CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: "Interview with Rep. Denny Heck"

Interview

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BLITZER: Boris Sanchez at the White House for us, thank you.

Joining us now, Congressman Denny Heck. He's a Democrat who serves on the Intelligence Committee.

Congressman, thanks so much for joining us.

And you saw those tweets from President Trump about Puerto Rico. Why do you believe he's going after U.S. citizens like this while they are in harm's way?

REP. DENNY HECK (D-WA): It's a little overwhelming.

It seems like the last month, he's been a whole lot more focused on the island of Greenland than he has on the island of Puerto Rico, which is, of course, a part of U.S. territory, and where thousands and thousands of people, as a consequence of Hurricane Maria, are still living under blue tarps for their roofs.

Look, I think there's some things to remind people of here. First of all, Puerto Ricans have, in disproportionate numbers, volunteered, served and died in our wars. Second, they are U.S. citizens. I can come away from this with only a couple conclusions, one of which

is very painful. Namely, the presidency simply hates brown people, especially if they happen to speak another language.

Secondly, I suspect he's getting increasingly desperate and shrill and brittle as a consequence of 10 days of pretty bad news. He had bad news on the economic front, and the prospect that we may be headed toward or slipping into a recession.

And, of course, he's had a unbelievably bad news on the polling front. A recent poll -- and I suspect this is part of why he's attacking FOX -- even a FOX poll shows him getting beat by every major potential opponent in the Democratic Party, and, oh, by the way, not by a little.

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BLITZER: Yes, there was a poll, another poll released today by Quinnipiac University.

At the same time, as you know, Congressman, the Trump administration is diverting millions of dollars from FEMA to fund immigration policy. Supporters of the administration say this is necessary because Congress hasn't allocated enough money to deal with this crisis.

How do you respond?

HECK: I respond by reminding people that he couldn't convince a Republican-controlled Congress, both the House and the Senate, to appropriate the funds, when he had them.

And now he has not been able to persuade a split partisan control House and Senate to do this thing. I remind people that Article 1 of the United States Constitution reserves to the Congress the sole authority to appropriate funds.

So this is illegal, certainly extralegal. And I don't think it's going to stand up over time. He's not a dictator. As much as he'd like to be one, he's not. He does not have the authority to unilaterally appropriate funds without Congress' approval.

BLITZER: CNN has also confirmed, Congressman, that "Washington Post" report that the president has said he will pardon anyone who breaks the law to build his promised border wall with Mexico.

What sort of response is required when the president threatens to abuse his powers like this? His aides now insist he was simply joking.

HECK: Which is always what he follows up when he's made something so outrageous that it engenders blowback across the philosophical and partisan spectrum.

This is always what he does, claim that he was just kidding. And we all know that there is some part of that isn't just kidding. As it turns out, the power to pardon was one of the very last elements agreed to at the Constitutional Convention with our founding fathers.

And it was a very difficult provision to be included, because they were afraid of just this kind of behavior. And now we fully understand why.

Listen, there is no amount of strength of adjectives to resist and reject this suggestion on the president's part. You cannot speak too strongly, you cannot exaggerate how this is a corrosive effect on the rule of law.

BLITZER: When you hear that President Trump wants that border wall painted completely black, he wants spikes put up on the top of that border wall, what does that tell you?

HECK: Again, he hates brown people, Wolf.

You know, there's a rich irony going on here, I think, both with respect to -- both with respect to Puerto Rico and with respect to the border wall. And it has to do with his failure to grasp underlying causes, and being able to understand how to attack root causes of problems.

With respect to Puerto Rico, this is the same president who thinks that humans don't cause climate change, which results in increasing frequency of severe weather events, which is exactly what's going on here. We're seeing more and more severe hurricane. But yet he will not acknowledge or embrace the fact that we need to act to combat climate change.

And with respect to the border wall, by analogy, he cuts foreign aid to the northern countries in Central America, which is the root cause of why so many are seeking asylum. He just doesn't seem to be able to grasp that, if you want to solve a problem, you have got to pull it out by its taproot.

You have to solve climate change. And you have to make sure that those people who are fleeing those countries in Central America have a good reason to stay home, which is what they want to do.

BLITZER: Congressman Denny Heck, thanks so much for joining us.

HECK: Thank you, sir.

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