CNN "Erin Burnett Outfront" - Transcript: Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) Discuss About The Republicans' Reaction On The Public Hearing

Interview

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BURNETT: All right. Alex, thank you very much. And, of course, to Fiona Hill's point, now Gordon Sondland says, of course, Burisma meant the Bidens. That's obvious now.

OUTFRONT tonight, Democratic Senator Chris Coons. He sits on the Judiciary Committee in the Senate. And good to have you with me, sir. So White House officials telling CNN tonight that at this point, they don't believe there's enough evidence to convince Senate Republicans to remove Trump from office. That, of course, is what you and the Senate are going to have to vote whether to do or not.

Have you talked to any of your Republican Senate colleagues today? What have they told you?

SEN. CHRIS COONS (D-DE): I have a number of friends in the Republican caucus in the Senate and when I tried to bring up the subject of the testimony of this week, the striking developments in the House all of them have either changed the subject or simply said they'd really rather not talk about it.

It is a very difficult, sensitive subject and one where frankly it's been quite difficult to get anyone to concede that President's defense stands in tatters after this week's testimony in the House.

BURNETT: Obviously, right, it had been that there was no quid pro quo and then it was that there was hearsay that there was one. Obviously, both of those points now have been shown to be false. But to your point about how your colleagues and I know these are people you know well, they're friends, they're people you respect.

I want to play something Chairman Schiff said in his closing remarks today. He was comparing Trump to Nixon, and he was saying what Trump did is beyond anything Nixon did. And then he went on to say this, Senator.

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REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): The difference between then and now is not the difference between Nixon and Trump. It's the difference between that Congress and this one. Where are the people who are willing to go beyond their party to look to their duty?

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BURNETT: Senator, do you think those people exist?

COONS: Well, that's what I hope my Republican colleagues will be reflecting on over this Thanksgiving break is how in our nation's history back in 1974, it was Republican senators like Howard Baker of Tennessee who put country over party. And having heard the kind of evidence against President Nixon that I think has now been presented against President Trump, went to him and said, "You really should rethink whether you can survive a trial in the Senate."

I don't see any movement like that among my Republican colleagues now. It's entirely possible they are having private conversations, given the really devastating testimony this week in the House. But there's nothing that I've heard that suggests that sort of a change in heart or spirit in the other caucus this week.

BURNETT: Now, obviously, there are some at the center of this who have not yet spoken.

COONS: Correct.

BURNETT: We've heard now from the President's mouth to Mr. Holmes' ears, Gordon Sondland admitted. We've heard it all. But we haven't yet heard from John Bolton, the former National Security Advisor who was at the center of the testimony today.

COONS: Right.

BURNETT: So what do think should happen here when it comes to Bolton to the Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, to the Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney? Should the House try to get them to testify or do you think it's time for them to drop the articles of impeachment vote, send it to you all for you all to possibly have those interviews?

COONS: I think they should make every effort possible to demand testimony from a number of the most senior figures in the Trump administration who've been directly implicated. Ambassador Gordon Sondland's testimony yesterday was striking, was very clear that this was not just one phone call from President Trump to President Zelensky. This was an organized, coordinated campaign to serve the domestic political benefits of President Trump against his strongest domestic political opponent, former Vice President Biden.

Something that was, as Dr. Fiona Hill put it, a domestic errand that put our National Security at risk. I do think they should make every effort to secure that testimony, but if they don't succeed, they need to proceed.

BURNETT: Even if it takes this into the new year in the House?

[19:10:02]

I mean, do you think time ...

COONS: No. I think ...

BURNETT: ... yes, go ahead, I'm sorry.

COONS: ... I think the time has virtually run out. They should make one more serious effort. But it's clear the President and his senior advisors so far have blocked all testimony by those who were in the room other than Gordon Sondland. And frankly, they should give them one more chance and move on.

BURNETT: So do you think Senate Democrats will be able to stop Republicans when this comes to you from, of course, Republicans being the majority in the Senate just to make that clear to everybody. Would you be able to stop them from calling witnesses that Chairman Schiff blocked like Hunter Biden or could we see Hunter Biden testifying in a Senate trial?

COONS: It's entirely possible that rules for the conduct of the trial in the Senate will be passed by a bear majority. I hope not. Ultimately, during the Clinton impeachment, Republicans and Democrats were able to come to agreement about witnesses and where and how they testified and so forth.

I do think it would be a complete farce to bring Hunter Biden in front of the Senate. The theory under which that advance has been dismissed and disproven by every journalistic outlet that's investigated it, that's serious. And that's just another conspiracy theory of the sort that Dr. Fiona Hill today was dismissing in her testimony. So I hope they won't come to that, but it's entirely possible.

BURNETT: All right. Well, Senator Coons, I appreciate your time. Thank you very much, sir.

COONS: Thank you, Erin. Good to be with you.

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