CNN "CNN Newsroom" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Andre Carson

Interview

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BALDWIN: Senator Bernie Sanders just joined dozens of Democratic lawmakers who are on the record now saying that they support an impeachment inquiry.

My next guest, Congressman Andre Carson, is not one of them yet. We will ask him if Mueller's statement changed the game.

Plus, protests in Missouri, as that state is set to become the first in the country without a single abortion clinic.

And back and forth on the border. Construction has resumed on a privately funded section of President Trump's wall less than 24 hours after the city issued a cease-and-desist order. We are expecting a live update on that progress any minute now.

Keep it with me. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:18:47]

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SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: So you may not like Trump. I don't like Trump. That's not an impeachable offense. So you got to do that. OK?

And so I support the beginning of those inquiries. But here is the danger, which I think Nancy Pelosi and many people are struggling with. It may well be that Donald Trump wants to be impeached, because he knows that, in the Senate, you know what? You need two-thirds of the United States Senate.

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BALDWIN: Senator Bernie Sanders there for the first time saying he supports and impeachment inquiry into President Trump. We're counting now.

We're up to 41 -- 41 House Democrats are calling for the same. But in the hours after Robert Mueller spoke, the Democratic Party leader, Nancy Pelosi, pointed out that pro-impeachment faction is still a significant minority.

And I have with me now Congressman Andre Carson. He's a Democrat from Indiana and a member of the House Intelligence Committee.

So, Congressman Carson, welcome, sir.

REP. ANDRE CARSON (D-IN): Thank you for having me.

BALDWIN: All right.

So we have obviously done our homework on you. And you have said, so far, that all options are on the table when it comes to impeachment.

And my question is, in listening to Mr. Mueller yesterday morning speaking, did anything he said change your mind?

[15:20:02]

CARSON: No, I think Director Mueller is very measured.

I think that he's an institutionalist. He's a company man. But he -- and so, having said that, he understands that Congress is a co-equal branch of government, who's partly tasked with being a check on the administration's excess.

And so what he did was, he really threw the football to Congress to make the inquiries, to keep impeachment on the table. But, Brooke, we still have a job to do. We don't want to make Donald Trump the underdog. We still have to deal with infrastructure.

BALDWIN: Of course.

CARSON: He abandoned negotiations a week ago. We have work to do. We have to talk about education. We have to talk about securing out national...

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: I know, I know, but speaking of your job, let me just -- I want to ask you a question to follow up on that.

But let me play some sound. This is Senator Elizabeth Warren on the same issue.

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SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: That is a violation of the law, yes. If he were anyone other than president of the United States, he would be in handcuffs and indicted.

And Mueller served that up and says, basically, by the time you get to the end of the report, there are all the facts, multiple examples of obstruction of justice. I can't indict.

QUESTION: Right.

WARREN: It's up to Congress.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: I hear you, Congressman, on your desire to legislate, but if you can just try to put politics aside, do you believe it is your job, that it is your constitutional duty to start these impeachment proceedings?

CARSON: I don't think we should leave it off of the table.

Listen, we still have hearings from the Financial Services Committee. We have hearings that need to take place under Judiciary, Oversight, and certainly the Intelligence Committee. We need to look at Russia's undue influence on our electoral process.

We need to look at those in the Trump apparatus and their talks with the Russian government, how they lied to Congress, lied to special counsel, lied to committees of jurisdiction.

And I think those things, Director Mueller laid out very clearly in his report and in his press conference. I think Congress has a responsibility and a task.

I think the American people have to watch this very closely, because President Trump is a smart man. I know people say he's dumb.

He's clever. He's very clever. And I think he loves the fact that people think that he's such a brute. Now, he's not a policy wonk, but he's very smart. And so to leverage this in a way that makes him an underdog gives him an electoral advantage. So, we have to be very strategic and very wise.

BALDWIN: Clearly, listening to Mueller yesterday, he would like this report to speak for itself. And as a member of House Intel, should your committee subpoena him to testify?

CARSON: We won't rule it out.

You will have to ask a Chairman Schiff that question. But if he were, in fact, to appear before the committee..

BALDWIN: But is that something you would want?

CARSON: I mean, I would love -- I would love to have him before the committee. I would love to ask him very serious questions, absolutely.

I wouldn't rule it out. But that's a question that's better suited for Chairman Schiff.

BALDWIN: Of course.

Congressman Carson, thank you very much.

CARSON: Always a pleasure. Thank you.

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