CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: "Interview with Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi"

Interview

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BLITZER: All right, Jim, thank you. Jim Acosta at the White House. Let's get some more on all of this. Democratic Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois is joining us. He's a member of both the Intelligence and the Oversight Committees.

Congressman, thanks so much for joining us.

REP. RAJA KRISHNAMOORTHI (D-IL): Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: We've all now seen and read the transcripts of those two depositions. What concerns you most about these accounts from ambassadors of both Yovanovitch and McKinley?

KRISHNAMOORTHI: Sure. I think with regard to Ambassador Yovanovitch, it looks like what she's basically saying is that a smear campaign was devised to remove her to make room for people like Volker, Sondland, Rick Perry and Giuliani to basically conduct a shadow foreign policy in Ukraine to advance the president's political objectives. So she was basically viewed as an obstacle for this pressure campaign

to start. When Ambassador McKinley later learned about this, he, of course, resigned especially in light of the fact that in his 37 years of service, he had never seen anything like that.

And so I think both of their testimony was very powerful. Again, career public servants who are apolitical and who came forward and testified, again, at risk of their careers.

BLITZER: What does it say to you about Rudy Giuliani, the president's personal lawyer and his influence on the State Department?

KRISHNAMOORTHI: I think both of them basically said that Rudy Giuliani was essentially running foreign policy in the Ukraine along with these others, Volker Sondland and Perry.

Again, to help not the best interest of America, but instead to help the best interest of his clients, whether that was President Trump in his personal and political life or whether it was other clients potentially even international clients.

BLITZER: What do these transcripts show you about your Republican colleagues as they approach these depositions? They were also participating in these closed-door sessions.

KRISHNAMOORTHI: They sure were. And I think you can see that in these transcripts, that the Republicans are engaged constantly, whether it's, you know, raising objections or whether it's their questioning. They had equal time to question the witnesses.

They made opening statements and they, quite frankly, they questioned the witnesses on a range of topics, some of which had nothing to do with the topics at hand. And so for them to say that the process was somehow unfair is really unfounded and proven by just looking at the transcripts.

It also shows that they are trying to deflect attention from the serious allegations at issue with regard to whether or not the president pressured the Ukrainian government to try to investigate his political rivals here in the U.S.

BLITZER: You were supposed to hear from four White House officials today in these depositions but they're refusing to appear, including Energy Secretary Rick Perry and top officials over at the Office of Management and Budget who are stonewalling your inquiry. Do you have enough evidence already without all of their testimony?

KRISHNAMOORTHI: Well, I'm withholding judgment on the ultimate question of impeachment until all of the evidence comes in. That being said, you know, these folks are not complying with their subpoenas even though what they had at risk is it pails in comparison to what the dozen or so witnesses who came before us do.

They are at this point, to be considered folks who are engaging in obstruction of our inquiry and I think that really the reason why they may not be testifying is that the White House fears that their testimony could corroborate the claims against the president. And that is really at the essence, I believe, of what is going on here.

And therefore, I think that we should consider their testimony as corroborative of the whistleblower's complaints as well as the other claims that have been made against the president at this point.

BLITZER: Are you running out of cooperative witnesses right now? Do you need to move into the public hearings to keep this momentum you're trying to establish going?

KRISHNAMOORTHI: I don't know who else is going to come forward this week. It seems like just when we think that we're done with talking to cooperative witnesses, more come forward. That being said, I think there is a momentum right now to the proceedings.

As you can tell, the transcripts are coming out every day and the public hearings will start soon. I think that the more that people learn from these witnesses, the more they get to see these witnesses, and they'll realize what we were realizing in the room, which is that these folks are career public servants.

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They're apolitical and they are very compelling. And I think that people should look at these folks themselves and decide whether or not they're telling the truth. I found that they were, but I think the American people need to look at them as well.

BLITZER: Congressman Krishnamoorthi, thanks so much for joining us.

KRISHNAMOORTHI: Thank you. Thank you, Wolf.

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