CNN "Erin Burnett Out Front" - Transcript: "Interview with Rep. Danny Heck"

Interview

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BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, Kaitlan, and certainly a showdown in the offing.

Out front now Democratic Congressman Denny Heck, Member of the House Intelligence Committee. He was inside today's meeting with the Intelligence Community Inspector General. And I want to ask you about that, Congressman, but first, I want to start with the breaking news, this subpoena.

Obviously, there's a game of chicken and I don't mean to play light with it, but this is escalating and it's a standoff. I mean, what happens if Trump's White House defies you?

REP. DENNY HECK (D-WA): So I think Chairman Schiff has made it abundantly clear that defiance of this act constitutes obstruction of a legitimate congressional inquiry in pursuit of impeachment. And as a consequence of that, we will assume or infer that he is not innocent of whatever it is that we're out to verify with the documentation. There is no other reason for him to withhold it, to hide it, unless, of course, he's guilty.

BURNETT: So when does a vote happen? With this whole they're trying to say, oh, you have to do a vote before they do anything, what's your sense of when a vote would happen for actual articles of impeachment?

HECK: Oh, we have some more work to do. We have some other people that I think can add, frankly, materially to our understanding of what went on here. We have several of them scheduled for next week.

As you know the former Ambassador to Ukraine is among them. We would hope that at some point we're able while taking into account appropriate security precautions, an opportunity to talk to the whistleblower himself or herself. So we have some more work here to do to understand completely in all three dimensions the actual story and narrative of what's going on here.

BURNETT: And I want to ask you about what you're going to ask them in a moment, because there are some crucial testimonies coming up. But I want to ask you about today, when you met with the Intel Inspector General. Again, that's the person, Atkinson, who evaluated the whistleblower complaint, deeming it credible and urgent, gave you documents today, I understand, laid out his thinking and what he knew and when he knew it. What did you learn new?

HECK: So first of all, I want to say that my reaction to Inspector General Atkinson was much the same it was the first time. The man is incredibly thorough, approaches his job with professionalism and integrity. And in fact, the very fact that we are able to, at this point in time, be able to evaluate the whistleblower complaint is because he had the courage to come forward with it.

So look as a matter of fact, since the Inspector General issued his report and with the issuance of the call report, they have verified everything that the complaint put forth. So we now know, in the President's own words, that he actively solicited in violation and clear violation of federal law, the assistance of a foreign national government in support of this campaign in 2020.

BURNETT: So we also saw the text messages that Volker provided to Congress in his testimony this week. Volker, of course, Trump's envoy to Ukraine, former, he has now resigned. Perhaps the most damning message that we all heard though or saw came from the top diplomat in Ukraine, Bill Taylor. Bill Taylor in this text which came out in the Volker testimony says, I think it's crazy to withhold security assistance for help with the political campaign.

OK. This is the top American diplomat in Ukraine, a stunning text and I think it's important, Congressman, to make sure our viewers know that was sent before anyone. Anyone in America knew there was a whistleblower or any issue with Ukraine. No one knew there was a story.

That's what people who were involved thought this was. They thought it was a quid pro quo. What was the most powerful evidence you've seen in the past couple of days between the Inspector General testimony and Trump's now former envoy? Was it that text or were there other things as powerful?

HECK: So I think the two most powerful things that have occurred are, first of all, the call report, the President's own words in which he said directly after a discussion about the sale of Javelin missiles to Ukraine, I need a favor - I need you to do us a favor though. And that combined with what Ambassador Taylor said about it being crazy to withhold security assistance I think are incredibly damning, their own words.

And in fact I would respectfully suggest to you that's why everybody on the Republican side seems to be in full blown attack mode. I've said to you before that they only have four plays; deny, attack, play the victim and change the subject throughout outrageous pronouncement. They're in scorched earth attack mode.

They're attacking the process. They're attacking the whistleblower. They're attacking the Inspector General. A Republican Senator today attack President Obama. They're attacking Chairman Schiff.

They're doing everything except defending these words, which are unbelievably in and of themselves incriminating.

BURNETT: Before we go, obviously, you've got the subpoena to the White House and I know you're giving them a deadline, I believe, two weeks from now. Your committee also gave though a deadline tonight for the Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Trump's lawyer, Rudy Giuliani. That's the subpoena deadline for them tonight. They've got a few hours. Where do things stand?

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HECK: Well, I just don't have much optimism whatsoever that they're going to comply with the law. They show no regard for it thus far to date. What's really at trial here isn't just the narrow behavior of the incumbent President of the United States and his violation of this particular federal statute. It is the very principle of rule of law and whether or not it is the who hold public trust, those of us that are privileged to occupy these positions are obligated under our constitutional oath of office to adhere to the law.

We are and those who aren't are going to be held accountable sooner or later.

BURNETT: Congressman Heck, thanks very much for your time.

HECK: You're welcome.

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