CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: "Interview with Rep. Mike Quigley"

Interview

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

ACOSTA: All right, Dianne Gallagher, thank you very much.

Joining us is Illinois Democratic representative Mike Quigley. He's a member of the Intelligence Committee.

Congressman, thank you for joining us. Let's start with the president's trip to El Paso.

What does it say that so many patients who were wounded in that shooting did not want to meet with the president?

REP. MIKE QUIGLEY (D-IL), MEMBER, INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: I think they've seen the president in action before. This isn't a trip about comforting. It wasn't an empathetic, sympathetic trip.

It was a trip about the president, our narcissistic leader, unfortunately, who put himself and his politics above the needs of those who have suffered so miserably in the last few days.

ACOSTA: And Congressman, as you were seeing there, he was fuming he didn't get credit for his visit yesterday.

How does that reflect on his leadership in times like these?

QUIGLEY: You know, I think a true leader would not want a camera anywhere near his activities there and talking to these individuals one on one. I wouldn't even want them to --

[17:15:00]

QUIGLEY: -- talk about it after the fact. These are private moments that mean so much to those who have suffered. The fact that he doesn't understand that really reflects on his lack of leadership.

ACOSTA: CNN has learned that the El Paso suspect's mother called police a few weeks before the shooting. She was concerned about her son having an AK-style gun.

Do you think warning signs were missed?

QUIGLEY: I think all too often warning signs are missed in these mass shootings, given the sheer volume of them. It means law enforcement needs more resources and more training.

I was at the Supreme Court when they were debating the Chicago gun case, the arguments. It was very clear that they were going to stand for the Second Amendment. On the other hand, though, they were very clear, when they wrote the opinion, that, despite the fact that there was a Second Amendment right, it's not unlimited and that everyone should be able to have any kind of gun that they want.

I think the Supreme Court was talking about instances just like this.

ACOSTA: And you probably had heard this week, President Trump has expressed support for background checks and red flag laws but he's also been speaking to the NRA chief.

Is it realistic to expect any action on this?

QUIGLEY: I don't expect it from the president. If he was serious about it, he would have Mitch McConnell in his office and talking about voting on the bill that the House has already voted on and passed dealing with background checks. The president has been in office for some time now.

And for much of that time, over half of it, he had the majority in the House and the Senate. We could have acted any time and passed those measures before yet another disaster like this one.

ACOSTA: Congressman, as you know, officials at the Department of Homeland Security have been urging the White House to make the threat of domestic terrorism a higher priority. But they have been rebuffed.

What does that tell you?

QUIGLEY: That they're not as focused on it as they should be. They don't recognize where the threats are. The fact is there are more resources need to be devoted to this. The FBI director talked about this just the other day, they need more analysis, more resources.

And we need to look at the laws as related to this. There appears to be gaps that need to analyzed, particularly material support for those who commit domestic terror acts like this, there's clearly, at this point, not even a law that relates to domestic terrorism. That's work that has to be done.

ACOSTA: Representative Mike Quigley, thank you for joining us. We appreciate it.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source