CNN "CNN Newsroom" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Seth Moulton

Interview

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BLACKWELL: Stay cool out there.

So this week, a vote to impeach President Trump failed in the House, but 95 Democrats did vote for it to move forward, and that is a little more than 40 percent of the caucus. And one of those Democrats is Congressman Seth Moulton, the 2020 candidate. He has been making the case for impeachment for more than a year now, and Congressman Seth Moulton joins us live now. Congressman, good to see you again.

REP. SETH MOULTON, (D-MA) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Good to see you, too, Victor.

[10:15:00] BLACKWELL: Before we get to the impeachment vote, I want to ask you from your position on House Armed Services about what is happening with Iran. CNN's reporting is that privately the president is becoming more hawkish on Iran, placing less emphasis on diplomacy. What is your degree of confidence that this will not escalate, especially over this British tanker seizure, to a military response?

MOULTON: I have no confidence that it won't escalate, because this is a terribly erratic president. Remember, this is the president who authorized air strikes against Iran and then canceled them 10 minutes later. He clearly has no strategy. And his administration isn't on the same place. You have got Bolton and Pompeo obviously wanting to go to war to press this case. The president can't make up his mind.

What we need is a commander in chief with a very clear strategy that lays out a pathway for Iran to improve its behavior in exchange for releasing sanctions, but it doesn't say it's going to require regime change, which is just completely unrealistic.

We need an administration that makes it clear that we will get back into the nuclear deal, even make it stronger, but do it together with our allies. Trump has frayed our alliances with the European Union and pulled apart the nuclear deal. That's why Iran is now enriching uranium to make a nuclear bomb. So the situation has gotten very dangerous under this president. He clearly doesn't have a plan.

If I were commander in chief, I would make it very clear exactly what the mission is, exactly how our allies are together with us in this mission, and make it clear to Iran what they need to do in order to comply.

BLACKWELL: Let me ask you about impeachment now. This week you voted in support of Texas Congressman Al Green's impeachment resolution. Let's put up a line from it. He said "Donald John Trump by causing such harm to the society of the United States is unfit to be president and warrants impeachment trial and removal from office." This doesn't allege a crime, just general unfit to hold office. Does this meet the threshold of impeachment?

MOULTON: It does meet the threshold. The Constitution makes it very clear that it is up to the House of Representatives to decide whether the president has met the threshold for impeachment. But we have to hold the hearings --

BLACKWELL: Of high crimes and misdemeanors. Where is that in this resolution?

MOULTON: If you think that having a racist president who incites the kind of violent lines that we saw in North Carolina isn't grounds for even having a debate on impeachment, Victor, I'm not going to convince you. But the reality here is very clear. This is a moral moment for America, and for the Democratic Party.

I worked so hard over the last two years supporting a bunch of veterans running in the key districts that we needed to win back to take the House, to win the House so that we could hold the president accountable. And I don't know why our leadership refuses to do that. This is a debate that we need to have.

Now, they have made the case that the polls aren't with us yet, that the politics may be against us, but how about just doing the right thing? How about doing the right thing?

BLACKWELL: When you say do the right thing, I want you to listen to a congressman several months ago talking about why he was supporting impeachment of the president. That congressman is you, and it's a different justification. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. SETH MOULTON, (D-MA) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I voted to move forward with discussing and debating impeachment last year, because I think it was clear last year that the president has clearly committed crimes that deserves this debate. He has obstructed justice. He has campaign finance violations. He's profited off of the office, which means that he has violated the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution. We should be having this debate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: So how do you expect to grow public support if you're shifting the justification for why you want to start the debate?

MOULTON: Victor, I am not shifting the justification. All the things I said back still apply. We're just adding to the case. That is exactly what has happened --

BLACKWELL: But none of that was in this resolution from Congressman Green, none of that was in it.

MOULTON: Well, we have already voted on his previous resolution that included it. This is just adding to the case. And that is exactly what an impeachment inquiry does. When the impeachment proceedings started against Richard Nixon, only 30 percent of the country thought that he should be impeached. That number is already much higher for Trump, 45 percent of America today thinks that he should be impeached. But by having that open, transparent debate before Congress and the American people, we brought to light all these different issues. The fact that, like you say, or like I said before, he has committed crimes, but also the fact that he is just not providing the moral leadership that we expect as a commander in chief of the United States.

BLACKWELL: Congressman, we are running low on time, but I have got to ask you quickly, CNN will host the next Democratic presidential debate later this month. You did not qualify to make these first two debates. You raise $1.2 million in the second quarter, $700,000 cash on hand, that's near the back of the pack. Your congressional district on Massachusetts borders New Hampshire. The latest New Hampshire poll, you are at zero support there, hash mark in NBC/"Wall Street Journal" national poll. How long can you stay in this race with those statistics, numbers, and fundraising? [10:20:04] MOULTON: I raised more money than five of the people on

the debate stage. I have qualified in 12 different polls that the Washington establishment and D.C. has chosen simply not to count. And the fact of the matter is that my message is resonating on the ground and they are the people who are going to decide who the nominee is.

BLACKWELL: The threshold was one percent in three polls.

MOULTON: And I have qualified according to 12. But the same Washington establishment that is saying that we don't have the courage to have this debate about impeachment are the people who are picking the folks to be on stage in this debate.

What we should be doing is picking the best nominee to take on Donald Trump. I'm a combat veteran, the only one in the race. I played a key part in taking back the House in 2018. And what I hear from the voters on the ground is that they want that voice to be heard on the debate stage.

BLACKWELL: Congressman Seth Moulton, we have to wrap it there. Thank you so much for being with us.

MOULTON: Thanks, Victor.

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