CNN "Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Elissa Slotkin

Interview

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ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: There's more breaking news tonight. Rallies supporting the impeachment of President Trump are under way tonight in several cities. A coalition of liberal groups organized the demonstrations across the United States. This comes on the eve of the historic vote on two articles of impeachment in the full House tomorrow. Some members of Congress are still deciding how they're going to vote.

First term Michigan Democrat Elissa Slotkin, who represents a swing district, says she will support impeachment. The White House is hitting back saying she "sold out her constituents." The congresswoman faced applause, some outrage when she explained her decision yesterday at a town hall meeting. Take a look. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ELISSA SLOTKIN (D-MI): The thing that was different for me is this very, very basic idea that the President of the United States would reach out to a foreign power and ask for an investigation for personal political gain.

While we may not agree, I hope you believe me when I tell you that I made this decision out of principle and out of the duty to protect and defend the constitution. I feel that in my bones, and I will stick to that regardless of what it does to me politically because this is bigger than politics.

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COOPER: Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin joins us now. That's a really hard thing to do and I respect any politician who is able to, you know, accept the protests, hear it, deliver what they want to say and yet still do it in a way that is respectful.

SLOTKIN: Yes. I mean that's the job, right? I mean, before I ran in 2017, I remember my representative wouldn't show up for town halls, and it was the big health care vote. And I remember saying like you don't get to just choose to ignore your constituents, so how could I go and do the same thing.

COOPER: You've said that this is the last thing you wanted to be doing in your first term as a congressperson.

SLOTKIN: Yes. Yes. I mean, you know, listen, I got into this because I wanted to work on issues that help people's lives. And for me, you know, it's one of the most serious things that you can do as a congressperson is to be involved in an impeachment. And I just -- that's not what I wanted to be spending my time on.

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COOPER: Is it something that the voters in your district, supporters of the President or not supporters of the President, have been talking to you about through -- I mean, was the Mueller report something they were talking to you about? Is this something that's foremost on their minds or is it health care, prescription drug prices, all the rest?

SLOTKIN: It's honestly -- it's like the kitchen table issues. And I tell people, you know, a town hall attracts a crowd, that's for sure. But what I --

COOER: You're getting larger crowds now than before.

SLOTKIN: Yes, we're definitely getting larger crowds. But, you know, I'm a congresswoman so I shop at weird hours. And so if I'm going to a Target or Kroger at 9:30 at night and going shopping, there's very few people there. I cannot get through the grocery store without someone grabbing me by the arm and talking to me about the price of health care, that they can't afford their son's insulin, they couldn't send their daughter to summer camp because they couldn't afford four inhalers that were required by camp. I mean, these are the things that people are talking about. How they do better in their lives, not frankly impeachment, the Mueller report.

COOPER: So if, you know, earlier we had a panel on and people were saying, well, look, if -- you know, Jen Psaki was saying as soon as, you know, it's done, Democrats want to move back and talk about other stuff that the voters are caring about. If that is the case, then why go through this impeachment if it's taking away focus from things that voters care about?

SLOTKIN: I mean, listen, I'm a former CIA officer and I will tell you, you don't get to pick everything that you work on. Sometimes the world happens to you. And in this case, for me, you know, I resisted and did not want to be involved in impeachment for many, many months and then the facts changed.

And then in September, you know, this very, very simple idea really isn't complicated for me that when I heard the President and his lawyer acknowledge that they reached out to a foreign leader to ask for help in an American political system, in our system, that for me was different. And that for me was severe and all through the inquiry.

You know, when I went back and really looked at all the documents, they were supporting that same idea and that can't be normal.

COOPER: So to the people who were in your town hall who are supporting the President and don't like your decision, who say, well, why not let the voters decide, we have an election coming up.

SLOTKIN: Yes, yes. That's where I was for many months. I had colleague who sort of right out of the gate were supportive of impeachment in January of last year or this past year. I had colleagues who came out after the Mueller report. For me, I really kept saying, you know, I don't like the President's conduct, but let 2020 decide.

And then the President talked about bringing foreigners and getting them involved in the very election I was depending on to have a Democratic process. And this was prospective, not retrospective. We were now talking about a future election, not 2016, not what happened in the past.

And to me that is just fundamentally different. He asked a foreigner to help investigate a political rival. He used the power of his office. And not for the national security interests, which is totally normal, right?

I worked for President Bush, I worked for President Obama, it is totally normal for a president to wield their power, right? That's typical, for the national security interests of the country. We put the screws to countries all the time, but this is for personal gain. It was for him. And that's what a king does. That's not what a president does.

COOPER: Congresswoman Slotkin, appreciate your time.

SLOTKIN: Thank you.

COOPER: Thank you very much. Up next, a group of Republicans who have no (INAUDIBLE) for President Trump are forming a group with a single purpose to ensure his defeat in next year's election. We'll be right back.

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