CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: Interview With Rep. Don Beyer

Interview

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

And joining me now, we have Democratic Congressman Don Beyer of Virginia.

Thank you so much for coming in on this holiday week.

REP. DON BEYER (D-VA): Yes, thank you, Brianna, very much.

KEILAR: So, first off, the speaker right now still is holding onto the articles of impeachment. She says she wants to see the trial in the Senate be fair.

She's certainly highlighting that she thinks it is unfair. But with Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski saying she's disturbed by coordination between Mitch McConnell and the White House, do you think that that is something, that concern by Murkowski is something that's going to lead to a more acceptable trial rule situation for Democrats?

BEYER: I sure hope so.

I think Nancy has made the case very well that we saw what Mitch McConnell did to Merrick Garland, just totally taking the Supreme Court thing and turning it upside down.

We have sent him 275 bipartisan bills that have passed the House that are sitting on his desk. He proudly calls himself the Grim Reaper. And you just showed the clip where he says he's going to coordinate with the White House.

It's hardly a fair and impartial trial, which we all want and think the president deserves.

By the way, one thing that most people missed is that there actually has to be a House vote to send the impeachment over and papers to the Senate with the managers. We didn't -- we had one day to do that. And we didn't do it. So we really can't do it until the 7th of January.

KEILAR: Which is when you're back, right?

(CROSSTALK)

KEILAR: OK, so let's talk about these managers.

The House Democrats, the House Republicans, they each get to send House managers for the Senate trial. What kind of qualities should a House manager have? Should this be a veteran? Should there be some freshmen or a freshman who's considered for part of it?

Do they need to have trial lawyer experience? Do they need to sit on these relevant committees that have been investigating the president?

What do you think?

BEYER: You can see why there are probably 40 people who want to be the managers right now, yes.

KEILAR: At least, I think.

(LAUGHTER)

BEYER: Well, I'm sure one thing, it will be diverse. I mean, we are the party that represents diversity.

So, expect to have women, people of color, old veterans and young people. But I think the primary thing that our speaker is going to want is people who can very clearly evoke the story of what happened with the president's -- trying to get Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden.

That's the story that we want to get across and develop from the evidence.

KEILAR: So you want someone or you expect -- you expect managers who are going to communicate that.

But you're also seeing this as an opportunity to present an idea of what the Democratic Party is and what it looks like, compared to what the Republican Party looks like?

[18:10:05]

We have heard Kevin McCarthy say Jim Jordan, John Ratcliffe, and Doug Collins.

BEYER: Oh, my goodness, that would be very good for us.

When you look at the party, there's 200 Republican senators -- members of the House right now, only 13 women. And that's about to drop to less than 10.

On the other hand, our party is so incredibly diverse. It just does give us a chance to show off some of the spectacular freshmen that we just selected last year.

KEILAR: Do you want to see one of them on there?

BEYER: Oh, at least one. I hope so.

KEILAR: At least -- really?

BEYER: Oh, yes, absolutely.

KEILAR: That's a lot of fresh blood there on that. OK. So...

BEYER: But a lot of them come from very deep backgrounds. They have been prosecutors and CIA agents and constitutional scholars.

So, we have a good team.

KEILAR: OK.

So, how long can the speaker hold onto these articles of impeachment?

BEYER: I don't begin to second-guess her, although I suspect that it won't be that long.

I mean, she wants -- to be enough pressure to have the right kind of fair trial, for example, witnesses and documents. On the other hand, we didn't go through all of this national pain to get to the impeachment without wanting there to be a trial.

So I don't see us holding them indefinitely.

KEILAR: OK.

So, Senator Blumenthal said he hoped early January. I hear you're saying January 7 is the earliest, because that's when you're back.

BEYER: Yes. And..

KEILAR: Is that what you're expecting, January 7?

BEYER: Sometime around that.

It's fascinating, the whole Senator Murkowski thing, because you look that you also have Cory Gardner in Colorado, Susan Collins, Tillis in North Carolina, Daines in Montana. You have a bunch of people who are at risk, Martha McSally in Arizona. There's been a lot of pressure on them to be coming out for a fair trial also.

KEILAR: And I heard you before say, yes, you only had a day to get those articles over to the Senate.

But Speaker Pelosi has been clear about why she wants to hold the articles. And it's to highlight what she thinks is an unfair process, either to influence that to be more to her liking, or just to broadcast her message, which is that she thinks it's unfair, even if it doesn't kind of go more her way.

BEYER: Yes, because she realizes that she doesn't have power over the Senate.

So, you're right. She can deliver the message. She can put subtle applied pressure, which she is very good at doing. But, in the end, if McConnell can control his 53 Republican senators, he gets to decide.

KEILAR: So, right now, Republicans, the president, they're saying it's hypocritical of Democrats, because Democrats expressed the need for a swift-moving process in the House investigation because this was urgent, right? This had to do with an upcoming election.

That was the point that you all tried to make. But now it's being slowed down through a process that may or may not affect what the outcome is in the Senate rules. They're saying that's hypocrisy.

BEYER: Well, no.

First of all, we did this the day before we all adjourned for the Christmas vacation. And there was no way the Senate was going to come sit here through the Christmas break and take it up.

They're going to get it probably just about the same time they would have gotten it anyway. If we go back to the Bill Clinton impeachment, for example, he was impeached on December 18. They didn't send the articles over until January 6 with the impeachment managers. So this is pretty much the way it's been done.

KEILAR: When is this trial going to start, do you think?

BEYER: Well, I don't want to predict what the speaker is going to do.

But she always acts intelligently, logically, and with great reasonableness.

KEILAR: January?

BEYER: I think January, yes.

KEILAR: Mid-January?

BEYER: Well, the more some of these Republican senators come out and ask for a fair trial, the faster that will happen, I think.

KEILAR: And so are you expecting that? You think that will move it up maybe to-mid January, if it was...

BEYER: I think it would encourage it, yes, absolutely.

KEILAR: And if you don't, then she holds the articles, you think, or you would support her doing that?

BEYER: I will definitely support her.

But I don't want to second-guess her. She's in the room where these decisions are made. And I'm trying to interpret from outside.

KEILAR: Yes. All right, trying to pin you down.

(LAUGHTER)

BEYER: But I know you only have so much wiggle room.

Congressman, thank you so much.

BEYER: Thank you very much.

(CROSSTALK)

KEILAR: I really appreciate you coming in.

BEYER: Happy Boxing Day.

KEILAR: Yes, happy Boxing Day.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source