MSNBC "The Beat with Ari Melber" - Transcript: "Beto O'Rourke drops out of 2020 race."

Interview

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VELSHI: Joining me now, Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz from Florida. She`s a member of the House Oversight Committee. Congresswoman, thank you for being with us. It`s a big charge that you made against Ken Cuccinelli. Tell me more about what you base it on.

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: Well, I think the - all of America has watched this heinous immigration policy that persecutes and has intentionally targeted people of color over the last three years play out. And I just had an opportunity because I`m a member of the Oversight Committee and a member of a coequal branch of the government, much to the annoyance of Mr. Cuccinelli and the Executive Branch to call what has been evident. In that, this administration has had an immigration policy based in a white supremacist ideology. And all I did was I had an opportunity to say it to his face. And that`s my responsibility as a member of our coequal branch of government.

VELSHI: Kind of interesting because we`ve been covering this for a long time.

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: And it`s part of holding the executive accountable. Sorry.

VELSHI: We`ve been covering it for a long time. We`ve been trying to hold the executive accountable with the pictures and the stories of what`s going on on the southern border. It doesn`t appear to have softened the administration`s view of how they want to approach immigration, which seems it`s strange from the top to bottom. Right? The idea that they want to limit legal immigration, in fact, and then deal with undocumented Americans - undocumented immigrants the way they do, it seems economically unsound and it doesn`t seem in keeping with America`s principles.

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: Yes. Ali, the question I was asking was about the public charge rule that Ken Cuccinelli advanced, which would deny immigration to an individual who may become what he called a public charge if they needed benefits when they come to the United States. And that was - that is intimidating thousands of families and having them withdraw their children from vital public programs that keep them healthy and safe. And he couldn`t even answer the simple question I was asking, was - how many children did that public charge rule affect? He had no idea because he didn`t care. And that further underscored what I was saying, which is that they have been persecuting people of color, their immigration policy advances a white supremacist ideology, and I just called it out because I had that opportunity.

VELSHI: You were having a hearing that was very different from what most Americans thought was going on on Capitol Hill this week because what we`ve been watching is, people coming in for depositions and going out and trying to get reporting about what`s been going on in those hearings. This is now going to become something that certainly in the next two or three weeks, depending on how it goes, will start to become public. What do you believe Americans are going to hear when they start watching impeachment hearings?

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: As Americans watch the public impeachment hearings, they are going to see what I had an opportunity to see as a member of the Oversight Committee in these depositions. And that is that this has been a thousand-piece puzzle that has slowly been - the evidence made clear that the President and - that a direct line is drawn to the President in withholding military aid approved by Republicans and Democrats from a country that vitally needs it to keep a foreign enemy, Russia, at bay, and also dangled a White House meeting, all in an effort to get him to open up investigations against the President`s political opponents. That is illegal. Withholding the military assistance is a law that the President violated. And he abused his power. That`s unacceptable. It`s illegal. And it`s impeachable.

VELSHI: During the Mueller report, there were discussions and arguments on the facts. There does not seem to be any discussion or arguments on the facts here. Your colleagues across the aisle, Republican colleagues in Congress, are not arguing the facts at the moment. They`re arguing the process.

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: No, it`s really - it`s really pathetic, actually. I`ve watched people, many of whom I respect in many other aspects of the work we do together, really become sycophants to this President. They cower in fear at the possibility of losing their power or perhaps being criticized by him. And instead of arguing the substance, because they can`t, you can`t listen to the evidence, Ali, and think anything other than that this President is guilty as sin. And what they do instead is they argue process. Now they`re actually - some of them are actually now trying to say, "Oh, nothing to see here. It`s no problem that the President abused his power. It`s perfectly OK that he withheld military assistance that we approved in law in order to get a foreign country to investigate his political opponents. It`s perfectly OK that we are drawing direct lines with a quid pro quo between President Trump and President Zelensky, with the President trying to get Ukraine to interfere in the presidential election in 2020." It is ripe for an impeachment inquiry. And when the American public sees it, I know they`ll be appalled.

VELSHI: Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, thank you for joining us. Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz gets tonight`s "Last Word."

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: Thank you.

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