. They`re going to lead us into the future.
And, frankly, if I`m chosen to be the nominee, going into the generally election with that position will make me stronger against Donald Trump.
MADDOW: The majority of voters in the Democratic Party and the majority of voters in America are women.
MOULTON: Yes.
MADDOW: After Hillary Clinton`s loss to Donald Trump in 2016, Nancy Pelosi standing there as the most powerful woman in American politics, she`s the most powerful woman in American politics ever.
For you to be shooting at her, I think, made women mad. I think that there`s been a response against you on that, against Tim Ryan on that, that`s going to be a foundational thing for you both running for president now. And I wonder just how -- I mean, obviously, you`re a guy who`s -- you`re unafraid and you are unafraid about going at this stuff straight on. But with women voters being mad about women at the top of the Democratic Party getting shots from within, how do you regain trust? How do you build it?
MOULTON: You know, you showed a picture of my town hall. There were about 100 people there. There were 20 to 25 protesters.
Now, you got a good clip where those protesters were speaking up, but I can`t tell you how many women have come out and said we want generational change in our party as well. We want to make sure that there is a new generation that`s able to step up and lead. These amazing women who are an incredible part of this class, you know, of the 40 seats we flipped to take back the House, 21 of them were endorsed and supported by my Serve America Group, and a lot of them were women.
And they are the new leaders in the party. Many of them pledged themselves to vote against Pelosi in order to win.
MADDOW: Pelosi has a 70 percent approval rating on Democrats.
MOULTON: I`m not -- I`m not disputing the fact that she`s doing a good job right now. But we`re talking about the future. I`m talking about the future.
MADDOW: And that she`s beloved within the party. The part of premise that I don`t agree with --
MOULTON: Sure.
MADDOW: -- is the idea that you were channeling a groundswell of anger and upset about Pelosi being a problem within the Democratic Party.
MOULTON: Well, the fact of the matter is it changed.
MADDOW: The upset of Pelosi is from the Republicans, right?
MOULTON: Look, it changed, it changed.
There was a groundswell for that change before the election and then it changed afterwards. A lot of people changed their position.
MADDOW: Yes.
MOULTON: There are a lot of people in the party who said, OK, now I`m not against her. I was against her before. There were a lot of people who called me and others in the group, including a lot of women.
Let`s not forget, there were women at the forefront of this movement as well -- Kathleen Rice, Linda Sanchez, Marcia Fudge -- who were leading this group as well. And said we want change.
And then after the election, they said, OK, we`re fine with her.
Look, I stick to my guns. I don`t just talk about a new generation of leadership, I fight for it. I think that will make me a stronger nominee if I`m chosen to take on Trump.
But the fact of the matter is, look, this is who you get, you know?
MADDOW: Yes.
MOULTON: I`m someone you may not always agree with, but you always know where I stand. And the toughest job that I`ve ever had to do in my life was take an incredibly diverse group of Americans, people from all over the country, different religious beliefs, different political beliefs, different races, different backgrounds and get them behind -- united behind a common mission to serve our country in the most difficult circumstances imaginable. I mean, literally, in the middle of a war that half of us disagreed with.
That kind of unifying leadership is I think fundamentally what we need in the next commander-in-chief. And I recognize there will be some women that I`ve got win back, and that`s OK. That`s OK. I`m proud to do that. I`m proud to take on that challenge because we have got to defeat Donald Trump to bring this country back together.
MADDOW: Seth Moulton is our guest. We`ll be right back with Congressman Moulton from Massachusetts. He is a declared presidential candidate in the Democratic primary. He is the 19th Democrat who has announced and you know all the ones who haven`t announced yet.
We`ll be back with Congressman Moulton right after this.
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MADDOW: Back with us is Massachusetts Congressman Seth Moulton, who`s the newest Democrat to jump into the presidential race.
Sir, thank you for sticking with us.
MOULTON: It`s great to be back.
MADDOW: So, you said this morning on ABC that you believe President Trump did obstruct justice.
MOULTON: Yes.
MADDOW: But that it`s too soon to move on actual impeachment. Have you read the Mueller report? What do you think Democrats should do?
MOULTON: No, it`s too soon to vote on impeachment.
But let me be clear -- I voted in the House to start debate on impeachment last year. I think that we`ve waited way too long to start this investigation, to seriously start debating whether the president should be impeached.
I mean, look, he`s clearly committed crimes. I mean, he`s profited off his office, violated the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution. Thirty of his
* over 30 of his close associates have been indicted. His campaign chairman is in prison.
Don`t tell me there`s not enough to debate right now. And that`s why --
MADDOW: So, do you think the Judiciary Committee should open up an inquiry?
MOULTON: Absolutely. And they should have done it a year ago. I think in some ways, we backed ourselves into a corner by waiting for the Mueller investigation to come out, and I think that was a mistake. There`s clearly evidence a year ago. That`s why I voted a year ago to start this debate.
But Congress does two things. They debate things and they vote on things. We don`t have all the facts yet. We haven`t seen the full Mueller report.
So, it`s not time to have a vote on impeachment but absolutely we should be debating it.
MADDOW: Are you concerned or where do you fall down the issue about whether Democrats can pursue these investigations and also pursue a positive legislative agenda? I mean, I know your priorities include obviously veterans issues, national security issues. You`ve talked a lot about cyber defenses. I mean, you`re very specific in terms of the stuff you want to pursue through Congress. Can Democrats in Congress do both?
MOULTON: We absolutely must do both. And what a lot of people are missing about this Mueller report is that the one unmistakable conclusion is that Russia interfered in the election. Russia wanted Donald Trump to be elected president. And every American, whether you`re a Trump supporter or a Trump hater, should want to know why Putin wants Trump to be our president. That`s a fundamental national security question for us.
MADDOW: Do you know what the answer to that question?
MOULTON: I don`t. But I can guarantee you this -- Russia is interfering in this election today. I mean, there`s probably watching the show, and this whole like transparency of democracy that you do --
MADDOW: Hi, guys.
MOULTON: They are not fans. I can guarantee you, they are not fans. All right?
But, seriously, they are interfering in today`s election, I guarantee it, because we`ve done nothing to stop them.
If you think about it, after Japan attacked us on Pearl Harbor, we had a Pearl Harbor Commission. It was very critical of Roosevelt.
After the terrorists attacked us on 9/11, we had a 9/11 Commission. It was actually very critical of the Bush administration. Roosevelt and Bush didn`t say, no, no, no, don`t investigate because it might look bad on me.
Russia attacked us in 2016. I guarantee you, they`re going to attack us in 2020 and we`re doing nothing to stop it. That`s a national security concern we needed to he talk about and need to lead on as Democrats because it`s actually where Trump is weakest. If we want to beat Trump, we`ve got to attack him where he`s weakest and that`s what I`m talking about this in debate.
MADDOW: Congressman Seth Moulton of Massachusetts, newly declared presidential candidate, thank you for coming in. You know I was going to talk to you about that Pelosi stuff right off the bat. Thank you for being
--
MOULTON: That`s totally fair. And, you know, it`s important to have that debate. And I`ll tell you what, if there`s anything that you liked or even didn`t like but want to hear on the debate stage, I hope people will just go to the website and donate a dollar so I can get on the debate stage, and bring these issues, especially these national security issues which no other candidate is talking about right now in this race, and actually where Donald Trump is weakest, where I think we can beat him.
If you want those issues on the debate stage, I hope people will donate. Thanks.
MADDOW: Thank you. Thanks for being here. Much appreciate it.
MOULTON: Thank you.
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