CNN "CNN Newsroom" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Austin Scott

Interview

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HARLOW: Welcome back. Minutes from now, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin will speak to reporters from the White House. There are a ton of questions for them about Iraq and Iran especially.

Right now, with me, Republican Congressman Austin Scott, he serves on the Armed Services Committee. Sir, it's so nice to have you with me. Thank you for taking the time.

REP. AUSTIN SCOTT (R-GA): Glad to be here. Thank you.

HARLOW: As we wait for the secretary of state and the Treasury secretary, let's talk about the War Powers Resolution. Yesterday, in the House, you voted against it. Three Republicans voted for it, including Florida Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz.

Here's what he said. Quote, "I represent more troops than any other member in this body. I buried one of them earlier today at Arlington. If our servicemembers have the courage to fight and die in these wars, Congress ought to have the courage to vote for or against them." Your district in Georgia includes a major Air Force base, Robins Air Force Base. What is your message to the troops there about why you voted against this resolution?

SCOTT: So I've got two Air Force bases, actually. I've got Moody in the south end of the district. And somebody from my district is deployed constantly.

As I've said before, take the word "Iran" out, let's have an honest debate on the War Powers Act. I pressed back against the administration in committee the other day, I do not think that the AUMF gives us the authority to base in Syria. I do not think that the AUMF that President Obama used to engage in Libya against -- that led to the death of Muammar Gaddafi, I don't think that he had the authority to do that.

I absolutely think that we need to have an honest debate on the War Powers Act. But it does not need to be specific to one country, and it does not need to be done in the manner in which it was done. We need to have a War Powers Act, a discussion will actually go through the Foreign Affairs Committee and have a full vote on the floor of the House of Representatives when it's not seen as an attack against the president.

HARLOW: You believe, you've said in previous interviews in the past few days, you believe the president's strike on Qasem Soleimani was fully, fully warranted.

SCOTT: Absolutely.

HARLOW: Why do you -- why?

SCOTT: Fully warranted and legal. And legal because it occurred in Iraq. Now, if it had occurred in Iran, I would tell you, then there would be a question about the legality of it.

[10:45:00]

But what has -- what has changed in the calculation with Soleimani is not just what is happening with U.S. troops and U.S. allies around the world, but what the -- what he engaged in against his own people in simply the last couple of months.

And I know it's hard to get accurate reporting out of Iran, but I do hope, over the next couple of months, more will come out about what actually happened in November and December in Iran, where the IRG actually put down reports -- there are as many as 1,500 of their own people who were innocent and simply protesting higher gas prices in their country.

So this was a gentleman that had been named a terrorist under George Bush, that had been elevated under President Obama. I fully believe President Obama, given the same opportunity, would have taken the same action and taken out what he himself had designated as a terrorist.

HARLOW: We're waiting, again, for the secretary of state. I may have to jump in and interrupt you. But if I do --

SCOTT: Not a problem.

HARLOW: -- do come back and join us next week.

SCOTT: Yes, ma'am.

HARLOW: But about the questions. Because the president said, last night, they were going to blow up our embassy, that's why they went after Soleimani.

Pompeo, last night, said, quote, "a series of imminent attacks being plotted, we don't know when and where." So there's confusion there for the American people, from what the president says or the secretary of state says.

Do you support the president -- and this is a question that Jim asked Republican Senator Jim Risch yesterday that I think's a very good one -- do you support the president declassifying that intelligence, like he has done before with the so-called Nunes memo for example. Should he declassify it so the American people can know and have one straight answer?

SCOTT: Not immediately. I do believe that as time goes on, it will be declassified. But we have to be very careful about our sources of information and any time that the declassification leads to the potential exposure of a source where -- that we have very few of in certain countries, then no, I do not believe that that information should be declassified.

HARLOW: But didn't -- I hear you on the protecting sources and methods, so important. But, again, this is a president who has multiple times in the past declassified information, he did so in that Oval Office meeting in 2017 with the Russians; and didn't he essentially do it last night when he talked about multiple embassies being targeted, even outside of Baghdad, sir?

SCOTT: Not in a way that exposed any source.

HARLOW: I'm so sorry. We'll have you back, we'll finish this next week. Let's listen to the treasury secretary --

SCOTT: Yes, ma'am.

HARLOW: -- Steven Mnuchin.

SCOTT: Thank you, ma'am.

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